Martha and Mary - Luke 10: 38-42

Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to what he was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.”

Commentary

I think today's lesson, more than anything else, points out the basic inconsistency of trying to live both in the world, and of the kingdom.

Imagine the problem that Jesus is creating for poor Martha. He has been welcomed in to her house. And being a good Jew, living where he did, and when he did, he has sat himself down and expects to be fed. And since at that point, he was always traveling with a crowd, they have also come in, sat down, and expect to be fed. That is simply what one does and expects in that culture. So there is Jesus, happily surrounded by a crowd waiting to hear what he has to say. And so he is preaching. Martha's sister Mary also sits down at Jesus' feet to listen.

At that point, Martha blows a fuse. The writer of the passage was obviously a man. He says blithely, “But Martha was distracted by her many tasks.” Distracted my foot. Jesus is the distraction. Martha has the duty in that culture to fix and serve the meal. That is what is required of her. And it is probably NOT shirking on her part to say that she needs some help. But what does Jesus do? He tells her she has not chosen the better part!

Now in fairness, Jesus is constantly telling us that his kingdom is not of this world. True enough. And the kingdom of the spirit is not particularly worried about social niceties. But here is Jesus, taking full benefit of those social niceties to facilitate him having a more attractive venue for his sermon than a rocky hillside without any amenities.

Now I say that not to pick on Jesus. I think the problem here is not so much about Jesus having forgotten his manners as it is one of Jesus being between a rock and the hard place. Jesus wants us to accept and embrace the kingdom of God. Which is not of this world. Yet in his mind, the way to do that involves seeking us out. And we are in the world. We want the niceties of this world if we are to pay attention, yet the kingdom of God, right off the bat, asks us to give up the niceties of this world.

The Eastern sages nicely bypass this problem by, for the most part, being ascetics living on a mountain top or other out of the way place. To them, it is the followers problem to seek them out. But Jesus, while admitting that “many are called but few are chosen”, still insists on making sure that as many as possible get called. If we are to be followers of Jesus, we are going to have to deal with the legitimate complaints of the Marthas all the time. The kingdom of god asks us to put down our childish ways. It asks us to turn our backs on materialism. It asks us to turn our backs on our own preferences. Yet at the same time, it asks us to live in a society that does neither, so we can ask them to take up our ways. It's kind of a crazy expectation really. So the only way we have any hope of pulling it off is for us to never loose sight of the fact that there ARE TWO very different worlds involved. They will never to melded. They are diametrically opposed. Our goal is to be firmly rooted in the kingdom of God, and to go forth from that fortress to bring love and compassion to the ungodly. I have never thought, never mind talked, in such evangelical terms before. I have to confess to being more comfortable with the ascetics approach. But there is no getting around the fact that Jesus calls us to go OUT into the world. And if we are to do that, and still hold on to our roots with God, we MUST remember that the ways of the world are not for us. If we adopt the ways of the world, we have lost our own message.

Amen