We're starting to hit those few moments in my very young priesthood that I am preaching on texts that I have actually preached before. I remember three years ago, I shared some of my research into the story of Martha and Mary with my sending parish, St. Thomas in Thomasville. So many of them were moved by a more feminist theologian look at this text that I thought I should impart the same information to my folks at St. Barnabas. No, I didn't just pull out the same sermon again. This is all new and even contains some extra information I garnered in doing more digging. In looking up the original article I'd found by Elisabeth Schussler Fiorenza, I found an exegesis paper that gave some more insight into the Roman Empire. And while I refrained from drawing a line between our current cultural environment and that of ancient Rome....I think some discerning listeners and readers might see some uncomfortable similarities between the two. It makes this Lukan Gospel passage stand out even more.
Text: Luke 10:38-42
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I want to begin this sermon with a quick quiz. There are no right
or wrong answers. Y’all have already earned A’s…
How many of you have heard this Gospel story of Martha and Mary
before?
It’s another
of the very well-known Gospel passages from Luke.
OK…and how many of you have been told…or even referred to yourself…as
a Martha?
Now…how many of you have heard this Gospel story and felt a
negative reaction to Martha?
In my experience…a lot of women in the church have either been
called a “Martha” or have in some self-deprecating way…referred to themselves
as a “Martha.” The church…from about the time of the Reformation more than 500
years ago…has been presenting Martha in a bad light, as a nag pre-occupied with
‘things’ instead of being like her sister Mary, quietly sitting at the feet of
Jesus. Mary is doing everything right; Martha is doing lots of things.
I remember when I read “The Cloud of Unknowing,” the seminal text
on contemplative Christianity, the anonymous author used the story of Martha
and Mary as an allegory for the tension between those in the early church who
were about words and actions in prayer as opposed to the “better part” of
sitting in contemplative silence with the Divine. The author was clear that
Mary not only chose the better part; she was the better disciple.
It’s not unlike the Gospel of Luke to have two characters who seem
to represent dual and diametrically opposed ways of being.
But I want us to consider these two sisters in a different way,
especially poor Martha who I think has been unfairly…and wrongly…ridiculed.
Jesus is on a mission…he’s on his way to Jerusalem. For whatever
reason, he has stopped at this house in the village of Bethany. We read that he
was welcomed into Martha’s home.
Right there…we need to pause.
Even though Lazarus isn’t mentioned here, Martha and Mary are the
sisters of Lazarus. Yet this is not Lazarus’ home; this place is identified as
belonging to Martha. That’s a tip off to us that this woman is someone of means
and must have some status.
The next thing we hear is that Martha has “a sister named Mary who
sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying (10:39).”
Wait---what??
Stop the presses.
Mary…a woman…sat at Jesus’ feet?
To our ears…neither Martha’s status, nor Mary’s desire to listen
and learn from Jesus, is all that shocking.
But this is where Luke’s context and what life was like in the days
of the very early church becomes important.
If we do a little research…we’d see that the Roman Emperor
Augustus, the one in power in the days of Jesus, promoted religious practices
that advocated for chastity, childbirth, and forced remarriage of widows and
divorced women.
Men and women were expected to be married by a certain age…and any
religious cult that didn’t promote marriage and childbirth was viewed as
hostile to the Empire.
Even after Augustus…the Roman Empire would continue to push women
to take subordinate roles in society.[i]
Luke is showing us two very independent women in both Martha and
Mary that run counter to their day. And Jesus decides to stop in at Martha’s
house on his way to the cross, confirming his affinity for their
countercultural behavior. Mary, sitting at Jesus’ feet, means she is placing
herself on par with any of the male disciples.
We see that she’s a renegade woman.
But what about Martha?
I was having a conversation with one of my friends recently and
when I mentioned this story of Martha and Mary, she told me how she has always
identified with Martha. She understood that Martha was doing what women did in
those days, showing hospitality, working in the kitchen. In other words, doing
all the traditional female roles, right?
Except…if we look closely at what Luke has here on the printed
page…Martha is not in any kitchen.
Our translation says she was distracted “by her many tasks.” The
word used for this in the Greek is diakonia …the root word
for “Deacon.” This is the term for “service.”
Jesus will use this root word again later when he tells his
disciples that it is the one who serves who is the greatest among them (22:26).
Martha’s not banging pots and pans in a kitchen; Martha is serving…preparing
for table worship.
To get an even fuller sense of Martha as a disciple…we need to go
to another Gospel. If we look at the Gospel of John, Chapter 11, we get the
story of when Jesus goes to the grave of his friend Lazarus. Remember that
Lazarus is the brother of Martha and Mary, and Martha is the first one to meet
Jesus at the tomb.
“Martha said to Jesus, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother
would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you
ask of him.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Your brother will rise again.’ Martha said to
him, ‘I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.’
Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in
me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me
will never die. Do you believe this? She said to him, ‘Yes, Lord, I believe
that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.’”
(John 11:20-27).
“I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming
into the world.”
Those words came out of Martha’s mouth…from her soul, her head, and
her heart.
Martha’s statement about the identity of Jesus is as rock solid as the
profession Peter makes about Jesus…Peter…that rock of the church!
What Luke has given us in this Gospel is a chance to see the two
roles of discipleship in the sisters Martha and Mary. These roles run counter
to the surrounding Roman Empire’s definition of what role women are to play.
And yet…even Luke’s portrayal has been used to place boundaries on women in the
church.
The disciple Martha’s diaconate has been ignored and ridiculed.
But even Mary gets sidelined when we praise her for being seen at
the feet of Jesus, but not hearing her prophetic voice.
When the women finally do get heard…as the first witnesses to
Jesus’ resurrection…the male disciples don’t believe them and dismiss their
good news as “idle talk.” (24:11).
So how might we see these two women as fully followers
of Jesus?
I think it starts with the fact that Jesus made a point of showing
up at Martha’s house on his way to Jerusalem.
The Son of God has shown he has high regard for this disciple and
what she means to his mission and ministry.
I think we see it in that Mary is engaged with Jesus as her teacher
and that nothing of this opportunity and experience is going to be taken away
from her.
Finally, I think the way Jesus addresses Martha…”Martha,
Martha”…that repeated use of her name, can be heard not as a rebuke and a
scolding, but as an invitation.
“Yes, Martha: your service…your diakonia…is
important.
But service without grounding in the teaching…that “better part” …leads
to worry and distraction.”
We can see that in the structure of our own worship.
Before we prepare for the Eucharist…we are immersed in the Word of
the Lord…both from our ancestors in the words of the Hebrew Scriptures…as well
as the Epistles and the Gospels. We take that time to start with grounding in
music and prayer…and fix our minds on what we hear that God calls us to do and
to be in the world in which we’re living. And then…with those lessons still in
our minds…we are ready to approach the table and once more…through the bread
and the wine of the Eucharist…renew and recommit ourselves to the service we do
in our communities. Not just inside the walls of St. Barnabas. Out there.
Wherever we live and move and encounter that person who may or may not be
having their best day.
Not only does the church need Martha and Mary. We need to embody
and embrace Martha and Mary’s boldness in the face of a culture that would want
to limit them…and us. God knows we need to have some more people grounded in
Jesus’ way of Love to be the face of Christ people see in the world.
In the name of God…F/S/HS.
[i] From
a paper citing Ben Witherington, III. Women in the Earliest Churches.
(Cambridge, NY: Cambridge University Press, 1988).
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