Martha and Mary and Righteous Anger

 

Protest outside Texas State Capitol Building (The Austin American Statesman)

Admittedly, it is getting harder and harder for me to preach as our country spirals downward into a new fresh level of Hell each week.

Some of the diehard supporters of the president are finally coming to realize that they've been had. Not because of the brutality toward immigrants (they seem to enjoy that). 

Not because of the draconian cuts and destruction of the social safety net because of the "big beautiful bill" (they seem to think that they won't suffer the consequences of this transfer of wealth to the the very wealthy while stripping us of our medicare and medicaid money).

Not even because the Congress and their overlord have decided to take away promised money to the Corporation for Public Broadcasting...which means tiny community public radio stations will lose up to 65-percent of their revenue (afterall, NPR is a bunch of libs, right?)

No. They're upset because for ten years they've been promised that all will be revealed to them in the files of the late human trafficker Jeffrey Epstein...and it will confirm the conspiracies of the wicked Democratic political pedophile ring run out of the non-existent basement of a DC pizza parlor and finally we can hang all those "libtards" like Bill and Hillary Clinton who abused kids. 

Attorney General Pammy Jo Bondi went on TV and said she had the Epstein client list on her desk. She paraded out a bunch of DOJ employees in suits with white binders labeled "The Epstein Files." 

Now, suddenly, Bondi and her overlord in the White House are saying that there is no list. It's a hoax. It's all a ruse. A lie. And it's the Democrats fault for lying that there were files and a list...and...and...and...

(And let's face it: we know that the current squatter in the Oval Office who had a 15-year friendship and partied regularly with Epstein is all over those files.)

I mean, as a preacher, what am I supposed to do with this? What am I to do when I know that there is a segment of my congregation that is aware of all of this, another segment that just puts it's head in the sand and doesn't want to deal with this, and those few who have probably blocked me on Facebook at this point because I put out my disgust with all of it on a daily basis?

This Sunday I had elected to do what is called "An Instructive Eucharist" meaning that I had us distribute a booklet that had the whole service with annotations along the side margins about the different elements happening. I did a little bit of instruction as we went along as well. And since our Gospel lesson was the story of Martha and Mary...a story that has been told (IMNSHO) incorrectly for too long...I sidestepped the latest outrages...and focused on unpacking the Gospel. 

And I did sneak in a bit about being outraged as well. Because there is exasperation in the Gospel story...and not exactly in the way the church has taught.

See what you think.

Texts: Luke 10:38-42; Psalm 52

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I’ve talked about this before…and since this is an “Instructive Eucharist” Sunday…I figured I’d pull back the curtain and just talk for a moment about the sermon…and the process that I go through to come up with the message that I deliver on Sundays.

The purpose of the sermon is to offer a reflection on the words of Scripture that we’ve heard on any given Sunday.

In some denominations…especially the ones that don’t follow the pre-determined lessons in the Revised Common Lectionary…preachers can basically pick and chose what the congregation will hear and then they can comment on whatever they want.

In the Episcopal Church…it’s expected that the preacher…usually a priest or a deacon…will stick to the script. As in…they will preach based upon what has been shared.

Makes sense, right?

As noted in your Annotated Eucharist booklet…this is a practice that we inherited through Judaism…and became an expectation at any Eucharistic service since 15-49.

So how does a preacher prepare a sermon?

Again…I can only talk about how this preacher does it.

Well…do remember back in your school days playing Tug-o-War?

Two teams…a long rope…and each team pulling with all their might to get the other team over a line?

That’s a little bit like what writing a sermon can feel like to me.

I start the week reading through the assigned Scriptures for Sunday.

I do this a couple of times…taking a pause between each one.

I’ll read through the first lesson from the Old Testament…in this case the prophet Amos… and his warnings to the people of Israel about their religious arrogance and social injustice.

The psalm is something like a Greek chorus to the First Reading…offering its own commentary on the prophetic word.

The second reading…the Epistle…which means “Letter”…is just that.

It’s typically one of the Letters containing teachings to a community of early Christians. In this case…it’s the believers in Colossae.

And then of course…we have the Gospel.

So I spend a lot of time…slowly reading through these…and allowing whatever words or phrases to percolate in my brain.

And that’s when the tug-o-war begins.

Which reading is pulling harder on me? 

Which phrases seem to be demanding my attention?

As that tugging and wrestling is going on in my head…I’m also aware of what’s going on right now?

What’s happening in our broader culture?

What am I aware of that’s happening here at the church?

What are the highs and lows in our lives right now?

I put all that together with whatever passages of Scriptures have been catching my attention.

I pull out a few books…maybe some articles…read commentaries.

And then I pray.

I pace.

I pray.

I pace.

I go to see my clients…and spend time away from praying and pacing to focus on breathing and lengthening and stretching muscles as I practice my healing ministry of massage therapy.

And then usually by Friday afternoon…I make myself focus on writing the sermon.

And then I pray again…that what I have felt moved by the Spirit to say…will be of some help to someone here in the room or even online.

May it be so.

That image of tug-o-war works with our Gospel lesson…as we hear yet-another of the familiar passages from Luke…the story of Jesus’ visit to “a certain village” and the home of Martha.

Too often…this story gets told like it’s a tug-o-war between Martha and Mary….pitting these two sisters against each other.

And way too many times it is also used in ways to shame women in the church.

And some of the worst perpetrators of that shaming are women themselves.

For too long…the church has taught this particular lesson as Jesus disparaging Martha because she complains about Mary.

The church has told everyone that Martha is upset  that Mary isn’t helping in the kitchen.

And Jesus says Mary has chosen the “better part”…meaning she’s not fussing over food and dishes in the kitchen…because she’s praying and studying.

The scandal of the story is that Mary isn’t doing “women’s work” because she’s behaving like a man, studying Torah.

Mary is obviously on Team Jesus…and she and Jesus and others have grabbed the figurative rope and they’ve yanked that nagging Martha over the line…and made her realize that she’s a busy body who needs to get over herself.

If that’s the story you’ve heard you’re not alone.

And it is not what this story is about.

Martha is not a nag.

In fact.. Martha is not in a kitchen. (Look at the text: there is no kitchen).

Furthermore…Mary is not even in the house.

Uh-oh! Crazy priest lady is now blowing up all those years and years of church sermons…and Sunday School.

Remember how I said when I prepare for a sermon I pray…and pace…and I read commentaries?

I spend a lot of time wrestling with these texts.

So have others…people with far more time than I have…and with a much better command of the biblical Greek than I have (I studied Hebrew in seminary).

One of those is Mary Stromer Hanson…the author of a book called “The New Perspective on Mary and Martha.”

Hanson took a second look at the English translation we have…and found that one little word can change our whole understanding of the situation in this scene.

So…let’s take a look at this.

In our text…it says…”She (Martha) had a sister named Mary…who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying.”

But what Hanson has found is that our biblical translators didn’t correctly translate a Greek word that’s in the text.

There is a “KAI”…which can be translated as “ALSO.”

So the line should read: “She had a sister named Mary who ALSO sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying.”

And what is this “sitting at the Lord’s feet”?

Now…how many of us have thought that this meant that Mary was literally sitting on the floor listening to Jesus teach?

This is what artists have rendered and what Sunday schools have taught us.

But the phrase to “sit at the feet” is a way of talking about discipleship.

 It’s a phrase that appears later in the Book of Acts when Paul is testifying to his credentials as a Johnny-come-lately to following Christ as a disciple.

So let’s think about this:

It seems Mary AND Martha have sat at the feet of Jesus…meaning they’re both disciples of Jesus.

Oh, no! Luke has spilled the beans: there were women following Jesus…going out into the countryside…just like that group of 70 he sent out to go into the towns…say “Peace be with you”…cast out demons…et cetera et cetera.

If they reject you…shake the dust of that town off your feet…

OK…so what is this complaint of Martha’s? Why is she upset?

Well…we’ve thought about the playground game of Tug-o-War.

Now we’re going to high school…maybe college…and the dreaded “group project.”

Those assignments where you are put on a team not of your own choosing…and where you were forced to produce a final project as a team.

If your experience was anything like mine…there would be those members of the team who would pull their own weight…and one who did not.

And I know I was always frustrated and irritated with the one who seemed to be the slacker. Because that one always created more work for me and the others.

That’s a little bit like the situation here in the Gospel.

Martha is at her house.

Her house is base camp for the service…the discipleship… that she is doing in her village.

Mary…who is also a disciple…isn’t at the house.

 It’s quite likely that she has opted to hit the road as part of the 70 and to do her service outside the home…leaving Martha to handle the needs of the village.

When Jesus pays his disciple Martha a visit….he finds that she’s overwrought.

The needs in her village are many…and the laborers are few.

And the one who she had depended upon to help her…her sister Mary…is off somewhere else.

So Martha looks at Jesus with exasperation and basically says,

“Listen, man. I am having to do it all here and I need my sister to help me. You know where she is. Tell her to come home.”

Ministry…doing the work of loving…serving…and giving of ourselves for the betterment of our community…that’s hard work.

It takes more than one person to do it all.

We can see that here at St. Barnabas.

In order to make things happen here…it takes a bunch of people to help on Sundays…and the other six days of the week.

Each person carrying out whatever ministry it is…from playing music…creating the bulletins…crafting the prayers…to making sure the trash gets taken out…fixing the coffeemaker …keeping and caring for grounds and the gardens.

And just like Martha…when there’s people missing or not around to help…it means there’s more work for the few.

At the same time…there are those who take the words and the prayers that they’ve heard on Sunday…and they carry those with them into the community…into their every day life…and strive to make this a better society.

These Marys…stand on the street corners and before councils with the righteous anger of our psalmist:

“You tyrant, why do you boast of wickedness against the godly all day long?

You love evil more than good and lying more than speaking the truth.” (Ps.52: 1, 3)

They go to meet those who are on the margins…those who may never show up at a church service but still yearn to meet a person of God who will show them love…mercy…and compassion.

Jesus knows both these types of disciples.

And he knows both are vital to his mission of Love.

He acknowledges that Mary has made her choice to take her ministry out…going out into sometimes uncertain and dangerous places where she will either be welcomed or rejected for the message of love.

He also sees that Martha is right where she needs to be…doing the work of ministry closer to home and being that disciple who welcomes the foreigner…the stranger into the community by offering hospitality.

His “Martha, Martha” isn’t a harsh admonishment.

It’s an effort to bring her back to herself…take a breath…pray…so that she can serve her community without falling apart.

Because Jesus needs disciples working on both fronts.

Even today.

In these troubled times in our country…we need both those who feel the call to follow Jesus into the public square…and those who will be at the door of the home for the wanderer looking for kindness…compassion…love and mercy.

We need prophets…and we need hosts.

We need those who go out to meet the needs of the community…and those who do the work in the church.

We need Marys and Marthas.

Wherever we feel God calling us…personally…whichever way we feel the Spirit tugging us…know that Jesus is there…and will not leave our side as we carry on.

We are all those sitting at the feet of Jesus.

Now we must do our part to stand for Love in this world in our own way.

In the name of our One Holy and Undivided Trinity.