Sermon transcript:
Before age slowed her down, my mother was an incredible hostess and a great cook. In traditional Portuguese style, she would dote over you, keeping an eye on your plate and your glass lest either should become too empty. During our visits she would spend a lot of time in the kitchen, guarding her territory fiercely. She took great pride in her hospitality; my wife, Andrea, and I always felt encircled by her love when we visited. When the grandkids came along though I remember leaving my parent’s home with a slightly empty feeling. My mom had spent so much time in the kitchen, looking after everyone’s needs as a hostess that she hadn’t spent very much time just being and playing with her grandchildren. She felt this as well. It wasn’t an easy change for her, sometimes we had to grab her by the arms and escort her out of the kitchen, but she began to recognize more readily when it was time to relinquish the role of hostess, freeing her up to be a grandmother and participate fully in the life that God has set before her.
Sometimes that freedom just comes down to a choice, sometimes that freedom is something that is denied to us. War, hatred, economic injustice denies people the freedom of participating fully, with all their gifts and experiences, in life; keeping people trapped in circumstances that make them less than what God intends them to be. Throughout the gospels Jesus tries, through story and acts of grace and mercy, to get his audience to see others the way God sees them; beloved and free, with a part to play in God’s creation.
This is what unfolds during his visit to the home of sisters Mary and Martha. From what our faith story tells us, we know Jesus was good friends with them and we know that he was coming to their home for dinner. And Martha, the oldest, was going to plan and prepare the dinner for Jesus; you can’t serve the renowned rabbi of the land bologna sandwiches after all. You can imagine that morning, Martha and Mary were a flurry of activity, busy cleaning the house and the yard before Jesus’ arrival.
Both were excited to see him when he arrived. Soon Martha was in the kitchen, while Mary lingered behind. Martha’s irritation begins with a sense that she is missing out. She strains her ears, but she just can’t hear the conversation between Jesus and her sister in the other room. The more Martha worked, the more frustrated she became with her sister. Perhaps it wasn’t just the unfairness she felt about the workload. While it was not unheard of for a Jewish woman to learn from a man and teach in the synagogues,1 it wasn’t common. Perhaps, there was fear that someone would walk in and see her sister sitting at the feet of an unrelated male, bringing shame on the household from the community.2 If anyone saw such a thing, tongues would start wagging, life in the village would get difficult.
You might imagine Martha starting to send signals to her sister, not being so careful about banging the pots and pans together. It didn’t work. Martha’s anger could not be contained any longer: “Jesus, don’t you see what’s going on here! Tell my lay about sister to give me a hand in here.” Jesus stops, listens and responds, “Martha, Martha,” he says affectionately, “my loving hostess, I do see, you’re busy and distracted but your presence is the food I need now, come be with us. I won’t be here long but the story I have to share will always be with you.”3 We are left to wonder where things went from there.4
It’s so easy to get stuck in roles, rules and expectations that limit our freedom, that prevent us from participating fully in life, that keep us trapped in soul destroying situations that prevent us from considering the possibility that God might be calling us to something new. The story of Mary and Martha is not about forsaking Martha; it’s not about saying that Martha’s work is unimportant. In fact, the Greek word used to describe Martha’s work that day is diakonia, a word that speaks of her hostess duties as a form of ministry, of service to God. This story is about giving Martha her due, that she also is invited and worthy of participating fully in the life that God had set before her, the life that Mary had claimed.5 This is a story of liberation for Martha and all the Marthas whose discernment of God’s presence is narrowed by the anxiety of roles, rules and expectations, who feel they aren’t free to hear God’s call beyond those limits. This is a story about discernment, about our willingness and our ability to discern what God is doing and where God is calling. It’s a story about our readiness to let go of roles, rules, expectations, order and security so that we can open our lives to surprise and adventure and cooperate with what God is doing in our lives.
For Jesus, the life of faith is always about discernment. It’s not about believing all the right things; it’s about having the wisdom to figure out where Love is calling us and the freedom to go into those unknown places. For Jesus the life of faith is about paying attention to God’s movement. Therefore, nothing can be taken granted as always being the right thing to do. In fact, often Jesus’ message is “go and do.” To Mary and Martha, he says “sit and be, you’ve done enough, it’s time to rest, connect and hear God’s story.” Important questions this story would ask us are, “Where are we trapped, not free to discern and go where God is calling?”, “Where are we keeping others trapped, limiting their freedom, their ability to respond to God’s call?” The grace of this story and the good news of the gospel of Jesus the Christ is liberation. It is to know where our treasure is and not be enslaved by distraction6 so that we can be ready at any moment to hear that God might call us to something new — something we could hardly expect, imagine or consider ourselves worthy of being or doing. When Love comes home to pay you a visit, set down all that distracts you, sit at Love’s feet and listen. It is the better part of life, the enduring core of your true self, it brings meaning to everything you do, and it cannot be taken from you. May we both live and give this freedom.
Rev. Joe Gaspar
1 Mary Gwyn McDowell, Mary, Martha, and Feminism: Check your systems!,
https://womenintheology.org/2022/07/13/mary-martha-and-feminism-check-your-systems/, July 13, 2022.
2 R. Alan Culpepper, Commentary on Luke, “New Interpreter’s Bible Commentary”, Volume 9
3 Nadia Bolz-Weber, Mary, Martha, and the Main Thing, Sojourner Magazine,
https://sojo.net/articles/mary-martha-and-main-thing, August 14, 2013.
4 The preceding two paragraphs drew from a sermon by Edward Marqhuart,
http://www.sermonsfromseattle.com/series_c_mary_martha_martha_mary.htm
5 William Loader, http://www.staff.murdoch.edu.au/loader/LkPentecost8.htm
6 Ilia Delio, Fullness and Freedom, Work of the People (a subscription based video service),
https://www.theworkofthepeople.com/fullness-and-freedom.