Amos 8:1-12 Psalm 52 Colossians 1:15-28 Luke 10:38-42
Summary: At first glance this Gospel reading is very uninspiring; and read over it quickly, but there is much more to this story than meets the eye; its message, the social skills and the tantrums hide some secrets that lay hidden. Read on and enjoy …
This sermon was delivered to the congregation in St Oswald’s in Maybole, Ayrshire, Scotland on the 21st July 2013: by Gordon McCulloch (A Scottish Episcopal Church in the Dioceses of Glasgow and Dumfries).
Please join me in my prayer: Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of our hearts be acceptable to you O Lord. Amen.
Our Gospel reading this morning comes from Luke chapter 10 verses 38 to 42: “As Jesus and his disciples went on their way, Jesus 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."
Introduction:
I do not know about you, but at first glance, I found today’s Gospel reading pretty uninspiring; and we would like to pass on quickly to the next passage, to find something more tangible and useful.
But there is more to this story than meets the eye; as its message, is the exact opposite of what we first think; but rather than delving into the heavier Colossians for some good solid Gospel teaching as I did last week; I thought, as I was on holiday, I would lighten the message, and research this strange passage to see what secrets lay hidden; and yes there are hidden secrets.
Ok, so let us first try and visualise the scene; a scene where Jesus and his disciples descend into Martha’s house, albeit on her behest. That is, 13 of them, and maybe more; and they were all weary from their travels; in need of refreshment. Now I would think that 13 strange men would be a lot to look after in anybodies household, but Martha, the kind host that she is, welcomes them and tends to there needs.
Now Martha has a sister Mary, who could not care less about their needs; she was so engrossed with Jesus that she sat at his feet, and listened to ever word he said.
So you can understand why Martha was suddenly upset, she was probably up to high doh with all this excitement, and so she needed help. Naturally she asked, or hinted to her sister Mary for help; but Mary ignored her and so in desperation, Martha then asked Jesus for a wee bit of support, to prod Mary in her direction.
But to her surprise, Jesus rebuked Martha, not Mary, saying that Mary was doing the correct thing by listening him; and she should chill out.
Do you see what I mean, this is quite a confusing message; I am on Martha’s side here and I can easily understand Martha taking a right strop here and saying “O, so it is all my fault, you wanted fed and washed, then dae it yirsel”, and then walk out in the huff. Oh dear, where do we begin?
Duty.
Well I think the first thing we should look at is Martha’s great sense of duty which I think was admirable. Duty is a good thing and we all accept our fair share; and here responsible Martha welcomed Jesus and his disciples into her home; knowing full well that she would have attended to them … to 13 + of them, and her own household.
At the same time, she would probably have to arrange washing facilities for them, ablutions, and possible their laundry. And if that was not enough, she would have to provide sleeping quarters, then a breakfast and then equip them for the next day’s journey; that is if they intended to leave the next day. That is a lot of duty, and we can see why Martha is concerned.
What do we know then about Martha?
So, what do we know then about Martha? Well from John 11 we know she had two siblings, Mary and Lazarus; (yes the same Lazarus that Jesus would later raise from the dead); and we also know that Martha was loved by Jesus.
We also know from John 12 that Martha prepared, and served a dinner in Jesus’ honour shortly before his death; and from Luke 10 we know Martha owned her own home and that she was a lavish host.
So using logic, one could assume that Martha had money, and liked to entertain. Jesus and the disciples liked Martha, and I am sure they looked forward to this visit.
Now, I don’t know if you are a proponent of the birth order theory or not … but, Alfred Adler, a contemporary of Sigmund Freud was one of the first to argue that birth order leaves an impression on an individual. He believed that children have distinct personality traits that are directly related from their order of birth within a family.
Martha was the oldest of three children, and according to this theory, firstborns are typically serious, conscientious, organised, responsible, and also anxious.
Martha was clearly duty-bound, conscientious and responsible; and was therefore focused and absorbed on her duties towards her guests. The good host that she was, sort of got off on it, if you know what I mean, you know, like someone on drugs, she got a buzz from providing hospitality and showing off her ability as a good host.
But the elaborate preparations for dinner obviously got hold of Martha, and she was enjoying it. To an extend we love the Martha’s and their male counterparts in this world. They are the doers, and without them nothing would get done; and they save us the bother of us doing things ourselves. The Martha’s like to be at the centre of things, they like to be in charge, and they are the type of people who just cannot rest; I meant they can be a right pain if they are dragging you with them as nothing is ever good enough.
Yet, by contrast, in our story, we have another sister whose name is Mary; and when we place them side by side, we see that Mary is the exact opposite of Martha. Mary is focused on Jesus, and she wants to listen to him, and get as far away from the compulsive Martha as possible.
So what do we know about Mary? Well from John 11, we know Mary was also loved by Jesus, and most probably lived with Mary and Lazarus in Bethany.
Mary was very expressive in her devotion to Jesus having later poured a bottle of expensive perfume over Jesus’ feet the week before his trial and crucifixion in John 12.
Mary sat at the feet of Jesus as a disciple sits before his or her teacher; and not at his side which would have been a special seat of honour. Mary sat at his feet, a seat of humility; basking in his presence, and feasting on his every word. Mary listened, and listened with care, to the words of Jesus.
Now, returning to the birth order theory I mentioned earlier, it is likely that Mary was the youngest of the three children; where the youngest child of the family is viewed as the party animal, the entertainer who is unafraid to test his or her luck; the baby of the family, and outgoing charmer.
While this is certainly not true of all youngest siblings, supporters of this theory state that the youngest of the family is an endearing, and delightful friend; often babied or "pampered"; and as we know "pampering" can lead to dependence, selfishness and irresponsibility.
Duty perceives devotion, as the shirking of duty.
Our story now hinges on responsible Martha’s reaction to her sister Mary, whom she perceives to be irresponsible; and so Martha went to Jesus and said in Luke 10:40 and I will try an quote with attitude, “Doesn’t it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me.”
Martha, the good host, just could not neglect her guests and could not keep it in any longer. I am sure she too was a devoted follower of Jesus as well, and I am sure she wanted to sit at the feet of Jesus, but she was also attending her other duties that just had to be done.
I would guess that she would miss half of the stories Jesus was telling, even the punch lines, or she would her the punch lines without the stories. Martha was so focused on the household that I am sure it irritated Jesus.
I then imagine Martha being subtle in her attempts to get Mary’s attention; probably slamming a few cupboard doors and rattled some dishes, but Mary was not for moving; and that is why we see Martha charging into the living room where they were probably all gathered; and, rather than simply saying, “Mary, would you come and give me a hand,” she spoke to Jesus and ask that he intervene. ‘Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.’
Now we call what Martha did here what we call in engineering as triangulation, to find a fixed point from two other points a known distance apart. Triangulation in interpersonal relationships happens when two people are in conflict, and rather than resolving their disagreement themselves, they involve or entangle a third person in an attempt to avoid or diffuse their conflict.
In families when a child does not get what they wants from one parent, they may go to the other parent hoping that that parent will over-rule or exert sufficient pressure on the other parent to get them to change their mind. We are all familiar with this, it also happens when one child is unhappy, and runs to the parent complaining, “Mum, he hit me…” but they normally missing out the bit why they hit them.
And so you see Martha putting Jesus in that uncomfortable position, with a baited statement and … so would Jesus place value on the worker or the worshiper; would Jesus honour the busy or the lazy learner; would Jesus support Martha and shame Mary or would Jesus support Mary and shame Martha? Can you see how complex this was, and how Jesus was put on the spot.
Martha was bluntly asking Jesus to take sides thinking it was about time somebody spoke to Mary about her attitude, and so Jesus, placed in the role of mediator answered in verse 41 “Martha, Martha, you are so upset over these details! There is only one thing worth being concerned about and Mary has found it, and I won’t take it away from her.”
Jesus was not condemning Martha, he was the recipient of her gracious hospitality, but in the story it is clear Martha was obsessed with the detail; and was obviously in a panic.
Jesus was telling her here, that he was more interested in her, rather than all the fine trimmings of the meal. He wasn’t worried if he was given the wrong fork, or wrong dinner plate, he was saying, he was more interest in Martha herself. He was trying to relieve the situation; he was trying to calm Martha down.
The words worried or anxious and upset tell us that Jesus could see that there was turmoil going on inside Martha; and to side with Martha against Mary would only make the situation worse; as Martha would only find more things wrong, or more work to be done.
Look at the last week’s service, everything that could go wrong did, but with your support, not condemnation, we had a good service. The lesson here is about being so consumed by duty and details that you throw out all that is important.
Over the years I have seen all sorts of panic happen at the Altar, because various elements are not as they should. Nothing serious has ever happened, but you would never have believed what goes on behind the scenes by the way some people react.
This is all Old Testament condemnation; and one of my favourite scriptures to counter act this is Romans 8:1 which says, “There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit”.
I never saw this before in this passage, but Jesus here is living out this verse. By asking Mary to help Martha would be saying that what Martha was doing was not enough, and she needed Mary to help. What Jesus was saying was, everything is fine Martha, take it easy, I love you regardless.
Can you see the hidden condemnation? Jesus is not interested in the details that we get so worked up from; he is concerned about us, and how we live. If we focus on these Old Testament details, we will never grow, we will never be good enough, and we will never achieve his will. I did not sit down to write a Gospel sermon, yet here we have one, one where Jesus shows us the gospel by living it.
But it is the Martha’s and their male counterparts who must be reminded, that although one can be a devoted doer, doers can become so wrapped up in their own detail, so much so that they have no time to sit, listen, study, meditate or even pray.
They do not, (and I struggle to take my own advice here), must learn to see what is important, what are extras and what is totally unnecessary.
Amen.
Let us pray.
Father we thank you for Jesus. We thank you that he died on the cross to set us free.
We thank you that we are no longer under condemnation; but under grace; grace that Jesus paid for by his life.
Father, continually teach us what is important in life; let us focus and excel in those things which matter; let us discern those things which are extras and unnecessary; and do let ourselves get bogged down in unnecessary detail like Martha.
Father show us that you love us … regardless of our faults; cleanse and take away all sin that is holding us back. Clear our consciences, and free our minds so that we can think, pray and plan our lives in a manner that is pleasing to you; to be the people you want us to be.
Father we ask in Jesus name,
Amen.
PS. My thanks to the Monty Newton for his help and inspiration in preparing this sermon and I hope he approves of how I have enjoyed putting this sermon together.
