The Better Part? - Lectionary Reflection for Pentecost 6C - Proper 11 (Luke 10)
38 Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. 39 She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying. 40 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.” 41 But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; 42 there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.”
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Much has been written about Mary
and Martha, the two sisters of Bethany who represent two different visions of discipleship. One is active and the other contemplative. One is perhaps overly concerned about being the "proper host." She is the exemplar of the person, usually a woman, who wants to make sure that guests feel welcomed and that the meal is served properly and on time. The other sister seems to be rather unconcerned about such things. Instead of
helping out in the kitchen, she takes her place at the feet of the teacher, abandoning her sister who is at work in the kitchen. Thus, one sister takes on the
traditional female role, while the other takes on a more traditional male role (that of learner/disciple).
Who are these two sisters and what can we learn from their story?
I should point out that these two sisters also appear in the Gospel of John (John 11). While the names and the relationship are the same, they play a different roles in John's Gospel. For one thing, John, unlike Luke, names the village (Bethany) in which they live. In John's Gospel, they also have a brother named Lazarus. If we're talking about the same family you would think Luke would mention a brother. Since he says he's interested in historical things, you would think he would name the village. Of course, the stories differ in context. In John 11, Martha and Mary are grieving the death of their brother, whom Jesus seems to have a rather close relationship with. There are similarities, but many differences. So, it might be best if we don't conflate the two stories, even if we're talking about the same sisters.
If we stick with Luke's version and don't bring in any details from John's Gospel, then we have before us two sisters who exemplify two ways of being a disciple. Martha is a doer. She sees the problem and gets busy rectifying things. That's important when you have guests, especially when one of those guests---Jesus---has a tendency to draw a crowd. On the other hand, we have Mary, who seems to exemplify the contemplative life or at least the life of the learner. As I noted earlier, Martha fills a more traditional role
than does Mary, for taking the role of the disciple is traditionally a male
role. However, Luke does seem interested in lifting up women who take on the
role of a disciple. The question is, who is making the right choice? Who represents your model of discipleship?
Though now retired, after several decades of serving congregations as a
pastor, I understand the need to make the church building a welcoming
place. At least pre-COVID, that can include making sure there are teachers and caregivers for the children. Hopefully, someone
will set things up for the after-church fellowship time. It doesn’t have to be
elaborate. There just has to be something set out to facilitate
fellowship—coffee, water, and maybe a few cookies are sufficient—so that people don’t leave too
quickly. Of course, the Lord’s Table needs to be set. There’s a lot that goes
into getting ready for "church." It's easy to get distracted on Sunday morning. While I tend not to worry about the coffee hour, I can get anxious if the worship leader or elders, or sound technician hasn't arrived at a time I feel is appropriate. When I'm tasked with making sure Sunday morning comes off smoothly, I can get
quite a few steps in on Sunday morning in the minutes before worship. That
said, when it’s time for the service to start I hope that everyone is ready to worship God. So, we may need to
be Martha before worship, but once worship starts, then perhaps Mary
should be our model.
In this reading, Martha
comes to Jesus, demanding that he tell Mary to join her in the kitchen. Maybe
she thinks it’s unseemly for her sister to be hanging out with the men. Or, maybe
she has too many items in the oven and needs her sister's assistance. We simply don’t know,
except that she wants Jesus to intervene.
Jesus
responds to Martha’s request by telling her that she's become too distracted by the details of hospitality. Therefore, she’s missing the point of his
visit. Even if we understand Martha’s concerns about her situation, what should we make
of Jesus telling her that Mary has made the better choice? It’s intriguing that
this story follows immediately after Jesus tells the parable of the Good
Samaritan, wherein Jesus tells the lawyer to “go and do likewise.” In that conversation, Jesus commends the one who offers hospitality. That is what a neighbor does. The good neighbor stops and helps the person in need, as the Samaritan did and the priest and the Levite failed to do, perhaps because they were focused on spiritual things (Luke 10:25-37). So, what gives here? Isn't Martha doing what the Samaritan did in the parable?
We might want
to try and merge Mary and Martha into one person, believing that both are needed? While that may make sense, Fred Craddock and Eugene Boring offer a different take:
It is too facile to say something like “both are needed—sometimes we need to act, and sometimes we need to sit still and listen to the word of God.” Luke’s technique is more like that of the wisdom teachers of Israel, who placed opposing truths side by side without explanation, with the tension itself provoking the reader to deeper reflection [The People’s New Testament Commentary, p. 222].
Jesus offers us his take on what is most important, but what
about that statement that allegedly comes from St. Francis of Assisi: “preach
the Gospel at all times—if necessary use words.” I hear that a lot, especially
in Mainline Protestant churches. I think we’re more comfortable with doing than
with saying, or at least we think we’re doing enough good things that people
should recognize Jesus in our deeds.
What we need, we declare, is “orthopraxy” (right actions) not “orthodoxy”
(right beliefs). If this is true then, what should we make of Jesus’
commendation of Mary for taking the role of the learner over the role of the
doer?
Ultimately, it would seem that both action and contemplation are needed, orthopraxis and orthodoxy (however we wish to define it). As theologian Douglas John Hall notes:
“Activism without contemplation ends in aimless ‘doing’ that usually aggravates
existing difficulties.” At the same time, “only the unthinking could fail to
recognize the myriad ways in which thought—including very serious biblical,
theological, and other scholarship—regularly serves the duplicitous purposes of
those who, their rhetoric notwithstanding, simply do not wish to ‘get involved’”
[Feasting on the Word, p. 264, 266]. It’s not that we’re to sometimes do and
sometimes be, but doing and being are inter-related.
Jesus
tells Martha that Mary has chosen wisely. In part, there is a sense of urgency in this part of Luke's Gospel. At this point, Jesus is heading toward Jerusalem, and perhaps in his mind, there’s little time left to learn the gospel. It's now or never. Tending to Jesus' words, not having nice dinner parties is the need of the moment. Besides that, as followers of Jesus, as his disciples,
doesn’t he deserve our full attention when he is teaching us?
On
Sunday morning I’m not the only person who gets worried and busy. Being up
front, I notice a lot of movement here and there. People seem busy doing “stuff.” Often they seem distracted from worship. So, James
A. Wallace catches something of this and offers us a word of wisdom:
This same Lord calls us to focus on him when we gather on Sunday, to move from our place of being “worried and distracted by many things” to one where we are in touch with the one thing needed. The good part that will not be taken away. There we will connect with the source that brings both peace and energy to all our undertakings. [Feasting on the Word, p. 267].
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