Sermon, July 22, 2001
6 Pentecost – Proper 11, Year C
The Rev. Lowell E. Grisham
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, Arkansas

Gospel -- Luke 10:38-42

Jesus with Martha and Mary Martha is doing the right thing. She is working hard in the kitchen to prepare an appropriate kosher meal for their special guest. But Mary... Mary is sitting with Jesus in conversation with him as if she were a man! What Mary is doing is unacceptable behavior. She is flaunting all of the conventions of polite company and even thumbing her nose at the interpretation of the laws of holy scripture. In the Mishnah we read: "Let thy house be a meeting-house for the Sages and sit amid the dust of their feet and drink in their words with thirst, but talk not much with womankind." What Mary is doing is unthinkable in the eyes of the good people of her community. She is disrespecting traditional social boundaries and roles. She is acting like black people walking into restaurants in the 1960's and gay people getting married in the 1990's. She's making people uncomfortable. Most certainly, she is embarrassing and angering her sister Martha.

"Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me." Leaving unsaid what she's thinking, "Get her out of there! Who does she think she is? If the neighbors see this, we are scandalized."

Martha is simply doing what society expects of her. She's busy here and there making sure that all is properly prepared for her guest. She wants it to be just right. And that's a good thing. She's showing her respect and love for Jesus in her own way. In the proper and traditional way. 

Maybe all would have been just fine if she had done her work in peace, allowing her considerable preparations to be her offering to Jesus. Maybe Jesus would have spoken to her with his knowing and loving way, "Martha, Martha, what a lovely meal. Your gift of hospitality speaks eloquently of your love. Thank you and God bless you." 

But that's not what happened. Instead, she decided to get into her sister's business. She wants to set Mary straight. Maybe she is just overburdened by the work in front of her. But then again, maybe Martha is embarrassed that her sister is doing something that could bring them shame.

"Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me."
"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."

I like the way Jesus says her name twice. It sounds like a way to be caring and compassionate as well as gently chiding. If Jesus were from the South he might have said, "Martha, bless your heart."He can see the anxiety she is mired in. He sees her running here and there trying to be the perfect hostess, distracted and pulled apart. He would like to liberate her from her anxiety. He also knows the social conventions. He understands Martha's fears over Mary's unconventional behavior. But more importantly, Jesus can recognize that Mary is claiming her full human freedom, actively resisting the discrimination inherited by generations and centuries of tradition. And Jesus has come to set people free. So he stands up for Mary. He defends her choice as "the better part."

"Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part." What is this enigmatic phrase, "There is need of only one thing." What is that one thing? It is obviously connected with Mary's choice. It may be connected to Luke's wider narrative as well. Last week you heard the story that precedes this one, the story of the Good Samaritan. A lawyer asks Jesus "what must I do to inherit eternal life?"And he gives the correct answer to his own question, "You shall love the Lord you God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and (love) your neighbor as yourself." Jesus commends him, "Do this and you will live." Then Jesus tells the story of the good Samaritan as a model of what it means to love your neighbor as yourself.

For Luke, maybe this story of Martha and Mary offers a model of what it means to love God by loving God‚s Son Jesus. At this meal, Mary has chosen the best portion of the menu -- sitting and enjoying conversation with Jesus, who is God's word and messenger. She's found the right priority. Loving God is giving attention to the divine presence, which is in our lives at all times, the "one needful thing." It is the first commandment -- to love the Lord our God with all our heart, soul, strength and mind.
Love can be loving action, Luke has shown that by his previous story about the good Samaritan. Martha's meal preparation could have been done with a loving spirit. But Mary's action and passion break new, important ground. She engages in intimate conversation with Jesus even as she acts in a socially defiant way to claim the fruits of what his words are all about. Hers is a doing that comes out of being. Martha is worried and distracted, her focus is on the things and the busyness of her life. Mary and the Samaritan are free and centered, their focus is on the spirit and the lovingness of life.

How much of your own action is free and centered, grounded in the presence of God here and now, focused on the spirit and lovingness of life? How much of your life is bounded instead by social convention? How much of your life is consumed by the worry and distraction of many things? What would it take to cultivate the attention to the "one needful thing"? What would happen if we chose the better part -- loving God, neighbor and self?

What God wants is to be in intimate relationship with us -- divine loving presence, the "one needful thing." God wants us to be able to relax, to sit and listen, to be in conversation. God is always preparing meals for us -- manna and quail in the wilderness, bread and wine at this table. God invites us to shed our distractions and anxiety and to cling to the better part. Enjoy this banquet, calmly and graciously prepared for you. Sit at God's feet and be present. Listen and learn; laugh and be healed; relax and be free. It's all really pretty simple. Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and (love) your neighbor as yourself. Choose the better part. It will not be taken away from you.
Thanks to a posting on "propertalk" for the idea about Mary's action's unconventional character.