Hospitality, and then...

Martha wants all of the physical arrangements to be in order for the visit; it takes time and very hard work to prepare the room, prepare the food, and makes sure the people and the things are all in their proper places.

Mary wants everything to be right also; it is right to be paying rapt attention to Jesus wherever he is and with whatever he is speaking.

They are both right, and yet there is tension between the two, when Mary does not offer help to Martha when it is expected.

Often times over the centuries this passage has been used to beat up on Martha and to commend Mary for doing the right thing.

It has been fueled also by translating a Greek word in a particular way.

“Mary has chosen a ____ part.”

The word that fills the blank there is “good”.

My lexicon says that it can sometimes be used as a comparative or superlative, as “better” or “best,” but it does not have to be translated in either of those ways; it can simply remain “good.”

When Mary's approach has been valued over that of Martha, there have been some unfortunate results.

A life of contemplation has for some persons been more highly valued than a life of action.

The medieval monks who prayed were regarded as more important than the serfs who worked the fields.

I don't think that Jesus was trying to pit Mary and Martha against each other, nor any of us since then.

We clearly need to have both thought and action; we need to listen carefully to what Jesus is saying, and we need also to be diligent in acting upon it and doing the supportive work that is needed.

Not one without the other.

Mary's actions are good; so are Martha's.

The question remains as to why Jesus would call special attention to Mary's actions.

Perhaps it is because they were less expected in that time and place.

First, Jesus enters the home of two women, with no mention of a man being present.

This is not the usual way of doing things, but Jesus seems to confound social expectations everywhere he goes.

Martha undertakes the normal tasks of hospitality, the things that simply need to be done for a visitor, to make Jesus comfortable in their home.

These are good things, and Martha is not condemned for doing them.

Mary gives up the tasks, though, and sits at Jesus feet and listens carefully.

This is not the action of a “groupie.” , just hanging around someone famous.

This is the posture of a student, a learner, a disciple... to sit at the feet of the master teacher and learn from him.

And one who learns also receives an obligation to share what has been learned, to become in turn a teacher of others in whatever opportunities and venues are opened to her.

This is something different than the usual expectation in that time and place, but Jesus calls it “good,” right along with all of the things that Martha does.

Martha's problem was that she was blind to the possibility that there could be another appropriate role for Mary or indeed for herself!

Just as Mary need to do things as well as listen, so Martha needs to listen as well as be busy in the kitchen.

It is both/and, for Mary and Martha, and also for us.

There are those who say that the essence of Christianity is in action, and worship is a waste of time.

There are those who come to worship and never give the faith another thought all the rest of the week.

Both groups are wrong and short-sighted.

We need to spend time at the feet of Jesus, in study, worship, and adoration,

and that needs also to move on into hospitality for Jesus in the rest of the world, so that others can hear what we have heard.

And so that others can share in the material resources that God has entrusted to our management.

Back in 1957, the great theologian Karl Barth preached a sermon entitled “All” in a Swiss jail.

He referred to a verse in Romans where Paul notes that we are all caught up in disobedience so that God may show mercy to all.

We've all heard of persons who talk about “searching for themselves.”

When the search is undertaken without reference to God, it is hollow and empty.

We really don't know who we are until we discern for what purpose God has created us.

“Mercy for all” is the promise conveyed through Paul.

Sometimes we wish that this “all” did not include a particular person or persons whom we do not like.

But it is not up to us to try to exclude anyone from the “yes” of God's mercy, but rather to share what we have learned at the feet of Jesus, and let the Spirit take care of making something good happen because of it.

Remember that Barth was preaching in a jail where he didn't have to work hard to get everyone to realize that they were prisoners.

“All” of us, too, are prisoners – some enslaved by utopian dreams, others by illness, economic expectations, or the fear of death.

Our root imprisonment is disobedience to God.

When he says to listen, we babble; when he says to get busy, we turn away.

All of us are caught up in this problem, all of us.

Jesus makes it clear to us: first he shows us a merciful God and the greatness of God's promise to us , and then he also shows us the depth and the scope of our disobedience until Jesus makes clear how we have “sinned and fallen short of the glory of God,” as scripture says.

In Jesus, God shows forth his own glory in that he is merciful to the disobedient.

Joy is born when we renounce any attempt to be something more than ones who are prisoners of disobedience, so that God can have mercy upon us all.”

All are perpetrators of disobedience; all are recipients of mercy.

Here is Good News indeed.

This is the mystery of the God who refuses to be God all alone; “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us,” and ...”From his fullness we have received, grace upon grace.”

This brings us to one final point.

Both the bustling Martha and the attentive Mary are involved in good things, but they have missed an important point, and that is the role reversal that takes place.

Wherever Jesus is, he takes over, and instead of being a guest, he becomes the host of the event.

Think of other episodes, such as the wedding at Cana, where he directs the action, improves the party, and transforms its outcome.

Or the Transfiguration, where the disciples try to organize things, but are quickly shushed by Jesus.

Or, Jesus in the hometown synagogue where after being given the privilege of reading the scripture for the day, announces that “Today this scripture is being fulfilled in your hearing.”

Or, any of the healing stories which turn into confrontations with the Pharisees and their question “Who is this that forgives sin?”

And there are many more such examples.

Jesus takes over today also.

It is true in this gathering today.

From the architect's design of the room,

to the ordering of the service,

to the attitude of those who enter quietly – all these are saying that this is Jesus' place and we are all his welcomed guests.

We are receiving his hospitality, and by fits and starts, with Mary and Martha, we are learning how to share it.

This is his Good News to us.

Amen.

Please note: The preceding sermon is provided as a resource for the thought, prayer, and meditation of the members and friends of St. Mark's. It is the residue of a verbal event, and thus it does not have academic footnotes and other details that would be expected in a written document. The writer gladly acknowledges the prior thought and work of many Christians before him.