United Protestant Campus Ministries in Cleveland

MARY AND MARTHA

A sermon by Dr. Hauenstein originally delivered at Euclid Avenue Congregational Church in Cleveland, Ohio.

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Luke 10: 38-42

Now as they 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."

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There are surprising elements to the story of Mary and Martha. Things that don't pop out at us as we read this rather succinct account of the story. On the surface of things, the point of the story is clear: Jesus visits the home of Mary and Martha and the two sisters make very different choices about how to respond to Jesus' presence. One of them, Mary, sits down at his feet and listens to his teaching. The other, Martha, apparently, goes off to do some work.

Martha comes back to the room where Jesus and Mary are and complains that her sister has left Martha to do all the work related to the visit. And she asks for Jesus' support in this little tiff with her sister. "Don't you care that he has left me to do everything?" And what Jesus says to Martha, in so many words, is: Mary is doing what is right and proper. In this situation in which the two of you find yourselves, Mary has chosen "the better part."

Now, over the years, I've used this text several times for sermons and in Bible study classes and I know from responses I've heard that regardless of what Jesus reportedly says here, some people are inevitably on Mary's side and some are going to be on Martha's side, sensitive to the fact that each of them was trying to do what they believed to be right.

And those of you on Martha's side have more ammunition for your argument than you might know. It is an unquestionable custom of the day in Jesus' time -- it is the code of hospitality which exists in his day in the Middle East -- that when someone comes to your door, be it a friend or even a stranger, or sojourner, that when someone comes to your home to visit you welcome them and prepare them a meal.

Martha is doing exactly what she was expected to do -- what anyone would do when someone came to call -- the right and proper thing. It would be expected. It was the socially acceptable thing to do. And unless there was some major reason why it could not be done, what Martha did in this text would be done every time someone came to visit. Imagine, then, her surprise at Jesus' response.

Even more.....Mary..... has done something which is not only unusual, but socially unacceptable in her time. According to every custom of the day, she should be assisting Martha. The hospitality code and other customs of that time allowed for nothing else. And yet, she sits down at Jesus' feet and listens to his teaching. Now, what I am about to say would not be true in our day, but it is impossible to over-emphasize the importance of the fact that in their day, a woman was not permitted to fill the role of a disciple. It was socially unacceptable. Only males could serve as disciples to the great teachers of the day; only males could discuss with their teacher the meanings and nuances of the Torah and other religious writings. And that is important to this story, as well.

By doing what she does, Mary not only violates a clear social boundary, but when you understand the social code of the first century, she does something worse!

An action like this, if discovered by others in the little community of Bethany, would bring shame upon her household. So strong were the pressures to accede to the social customs of the day. It is hard for us to relate to this, or to understand it in its context, but to go outside the social customs was to risk your reputation and that of your family, and that was a very serious thing.

So what happens in this story is totally opposed to expectations. Now, that is not something new to Jesus, either in terms of his actions or his teachings. He continually got into trouble for challenging the social and religious traditions of his day. So his actions in this text are not surprising; it is simply important to know that they are quite radical. No one who did not understand Jesus would have expected them. When Martha makes what was by every indication a justifiable protest about the action of her sister, Jesus surprisingly sides with Mary.

So what does this mean for us? What could this antiquated social code have to do with twentieth-century people living in Cleveland, Ohio? What difference could it possibly make in our lives?

Obviously, the social customs of our day are very different. It is no longer a question of whether or not women have the same rights as men. There is no question that Mary's right to do what she did would be acceptable today. And the hospitality code in twentieth-century America is certainly not comparable to that of the Middle East in the first century. There are remnants of it. For instance, we still want to welcome guests and provide them with food or coffee. But it would certainly be hard to imagine in our day that a total stranger could walk up to our door and would be immediately and without question invited into the home for a meal and lodging, if necessary. Yet, strangers, or sojourners, were as welcome as friends according to the hospitality code of Jesus' time.

So parts of the story are lost in context. But other parts are not. And two parts of this story, in particular, are as meaningful today as they were in biblical times.

The first has to do with social custom as opposed to what is clearly right and just. Someone in a study group one time referred to Mary as the first liberated woman. I think if we read the Hebrew scriptures faithfully, we will find others before her -- certainly Rachel and Ruth would come to mind -- but I do believe that Jesus becomes the first significant male religious figure in history to recognize the equality of women.

I remind you again that this is an issue that would get him into trouble. Jesus continually engages women in public conversation, which is against the social and religious code. Men were not to speak to women in public. Jesus did so, and on a regular basis. He turned that religious and social code upside down.

And that is the theme of the 10^th chapter of Luke. The story immediately preceding this one in the tenth chapter is the parable of the Good Samaritan. The Jews hated the people of Samaria. If you think of our worst national enemy, that is how the Jews felt about the Samaritans. And in the story, there is a wounded man on the side of the road. The Jewish religious leaders pass by on the other side of the road. We have all heard the story. But what we might not realize is how surprising it would have been for his listeners when Jesus picked as the hero of the story....the national enemy...the hated Samaritan.

So in the 10^th chapter of Luke, Jesus is represented as suggesting that a Samaritan is equal to a Jew in loving one's neighbor, and now, in the story of Mary and Martha, Jesus is saying that a woman is equal to a man in loving God. It is simply impossible for us to fully comprehend how much those suggestions would have upset the people of Jesus' day. It was not by accident.... that Jesus was crucified.

So this is the passage's first lesson for our present day. The lesson of Mary. The lesson of what Mary did right.

The passage suggests that a faith consistent with who Jesus was... is going to be in the forefront when it comes to issues of social justice when it is time to "upset the apple cart" and make it clear that God's love is not limited to our likes and dislikes, be they personal or national, but instead that God's reign is over all of Creation and that God's intention is to one day claim all of Creation. No one will be left out. Jesus had a universal vision...an inclusive vision.

The second lesson is that of the continuing struggle in our own minds in trying to understand this "Mary and Martha issue." Who's right? Who's wrong? On whose side should we be? Well, that's not an easy question. It is made more difficult by the fact that the word in the text which is used to describe Martha's "work" that is so distracting translates in the Greek as the word "service." That makes the question: what is more important, our devotion or our service?

The text suggests that our devotion is more important. Jesus says to Martha: "...there is need of only one thing: Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her." There is little question as to how that verse is to be interpreted. But let's think about that for a moment, and especially what it is trying to say to us which can benefit us in our everyday life. "....one thing is needed...."

I cannot believe, given the rest of the Gospel message, that Jesus is trying to say that Christian service is not important. It is a serious mistake to take a passage like this one so much out of the context of the entire New Testament as to suggest that. Clearly, the New Testament is a call for discipleship and for each of us, in our own way, using the best of our gifts and talents, to go out into the world as disciples to heal and to teach. Why, then, this text? Let me speak from things I've seen in my ministry.... and through my life, for that matter.

My high school and college years were in the sixties, a tremendous time of social change and of wanting to change the world. There was tremendous energy expended on all of that, to the point where many of my friends and colleagues in various fields found themselves simply burned out at some point and unable to care much anymore. Disillusioned. Angry. Frustrated.

We wanted to change the world, but the world didn't change as quickly as we wanted it to. The goal was worthy. Peace with justice for all people. But it just turned out after awhile to be too hard to accomplish, too discouraging when it didn't "magically" happen after a number of years. And when it didn't happen quickly enough, all the energy was sapped. For many, there was no way to replenish it.

You see, that's what Mary knew. And that's what Jesus knew that Mary knew. Jesus himself had to go to the wilderness now and again....to get away...to pray and to meditate...so that he could be effective in the world. So that he could renew his energy and his spirit. So that he could take advantage of that time with God which rejuvenates the spirit within us. It is virtually impossible to do that in the midst of our everyday work. Or at least we can admit that if Jesus himself needed to get away from it all sometimes that it's a good bet we will need to do that, too. To find the place to replenish our Spirit. To find the way to renew our Soul. If we don't, our energy will leave us. Our ability to serve will be compromised. And, like Martha, we will be distracted more than aware.

The passage invites us to return to the well often -- to the wellspring --to our God when we need to replenish our Spirit. And the Good News of the Gospel is that there is a wellspring available to us that never goes dry: that when we are truly seeking the living water -- when we put our entire focus on God --we will surely find that renewal and it will give us the strength we need to go on.

That's the promise. That's the "better part" of which Jesus speaks in this text. It is essential. Take time regularly...to be alone with God. Your life will be blessed. And no matter what difficulties you face or the challenges before you, you will be given everything you need.

© Kim A. Hauenstein