Pentecost: Martha of Bethany

 Last week we looked at Mary of Bethany, sister to Martha and Lazarus. This week we meet Martha who so often gets a bad rap for being ‘too busy’ to ‘sit at Jesus’ feet.’ Martha was, really, doing the ordinary things that a housewife needs to do when there is a crowd in the house. She was preparing dinner and getting rooms ready for the guests to sleep in. She was ministering to Jesus and his friends.

I think it’s perfectly understandable that she was a bit testy about Mary just sitting with Jesus and the other men. Aside from the social restrictions mentioned last week, Mary truly wasn’t helping. The Very Rev. Kristi Maulden preached on this scene a few weeks ago. She suggested some alternative scenarios, including Jesus saying, “come on everyone, let’s help Martha.”

I wonder what might have happened if Jesus had said that. We’ve all been at family and church gatherings where the same sort of situation happens. There are the kitchen workers and there are the rest of the people sitting around and visiting. It never occurs to the kitchen workers to ask for help because they are busy and perhaps happily involved in making sure everything is perfect and the food is nice and hot. It also doesn’t cross the minds of those chatting and making everyone feel at ease to ask if there is anything they can do to help.

In fact, I suspect that those not in the kitchen have offered their help sometime in the past and been told “No, we have it all taken care of.” It’s simply sometimes easier to do it yourself than explain to someone else what needs done.

If Jesus had suggested that he and his disciples pitch in to help Martha get the food on the table and the beds made, I wonder what sort of chaos might have resulted. Perhaps it would have been a joyful time, or perhaps it would have caused more stress for Martha as she saw her wonderfully made plans being messed up.

Would she have said, “Oh no, the hummus doesn’t go in that bowl”? Or would she have let James use whatever he found? Would she have fretted that the wrong blanket was used on the special guest bed reserved for Jesus? Would she have rejoiced in the helping hands that got the meal on the table in record time, or would she have been appalled at the way it looked?

If you are a Martha, you know that you have trouble delegating tasks to someone who might do it differently (i.e. wrong). If you are a Mary, you are just as happy to not have to deal with the details of whether the fruit looks better in that bowl or on that platter.

We each have gifts. Martha’s gift was the hospitality of a homemaker. Mary’s gift was the hospitality of a listener. It’s fortunate we aren’t all alike or the table might never get set, nor would the newcomer feel welcomed because someone said ‘hello’ and asked where she was from.

The shared gifts of all of us is what makes the world work. When we try to force someone to do something they aren’t gifted at, we can both get frustrated.

Perhaps when she was less tired and frazzled from getting everything done, Martha was able to appreciate Mary’s gift of simply listening to Jesus. And maybe Mary was able to understand that Martha was just a little tired after baking all morning.

What gifts do you have that make you a Mary, or a Martha? Maybe sometimes you are one and sometimes the other…?

Pentecost: Mary of Bethany

 It was an ordinary day when Jesus came to the house of his friends Mary and Martha of Bethany. Ordinary, just like the days of the Season of Pentecost. As school preparations start, and the new school year begins, a new routine and new daily ordinary fall into place. Perhaps that’s what really happened in Bethany 2000 years ago.

We hear that Jesus arrived and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. That, in itself, is noteworthy. Martha is the head of the household and welcomes Jesus and his friends. It wasn’t her brother Lazarus or their parents. Then something even more extraordinary happens. Her sister, Mary, sat at the Lord’s feet, listening to what he taught. (Luke 10:38-39) That a woman would dare to sit in the company of men, and be taught by the rabbi was really counter-cultural. Mary was ushering in a new norm. She was setting the stage for a new ordinary. We talked about expectations earlier this month. The cultural expectation for Mary was to be a silent observer in the background, serving the men but not participating in their discussions.

Perhaps that is what makes her sister so sharp-tongued. Perhaps Martha is concerned about ‘what the neighbors will think.’ We’ll talk more about Martha next week. Today, we are looking at Mary’s actions and Jesus’ response to them.

Instead of sending Mary off to do ‘women’s work,’ he tacitly allows her to join the disciples by telling Martha There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her. (Luke 10:42)

Often the comparison is drawn between being contemplative and sitting at Jesus feet, vs. doing work. Mary was doing more than just sitting and adoring. She was listening and learning from Jesus. That gave her the ability to share the Gospel along with the men. A medieval French legend says that after the Resurrection, Mary and Martha arrive in southern France where they evangelize the population with Mary teaching, and Martha defeating a dragon with a cross and holy water!

Mary of Bethany is a woman of courage who can inspire us to step outside our normal, ordinary lives and take a step of faith. She heard and was inspired by Jesus. She set a new norm for her family.

What old normal, ordinary habits of study, prayer, work, life do you think have finished their useful life? Is God calling you into a new normal, even if it’s just a different prayer habit or taking a walk each day? Who knows where it will lead?

Fourth Sunday of Advent

Purify our conscience, Almighty God, by your daily visitation, that your Son Jesus Christ, at his coming, may find in us a mansion prepared for himself; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.

Today we enter the final few days before Christmas. In the secular world this is a hectic time of last minute gifts, parties, baking, and other preparations. In the world of church workers, the same is often true. There are the last minute rehearsals for pageants, anthems, and final touches to put on the Christmas decorations for the altar.

The collect calls us to something much different. We are reminded that Jesus is present and that we are ‘mansions’ that we make ready for God. That is hard to do when you are busy, busy with details and worried that things might not be just right.

Martha, sister of Lazarus and Mary, faced that same issue while fixing a meal for Jesus and his disciples when they visited. Jesus reminds her that there is another way, and that simple can sometimes be better. 

As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” 

“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”(Luke 10:28-42)

Martha was fretting about having just the perfect feast and forgetting that true hospitality involves spending time with the guests. Jesus wants to be our guest this Advent and Christmas, and every day. This week's chain is here.
Do we take time to welcome Him into our homes, our mansions?