9th Sunday after Pentecost ---- 21 July 2013

there is need of only one thing.

• What would you do if you answered your front door and found Jesus Christ on your doorstep? Would you spend the next hour or two preparing a wonderful meal while he waited in the living room? Or would you listen to him and enjoy being in his presence?
• With this in mind, let's take a fresh look at the Gospel story of Martha and Mary. The two sisters have invited Jesus to their home. I know we all assume it's for dinner, yet the text doesn't say that. But since food is part of hospitality, let's assume the visit includes a meal.
• Mary sits at Jesus' feet, listening – the proper place and the proper attitude of a disciple. Martha on the other hand, is busy with what she considers the duties of hospitality. Eventually Martha gets to the end of her rope. She cuts loose and asks Jesus to tell Mary to help her. Jesus tells her Mary will not be deprived of “the better part” and that she is “worried and distracted.” “Distracted” is the key word here. Martha has lost sight of what is truly important. She even goes so far as to attempt to recruit Jesus into her squabble with her sister. This is a very common and very human thing to do. It's called “triangulation” and it describes a process by which one of the parties in an argument drags a third person in to support their position. Mary goes beyond that and even accuses Jesus of not caring! ("Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself?”)
• Now Martha is a good and conscientious homemaker who has busied herself with the doings of hospitality. She has forgotten that the first rule of hospitality is this: pay attention to your guest. Martha has been too busy cleaning, cooking, even complaining about her sister, and has not been listening to Jesus. Mary -who looks like a lazy lump to some people- has been attentive to Jesus, despite Martha's complaining. Mary's attention was on Jesus; Martha's was on the chores. Yes, the chores need to be done, but while the guest is there, true hospitality is to pay attention to them.
• This verse has been used to compare prayer and action, often by people who want the church to stick to “spiritual things” rather than get involved in issues of social action. There have been times when the story was used to try to prove the superiority of monastic life over the normal life people lead. In truth, neither of these points are being made.
• The point being made has more to do with discipleship than how to make a person welcome in your home. Discipleship leads to imitation, so discipleship begins with listening and watching. Mary is the example of discipleship in this story. She has taken attention to Jesus as her priority. Martha is distracted. The original language of Luke's Gospel uses a word that implies being pulled or dragged in different directions. So Jesus gently chides her for her distraction.

• Note that Jesus does not criticize Martha for doing what she does. He never says she has done something wrong, just that she is not doing the one thing necessary.
• We all know that there are things that need to be done each day and things that need to be done whenever the church gathers. We all know that our congregations could not get along without the “Marthas” among us. I hope we are sufficiently grateful for these people and for all they do. If there are Marthas, are there Marys? I don't think any congregation could get along without the Marys among them either.
• The same goes for our personal lives and our relationship with God. We can get too busy, even doing mission, to sit and listen. Believe it or not, sitting and listening can be a harder thing than being busy. Discipleship with its sitting and listening requires different values and priorities. We can no longer measure our worth simply by what we do. (If there is a signature sin of North American society, this is it.) When we listen and really hear what Jesus is saying to us, the Word will motivate us to action some way or another. The one thing needed then is not being busy about many, many things; that can be a way of covering up emptiness. The one thing needed is to listen to the One who speaks to our hearts. That will lead to action and mission, like dawn leads to day.
• If Jesus comes to our front door, we'd need to ask ourselves why he's there. If he's come to try our butter tarts or apple crisp, by all means, roll out the best ones. If he's come to spend time with us, we might first offer tea or coffee, and then sit down and really listen.