Here is a copy of my sermon on the Martha and Mary story. It is rather apropos considering my stage of life. Josiah managed with a bottle and a sitter for the three hours I was gone. I came home to find the whole household alive and well!For too long, this wonderful and rich--and quite radical--story about Mary and Martha has been reduced to demonizing an important attribute of womanhood. Service. Whether we like it or not, whether we think it is biological or sociological, whether we think it is nature or nurture, or whether we think it just is... The fact of the matter is that, we women, serve others. Now here is an important statement that I want you all to hear. Men serve, and are called to serve as well. There is no denying that. And, in fact, as Christian people, we are all called to serve. But, for a few minutes, please indulge me as I examine this thread of service that is unique to some aspects of womanhood.
I had my third child at the end of April--a little boy named Josiah. Now as the third baby, he probably has received the short end of the stick thus far. You know, hand-me-down clothes, worn sheets, spit-up stained car seat, and not enough alone time with mom. But, even so, I serve him night and day. Yes, diapers changed, rocked in my arms, carried in my sling, and fed. Yes, fed, whenever the little guy demands it. In fact, I wasn't sure if this sermon would ever come to fruition because Josiah would force me to type with one hand as I tried to nurse him at the same time. But, a basic fact of being a mom is serving others. Sometimes that service is an absolute joy and sometimes that service is drudgery, but it is service. To steal from Bruce Springsteen I have the words in my head "Baby you were born to serve."
So, it seems terribly unfair that Martha, in her moment of service is always pegged and plagued as the deficient sister. The sister who has the long to do list. The sister who remembers to pick-up everything at the grocery store. The sister who has ironed cloth napkins on her festive table and has baked a homemade berry cobbler. The sister who not only anticipates the needs of her guests, but also their likes. Outside of the Mary/Martha dichotomy this type of behavior is known as hostess behavior. This type of behavior is welcoming. This type of behavior is Christian service. Why is it then that Martha is typecast as the "this worldly character and Mary as the "other worldly" character?
Well, when we look at Luke's portrayal of this scenario in a cursory way, we see Jesus admonish Martha with these famous words, " Martha, Martha you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her." It even appears that out Lord and Savior falls into that dichotomous view of these wonderful sisters. Are they just caricatures of action and contemplation to him?
If we dig a bit closer, we'll see that there is another way to see this story. For one, let's establish that these women are friends of Jesus. Let's remember that in the time of Jesus, women were not accorded special status, let alone the status of friendship to wise teachers, such as Jesus. Second, let's remember where this story comes in the gospel narrative. If you were in church last week, you heard that famous story, that only appears in the Gospel of Luke, of the Good Samaritan. People of Samaria were even farther down the social ladder than Jewish women. And yet, in that story Jesus tells the story of a Samaritan who aids a wounded person on the road to Jericho. The Samaritan, the outcast, is the hero of the story. And Jesus parting words in that parable to his followers is, "Go and do likewise."
Go and do likewise, he says. And then in the next story he tells Martha just the opposite. He says don't go and do, but, rather, stop here and sit. I don't know about you, but to me it sounds like Jesus is telling us two different things. On the one hand, he is telling us to go and save the wounded traveler on the road to Jericho. In his next breath, he says, we should stop and smell the roses. What is a woman to do? What should she believe? How should she live?
Christ Church has a Moms' group. Its mission is to help women, especially with young kids, help one another so that we may become better disciples of Jesus. What's unique about this group is that we function as Martha and Mary so that we can become better Mary's. Most of us can't really do a lot of contemplative prayer. We are up early. We are making lunches. We are running out the door. No, time for praying the Daily Office in the wee hours of the morning. But, the Moms' group sets aside a time once a month where we gather for study, prayer, and Compline--with childcare. The Martha side of discipleship manifests in meals made for mothers with new babies, in projects supporting the Domestic Violence Center, and our busy, everyday lives. But, here we get to sit at Jesus' feet and lose our distractions for a while. We are Martha and Mary as a group of women disciples.
Both Martha and Mary are disciples of Jesus. We know this because Jesus is Martha's friend and is welcomed into her house. The story of Mary and Martha is a short one in which Mary never speaks. Then Martha is the one who invites Mary into her home. Martha makes it possible for Mary to sit and listen to the words of Jesus. Martha enables Mary to live into her gifts as the incense burning, Birkenstock wearing, quiet listener to the word, Jesus. Isn't the gift of this story that Jesus makes disciples of women? That Jesus shows that women are not only worthy, but can hear and proclaim the word of God? And isn't Martha a gift to Mary? Through Martha, Mary is enabled to know Jesus better than most other people in the Gospel of Luke? The only other person who has a more intimate spot with Jesus is the woman who washes his feet with her hair and anoints him with nard.
Women supporting women. Women serving women. Women being served by the word of Jesus, so, we can, in turn, "Go and do likewise." Yes, Jesus chided Martha, but he was reminding us that life in his kingdom, his household, is a life both of service and of silence. A life of servitude and solitude. A life in which there are two parts. We women, and we Christians, must always "Go and do likewise" but it is the word of God, the word of Jesus, that sends us forth. We, too, must make time to sit, so that we can live to serve.
