Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is

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1 Amos 8:1-12; Ps 52; Col 1:15-28; Luke 10:38-42 Trinity Episcopal Church 8 th Sunday After Pentecost, Year C-July 22, 2007 The Rev. Linda Spiers 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. (Luke 10:42). It s very easy for us to take the part of Martha or Mary and put one against the other saying one is better than the other. Luke s writer is the only one that tells the story just this way. In John we hear of Mary and Martha as sisters of Lazarus who later died. (John 11:1-45). They live in Bethany just outside of Jerusalem. At Lazarus death Martha goes out to meet Jesus while Mary stays at home. At dinner after Jesus has raised Lazarus from the dead, Mary washes Jesus feet with her hair (John 12:1-3). In today s story Jesus has made the turn toward Jerusalem, but he s still in Galilee. Mary sits at the feet of Jesus while Martha is about her many tasks. Jesus words to Martha may seem harsh, but it s a story in the context of Jesus teaching. Remember last week we heard the lawyer ask Jesus, what must I do to inherit eternal life? (Luke 10:25). Jesus gave the story of the Good Samaritan as an example and ended it with Go and do likewise. (Luke 10:37). Now immediately following we hear the story of Mary and Martha where Jesus praises Mary s sitting still and listening and tells Martha she s distracted about many things. In a sense it s praising the sitting still and listening vs. the going and doing likewise. The story is really a radical one. Martha goes out to welcome Jesus into her home. Jesus is received and welcomed into the house of women, for we don t hear a mention of a brother in this story. Jesus teaches Mary 1

2 as she sits at his feet. Rabbis didn t do that in Jesus day women didn t sit at the feet of a rabbi to learn like a disciple. They weren t allowed to do that. I think it s a story of radical hospitality. This week I had the opportunity to spend an overnight at the Episcopal monastery of St. John the Evangelist in Cambridge. It s a spiritual home for me, and I ve gone on retreat there a number of times. The brothers there are warm. The guestmaster walked me to my 2 nd floor room that overlooked the Charles River and reminded me of the whereabouts of everything the times of services and meals. Not unlike most Episcopal monasteries, the brothers sing a good portion of the daily offices. What is unlike many monasteries though is that these SSJE brothers want you to be able to easily follow their services. One will gently stop by your seat in chapel to make sure you have the needed books, the right pages, and that you ve found everything you need. They also readily extend a hand of welcome or a smile across a silent supper table. They live into their rule of life with joy and delight welcoming the stranger as though he or she were Christ. As I thought about Mary and Martha and my short time at the monastery, I thought about The Rule of Saint Benedict. Benedict known as the father of monasticism lived in the 4 th to 5 th centuries and crafted a rule of life that has been handed down through the centuries used in monasteries and convents. He crafted his using as a model an earlier rule called The Rule of the Master written by an unknown author and much more detailed. Benedict s rule has not only been used by religious orders to govern their way of living, but also by individuals 2

3 throughout time. The Rule is brilliantly built with a scriptural basis for living along with a rich blending of patristic teachings. By listening attentively to the Word of God in Scripture and Tradition, one then prays and meditatively responds in how one lives and interacts with others. Very simply put it orders how one is to balance one s life with specific times of the day to eat, to rest, to exercise, to work, to study, to pray, to play. Benedict s Rule would heartily give permission for Mary to sit and listen at the feet of Jesus. The very first word of Benedict s Rule is the word listen: Listen, O my son (daughter) to the precepts of the master, and incline the ear of your heart 1 Chittister says. 2 Hospitality is to be shown with an unboundaried heart as Joan All guests who present themselves are to be received as Christ, for He will say: I was a stranger and you took me in. (Matthew 25:35). 3 The Benedictine heart is to be a place without boundaries, a place where the truth of the oneness of all things shatters all barriers, a point where all the differences of the world meet and melt, where Jew and Gentile, slave and free, woman and man all come together as equals. 4 Benedict s Rule calls for a time to work all share in the work of the house, in the work of the kitchen, in the work of things that might distract. Martha s work would also be honored. 1 Luke Dysinger, O.S.B., trans., The Rule of Saint Benedict, (California: Source Books, 1996), 3. 2 Joan Chittister, O.S.B., Wisdom Distilled form the Daily: Living the Rule of St. Benedict Today, (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1991), Luke Dysinger, O.S.B., trans., The Rule of Saint Benedict, (California: Source Books, 1996), Joan Chittister, O.S.B., Wisdom Distilled form the Daily: Living the Rule of St. Benedict Today, (San Francisco: HarperSanFrancisco, 1991),

4 Over the portals of the great monasteries of Europe, the arch often reads, Pax, or true peace. Chittister also says that Benedictine spirituality is a spirituality consciously designed to disarm the heart. Benedict wants monastics to be at peace with what has been given, at peace with what they are asked to do, at peace with those who guide them, at peace with one another, and at peace with themselves. 5 I somehow imagine Mary was at peace with just being in the presence of Jesus. It s the kind of peace that s heard in a story the Desert Monastics tell: As the army occupied the village, many of the soldiers showed great cruelty in regard to the subjugated people. The most chosen objects of their atrocities were the monastics. So as foreign forces invaded the small towns and hamlets, the monastics fled to the mountains. When the invaders arrived in one of the villages, however, the leader of the village reported to the commander. All the monastics, hearing of your approach, fled to the mountains. And the commander smiled a broad, cold smile, for he was proud of having a reputation for being a very fearsome person. But then the leader added, All, that is, but one. The commander became enraged. He marched to the monastery and kicked in the gate. There in the courtyard stood the one remaining monastic. The commander glowered at the figure. Do you not know who I am? the commander 5 Ibid.,

5 demanded. I am he who can run you through with a sword without batting an eyelash. And the monastic fixed the commander with a serene and patient look and said, And do you not know who I am? I am one who can let you run me through with a sword without batting an eyelash. 6 That s the kind of peace I imagine Mary had as she sat and listened to Jesus, even as Martha worked worried and distracted and more vocal. Jesus affirms sitting still and listening. In life Jesus also affirms going and doing. The challenge for each of us is to discern when to do one versus the other not that one is right and the other is not. I wonder if both Mary and Martha s hearts weren t unboundaried as they loved and welcomed Jesus? Perhaps they teach us just a little more about how to unboundary our own Amen. 6 Ibid.,