Sermon: Mary and Martha: Being Receptive- Room For Both Luke 10: Rev. Dr. Bonnie Scott Jelinek St. Pauls UCC, Chicago IL Feb.

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1 Sermon: Mary and Martha: Being Receptive- Room For Both Luke 10: Rev. Dr. Bonnie Scott Jelinek St. Pauls UCC, Chicago IL Feb. 16, 2014 Many years ago, soon after I first started out in ministry, during my Installation Service, my Co-Pastor and I based our sermon on the story of Mary and Martha. I will never forget, proudly standing up there and saying, I am Martha, and he said, I am Mary we are the ying and the yang. Years later, I now know that stereotype doesn t really work in fact it is just that - a stereotype. None of us are just one type, and rather we are a combination of many things! Yet this story has another dimension as well, and that is not just about doing and being but about being receptive to the word of God. How do you hear the Martha and Mary story? Many, hearing this story do first ask themselves which aspects of each one are they? Can you identify with parts of one or the other? One of our Church School teachers, upon getting the weekly I send out, telling what the story will be in their class, as well as in the Sanctuary, wrote me back and said, since she is of Greek lineage, surely she is a Martha! Can you identify with parts of one or the other? This story reminds me of an evening, similar to many, in my early life, when I was having dinner with family and friends. As the end of the meal arrived, all the women stood up and went to the kitchen, as back then it was their job to clean up.

2 The men (unlike in this church) went to the living room. Their job was to sit around and talk. And there I was, full of feminist fervor * Inside I was saying Darn! I do not want to go into the kitchen. I m staying here and being with the men. My other half was saying, I can t abandon these women who are in the kitchen and doing all the work, and I don t want them to think I am too good for the kitchen, and besides, I want to spend time with them too. This was an impossible situation I was dammed If I did and damned if I didn t. So I compromised I stayed for a while talking with the men, and then went into the kitchen with the women for the second half, talking with them, and cleaning up. The upshot of all this, is not the fact that I managed some sort of poor compromise, but that the impossibility of the situation stays with me and is seen in the Gospel of Luke s reading today. As Jane Redmont (would continue to say), Bonnie, this was A bad Resolution!!...So she proposes: What if everyone had just gone into the kitchen, including Jesus, and then we ALL would have had more time for contemplation and study and the disciples would be there too! And we would all be receptive to and in the presence of Christ. Well, sorry Jane, Certainly not in those days. In Bethany at the time, women were only supposed to be busy with domestic duties, like shopping, weaving and cooking. The men were considered those worthy to be disciples. It was probably in Martha s own house where she was entertaining Jesus and his guests. She and Mary and her brother Lazarus were very good friends of Jesus, who often visited them here, and it was Martha, the multi-tasker, who was the one in John s Gospel, to come running out of the house to greet Jesus and invites him and his followers in. It has been suggested that Martha spoke to Jesus regarding her sister remaining at his feet, rather than helping her in the kitchen; as she might have been so

3 concerned her sister Mary might be ridiculed for sitting and not serving, as it was against the culture s norms. But Jesus changed all that as he changed so many things in his day. Women were indeed invited to sit and hear him, be close to him, were considered disciples, and they were among the many hungering to hear Jesus talk, and they listened. As Lillian Daniel writes, It was like Jesus saying: Mary, your place in society may be exhausting and confining, but your place in God s realm is open and restorative. Martha, there is room for you both, but in this moment Mary has chosen the better part, the main course, because it is brave and it s countercultural and it is daring. Don t hold her back, Martha, don t put her down or make her feel small for doing this. In sitting at my feet, and taking herself seriously as a spiritual student, Mary is going for it! Hostessing is a big responsibility, and was sacred in many circles, and many want to do the best one can for honored guests. We could read this story as if Martha was doing all the work and always did. (There are many books written on how to be a Mary in a Martha world). To my mind this is not a correct, however popular interpretation. For in fact, Martha often sat at Jesus feet, and we know of at least 3 instances written about in Scripture where she has done just this. She too was receptive to Jesus s invitation, to be in community with God. Thus it doesn t have to mean the Martha s aren t being receptive to Jesus s invitation as studious Mary, was. But Jesus was making a point here! It is important to note that this story comes in the Gospel just after the story of the Good Samaritan, where Jesus is emphasizing the importance of doing something helpful and this one emphasizes the importance of listening and being receptive; an important and critical juxtaposition. Jesus point in the story, seems to me, is not to be condemning Martha who was exercising the ministry of hospitality but was reminding Martha and Mary- and usthat hearing the word of God, dwelling with Jesus Christ in the living room and in

4 the Living Word, following him, take precedence over everything else, including respectability and time honored traditions, and roles and customs. As Lillian Daniel continues to remind us, Isn t this why we come here on Sundays to slow down and listen, (to be less distracted), refocus our attention, to break open the Word together, sing and pray, and meet at the table of God s hospitality where all are welcomed? But the double bind remains someone has to do the cooking think of all the people in our churches who labor so hard for coffee, for meals, for cooking for the homeless, hostessing in their homes, knitting prayer shawls, teaching in our Church School. how can we make room to still survive the daily demands and also find time to take Sabbath the necessary time for prayer and reflection, lingering with God and each other? Every spiritual tradition has some tension between action and meditation; between doing God s will and listening for God s will. There is always some tension between life here and the interior life of the spirit, between acting and being. One has to listen before one can serve, and in serving, we hear God s call. For some to sit and be still, there is always another group of people running around behind the scenes - Church is like that, isn t it? - There are those Mary and Martha s serving and being receptive to God! If you had been there with Jesus that day, which part of who would you have been: A part of Mary sitting still, or a part of Martha making it all possible? Are you a hearer or a doer, or a combination, every once in a while, of both? The real question is, in what capacity are you most receptive to Jesus s invitation? The better part, Carter West says, is neither contemplation nor inner serenity, nor edification {nor busyness}, but simply to be where Jesus Christ is to watch and wait and see where God s Spirit is moving whether that is toward the soup kitchen or the chapel, the committee room or on the street our better part or the main course is to follow him.

5 So, dear people, I ask you, where do you find yourself most receptive?? Amen *There is a wonderful blog written by Jane Redmont to whom I am indebted for her remarks on Mary and Martha, also to writings by Carter West, and Lillian Daniel.