Ever been absolutely sure you were doing the right thing, but had it all backfire in your face? There are days when it seems, as some people say, that you just can't win for losing. I'm sure that's how Martha felt when she gave the dinner party for Jesus that was the subject of today's Gospel (Luke 10:38-40).
In all honesty, I was mad enough to spit at the sermon today in my little church. The Decon gave the same old "Be a Mary, not a Martha" message that I choked on when I was a baby in Sunday School. "Martha was a multi-tasker: too worried, too concerned with everything being perfect. Mary gave her whole attention to Jesus. We need a few Marthas around to keep everything going, but it's better to be a Mary." I kid you not, he actually said that! He wanted us to believe that we need Marthas -- detail oriented, multi-tasking, harried types -- because they get things done and make everything run smoothly; but it's better to be a Mary of an attentive and passionate one-track mind!
WTF??? Since when does God create some people as indispensable and yet "not as good as"? [Oh, yeah. Men have believed that about women for millennia, haven't they? ... I'm still not buying it!]
Martha's dilemma gets short shrift in this story by most preachers. I can't help but think that it's no accident that one of the scriptures for today (ok, an alternate reading, but the one we happened to use) is the story of the Lord visiting Abraham at the oaks of Mamre (Genesis 18). This is one of the few times in the Old Testament where one of the fathers or mothers of the faith encounters a physical presence of "the Lord" in the form of a man. So there is really a direct parallel between Abraham and Martha each receiving the Lord as an honored guest at their own home. Here Abraham hosts and elaborate feast for the three men who visited them, running around washing their feet, having Sarah bake fresh bread, having a young calf slaughtered and cooked, serving them himself and standing by while they ate -- hovering over his guests with as much concern and attention to detail and as many special treats as his establishment could offer. This was no quick refreshment for some travelers on the road, it was quite an elaborate banquet. And the reward was beyond his greatest imagination. Surely God had approved and rewarded his most anxious attention to every detail and all his (and Sarah's) running around and making everything "just perfect" for the visitors.
The absolute primacy of hospitality was still very much alive in Martha's day -- she knew it was her sacred duty to offer a guest in her house her very best; the more honored the guest, the more she was required to pull out all the stops. How could she not have felt that she was doing exactly what her God required in inviting Jesus into her home and treating him with great honor and ceremony? Why was it such a great and glorious thing when Abraham acted exactly the same way, but derided as overly anxious multi-tasking when Martha did it? She just can't win for losing!
Somehow I just find it very hard to imagine the Angel(s) of the Lord reacting positively if Abraham and Sarah had sat down unceremoniously in the sand with them by the side of the road, maybe passed around a canteen if they had one handy, and begged them for the latest gossip. And yet, that does appear to be the kind of treatment Jesus expects, and calls "the better part," at the hands of Martha and Mary. (Where was Lazarus in all this, anyway? Why wasn't he helping?) If Jesus wasn't just being insensitive and petty (and I am not the only one who things he sounds insensitive -- see my friend Louie's comments here), then what could he possibly have been trying to say?
I don't want to dismiss his admonishment too quickly. What if he really had a point to make; something new to teach? If so, then what is it? If the rules of hospitality hadn't changed between Abraham's time and Jesus's time, and I don't believe they did significantly, then what else might have changed? Could Jesus be pointing to something as profound as a new relationship between "the Lord" and the believer?
The Epistle for today (Colossians :15-28) is probably not a coincidence here either, in trying to understand this story. In it, the writer emphasizes a new relationship between God and believers because of Jesus, the Christ -- that thorough him God has reconciled all things to himself, and that to each on is offered "Christ in you, the hope of glory." The relationship between Abraham and the three men who visit him is very formal. They are treated as honored guests, but also as strangers. Sarah stays in the tent while Abraham serves them and stands (on ceremony) while they eat. All very correct, but not at all intimate. Martha would probably love to copy Abraham's success and, perhaps, receive a like blessing from God. But, maybe Jesus is actually saying; "Martha, that's already been DONE. There's no reason to stand on ceremony with me. Just plop whatever's on hand in the oven and come sit with me and talk. We're family!" Might Jesus want to be no stranger, no honored but distant and formal guest? My guess is that he is claiming a role as their intimate -- OUR intimate brother (or sister, farther, mother, friend), welcomed into the home as closest family -- the Christ in Jesus the same as the Christ in Martha, and the Christ in Mary, or in me.
But I still really hope that when he when he said, "Martha, Martha..." (with a smile in his voice?) he was at the same time taking the table cloth, dishes and silverware out of her hands and starting to set the table while he shooed Mary into the kitchen to help Martha finish up the prep! At least, that's what I think our elder brother, even if is he is "the firstborn of all creation," would do...
No comments:
Post a Comment