Pentecost 6C
July 20, 2025
Luke 10:38-42
INRODUCTION
Last week we heard from Luke the story of the Good Samaritan, which begins with the statement that we are to love the Lord our God with heart, mind, soul, and strength, and our neighbor as ourselves, and ends with that famous line from Jesus regarding being a good neighbor: “Go and do likewise.” Today’s story follows that encounter directly, but today, instead of focusing on the loving neighbor bit, we’ll see what it means to love God. In particular, we will see what it means to receive God, both in the Gospel and in the first reading from Genesis. The Genesis reading drops us into a day in the life of Abraham and Sarah, as they wait and long for a son. “The Lord appeared to Abraham,” Genesis tells us, in the form of three men, and Abraham and Sarah quickly do all they can to receive these special visitors. In the Gospel, Mary and Martha also receive a visit from the Lord, and in their two responses to that visit – Martha the do-er, and Mary who sits at Jesus’ feet to learn – we see two different ways to receive Jesus into our own lives.
As you listen today, consider how you prepare your home, your heart, to receive the Lord. Are you making space to hear God’s Word? What in today’s scriptures speaks to you, or perhaps come through to you as something you need to hear from God this day? Let’s listen.
[READ]
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
There is a medieval legend that tells of Mary and Martha’s life after the resurrection. According to the legend, the sisters traveled after the resurrection to France, and end up in a village that is plagued by the presence of a dragon, who is terrorizing the villagers. Martha – the known busy-body who puts her faith into action – finds the dragon outside of town. Armed only with holy water and the Word of God, she subdues the dragon, ties him up and leads him into town, where the villagers slay him. Many in the village come to faith in Christ because of her actions. Meanwhile, her sister Mary, known in today’s story for sitting at Jesus’ feet to listen and learn from him, starts a monastery in that same town. They live out their days in the village.
Mary: contemplative and disciple.
Martha: homemaker and dragon-slayer.
I love that this legend has arisen around these sisters, so different yet so devoted to one another and to Christ, because it shows how they maintained their respective identities and used them to further God’s kingdom in their own uniquely gifted ways. One thing that really bothers me about our Gospel reading today is that in it Jesus appears to elevate Mary’s role as contemplative above Martha’s role as a do-er. I truly believe we need both types, and even that we would all benefit from embodying both types, and on first look, Jesus’ response to Martha’s plea for help seems to undermine this possibility.
But on closer look, I don’t think Jesus undermines it all. No, I think the heart of Jesus’ comment is not about what either sister is doing or not doing. Whether actively serving someone or sitting still to learn from the Word of God – both are well within the life of discipleship. Jesus does not say, “Martha, you are cooking and cleaning and doing many things.” He said, “Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things.” You see, it is not about the action of serving itself; it is about the spirit in which she is doing it, about what is going on in her heart while she is doing it.
Boy, can I relate to Martha here! Being worried and distracted by many things often feels like my baseline. At any given moment I’m thinking about my sermon, my grocery list, what time we need to leave tonight for my kid’s soccer game, the homebound member I need to call, the dentist appointment I need to make, not to mention worrying about whatever is going on in the news! I am worried and distracted by many things on the regular – I’m sure you know the feeling – and I have to say, it is not a feeling that is particularly conducive to thinking about Jesus.
Furthermore, it is not a feeling that feels very good. And it’s no wonder – did you know that meaning of the root word for “worry” is “strangle” or “harass”? And the meaning of the root word for “distracted” is to be “dragged away.” These are pretty violent images, not to mention consuming of our mental and emotional energy. Jesus even has to call out Martha’s name not once, but twice to get her attention, because she is so consumed, so strangled and dragged away by her tasks. I’ll bet we can even resonate with Martha’s response to her strangulation: she first questions Jesus’ love (“don’t you even care?”), fixates on herself (“I’m doing all the work”) and triangulates Jesus (“tell my sister…”). She is not in what counselors would call her “wise mind.” She is in her reptilian brain, able only to react and self-protect and attack. There is no space for her to be filled by Jesus’ presence, by his word, by his love.
And therein lies the problem that Jesus addresses. Mary has chosen the better part – that part not being sitting and learning, necessarily, but rather, opening herself up to receiving what Jesus has to offer. Martha has chosen the part where she is doing faithful things, yes, but is also so closed off to receiving love that she is full instead of resentment, and spitting nails.
Now, if it were I in Jesus’ position, I might just say, “Oof, Martha is in a mood right now. I’ll wait for her to calm down and maybe see her counselor and do The Work. This is her problem, not mine, to deal with.” But that’s not who Jesus is. Jesus wants us to feel seen in our struggle. Jesus wants life for us. Jesus wants us to be filled with messages of grace and love. And so the first thing he does, is call Martha by name: “Martha. Martha. I see you, dear one. I see that you are worried and distracted by many things. I see that you are strangled and torn apart by this state of being. I see that you are struggling.” The mere experience of being seen already sets her, and us, along the path to healing.
Next, Jesus gives her permission to let those things go: “Few things are needed – indeed only one.” In other words, “You can lay this down, Martha. You don’t need to bear all these things all the time. None of it is so important that you need to let it continue to cause you resentment and frustration, these sharp, spikey things that are penetrating your dear, servant’s heart.” Boy, is that a message I need to hear! Sometimes, everything just feels so important, and nothing can be put down because if I let go everything will fall apart! Maybe here is where I should mention that I was out of town at confirmation camp all last week. Since I am normally the primary grocery shopper, cook, and cleaner in the house, I was worried that my family would only eat boxed mac and cheese all week without me, and I’d return to a war zone. I offered to buy groceries before I left, and cook some things ahead for them. “No,” Michael told me. “We’ve got this. Don’t worry about us.” Did they still miss me? Of course, and I them. But nothing fell apart while I wasn’t there to hold it together, (in fact, they had the dishes done and the living room picked up!) and there is real grace is acknowledging that! Letting go or saying no sometimes will not mean everything falls apart!
Finally, Jesus points Martha in the direction of fulfillment. Having been invited to lay down her load, she now has space and openness in her heart to receive what Jesus has to offer – in the way Mary is already doing. “Mary has chosen the better part” – not “Mary is a better person than Martha,” or, “Mary is right and Martha is wrong,” which is how I think we too often hear it. He’s not pitting the sisters as people against each other. Rather, Mary has chosen a way that leads to life, a way that is far preferable to the one that leads to closed off resentment and frustration. It is the way of hearing God’s life-giving word, or being fed by it, or letting it speak peace to an aching heart. Jesus is inviting Martha to make that same choice, so that she, too, will experience the life and renewal that her sister is experiencing.
I hope that Martha heard that message. Luke’s telling sort of leaves us hanging – did Martha put down her serving platter, take a deep breath to release that resentment, and sit down next to Mary? Did she continue to serve, but now with a heart more open to God’s grace and life?
I think she did. Maybe not right away – I know from personal experience that someone telling you to calm down seldom works in the moment – but I suspect Jesus’ words worked on her heart, softening it, drawing her toward the way that would give her life. Because although Luke doesn’t tell us anything more about Martha and her sister Mary, I can’t imagine a woman whose heart was closed to receiving God’s Word would be able then to successfully subdue a dragon with holy water and the Word of God, if she hadn’t let that Word work some wonders on her own closed heart.
There are so many ways to be a faithful disciple, and we need not choose just one. We can put love into action, as Lutherans are particularly good at doing. We can sit at Jesus’ proverbial feet and spend time in devotion and scripture study. We can (and should!) do a bit of both! But whatever we do, when we do it with our hearts open to the Word, ready to receive God’s love and grace, ready to be led into renewal and new life – we might just find that we have the power to slay dragons!
Let us pray… Loving God, we are, like Martha, worried and distracted by many things. Orient our hearts toward you, so that we would find the peace and wholeness that only you can bring, and so that we could serve you with joy. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment