Pentecost 8 - Year C

The Mary and Martha story. Now, what can you say about this.... so many things....

Time and place, time and place - this could be seen to be the message from Jesus.
You could also say that Jesus certainly liked adoring women sitting at his feet; we remember the woman with the anointing perfume as well...And then this story is often used as saying ..get the balance right; time for doing, time for being. It's a wonder more of you don't quote it at me....

So, subtly, as part of that message, is the implication that Mary is doing the thing that matters most to God and Jesus, listening to the Word, above the actions of the everyday. And there is guilt by association; guilt by implication. Martha wants Mary to feel guilty; and we who read the story in a certain way carry the same guilt in our reality of lives lived with too much busyness, in living hurried lives, in not focussing on what really matters.

Now the one thing I am learning about Jesus is that he isn't actually into this guilt thing. Relooking at things in another way, yes; clarifying the actual reasons for doing things; yes. That is really his main task, making sure the foundational frameworks of belief (and thus relationship with God) are true, and from that, the ways of living will flow.

We will remember that this week's Gospel encounter with Mary and Martha follows immediately after last week's story of the injured man and the Good Samaritan. Jesus told that story in response to a question of.. "who is my neighbour?" He concluded the story with the instruction to go and show mercy to all - that is the foundational truth of relationship to God. It is not through the religious rules as demonstrated by those who passed the injured man on the other side of the road, the priest and the Levite.

Jesus then gives the invitation to the lawyer who asked the question, the invitation to "go and do likewise". He is making very clear the priority of the law of God; of love and mercy, and for that to be lived above all else. And that lawyer, and all those listening that day, have actually received not only the theory but the action. Because there is Jesus Christ, more than telling a story, more than unpacking the Deuteronomic commandments - there is Jesus loving that lawyer, listening to the real question on his heart, and inviting him into the way of himself, Jesus Christ.

Does it seem gentle teaching, this invitation? It is not. To live a life centred on the Word of God is completely life-reversible, life wrenching, and almost it would seem unattainable. Amos and the prophets were saying the same message all those years ago; do not be fooled by Christ's invitational manner, the message is just as dramatically real.

You couldn't get more awful in judgement pronouncement than Amos' words to the people of Israel. The end and death that will come will be the most appalling time of grief and pain; and the prophecy is there because the people are living lives of comfort, and certainly not showing mercy. As we listen to the wrong perceived, we are certainly brought well and truly into our day and age;
Hear this, you that trample on the needy,
and bring to ruin the poor of the land, says Amos, attacking those who
practice deceit with false balances (we think of the corruption in some of the very rich in our society)
buying the poor for silver (we think of the human trafficking prolific in our world)
and buying the needy for a pair of sandals (we think of the sweat factories in Asia with children and others in poverty earning pittance if anything for the shoes and clothes we wear)
and selling the sweepings of the wheat (again the malpractice of watering down goods and services for pure gain and greed).

The thing about Amos's time in history is that he was bringing these harsh words into a time of prosperity and peace for Israel. So they certainly didn't want to hear this doom and gloom, thank you very much, life was good. But it was obviously good according to their own wants and needs, which of course got more attractive the more they became involved with their own way. None of us likes to be disturbed, or shaken from our personal comfort. And we even have bandaid measures to cope with our guilt when we feel that discomfort - send off some money, tell everyone how awful everything is but what can we really do about it....

Enter Jesus Christ into the home of Mary and Martha. Note that Martha welcomes Jesus - she does the right thing in making him feel welcome, inviting him to a meal, meeting all the expectations of hostess with guest. She gets herself in a flurry, creating an elaborate meal, tasking herself with that which will justify her time and her identity as hostess.

And then, and then, the tasks take on their own life; what was it that disturbed her in that preparation, what jiggled in her consciousness so that she came to the doorway and said.. "I am not happy here - and the reason must be because my sister is not helping, she is not living to the expectation of co host. And you, Jesus, should realise this; don't you see this as a wrong?"

I wonder if Jesus was quoting Amos in that home; I wonder if the teaching of the Hebrew Scriptures were on his lips and the deep disturbance of the foundational teaching of faith was penetrating into Martha's kitchen. Like the people of Israel, she wanted Jesus' voice to stop. She wanted life to be normal;" here I am, doing what I am safe with, preparing a meal, making my home a place of hospitality. And you Jesus are breaking conventionality; you are gathering people (my sister) around your word, and I feel the fracture, the disturbance, the change, the restlessness."

Does Jesus admonish her, or put guilt on either herself or Mary? He does not. He recognises with compassion her state of mind and heart. "Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things". And then, the heart of his teaching, and the heart of Amos' prophecy is pronounced... "There is need of only one thing".

There is need of only one thing. To listen. To listen to the Word of God in your midst. Amos is urging the people to do this; Mary, at Jesus' feet, has indeed chosen to do this. And you could argue that we also are doing this right now, choosing to gather to listen to the Word of God.

But only you know if you are really doing that. I don't mean listening to me .... and I don't mean scoring brownie points about being in church. The foundational truth of living lives of faith, of a growing relationship with God, is choosing to listen to the Word of God in a manner of sitting at the feet of Christ and not focussing on anything else. And not just for the ten minutes of a sermon; or the hour of a Eucharist; or the 30 minutes of daily prayer and bible reading; or the engagement with Christian lectures or music etc. It is a manner of listening that is total engagement with the Word so that is what takes on a life of its own; our life immersed with Christ's.

Jesus said "Mary has chosen the better part", the better manner, the better way of listening. Don't listen at the doorway through your own perceived identity of task in this world. Come to me, stop and listen to me, so that your eyes engage with my eyes, says Jesus, so that our breathing is happening together, so that we are in complete accord with each other.

And then those wonderful words for Mary, and for us all, as we choose to encounter Christ in this rawness, this better part... which will not be taken away from her. This is the great message of hope from this Gospel and all the Gospels, written about by Paul today... in which he also puts to bed the judgemental prophecy of the Hebrew Scriptures.

And you who were once estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he (Jesus) has now reconciled in his fleshly body through death, so as to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him - and now listen to how we do this, listen to the "sitting at the feet of Jesus" approach advocated by Paul:
provided that you continue securely established and steadfast in the faith, without shifting from the hope promised by the gospel that you heard...

There it is; when we commit ourselves to listen steadfastly, steadily and hopefully... that is all that is asked of each of us. Jesus calls this most profoundly the "better part" and that this way of hopeful listening means that we will remain in relationship with him, and "it will not be taken away". No matter our actions of this world, the frailty and brokenness of our lives, nothing can separate us from his love if we are hopeful in our listening.

That intentional listening comes in many guises. For me this week it came in the group at the nursing home, as we gathered for session two of "Being Christian". As we shared in recognition of faith growth in our lives, the wisdom of the aged came to me as they repeated through many stories their own way of sitting at the feet of Jesus. There was a dawning revelation of deep faith growing through the cycle of life that expected God always to be with them in whatever happened. We were reflecting on the times of our lives when we questioned where God was, how could this happen, how could our faith grow through such pain and doubt. Evelyn, at 95, shared the profound wisdom of the gift Jesus was giving Martha when she said..."well, I don't need to worry about that any more. I don't have those questions anymore; I have moved on. I know now what really matters."

"Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing." Amen