Westminster Tower Ecumenical Service
From Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Luke 10: 38-42
Dc. Larry Brockman
So, “There is need of only one thing”, eh!
That reminds me of the comedy movie, “City Slickers” in which a couple of city folk go out West In order to sort things out in their lives. They try to get away from the humdrum of daily life and return to nature so they can focus on what’s really important in life. They mount horses, ride out into the wild, and participate in a real Cattle drive. Their hope is that they can figure out what life is all about. Now all throughout the cattle drive, the trail boss keeps saying that just “one thing” is important in life. And so, the city slickers keep asking themselves the question- “what is that “one thing?”” But the “one thing” keeps eluding them; it is like a mystery to them because they are immersed in a flood of competing distractions. You see, these City folk are used to a comfortable and modern way of living; but they find themselves out in the middle of nowhere preoccupied with just trying to cope with multiple aspects of primitive camping in the wilderness. Getting away from it all was supposed to help them reflect and come to grips with life. But they were still so occupied with coping with the world that they didn’t know where to look for that “one thing”.
Now I think it is helpful to recognize at this point that our Gospel story today is part of a sequence of events. Earlier in Luke Chapter 10, Jesus identifies the greatest Commandment: to love God with all of one’s heart, being, strength, and mind; and to love one’s neighbor as himself. Then, Jesus tells the story of the Good Samaritan to identify who one’s neighbor is. A Priest and a Levite just pass by a poor victim on the highway; but a foreigner, an unbeliever, a hated Samaritan, moved with pity, stops and takes care of the poor guy. Who acted as the neighbor? Not the holy priest or Levite, but rather, the unbeliever, the Samaritan.
Then, after focusing on who our neighbor is, Luke moves on to the story we just read. Now the story opens as Martha welcomes Jesus, and presumably a number of others, to her home. You see, the crowds sought Jesus because He had something important to say about God and salvation. We know from the Gospel of John that Martha and Mary were Lazarus’ sisters and that Jesus loved Lazarus. So, Martha, Mary, and Lazarus must have had some sort of standing relationship with Jesus. When the story of Lazarus being raised from the tomb is told in John’s Gospel, Martha and Mary acknowledged Jesus as the Messiah there. So, it would seem that they knew Jesus as the Messiah and the source of salvation.
So why exactly did Martha welcome Jesus into her home? Maybe Martha wanted others to hear about Jesus the Messiah. Maybe she just wanted to be the one who had the privilege of welcoming this special person who she thought was the Messiah, into her home; or maybe she wanted to hear more of what he had to say. Maybe it was all of those things. In any event, having Jesus in her home was the perfect way to assure that God and his word would be available to her. The environment was right, just like the “get away from it all” environment in City Slickers.
Now Martha is described as the very picture of a good neighbor to Jesus and his party. In fact, the words in the Gospel emphasize the term “service”. Martha is dedicated to serving her guests, as a hostess should. So much so that she was “burdened” by this service. We don’t know what that means exactly, whether it means overwhelmed, consumed, preoccupied, or what. But it’s easy to speculate that she was preparing a meal for the whole group, and not just a simple meal either, but a big celebration- a feast. And that meant that she was unable to take advantage of the whole reason Jesus was welcomed into her home. And so, just like the city slickers in the movie, she was so preoccupied with the things of the world that she was not able to focus on Jesus or his message even though the environment was right
In contrast, we hear about Mary. Mary is pictured as sitting at Jesus feet. She is “down for the count” so to speak. She is in position to take full advantage of what the guest has to say, and she clearly doesn’t plan to move. Remember, she and her sister acknowledge that Jesus is the Messiah- the Son of God. Mary is giving full and undivided attention to Jesus as the guest and as the bearer of the Word of God. She is taking full advantage of the opportunity.
Now in the Jewish culture of the time, when a guest came to your home, all the women were supposed to tend to the guest’s needs. So, quite understandably, Martha is upset that Mary is not helping. Martha basically interrupts Jesus and asks him to tell Mary to help him. She is asking Jesus to take sides.
Now, let me pause here for a moment. Recall that the Greatest Commandment is to Love God with your whole self, and then to love one’s neighbor as one’s self. Clearly, the priority of this commandment is to love God first, and then our neighbor. So, what was the priority of the two sisters in our story? Isn’t Martha’s priority love of neighbor? Martha is concerned with Jesus as a guest, yes; but also as a hostess to a larger group of which Jesus is just one member. She is not so much focused on welcoming Jesus or hearing what he has to say as she is on throwing the party. She is concerned with things of this life and on fulfilling the expectations for hospitality by the world’s standards.
On the other hand, Mary is concerned with welcoming Jesus personally, and being attentive to him. In fact, she is hungry for the message that Jesus is bringing to the people. Mary’s priority is on loving Jesus as God.
And so, one way of looking at this story is this: Martha is focused on loving her neighbor first within the context of living in the world; whereas Mary is focused on loving God first and on life in the Kingdom of God.
The Bible scholars tell us that Jesus response to Martha is affectionate because he responds to her by name, and repeats her name. So, even though he sides with Mary, he is attempting to do so lovingly. Jesus says that there is need of only “one thing” rather than being burdened by the many things of the world. He then says that Mary has chosen the better part, and it will not be taken from her.
Ah, yes- Mary has chosen to hear God and love God first, and to focus on the one thing that cannot be taken from her when she does hear and heed the Word of God- the Kingdom of God.
What does this mean for all of us today as we sit here and ponder this story? It seems to me that we are all challenged to achieve a sense of balance between Loving God first, and also loving our neighbor as ourselves. Sometimes we get in a rut as Christians. We think we are on the right track. In fact, we think we understand the message and are honestly trying to apply it. But we can become “Marthas” in the process. In our enthusiasm, we move out and do something. We are committed to being an honest, loving, neighbor to all we meet. We honestly try to be “engaged” as a committed Christian. And being engaged means being involved. Even though we may be encumbered and burdened by life’s cares- aches and pains, limitations of mind and body- we participate in this group; attend these services; do acts of kindness for this or that person. And all of that is all well and good. But the fact is, we may not be focused on “the one thing”, because of the many things that we are involved in deflect our focus.
Unlike the Jesus in the story of Martha and Mary, God is not sitting in our homes in real flesh and blood, so that we can talk to him directly and listen to his Word as Mary was able to do. Rather, he is only available to us if we turn our direct attention to him in prayer; getting away, even for just a little bit, from the combination of our worldly aches and pains, our worldly interests; and our commitment to service. But we need to constantly reflect on what God is saying to us. We need to do that regularly, or we may become distracted and lose touch with His voice. And yet, all the while, we still need to be engaged in the world with love and kindness. It is a sense of balance that we need- a lot of Mary; and a healthy dose of Martha as well.
And so, let us all resolve to seek “the one thing” that really matters. And that is to recognize God as the highest priority. Then we will be grounded in the message of Jesus and the kingdom of God, the “better part”. It involves quiet time and prayer- prayer in which we listen to God no matter how soft his voice in the clamor of our everyday life, in the intensity of the world’s distractions, and in even our efforts to be good, loving Christians.