Father Gary’s Sermon

Inspired from Luke 10, 38-42

Proclaimed on July 18, 2004

Some time back I came across a little story with which I can so easily identify. A family from Michigan was vacationing in a small New England town; the same town that the actor Paul Neuman vacations. On a particular Saturday morning the woman of the family went for a walk. During this time she developed a real urge for some ice cream and slipped into a nearby store. There she ordered a double dip chocolate ice cream cone, when she suddenly looked up and saw Paul Neuman having a donut and some coffee. Her heart suddenly skipped a beat. She couldn’t take her eyes off his baby-blue eyes. He graciously nodded to her in return. Soon she found herself feeling very embarrassed at herself. “I’m a mature woman, not a teeny-bopper!” she said to herself. Soon she took her ice cream cone and her change and quickly left the story. When she got down the street a ways, she noticed the change in one hand, but her ice cream cone was gone. Upon returning to the store she looked at the counter, but did not see anything of her cone. When she looked again at Paul Neuman she noticed he had a warm grim as he said, “You put it in your purse!”

This woman was obviously distracted, and I believe it is the issue of distraction that is spoken of in our Gospel reading this morning. In this story Jesus is visiting in the home of some of his favorite people: Mary and Martha. While he is there, Martha busies herself with the food preparation. Mary sits at the feet of Jesus, perhaps along with the rest of the disciples, listening to every word that he says. Feeling overwhelmed, as well as perhaps a bit jealous, Martha complains to Jesus regarding Mary’s inappropriate behavior.

By the standards of that culture, women were not permitted to sit with other men while receiving the teaching of a rabbi. Their place was in the kitchen, preparing the food and serving it at an appropriate time. Martha was most correct in her outburst, for Mary obviously did not know her place, leaving all the work to Martha. But Jesus sides with Mary, gently chastising Martha for her complaints, while allowing Mary to remain at his feet.

Now before anyone gets too worked up about this story, either siding with Mary or with Martha, some important points need to be addressed. First of all, this in all probability was not your typical Hebrew household. This household may have been absent a strong male who was either a father or a husband. Mary, whose name means “rebellious one” or “bitter one,” may be simply following old patterns. She may be the same woman who had once been a harlot, earning money to support the household. This was not unusual in a home without a male. Such behavior, however, had its price, for we later discover her to be demon-possessed, and receiving healing from Jesus. She may be the woman who in another story washed the feet of Jesus in the home of the Pharisee. For her, Jesus had become the anchor of her reality and even her sanity. So while Jesus was in their home, she sat at the feet of Jesus, being trained with the rest of his male disciples. Jesus allowed this knowing that for Mary this was for her a meeting of Prostitutes Anonymous!

It is said that Martha, on the other hand, was the one who invited Jesus to her house. Without a prominent male authority in the home, this house was owned and operated by her. In all probability, she perhaps took on the responsibilities that would normally belong to a male, as well as put up with a lot of grief from her once ill sister. As such, she was perhaps a very powerful female, who usually put Mary in her place. On this occasion, however, the obvious roles became reversed, with Mary taking on the more male role, leaving Martha to tend to the so-called women’s work.

Therefore, through this particular lens, this story reveals that Jesus is not so much concerned with social roles, as he is with attitudes. Indeed, another name for this story could be “The story of Mary and Martyr.” Like the woman, who had placed her ice cream cone in her purse, Martha was distracted, and responded by playing the role of a martyr. Whether her distraction was with her duties as a hostess, or her jealousy over social roles, is was evident she was quite frazzled. Jesus was merely trying to calm her down, getting her focused, while not allowing her to distract Mary’s focus.

Many of us, I am sure, can readily identify with this story. Like the rest of our culture, we become overly consumed not only with the roles we will play in our culture, but with what others are doing as well. The battle of the sexes has reached fever pitch. The once established roles of male and female have become confused and conflicted. On top of that, we live in an incredibly busy society, as we drive along harried freeways with crazy drivers, stand in long lines at the supermarket, attempt to keep up with all the appointments on our calendars, and work our ways through endless lists of “things to do.” By the time many of us go to bed our minds are overwhelmed and distracted by the things we did not get accomplished. We lie in our beds staring at the ceiling, madly making plans for the following day, many of which we will not see accomplished. Like the woman placing her ice cream cone in her purse, or like Martha standing before Jesus, we find ourselves distracted with restlessness, anxiety, and perhaps some jealousy.

I know this is certainly true for me. The other day I found myself seated for lunch at the Living Word Cafe. At one point I looked down and to my surprise saw that my zipper was down. A flood of embarrassment came across my face as I wondered how many people knew this besides me. Perhaps they were thinking that they now realized why priests wear those funny vestments on Sunday morning. Whoever may have known and whatever they may have thought, it was obvious that I had earlier been distracted and was now becoming a distraction!

Why are we so distracted? What are we really trying to accomplish? Where is our focus? Too many of us are now standing before Jesus like Martha, complaining about everyone else. But as he did for Martha then, so he does for us today, by attacking the causes of our anxious distractions. He does this by encouraging us, male or female, to daily find time to sit at the feet of Jesus, and simply listen to what he has to teach. Here is where we can find an anchor; here is where we can receive a focus and find true direction and purpose for our lives. All that it involves is creating for ourselves “sacred space”: a regular time and place to meet with Jesus. It might be a special corner of the house, a place in a garden, or a patch of ground by some running water. We need a place where we can regularly go to become quiet and sit at the feet of Jesus. Here we can read some Scripture. It doesn’t have to be a whole lot, but enough to allow God to speak to us through it. And when we speak to Jesus, it is best to keep it simple, and like Martha, to express ourselves plainly. From these encounters we will find ourselves anchored. We will find new focus. Discover new meaning and purpose. As Professor William Barclay once stated, “There are two great days in a person’s life -- the day we are born and the day we discover why.”

It is true that like Martha there is always something that needs to be done and it is probably important. But let us not make ourselves unnecessary martyrs! Let us remember the words of Jesus about Mary, “ . . . that she has chosen the better part.” Eventually she will rise from the feet of Jesus. Eventually she too will work. But because of her time with Jesus, her work will be more focused and her work will have purpose and meaning. Her work will not bring anxiety, but rather redemption.

With her, we can sit at the feet of Jesus and learn from him. Then when we return to our work we too will bring redemption. We will be able to bring the presence of Christ into all that we do, as well as to all that we encounter. Like the ice cream in the woman’s purse, all our restlessness and anxiety will melt away. We will cease doing damage to those around us. Instead, we will bring peace and loving actions.

So in this Gospel story Jesus is teaching us--we who are much beloved disciples--a very valuable lesson. We are daily invited to the feet of Jesus, to listen, to learn, to find new a new focus, and a new life.