FINDINGS II
Proper
11 - C - July 18, 2010
Luke 10: 38-42
As Jesus and his disciples continued on their way, they
came to a village where they were welcomed into the home of two sisters: Martha
and Mary. Whilst Martha was in the kitchen preparing a meal for her guest, her
sister Mary sat with Jesus, hanging on his every word. Distracted by all she
had to do, Martha interrupted Jesus, asking if he was unaware of her labors and
that her sister had deserted her, asking Jesus further if he would order Mary
into the kitchen. Jesus patiently
chided her, "Martha, Martha: take it easy. Don't worry so much about the
details. Focus on the better part your sister has chosen. I will not have it
taken from her." (Translated and
paraphrased by Harry T. Cook)
 By Harry T. Cook
7/12/10
RUBRIC
Up for consideration in the reading from Luke referenced
above -- the story depicting a drop-in visit by Jesus to the residence of Mary
and Martha -- are three primary issues: a) what it meant at the beginnings of
Jesus Judaism or nascent Christianity to be a follower, b) the imperative that
the passage of finite time lays upon those purposefully on the way toward
crisis and c) the importance of the servant role.
The story belongs alone to the Lucan document, having no
even near-parallel in other gospels as is true for the verses immediately
preceding it, viz. the parable of the Good Samaritan. No first century C.E.
writer was better at storytelling than whoever Luke was. There is always color
and movement in the stories. They are neither icons nor vignettes, but have
almost the character of short film clips. One can hear the exasperation in
Martha's voice and the firm patience in Jesus'. One can see Mary attending to
her teacher, unaware and maybe even uncaring of the bustle about her. These
details make the story memorable.
[If the church could ever re-think its pedagogy and turn
homily-time into a seminar-like discussion, a homilist could "teach" this story
much in the same manner as a professor of literature teaches an act or a scene
from "Hamlet" or one of Shakespeare's sonnets.
However, church still pretty much means people sitting in
auditorium-like rows, faces lifted to a pulpit and its preacher in one-way,
take-it-or-leave-it communication. What follows in RUBRIC and HOMILETIC
COMMENTARY can be used as fodder for both homily preparation and group
study.]
WORKSHOP
More mistaken and unhelpful sermons -- and I suppose Sunday
school lessons -- have been committed using this passage than, wishing to fend
off depression, we dare attempt to count. Many a homily or lesson it has been
my misfortune to hear has used the text to offer women one of two roles: 1) the
busy domestic or 2) the silent, adoring type who sits at the feet or her male
master.
It is anybody's guess as to what Luke was up to in crafting this
story beyond reminding the reader that a journey is in progress (the leitmotif
of Luke). See v. 38 - "another village." But the one broad hint that should not
go untaken is the clear depiction of Mary as a disciple. (Attention: Vatican!
Attention: Anglican and other non-Roman objectors to women's ordination. Part
of being a "disciple" -- derived
from the Greek μαθητής
that came into English via Latin as "discipulus" means one who learns with or
from a teacher.)
Thus part of being a disciple (male or female) is listening
to what the teacher has to say, which is what Mary is clearly depicted as doing
in the scene Luke created. In the passage previous to this one the lawyer
wanted to know what he had to do to inherit eternal life -- and since he
pressed the point about who was his neighbor anyway, the answer was: "Don't
treat your perceived enemy as an enemy but as a neighbor." That's one way to be
a disciple of Jesus. Another is to arrange one's life as Mary arranged hers: to
be available to the teacher when he was available to her and not to be
distracted by other matters however pressing.
The teacher in this case being a male and the disciple
female does not efface what may be the main point of the story, viz. that at least
one woman was depicted as being a disciple, one of the gender pool from which traditionalists
insist Jesus did not choose his original inner circle of followers.
Luke depicts Jesus saying (v. 41) that Mary had chosen "the
better part," though the adjective at that place means "good" and can be taken
as either comparative or superlative. Most English translations have it "the
better part" because on the face of it there seemed to have been only two
choices: serving or listening. There were, of course, other choices, and some
would be "good." Would others have been "bad" or simply "not so good?"
Luke's Jesus called Mary's disposition to listen to him "the
good or better part," meaning at the very least that Martha's choice was the
"not so good part." In fact, Luke has Jesus tell Martha that "one thing is
necessary." Luke's Jesus was not saying that cooking and serving weren't or
couldn't be part of discipleship. It depends on how and for whom one undertakes
such tasks and to what end. In any community, a division of labor is vital to
its well-being. There needs to be somebody in the supply tent preparing the
food just as there need to be people listening to the leader. Timing is
everything.
Another way of understanding the gentle scolding of Martha
is to be found later in Luke at 22:27 at which point Luke gives Jesus this line
to speak: "I am among you as one who serves." That is the payoff line in his
remonstration with the disciples over who is the greatest among them. Perhaps
Luke's Jesus is making the same point, telling Martha, in effect, "I'll get
something to eat myself. I don't want to be fawned over. Just come over here
and listen to what I'm saying." Read that way, the verse suggests urgency about
it all, that Jesus might not have much time. Luke knew the end of the story
Mark had crafted at an earlier time, and it was true, according to that
account, that Jesus did not have much time.
We are then to think that, despite the amenities under the
hospitality code of first century Palestinian, Jesus did not come to the sisters'
home to stay. He had already set his jaw determinedly toward Jerusalem, in
which Luke's drama will culminate. The purpose of stopping in at Martha and
Mary's was not to sample the cuisine. If the depiction of Mary means what it
says, the stop had more to do with the making of a disciple. Martha was not
incorrect in her actions. She was as correct as Simon the Pharisee (see Luke
7:36-50) had been incorrect. In Luke's plot, it was just that Martha didn't
understand what Jesus was doing in her house.
HOMILETIC COMMENTARY
Generally the life of many Christian communities, especially
those in settled and relatively prosperous locales, tends to the dilatory and
ho-hum as if not so much is at stake or at risk, as if Point A. had not been
departed from and Point B. were not looming ever closer.
Certainly the church has business, and much of it is usual
as well as necessary. But that business is to be done in support of the
mission. The business is not the mission. The church, like Luke's Martha, has
become adept and efficient at its business but utterly neglectful of its
mission. The church has no time for a seven-course feast. It needs to grab a
granola bar and get on with it, but not before listening to the voice of its
leader and hero who knew the way (a hard one) the truth (a piercing one) and
the life (a sacrificial one).
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