Day of the Church Year: 6th Sunday after Pentecost
Scripture Passage: Luke 10:38-42
For years, I thought I wasn’t a spiritual person, and I sometimes still struggle with this. People of faith, including some of you, talk about beginning the day with prayer, spending time with God in silence, coffee in hand. With devotionals like Our Daily Bread or Christ in Our Home at the ready, you spend time in reflection every day. Maybe you’re part of the weekly prayer group or you diligently read and study scripture at home. Maybe you listen to music and praise God. Maybe you enjoy sharing your faith with others. Perhaps you draw or paint, sculpt or make pottery and listen to God through art creation. Perhaps you go hiking, spend time in nature, and hear God’s voice in the birds, in the wind through the trees, or maybe from the pool. Friends, I have to be honest. You all amaze me. I do not do these things. I pray for you all, to be sure, in a popcorn fashion throughout the day, and I study the Bible as part of this job that I love. But structured spiritual disciplines—with time set aside to nurture my relationship with God—are not my jam.
I hope you’re not offended or shocked though I understand if you are. Like I said, for years, I wasn’t sure I could call myself a Christian or a spiritual person without claiming at least one of these spiritual disciplines. But several years ago, I learned through a continuing education class that people’s spiritualities vary, and the instructor introduced a spirituality wheel with four primary spiritual types. My type is an activist spirituality, one where I hear God speak and see God work in the doing, in the action. Faith in Motion is my jam.
I share this because, today, we read a story about two women, Mary and Martha. Martha welcomes Jesus into her home. Martha’s sister Mary is also there and sits at Jesus’ feet to listen to him while Martha prepares the meal and attends to her many tasks. Upset, Martha asks Jesus to tell Mary to help her. But Jesus says, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part which will not be taken away from her.”
In the two thousand years between Martha hosting Jesus in her home and today, countless sermons on this story have revealed a host of assumptions about spirituality.
That Mary is lazy because she doesn’t help her sister with the household tasks—and at the same time...
That Mary is more devoted to Jesus because she sits at his feet and listens to him
That Mary is a better spiritual model than Martha
That Martha is less devoted to Jesus because she attends to the tasks of hosting
That Jesus is chastising Martha for attending to her tasks and teaching her that, in that moment, she should be sitting at his feet
Despite these assumptions, Jesus never actually says any of these things. Instead, he calls out Martha’s worry and distraction and invites her to focus and be at peace. Jesus notes that Mary has chosen the better part, but there is no indication of what exactly the “better part” is. We don’t really know.
What we do know is that, at this point in Jesus’ ministry, he has set his face to Jerusalem which means he is traveling. What we do know is that Jesus depends on the hospitality of those he meets along the way. What we do know is that all of us need to eat and a place to lay our heads, including Jesus. Jesus is not chastising Martha for preparing a meal and assuring he has a place to sleep that night. Instead, what he calls out is her worry and distraction.
Jesus’ gentle corrective seems not at all to do with Martha’s actions per se but with a shedding of worry and distraction. Jesus invites Martha to focus, to be at peace in the midst of her tasks. And these are not simply tasks but the welcome of Jesus into her home, one of the most profound ministries of the church then and now, the ministry of hospitality. Martha engages in a ministry of hospitality just as Mary engages in devoted listening. Martha’s jam is Faith in Motion while Mary prefers early morning prayer and scripture study, coffee in hand.
Whatever our spirituality type, however we meet God, Jesus invites us to shed our worry and distraction, invites us to focus and be at peace. This week with the help of Andrews Refrigeration, our friend Martin, Discount Locksmith, Evalyn, Devalyn, and a host of heat respite volunteers, Ksea and I battled non-functional refrigerators, freezers, an ice machine, parking meters, and an air conditioning unit. There were many tasks, many, many tasks, tasks that left me worried and distracted. These tasks are part of the ministry we share, providing meals and cool space for our community at heat respite, at worship, at pancake breakfast, for the community groups who use our space. Though I understood these tasks are part of the ministry we share, until I reread this story, I was worried and distracted by all the loose ends, all the challenges of this week, and the challenges yet to come. Similarly, you may be worried and distracted by all that needs to be done, by what you see and hear on the news, by the challenges in your own personal life, but Jesus invites us to focus, to be at peace, and in so doing, to hear Jesus speak. There is no need to worry or be distracted. In the midst of all that needs to be done, as we face whatever comes our way, as we put our faith in motion, Jesus is still speaking. Thanks be to God! Amen.