Jesus Understands

Martha and Mary Orthodox Icon

This is the sermon that was offered up during Morning Prayer on July 29, 2020 on the feast day of Martha and Mary of Bethany. This service was held at Trinity Episcopal Church in Muscatine, Iowa during a time of congregational discernment. The scripture readings were Psalm 36:5-10, Romans 12:9-13, and Luke 10:38-42.

O God, be with us today as we discern together. May the Holy Spirit be present, as we remember that we need to both serve you and listen to your voice.  In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Have you ever been able to juggle?  

I can juggle one orange at a time.

And sometimes two.

But definitely not three...

In the reading from Romans, we hear lots of ideas about juggling priorities as Christian people.  Here are four:

• Love one another.
• Be ardent in spirit.
• Serve the Lord.
• Extend hospitality to strangers.

And then in the Gospel story we just heard, we see just how hard those priorities can be to handle.  Here’s just a little background. The story of Martha and Mary is shared only in Luke, just as raising Lazarus from the dead is found only in John. And the placement of this story is after a number of important things happen, Jesus anoints seventy of his followers to go out in pairs to heal the sick and proclaim the good news, then Jesus speaks about the Great Commandment (Love God, Love your neighbor), and follows that up with the Parable of the Good Samaritan.  Then  immediately after this story Jesus shares with the disciples how to pray, using the words of the Lord’s Prayer. In a way, this story is a pivot between depending on individuals for action from spreading the Good News and loving our neighbor to listening, learning, and trusting Jesus to lead us forward.

Mary chooses one way, Martha chooses another.  

Now, I want to be clear here.  This is not to pick on Martha.  She had, after all, been the one to invite Jesus to the household.  She had things to do, and it was reasonable to think that she would expect her sister to help out when they had a guest.

Instead, this story is about contrasts.  Notice that it is Martha speaking to Jesus, both here and in the story in the Gospel of John.  In some ways, Martha is the female partner to Peter:  she’s bold, outspoken, and blunt.  She’s the one who asks Jesus to rebuke her sister.  She’s the one who reminds Jesus later on that her brother has been dead for days and ‘surely there will be a stench.’

Martha is the one who gets things done.

Martha is the one who organizes others to help someone in need.

Martha is the take-charge person.

But for Martha to approach a house guest meant that she was frazzled.  She was anxious.  She was at the end of her rope.  She had gotten out of balance between action, doing things, and the time needed for prayer and renewal. 

And Jesus notices.  He doesn’t say that Martha cannot join in.  Sure, dinner might be a bit late, but Jesus never worried about food when He could work with people.  Think of the story of the five thousand, where he preached all day to a crowd, and then there was enough food to share with leftovers.

Let’s go back and take a look at those four points that I mentioned from Romans again.

• Love one another.
• Certainly, Mary and Martha and Lazarus loved Jesus.  And they loved one another.  But here we see that BOTH Mary and Martha are struggling to love one another in a typical human way.  Martha was being bossy, and Mary was more interested in what Jesus had to say than listening to her sister.  I’d say that’s pretty typical of a lot of sibling relationships.
• Be ardent in spirit.
• I think it’s a tie on this one.  Martha took a real risk inviting Jesus to the home.  What if he had said no?  But Mary focused on what was important:  Jesus and his stories, and that’s admirable in a world where busy-ness is a disease.
• Serve the Lord.
• How do you serve the Lord?  That’s a good question.  Some people cook for others.  Some listen.  Some take care of children. Some serve on Vestries. And some do all of those things. I imagine that all of us are trying to serve in our own way as we follow the Way of Love.
• Extend hospitality to strangers.
• I don’t know that Jesus was a stranger to Martha and Mary, but hospitality means seeing to the needs of a person.  I wonder if Martha and Mary just noticed different things.  Martha saw Jesus was tired and hungry and Mary knew Jesus needed someone to listen to him.

We actually know very little about these three siblings in the Gospels, but they are obviously important to Jesus.  He is kind, even when Martha gives him an earful of indignation.  He is patient as well with Mary, giving her the time and space she seems to need.  

Jesus understands.

Let me say that again.

Jesus understands.

Jesus understands our anxiety.

Jesus understands our struggle to keep all the balls we are juggling in the air.

Jesus understands our humanity. On this feast day of Martha and Mary, I’m asking you to ask Jesus to give you what you need at this moment, on this day, and what this congregation will need in the future.

Jesus understands.

Jesus understands.

Amen.