Eighth Sunday after Pentecost
July 22, 2007
Amos 8:4-6, 9-12
Psalm 52
Colossians 1:21-29
Luke 10:38-42
I have a sister. Her name is Carol. We are a lot like Martha and Mary in our gospel story today. And anybody who knows me, even after a short time, might guess correctly which of the sisters I resemble, and by default, who my sister resembles. It is uncanny, really. It is uncanny that the story of Martha and Mary reflects my sister and me so accurately. I admit that hardly a Sunday goes by that I don’t find myself in one of the characters portrayed in the scriptures I preach. But this story of Mary and Martha really hits me where I live. It hits me in the busyness of my own life. In my need to be productive. In my desire to do the right thing and get it right. In my need to plan ahead so I don’t miss any attention to detail. In my penchant for always finding things to be done and never being done with them, things which often puts me in constant motion, and make me inclined to find fault with the Mary’s in my life who are not willing to join me in my endless activity.
Like my sister. My sister who never worried whether her dishes were done or her beds were made when company came to visit. My sister who never fussed over preparing a meal for them, who was willing to have someone else prepare a meal at the slightest suggestion. Usually me. My sister who wore all of her clothes before she felt compelled to do any part of the mounds of laundry which always awaited her—which always awaited me every time I went to visit. My sister who could not understand why I was always so worried and distracted by the things she had left undone for the sake of sitting with the many people who dropped in on her in the course of the day for good conversation, good stories and many good laughs. I can still hear the many times she called out to me, “Hey, sis. C’mon in here and sit down,” as I scoured her refrigerator to prepare a meal. “Don’t worry about supper; we’ll get some pizza.” Now, don’t be washing those dishes; they can wait. And stop doing that laundry. I have clothes enough to wear. C’mon over here and sit down.” Eventually I did sit down. And I thoroughly enjoy the ongoing conversation, and the stories, and I had many a good laugh, but only after everything that needed doing was done.
So I guess you’ve figured it out by now. I guess you know who Martha and Mary were in our family. But today I have some good news to report. And it resembles the good news of our Gospel lesson. Through the years my sister and I have come to some balance in our lives and balance in our relationship. Now when I visit my sister the beds are usually made, the laundry is mostly done and a good meal is always in the making. And I am only all too happy to sit with the many characters who show up in her life to tell their stories, share in good conversation and enjoy many a laugh. Carol has found her Martha, and I have found my Mary. I don’t know how Carol found her Martha, but you might be interested to know that I found my Mary when I found the Episcopal Church. I became immediately engaged by this church’s spiritual practices of prayer and study, and her religious traditions of retreat and spiritual direction. It is clear that both Carol and I are moving toward the kind of balance I believe is reflected in the two sides of Martha and Mary. The kind of balance I believe is reflected in Jesus himself. It is the balance between being and doing. The balance between thought and action. The balance between personal and social engagement. It is not a 50/50 kind of balance. It is a balance which fluctuates with the needs and circumstances of the moment; a balance which is able to self-correct when any side becomes too prominent.
This important insight comes to us today when Jesus responds to Martha’s criticism of Mary who is not helping her prepare the meal. Jesus tells Martha that by sitting at Jesus’ feet to listen to his teaching, “Mary has chosen the better portion.” Not the best portion. Not the only portion. But at that moment, in this important circumstance, Mary has decided to forego preparing material food to feed on spiritual food. Jesus’ odd use of the word “portion” is intentional, because this Greek transliteration is used exclusively to describe the portioning out of food at a meal. Portions are distributed according to the numbers and need of the people around a table so that all will be satisfied by the relative balance of the portions. No one goes hungry and no one eats more than he needs.
Balance is an important theme in today’s scripture. Jesus is telling us that there is a time to act and a time to be still. A time for the Martha in us to do the work she has been given to do and a time for the Mary in us to let go of the worries and distractions of our life so that we can be present to ourselves and to others in a moment which is meant to renew us. The worst thing we can do is come away from this gospel thinking that Jesus is criticizing Martha’s busyness and commending Mary’s stillness. If we criticize Martha then she may abandon service, and if we commend Mary she may sit in stillness the rest of her life. But both are important. And if we are to be a people of God, we need to live our life in a healthy balance of work and rest, action and stillness, in the giving and receiving which comes from serving and being served.
That’s not easy to do in this world. Martha’s are rewarded for their busyness, while Mary’s are criticized for not being useful and productive every waking moment of their life. Mary’s prefer random walks in nature, reading a good book, thinking their thoughts, and spending quality time with their family and friends. Martha’s, on the other hand, are in perpetual motion; doing everything expected or required of them, and more. Martha’s are multi-taskers. And even when they appear to be at rest, their minds are generally moving a mile a minute, working on the plans details for their next waking moment. So, where are you living your life? Are you primarily a Martha or a Mary? This is important for us to know, because Jesus wants us to know that both are necessary to our health and well-being, and he wants us to find some balance in them. Balance, and the lack of balance, has important consequences for our life, and for our church.
Martha’s and Mary’s are easy to find in our churches. Martha’s are always busy, always engaged in some ministry or mission for the good of someone else. They are social activists and they believe that the church is not being the church if it is not doing something about the needs of others and the concerns of this world. Martha’s thrive on meetings to attend and organizations to serve. On the other hand, the Mary’s of the church are distracted by such busyness. Mary’s prefer to spend their time in worship and bible study, prayer circles and retreats. Mary’s can sit in a hard pew for hours in prayer or in contemplation of a holy object. Or they can sit for days at the feet of a master who will teach them how to become more deeply spiritual. In their most pure form, Martha’s and Mary’s occupying the same church can drive each other nuts. Each believes that her way is the best way to experience and express the good news of the Gospel. But Jesus knows that the Gospel needs both Martha’s and Mary’s. The church needs each of them and both of them in relative balance with each other so we can be the people God wants us to be, and also do the work God gives us to do. It interests me that for persons who are drawn to monastic life in convents and monasteries, balance is a rule of life. Balance between action and stillness, between hard work and recreation, between public worship and private prayer and contemplation.
My lifetime of experience in the church, however, tells me that most churches are filled with either Mary’s or Martha’s. It is not so common to find people or congregations who are balanced in their religious life. I have belonged to churches whose sole purpose was to be engaged in as many projects and ministries as could overextend the time and talent of everybody engaged in them, and I have belonged to churches whose ministry to the community and mission to the world was practically non-existent because their almost exclusive focus on worship and inward spiritual practices. Which brings me to our own church and our congregation of St. George’s.
Those of you who work closely with me on the Advisory Team, or on Vestry, or in other ways in our church already know what I think about where we are as the people of St. George’s, at least in this moment of our life. We are definitely in a Martha mode. We have been in a Martha mode from the time I came here, and much of that imbalance you can blame on me. You can blame it on me because when you brought me here to be your priest, the search committee asked me to help this church grow or help it close. I chose to help it grow. Not much was happening here when I came to St. George’s. By your own admission you were floundering and somewhat rudderless. And I’m sure it wasn’t long before you realized you had a Martha on your hands. A seriously skewed Martha who did not show a whole lot of balance by her almost immediate action plans to turn this place around. You shouldn’t be surprised that I chose to help St. George’s grow, especially now that I have confessed to you how unbalanced I was much of my life living in a Martha mode. The challenges of St. George’s appealed to my Martha mode. And fortunately for all of us, I have been able to draw out the Martha in most of you who have become ready and willing to do the work God has given us to do. But I am happy to tell you there is a problem for me in this. Perhaps there is a problem for you, too.
My well-developed, if not completely developed Mary is nagging me to find a place for her in all this frenzy of activity. I feel Jesus urging me to find my place at his feet. I keep hearing Jesus say to me, “You need to come out of the kitchen once in a while, Martha, and you need to check your attitude at the door.” Jesus does not scold Martha for her wonderful hospitality toward him; he scolds her for her attitude. He scolds her for being annoyed that her sister is not helping her do the work a woman is expected to do. Martha expects that Jesus will use his authority as the male of the house to require Mary to help. Instead, Jesus turns Martha’s complaint into a wake up call. He indicates that Mary has found the right balance in her life at that moment; and Martha’s worry and distraction indicates that she needs to find that balance, too.
You won’t be surprised, then, by the message I take from Jesus for myself and for this wonderful parish of St. George’s. We have been hard at work in the kitchen. God has called us to our many tasks, and like good Martha’s we are doing them. But unlike Mary, we are not taking the time we need to sit at the feet of the master. Sunday morning worship is not enough. We need to find time to be with each other in the stillness of prayer and the silence of meditation. We need to find the time to listen to each other in study of scripture and learning about our church. In our busyness of growing the church, we need to find time to be still and grow to God so that we can find a higher purpose and a greater end in the work we are doing to become the church God is calling us to be.
Today Jesus is calling us Martha’s to find balance with our Mary so that both will become a clear and certain presence in our life, and in the life of our church. I can’t think of a better way to grow a life, or to grow a church.