“What Do You Want From Me, Jesus??”

Luke 10:38-42

July 17, 2022

“But the Lord answered her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things, but few things are needed—indeed only one. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:41-42, NRSV)

I’m going to ask for more “audience participation” this morning. Last week we turned the story of the Good Samaritan into a mini melodrama! This morning there won’t be any cheering or booing. 

And actually, what I’m asking for is not “audience participation,” per se–because this is not a performance with me providing the entertainment and you all providing the applause. What we are doing is group engagement with the scriptures. Or at least that’s what I hope it is. 

So, with that in mind, as we move into that group engagement process, I’m going to invite all of us to participate a little differently than we usually do. I’m going to invite you, and me, too, to engage not only with our heads and our hearts, but also with our bodies. But just briefly! And not in any way that will be too uncomfortable for anyone. I think. I encourage you all to participate, but of course, if you choose not to, that’s totally fine. 

Okay. Well, now that you’re all completely distracted wondering what on earth I am going to ask you to do with your body (!!), let me gently guide you back to the text for a moment. Like last week’s story of the Good Samaritan, today’s passage tells another familiar story, this story about Mary and Martha. There’s Mary, who we imagine to be in the living room area, presumably with the men who were also there, sitting at Jesus’s feet and listening to his teachings. A picture of devotion. And there’s Martha, Mary’s sister, who is most often placed in the kitchen, apparently by herself, and multitasking like the best of them–I can imagine her warming pita bread on the fire and boiling water for the lentils and chopping onions for the tabouleh. A picture of productivity. 

Here’s where your bodily engagement is invited. 🙂 I’m going to ask you to consider which of these two women you most identify with. And then to acknowledge it in front of all of us! And to commit to it by not just raising your hand timidly, but by standing with conviction. 

Now, this is not to say that you always and only identify with Mary or Martha. I’m looking for a gut reaction kind of response–which one do you more easily feel a kinship with? And there’s no judgment! Just curiosity. Ready?

How many of you resonate more readily with Mary, sitting at Jesus’s feet and listening to his teachings with single-minded devotion?

And how many, with Martha, hard at work, bustling about, a thousand things on her mind? 

Okay. Thank you all for your courage. 🙂 And remember–no judgment. 

Except…that…it kind of feels like there is judgment, doesn’t it? In Jesus’s response to Martha? Martha is doing her thing, focusing on the tasks at hand, presumably preparing a meal for her guests, whom she had welcomed into her home. And as far as she knows, she is doing the right thing! Showing hospitality to guests was considered a “mitzvah,” a commandment, an act of obedience to God, as well as an expression of kindness. According to the Jewish Virtual Website, “When [a Jew] knows of strangers who are hungry or need a place to relax, it becomes a legal obligation.” This was especially true in biblical times, with Jewish law specifically requiring that strangers be made to feel welcome, “for you [the people of Israel] were strangers in a strange land.” (Lev. 19:34 and see Ex. 12:49)

So showing hospitality was a thing in Jewish culture in Jesus’s time! 

Back to Martha. So having invited Jesus into her home as he was passing through her village, very likely knowing, since he was traveling, that he was both hungry and needed a place to relax, Martha, as a devout Jew, had an obligation to fulfill. A law to obey. A commandment from God to keep. 

And so, she busied herself keeping it. She focused on fulfilling it. Her mind and heart and hands were quickly occupied with how she was going to obey the law of hospitality. She wanted to honor her guest and her God by expressing kindness as shown by extending hospitality.

As far as Martha knew, she was doing what she needed to be doing.

As far as she knew, she was doing the right thing. 

AND, at the same time, Martha knew that Mary was not doing the right thing. She was not doing what she needed to be doing. She was not helping Martha. She was not showing hospitality. She was sitting in there, with the men, doing what?? Listening to them talk? She was sitting in there, right next to Jesus, doing nothing! As far as Martha could tell, Mary was not honoring their guest or their God. As far as Martha could tell, Mary was doing the wrong thing. 

I can imagine Martha trying to catch Mary’s eye, and when that didn’t work, maybe making a racket with the cookware in the hopes that Mary would look up and realize the error of her ways and get her butt out there and help! 

But she just kept sitting there, looking at Jesus, listening to every word he said…oblivious to everything else that needed to be done!! I can imagine that it was infuriating to Martha… I can even imagine Martha rolling her eyes before directing her glare at Jesus, who perhaps felt the heat of her stare and looked away from his listeners and met her gaze.

Having his attention, and figuring that even if Mary wouldn’t respond to her, she would clearly listen to Jesus, Martha said, as we know, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her, then, to help me!” And I can imagine her punctuating her words with a final glare in Mary’s direction, and then immediately turning and heading back to her chopping station, not waiting for an answer but assuming Jesus would make Mary do the right thing. And picking up her chopping knife, in anticipation of handing it over to her sister so she, Martha, could start pouring the wine. Because she sure could use a glass! 

But before she could do any of that, Jesus delivered his zinger. 

“Martha,” he said, perhaps with firmness in his voice. Something in his tone that made her stop where she was.

“Martha,” he said again, perhaps with more tenderness. And she turned around and this time met his gaze.

“You are worried and distracted by many things,” he continued, and perhaps the hardness in her eyes and in her heart began to soften as she realized her Lord was seeing her.

“You are worried and distracted by many things,” he had said. Martha realized how right he was. She was worried and distracted. And frazzled. And overwhelmed. But there were things she needed to get done! Many things! Who else would do them if she didn’t?

But holding her gaze, and as if reading her mind, Jesus continued, with gentle authority, “But few things are needed—indeed only one.” What? Martha thought. What one thing? she wondered. Wine? Olives? I should have brought out the bowl of water for their feet. How could I have forgotten??

And she looked at him, wondering what the one thing was, and Jesus said, “Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.”

Ouch. Mary has chosen the better part? What?? I don’t understand… What are you talking about? What do you want from me, Jesus??

And that’s where the story ends. We don’t know what Martha did after that. Nor do we know what Mary did after that–although my best guess is that she stayed right where she was. I wonder what Martha did?

Either way, the question remains: what is that one thing? That one thing needed? What is the thing that Mary chose that Jesus called “the better part”? 

Often, it seems that this passage is used to make a distinction between being and doing, between sitting at Jesus’s feet and listening and being up and active and doing the work. 

We ask, like I did earlier, Are you a Mary or a Martha? Do you sit and listen? or do you do? Do you more readily contemplate Jesus’s teachings, or are you more likely to be found getting your hands dirty and doing the work of a disciple?  

Which one are you? And we ask that question with an unspoken–or at least sometimes unspoken!–understanding, as least from this passage, that it’s better to be a Mary… Right??

Because Mary chose the better part. Jesus said that!! It’s true that Jesus didn’t ever say anything directly about homosexuality or gender fluidity. But there is it–right there– Jesus said straight up: “Mary has chosen the better part”!!

So what about all of the Martha’s in the world? What about all of the Martha’s in the room?? Is there something wrong with us?? Do we have to change who we are? and how we are in the world? And if we do…how will all the work get done?? Because the Mary’s sure as heck aren’t going to do it! 🙂 

I don’t think that’s what Jesus had in mind when he said to Martha that what Mary had chosen was the better thing. I don’t think Jesus was making a distinction between being and doing, or  judging contemplation as better than action, or condemning the worker-bees in the world and praising those who sit and listen. 

I think Jesus was lifting up being present. 

What a gift it is to be in the presence of someone who is fully present. Not distracted. Not focused on a hundred other things. Or ten other things. Or even one other thing. But fully present. Taking in the fullness of what is going on. Offering their full self to what is going on. Knowing, perhaps, that what is going on, here, in this moment, is important…more important than all those other things they could be doing. More important, even, than the things it seems like they should be doing. At least according to the world around them. Valuing what is happening in these moments above all else. 

That, I think, is what Mary was doing. That, I think, is what Jesus was lifting up. Being fully present. Because it is a profound gift. I would even say it’s a holy gift.  Being in the presence of someone who is fully present, fully focused, someone whose attention is not divided, whose mind and heart are not distracted–that is to be in a sacred space. Talk about honoring the other. Talk about honoring God! 

To show up for another person as your full self, as your true self, offering to be fully present, not distracted, with heart and mind and hands available to the fullness of those moments–that is an incredible gift. 

And it’s a rare gift. Especially in our present culture of multitasking and distraction and 30-second attention spans. It’s rare because it’s hard to do! For most if not all of us, being fully present–if we’re honest and as Martha would attest to–is not easy. It’s an incredible, profound, and yes, even sacred gift to give–and it’s a hard one. 

It’s much harder to give the gift of full presence than to offer a delicious meal. It’s much harder to give than a comfortable place to relax. 

To show up with and for another as completely present is what Mary chose, and was rightfully acknowledged by Jesus as the better thing. 

To show up with and for another as completely present is to extend hospitality to the fullest, is to fulfill the law in Love. 

That, I believe, is what Jesus was lifting up. 

That is the work, as followers of Jesus, to which we are called. 

We’re going to end with one more opportunity for bodily engagement. Same idea, different questions. Except this time stay standing.

Which of you has received the gift of someone being fully present with you? [some?]

Which of you has offered the gift of being fully present to someone else? [some?]

Which of you has the capacity to give and receive the gift of full presence? [all!]

Absolutely. 

Amen.