Sei sulla pagina 1di 3

Sermon preached at The Church of the Holy Trinity, Philadelphia Sunday July 21st 2013 The Reverend Alan

Neale When Martha was Mad at The Master

Heres a title for todays Gospel story from Luke 10 When Martha was Mad at The Master and Mary and maybe herself or When Martha was Stewing in the Kitchen where else would she be stewing?. Whatever the title, readers of this story tend to have fairly strong reactions and fairly strong sympathies either with Martha or Mary. So, who gets your vote? Or are you that quintessential practitioner of sophistry who says almost by default, Well, it all depends? And with which character do you most identify? Im not asking you to identify and categorize the person next to you or the one with whom you work or live but you. Be careful how you choose. Martha is indeed the generous activist but also the angry person. Be careful how you choose, Mary is not only the spiritual and devoted disciple but also the one who begins a task and then deserts it, though doubtless expecting hunger pangs to be sated later. Maybe President Truman had Mary in mind when he said, If you cant stand the heat, get out of the kitchen? Friends, short (almost terse) though it is, this is no easy passage. There are at least five different partial texts (or lacunae) in this passage, all with slight differences. And the story is part of a recorded and ongoing history of misunderstanding and no little tension between the sisters. It would be all too easy (and rather, I think, simplistic) to read this passage as counterbalance to the preceding story of the Good Samaritan that we read last week; though Luke is known for careful authorship and, at one level, the praised Samaritan activist is now somehow offset by the pietistic quietism of Mary. I think the story is both simple and direct but also wonderfully expressive of Lukes emphasis upon the great themes of cosmic redemption painted boldly on the canvas of salvation history. But then, as by some master craftsman, Luke engages the cosmic with the earthly, the expansive with the specific. Consider just two themes of cosmic, expansive, invasive salvation acceptance and reconciliation and see how they are etched into this story of everyday life. Acceptance. Coming to the house at Bethany, Jesus accepts Marthas welcome. In the book, A Feminist Companion to Luke, Veronica Koperski writes, the word Luke uses in verse 38 to express Marthas welcome also describes receiving,

hearing or understanding the word equivalent to Marys listening to him. And in the same book Amy-Jill Levine argues that Martha is seen to own the house that Jesus enters and her act can be viewed as a type of patronage a position of power and influence. Jesus accepts warmly and definitively the ministry and power of this woman, in line with Lukes theology. Jesus accepts Marthas service at no point is she asked to leave the kitchen and enter the room of prayer. And as Jesus so poignantly accepts the service of Mary beside his burial tomb (John 20:16) so he powerfully affirms and accepts Martha with the twofold use of her name Martha, Martha. And read, mark, learn, inwardly digest how this theme of acceptance is magnified onto the cosmic screen as Paul, in Colossians chapter one, sings out, the hope of glory is in you and in him we are all created! Acceptance and Reconciliation. In this few verses in Luke 10, we see the Master at work as he moves these two sisters towards reconciliation. Though it might seem that Mary was oblivious to all the sisterly angst taking place, I can imagine that she was not left ignorant for long once Jesus had left! In this process of reconciliation Jesus affirms the individuals, recognizes their psychic pain (or joy) and tries to move towards an awareness of a presence greater than temporary illwill and misunderstanding. Quite a task, yes but then no-one ever said that authentic reconciliation is easy! And I believe that in John 12 we see, at last, a healthy and functioning reconciliation Martha is in the kitchen, her brother Lazarus is listening to Jesus and Mary well, Mary is busy anointing feet and rather sensually offering her hair to massage and dry feet! And read, mark, learn, inwardly digest how this theme of reconciliation is magnified onto the cosmic screen as Paul, in Colossians chapter one, sings out the divine exercise of reconciliation, the movement from Fragmentation to integration Dysfunction to function Disharmony to harmony Brokenness to wholeness Warfare to serenity Separation to reconciliation In Christ, God was pleased to reconcile all things making peace, You who were once estranged he has now reconciled. I believe this story, in part, teaches us that engagement with the divine is possible in all tasks (in the kitchen and in the room of prayer), in all places and in all relationships.

Once we are grasped by this magnificent truth we have indeed the better part and Christ prays it will not be taken from us. AMEN

Potrebbero piacerti anche