Am I Striving?

For centuries, women of faith have been asking themselves, “Am I a Mary or a Martha?” as though one answer were better than the other. This sermon revisits Luke 10:38–42 and suggests that both sisters are faithful disciples. Rather than choosing between service and devotion, Jesus invites Martha—and all of us—to a holy reorientation, returning our focus from the many things that consume us to the One Thing that gives meaning to them all.

Transcript

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Have you ever played the game Would You Rather? It can be a fun game. Would you rather have the ability to fly or be invisible? Would you rather live at the beach or the mountains? And sometimes each of those options are equally good. And sometimes it seems like one is obviously better. Would you rather have a root canal or go to a children's birthday party at Chuck E. Cheese? 51 years marked safe from Chuck E. Cheese. Sometimes it feels like for centuries this Mary and Martha story has almost played out like a biblical game of would you rather? Right? Would you rather be a Mary or a Martha? Would you rather work or worship? Would you rather be contemplative? Or would you rather be busy? Would you rather make the right choice or be chastised for Jesus, for simply being who you are, it seems like? But so often it really is reduced to that, are you a Mary or a Martha? With the idea being that one is obviously the better choice. And this does a disservice to the story, and especially to women, because Martha becomes a cautionary tell of the busy woman who just doesn't get it. And Mary becomes the ideal, the spiritual woman who makes the right choice. Well, perhaps that's really not the story that Luke is telling. Martha is criticized for doing the exact things that churches throughout history have expected faithful women to do. And if we're honest, most of society has those same expectations. The expectation is that women will serve everyone. Care for everyone, make everything happen. So then why the criticism for being busy? What if Martha and Mary are not competitors? What if both are disciples? And what if the issue isn't service versus devotion? When we look at our text, what do we actually read? And what do we insert or imagine based on how we've heard this text explained? In many English translations, we hear much like we did today. Jesus comes to a certain village where a woman named Martha welcomes him. Martha has a sister named Mary, and she sits at the feet of Jesus. Martha's distracted and she's worried and she appeals to Jesus, and I hear it in that voice of the Brady Bunch, like, Martha, Martha, Martha. I mean, that's how I hear that. But if this were a painting, what would you include? If this was like in a Norman Rockwell-esque painting, what would you include to show this depiction? Would it be a sink full of dirty dishes? Maybe a broom over here in the corner? Do you see a lot of people? Do you see a home? Do you see a sister in a room full of men sitting at the feet just adoring Jesus? Do you see those things? I'm asking. Because the text doesn't actually paint a picture with many people, doesn't paint a picture of a home, and it doesn't necessarily paint a picture of a sister named Mary literally setting at the feet of Jesus. What we have is a conversation between one woman and Jesus. So let's think about the placement of this text. Luke 10 begins with the sending of the 72 out into the villages in pairs of twos to preach the gospel. The previous verses right before Mary and Martha, that's the parable of the Good Samaritan. The question of who is my neighbor and who is a disciple? And all of these texts are action-oriented. So listen to this scripture again and paint that picture of what you actually hear. Now, as they went on their way, he entered a certain village where a woman named Martha welcomed him. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at Jesus' feet and listened to what he was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks, so she came to him and asked, Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me. 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. So we don't hear that there's a home, just that Mar that Martha welcomed him. We don't hear that there are other disciples with him. And there is one tiny word omitted in most of our translation that is present in the original Greek translations, in the original Greek text. And it's a tiny little word, it's also. And it appears in the second verse. In the original Greek, it precedes the phrase, who sat at Jesus' feet. So hear this again with the word also. Mary, who also sat at the feet of Jesus. Mary, who also sat at the feet of Jesus. So that tiny little word also implies that Martha also sits at the feet of Jesus. And that phrase sitting at the feet of Jesus was a phrase for discipleship. So even in passages with John the Baptist, disciples could be sitting at the feet of John. So both of these women, with that tiny little word also, are shown to be sisters, both disciples of Jesus. So it really could be argued that Mary isn't even present in this discussion. It's a description of her sister who was also a disciple doing ministry and doing work for Jesus. Because it just says that Jesus was welcomed by Martha. It doesn't say her home, and it certainly doesn't say that many people are present and there's dirty dishes and the floors need to be swept, and she is busy showing hospitality to all these people. And the word diaconos, which means deacon, and we understand that as someone who serves and is in ministry, is also present in this text. So we have two sisters, one who's worried, she's in ministry, she's keeping things going at home, and it may have even been a ministry hub where other disciples were gathering and coming through. And the other sister Mary, possibly as part of the 72 who were sent out to do ministry in the name of Jesus. She is serving in a different capacity than her sister. In every translation, Mary's worried, she's distracted, she's troubled, she's anxious, and she's striving to keep it all together. And in this moment of vulnerability, she comes to Jesus and she just gets real. Jesus, tell my sister to help me. The passage this closes Luke chapter 10. Descending, the Good Samaritan, Mary, and Martha. And then Luke chapter 11 begins with the disciples asking Jesus to teach them to pray. It's almost a moment of teach us to be faithful in ministry. The opposite of discipleship is distraction or worry that consumes us. The opposite of discipleship is allowing worry to become the loudest voice in the room, that critical voice in our ear. The worry, the doubt, the anxiety of everyday life is an unholy disruption in Mary's life of service to the Lord. And his gentle reminder of calling her by name twice, it's not an admonishment. It's a holy disruption that recenters her on the one thing. It's a reminder that she is beloved, a reminder that she has a calling to ministry, and that her sister has one too. We all have many things. Some are distractions and some are tasks and responsibilities that are absolutely important. Ministry responsibilities, hospitality and service, expectations from others, family concerns, worry about the people that we love, the pressure to get everything right, and that inner voice that compares ourselves to others around us, and the endless demands on our time. The many things just go on and on and on. And Jesus didn't say these are terrible things. Many of them are good, so many of them are necessary. So the problem is not the many things. Martha is serving Jesus, she's practicing hospitality. Martha is being a disciple. The issue isn't the activity, it's that the worry and the distraction have taken control. And our lives include both piety and works of mercy. We don't choose between devotion and service because both are necessary. Service without Christ becomes striving, or sometimes barely even surviving. And many of us know what that feels like. We carry burdens, we carry responsibilities, we care for the people in our lives and circumstances that we cannot change. And we work hard and we try to hold everything together. And without realizing it, these many things overshadow the one thing Christ and this message of unconditional love and wholeness for all of us. The words of Martha, Martha, are an invitation or a loving holy disruption of reorientation. Mary is living into her own call to ministry. Martha needs to trust and have faith in the mission, her sister, and herself. In a life filled with daily moments of, would you rather be productive or rest? Hear the invitation of Jesus to Martha as though it is to you. Heather, Heather, your beloved. Insert your own name and know that Jesus is with you. Not words of condemnation or disappointment, words of love, words of my belovedness, a holy disruption or reorientation, a gracious interruption into the busyness. Regardless of where Mary is in this story, the heart of the story is Martha, and all of us who carry the burdens that slowly separate us from the peace that Jesus offers. There comes a time when striving stops being faithful living and simply becomes anxious effort. And when that happens, Jesus calls us back. Jesus calls us back to trust. Jesus calls us back to faith. And Jesus calls us back to the one thing that gives meaning to all the many things. Amen.