Pentecost VIII
Luke 10:38-42
+ In the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
I ATTENDED a forum last Spring about a strong trend in the Church, the practice of giving the Blessed Sacrament to the unbaptized. The proponents of the practice call it Open Table, its detractors, me included, call it dangerous, among other things. So we are in this forum, and a woman from California speaks to us about the benefits of an Open Table. Her main theological defense of the practice is that the “historical” Jesus welcomed all people at His table, believers and unbelievers alike. She went on about this for at least 15 minutes, Jesus welcomed all people to His table. I turned to a friend and said, “Sounds like Jesus was running an all-night diner in Nazareth.” My friend then raised his hand and asked the woman a question: “What table are you talking about, exactly?” Well, the woman had no satisfactory answer, of course, for Jesus didn't have a table, or pots and pans, or for that matter a home. What he did have was at least 12 hungry disciples and nowhere to lay His head. But He did have Mary and Martha.
Mary and Martha were an interesting pair. We know from Holy Scripture that they lived in Bethany and that Martha was the mistress of the household. We know their brother Lazarus, of course, but we don't know how Martha comes to be the principle of the household. We can figure that Martha was fairly well off for a woman of her time, she was able to receive the Lord and His disciples into her home without notice, but we don't know how well off she was, or how she came to be in her situation. The first impression we get of Martha from St. Luke gives us little to go on except this: Martha opened her home to Jesus, and a seed of faith was sown.
Yes, Mary and Martha were an interesting pair, and this Lucan passage has been fodder for theologians and commentators for centuries. Most of us are familiar with the most common of interpretations of Mary and Martha, Mary being the “contemplative” one, Martha the “active” one. There are whole workshops dedicated to discerning if you are a “Mary Christian” or a “Martha Christian,” if you are more spiritual like Mary or more dutiful like Martha. This interpretation, while perhaps valuable, comes off as a bit shallow, and those workshops, apart from being self-mocking, miss the point completely. Mary and Martha were not shallow or static, neither of them fit into archetypes, so we need to look further and deeper, we need to find that their story is not about different types of Christians or figuring out our skill sets. Their story is about love, their story is about transformation, their story is about faith.
I wish all of our stories were about faith. I guess in the end all of our stories are about faith, faith that is waxing or waning, great or small, just discovered or long nurtured. The one common connection is that our faith is never stagnant, its against the nature of faith to sit still. For most of us here our faith is a fulfillment of our baptism as infants, a growing into the new life given to us by water and the Holy Spirit. Some of us were baptized as adults, as we saw at the last Easter Vigil; I'll never forget seeing two of our Christian siblings rising to new life, their faces and heads wet with water and joy and light and life. My faith grew that day along with theirs, their joy was mine as I looked into the faces of new heirs to the Kingdom, as I heard Father call out the new names written in Book of Life. New faith was begun that night, old faith was renewed, transformation took place and love grew, but no one asked them if they wanted to be a “Mary Christian” or a “Martha Christian.” They were asked if they believed, and they said yes.
Mary and Martha said yes, they said yes with a warm welcome, a warm meal, and a warm home. Mary acknowledged Jesus as Lord by sitting at His feet, Martha by tending to His needs, but Jesus was still a relative stranger to them, neither of them had yet to realize fully just Who they had welcomed into their home. They did not yet know that He who would feed them the Bread of Life was about to accept Martha's offering, they did not yet know the pain and joy and honor and fear they would see, but they knew that something and Someone special was happening. Yes, Someone was happening, the fullness of their God was amongst them, the help of ages past was sitting in their kitchen. “The mystery that had been hidden throughout the ages and generations” was gazing down at Mary, and yes, Martha was slowly losing it.
Mary and Martha had chosen their portions, and Martha's was eating her up. Martha was driven to distraction, she had left the realm of politely tending to her guests and wound up being wound up, frustrated by her tasks and angry with the lack of her sister's help. Martha finally has enough of her sister's unwillingness to help, and in a rather bold move, lays the responsibility of straightening Mary out on her guest. She didn't get the answer she was looking for. Jesus neither compelled Mary to help or relieved Martha of her duties; they had chosen their portions, and Mary had chosen the better part.
Mary and Martha had chosen their portions, Mary's portion was better, but they were both alloted portions beyond expectation. Saint Luke doesn't finish their story for us, he doesn't tell us what the rest of that night was like, but Saint John picks up their story. The faith that was quickened over dinner was fed, their relationship with Christ grew from one of polite hospitality to one of love, trust, and hope. Mary and Martha had chosen their portions, but Christ had chosen them, chosen them along with their brother Lazarus as disciples, as beloved friends, and as vessels of His revelation. Mary fell at Christ's feet first, but it was Martha that fell at the feet of Christ after her brother died, and it was to Martha that Christ revealed that He is the Resurrection and the Life. It was Martha that responded in splendid belief “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God.” What a portion both Mary and Martha received when they saw their brother raised from the dead. What a portion faith provided.
We choose our portions as Mary and Martha did, some portions chosen better than others. The better choice is the full portion, a life of faith in Christ Jesus, a life lived in service and in listening, a life of faith revealed by our love, our trust, our hope, a life that reveals to the world that Christ Jesus is indeed the Resurrection and the Life. The better portion is a life of faith received and faith imparted, of bread given to those in need and the Bread of Life received at the foot of the altar of God. The better portion is a life of faith that will bring us the pain and joy and honor and fear that Mary and Martha saw. The better portion is a life which chooses Christ as He chooses us, a life of faith that bring us at the last, with Mary and Martha, to see the Face of God.
+ In the name of the Father and the Son and of the Holy Ghost. Amen.
© 2007 J. Matthew Tucker
