"First Things First"
Luke 10:38-42

The Rev. Carol S. Wedell

I'm guessing that for many of you here this morning, this is a familiar text.  How many of you have heard this story before?  I'm also guessing that for some of you, this may not be one of your more favorite passages of scripture.  Whether or not this is familiar turf, what's your reaction at hearing it read?  (Hands up for those who like this story.  Hands up for those who don't.  Hands up for have some feelings of ambivalence about it).  What do you think its saying?  What do you like?  Dislike?

Your mixed reactions and viewpoints echo the ambivalence that has accompanied this reading from Luke's gospel throughout the history of the church. These four verses have engendered a tremendous quantity of theological discussion - and disagreement! 

The story itself isn't long and is fairly straightforward.  Jesus and his disciples are on their way to Jerusalem.  They stop in a village, "where a woman named Martha welcomed Jesus into her home." Take note!  Women owning homes and men accepting their hospitality would not have been common place in Jesus' day. 

The challenge to religious and cultural norms continues as Martha's sister, Mary, sits at Jesus' feet while he's teaching - the traditional position of a student to a rabbi.  By definition, such students were male.  So here we have Jesus entering a woman's home, accepting her hospitality and allowing her sister to sit at his feet, listening to every word he says.  Not a familiar picture, to be sure.

Things heat up fairly quickly.  Luke tells us that "Martha was distracted by her many tasks."  You can almost see her scurrying about - sweeping the floor, checking on the bread, pouring the wine, counting heads to make sure there are enough cups.  Will there be enough food?  She is going in too many directions - all at the same time. Perhaps some of you can relate!

It reminds me of an email that a friend sent to me:  It's the "but first" scenario. You know. It's when you decide to do the laundry. So you start down the stairs with the laundry but then see the newspapers on the table. OK, you'll do the laundry.

BUT FIRST you decide to put the papers away. So on your way in to put the papers away, you notice the mail on the table. OK, you'll put the papers away.

BUT FIRST you'll pay that bill that needs to be paid. So you look for the checkbook. Ooops...there's the baby's bottle from yesterday on the floor. OK, you'll pay the bill.

BUT FIRST you need to put the bottle in the sink. You head for the kitchen. Darn it, there's the remote for the TV. What's it doing here? OK, you'll put the bottle in the sink.

BUT FIRST you need to put the remote away. Head for the TV room. Aaagh! Stepped on the cat. Cat needs to be fed. OK, you'll put the remote away.

BUT FIRST you need to feed the cat...

It sounds like Martha was having one of those days.  Too much to do, pulled in too many directions, overwhelmed and possibly feeling underappreciated.  She looks up and sees her sister sitting comfortably at the feet of Jesus.  And her blood begins to boil.

Now she could be nice and passive, and just keep on scurrying about.  That's what would have been expected.  After all, she has company - important company.  Instead, she boldly speaks up and makes her complaint known.  But she doesn't go privately to her sister and say, "hey sis, I could use a little help here."  No, she goes public, makes a nice big scene and says to Jesus, "Don't you see what's going on?  Mary has left me to do all the work.  Tell her to get off her duff and give me a hand!"

This is simply not a passage that leaves many of us feeling too comfortable.  If only Jesus had said, "Hey Mary, Martha looks a bit stressed out.  Why don't we all go to the kitchen and finish up the dinner preparations and talk while we're working?"  Then everyone would have been happy.

But, of course, that's not what he said. Rather, he sees beneath the frazzled façade to a person whose anxiety has taken control.  "Martha, life's too short.  You've lost some perspective here.  You are worried and distracted about so much.  Only one thing is really important.  Mary has chosen what really matters.  I won't take that away from her." 

So... what does this mean for us?  For you and me today?  Historically, some have argued that this story points to salvation coming through faith (Mary) as opposed to works (Martha).  Many have used this passage to speak about the role of women in the church - with surprisingly contradictory conclusions!

I remember very clearly the first time I preached on this passage.  I had just completed my first year of seminary, where slightly less than one-third of the students were women.  Several of my classmates believed that I, along with the rest of my female colleagues, had no business being there.  I had a summer internship at a church in Seattle, and was spending a couple of days with good friends on Whidbey Island. I was scheduled to preach that Sunday - on this text.  In those pre-personal computer days, I was sitting out in their yard, on a beautiful sunny afternoon, overlooking Puget Sound, notepad in hand, trying to figure out how to communicate what was so clear to me.  Twenty-seven years ago, I heard this passage, and Jesus' defense  of Mary, as a striking affirmation that women, along with men, had the right and even the responsibility of sitting at the feet of Jesus to learn and grow.  A first person sermon was born that afternoon, the beginning of which I still remember.  I identified with Mary.

As I approached this text these past few weeks, however, I've been surprised by how the difference in my personal situation altered my application of the text.  While I was on medical leave, I had vastly more time than I usually do to simply sit.  Candidly, there were times when that was all I had the energy to do!  As I gradually resumed every day activities, I found that I did not do them at the same pace to which I was ordinarily accustomed.  I still got frustrated if the house was chaotic (especially since I was the one sitting there looking at it every day!), but I took a great many things in with more appreciation and more patience.

Then, as my body began to regain strength and stamina, my mind played speed-racer.  All of the things I had put on the back burner following surgery came rushing to the forefront.  Appointments for the kids, school issues, planning for the fall here at church, house projects, sermon titles, hymn selections, presbytery meetings.....  In no short order, I began to feel the adrenaline rush and the anxiety build.  Like Martha, I found myself distracted, trying to do (or at least think about doing) too many things at once.

Where do you see yourself?  More like Mary, contemplative and laid back?  Or more like Martha - mission minded and action oriented?  In a culture which values accomplishment and busy schedules, I would expect that a good many of us fall into the "Martha" category.  Ask the children and youth here today about their schedules - and you'll see that we start early teaching our kids that doing more is better.

Too often when we read this passage, we join in with many commentators who pit Martha and Mary against one another in some kind of competition - and of course, Mary wins.  But I think we miss something if we simply polarize the two.  We miss the depth of this passage if we quickly characterize Martha as an ill-tempered nag or Mary as lazy.  In truth, Mary and Martha need each other - they need the balance of different ways of living faithfully.  We miss the boat if we hear only a "put-down" of Martha's busy-ness.

As any of us who find ourselves moving like action-packed Martha's will tell you, someone has to do it!  Meals need to be cooked, kitchens cleaned, laundry done, groceries purchased.  Around the church we desperately need the dedication of "Marthas" of both genders:  weeding the gardens, opening the doors, lighting the candles, signing the checks, teaching the kids, sending the cards, organizing events. We would be out of business in short order, if everyone decided to abandon those roles.

And notice that Jesus does not suggest that Martha shouldn't be doing the things she's doing!  There is nothing inherently wrong in the tasks to which she is giving her attention.  In fact hospitality and service are critical elements in the life of faith.  Jesus does not rebuke Martha for being in the kitchen - but for the way that she was in the kitchen.

What Jesus addresses is the worry and anxiety that lie beneath her frantic activity.  We've been there, haven't we?  Trying to prove that we are "good enough" at our job or at school, as a parent or child, as a friend or spouse and sadly, too often, even at church.  Trying to please all of the people all of the time, and - no big surprise here - coming up short. Martha may be doing all kinds of wonderful things, but the words "burn out" are etched across her face.  Instead of serving out of joy and love, her words betray the bitterness that seep in when we are stretched beyond the limits of our energy and capacity.

Presbyterian pastor and preaching professor, Tom Long, tells the story of an advisory group to the chaplains at a major university that he served on some time ago.  He says, "Our job was to meet, to listen to reports from the chaplains about their work, and to offer support and counsel. One year, we had heard the reports of the chaplains, and we were asking them questions. An older member of the council asked the chaplains, "What are the university students like morally these days?" The chaplains looked at each other, wondering how to answer that question. Finally one of them took a stab at it. "Well," she said, "I think you'd be basically pleased. The students are pretty ambitious in terms of their careers, but that's not all they are. A lot of them tutor kids after school. Some work in a night shelter and in a soup kitchen for the homeless. Last week a group of students protested apartheid in South Africa....." As she talked, the Jewish chaplain who was listening to her began to grin. The more she talked, the bigger he grinned, until finally it became distracting. "Am I saying something funny?" she said to the Jewish chaplain. "No, no, I'm sorry," he replied. "I was just sitting here thinking. You are saying that the university students are good people, and you're right. And you're saying that they are involved in good social causes, and they are. But what I was thinking is that the one thing they lack is a vision of salvation." We all looked at the Jewish university chaplain. "No, it's true," he said. "If you do not have some vision of what God is doing to repair the whole creation, you can't get up every day and work in a soup kitchen. It finally beats you down." (The Rev. Dr. Thomas G. Long, http://www.day1.net/)

Jesus sees that "beaten down" look on Martha's face, and I believe, out of compassion for her, reminds her of the only source which is able to sustain her.   In love, Jesus calls Martha by name, and reminds her that without a deep and abiding connection to him, she won't have the strength - won't have the love - to serve in Jesus' name.

If the well is empty, there is no water to give to others.  As Mary sits at Jesus' feet, she is fed by the Word of Life.  The words that we use when we ordain come to mind - as I see her filled with "energy, intelligence, imagination and love."  If we lose those, then we lose what is necessary to rebuild homes in New Orleans or to feed the hungry in Cleveland.

My friends, every one of us here this morning is invited to pause and sit at the feet of the one who came that we might have life - and have it abundantly.  Let's put first things first - so that the kingdom of God might be known among us - and beyond us.