July 18th, 2010 – 8th Sunday after Pentecost

Again this week, we have a very familiar story. Last week, it was the good Samaritan, and this week we hear the Martha and Mary conflict. Many of us are made uncomfortable by this story, as we tend to identify ourselves with Martha. Remember, Martha was the one who was the hostess for the evening, as the older sister. From what I have been able to find out, their parents were dead, and they lived in the family home with their brother, Lazarus. You remember Lazarus, right? In a few weeks we will be reading about Jesus raising him from the dead, but he doesn’t seem to be in evidence in today’s reading. We have talked in the past about the importance of hospitality at the time Jesus was living on earth. Just a little while ago, we read about Jesus going to dinner at the home of Simon, and how he was upset because Simon did not show him the proper hospitality. So Martha was just doing what her culture demanded, when she was making sure that food was prepared for Jesus and the disciples when they came to visit. And Mary just sat at Jesus’ feet, listening to his words. Mary was the one who was not behaving as she was supposed to. As a woman, she would not have been permitted to learn in the same way as a man was, and it would have been highly unusual for her to have done what she did in the story. But she did, and when Martha came to Jesus, complaining, Jesus rebuked her. He did it gently, but it was still a rebuke. He told her that Mary had chosen the better part.
Now, I don’t know about you, but I always felt that maybe Jesus shouldn’t have done that. Maybe he should have suggested to Mary that they could finish their conversation during dinner, and that she could go and help her sister. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for Martha. It was probably a day like many in Québec City this summer, swelteringly hot. Martha wanted to have everything just so for their guests, and she was probably rushing around all day, making sure that there was enough food, and that everything was properly prepared. Now, when it was almost time to eat, and she just had to put the finishing touches on the meal, Mary disappeared, and Martha was left by herself. Maybe she would have liked to sit and listen to Jesus too, but the custom of hospitality demanded that she get things done first.
Somehow, I think that most of Martha’s life was like that. She always had to get things done, and, no matter how much she did, there was still more to do. When would she ever get the time to sit and listen? When would life’s demands leave her alone for just a minute, so that she could soak up Jesus’ words?
This urgency surrounding Martha’s life is also part of our lives. I remember, as a child, having only one telephone in the house, and that was in a central location. There was no such thing as a private conversation, as people walked past on the way from one part of the house to another. And we were limited in the amount of time we could spend on the phone, because other people also needed to use it. My father told me stories about the telephone he had known when he was younger. You didn’t dial the number yourself, but lifted the receiver off the hook, and asked the operator to connect you to whichever number you wanted. If the line was busy, the operator would tell you to try later. Of course, by the time I came along, telephones with rotary dials were in use. But you were still attached to the wall by the cord. If someone called and you weren’t home, they would have to try later. Answering machines didn’t yet exist. If you were on the phone, the caller would get a busy signal – no such thing as call waiting then! It was assumed that, if someone really wanted to talk to you, they would keep trying until they reached you.
The next innovation, which speeded things up a little, was the key pad, and you just hit the numbers. I remember during the transition from the rotary dial to the key pad, hearing people complain that it took so much longer to dial a number than to punch it in. By this time, most families had two phones in the house, but still the same number, and phones were still attached to a cord.
But the telephone still didn’t control us. There was still no answering machine, no voice mail, so if we missed a call, we missed a call. If we were lucky, when someone called, there was someone at home to take a message, but often the message didn’t get passed along. I remember when my children were teenagers, friends would tell me that they had called and left a message with one of them. But I rarely got the messages. I rejoiced when I could get an answering machine – no more depending on other people to write down the information. Oh, and by this time, we had a portable phone, too, so that we could walk around the house, chatting. But, if someone was already using the phone, then the caller would get a busy signal. That lasted until voice mail. Now, if I am on the phone, voice mail kicks in, and I can retrieve my messages later.
And after voice mail, all that was needed was a way to take calls when you weren’t even home, so someone had to invent the cell phone. Of course, I have one. Most people here have one. I even know people who have given up their land lines altogether, and kept only their cell phones. How often have you gone to a restaurant for a quiet meal, only to have it interrupted by someone talking on their cell phone at the next table? Thanks to the cell phone, I know more about some people’s lives than I want to. I have heard one side of many arguments; I have heard people yelling at their kids; I have heard kids yelling at their parents. And I really don’t need to know some of the details they have shared.
But it gets worse. Fortunately, most provinces have banned cell phone use while people are driving. Research has concluded that people who drive while using a cell phone are as impaired as people whose alcohol level is over the legal limit. People have been injured and killed by drivers who were talking on their cell phones. And really, what is so urgent that can’t wait until a person is not driving?
But it is this sense of urgency that pervades all our lives. It is the idea that EVERY SINGLE THING is so important that we can’t miss it. It is the idea that EVERY SINGLE THING we are required to do is so important that we can’t take the time to relax for a few minutes. We can’t be disconnected even for an hour. By the way, in my notes, those words “every single thing” are written in capitals, just to highlight the urgency of every single thing. I hope you could hear the capitals in my voice. Cell phones have rung in movie theatres and in churches. People seem to think that something can be important enough to interrupt a night of entertainment. People even think that something can be important enough to interrupt worship.
And this is what Jesus was talking about. He said to Martha: you are worried and upset about many things. In another translation, the word used was “distracted” rather than worried, and that is more appropriate in our context today. For we are distracted by things. Cell phones distract us. Life itself distracts us. We are a nation of busy people. We run from one appointment to another. Most of us have taken to carrying agendas with us, so that we can keep track of everything we have to do. And if we lose our agendas, we panic. I was at a lunch meeting recently, and when I stood up, my agenda fell out of my pocket. Someone picked it up, and when passing it back to me, commented, “If I lost mine, I would lose my life.”
This busy-ness is perceived as something good, as something which lends structure to our lives. But is it? Is it, really? Is it good to be so busy that we don’t have time for ourselves? Is it good to be so busy that we don’t have time for God?
There has been a lot of talk about burn-out in various professions, including the ministry. In fact, we were required to study it when I was in seminary. We learned that people in caring professions – doctors, nurses, social workers, teachers, ministers, and so on – often suffer from burn-out. They work hard; they care deeply; and many of them reach terminal exhaustion before they realize what is happening to them. One of the counsellors at Camp d’Action Biblique last week is actually heading that way, and he is a very young man. He seems to have the idea that only he can do the work he does, and he has not learned to accept help. What will eventually happen to him? The same thing that happens to anyone else who burns out. His work will go downhill; he will start to do less while taking longer to do it; he will always feel tired; he will start to feel hopeless and unfulfilled. Eventually, he will reach a point where he will not only no longer care about others, but he will be unable to care. People who suffer from burn-out feel angry, anxious, and worried. And who felt like that in today’s Gospel reading? Martha. She was “worried and upset”. She was “anxious and distracted”. If we apply today’s terms to Martha, she was burning out. She was pushing herself unnecessarily. And she resented it. She wanted to sit with Jesus, but could not bring herself to do so until everything that needed to be done, was done.
Let’s paraphrase what Jesus said to her. He said, “Martha, Martha, you are so busy looking after me, so busy serving me, so concerned that the right things be done, that you are missing out on being with me. You are missing the necessary thing.” And that is what we do. We crowd our lives with so much that we miss being with God. And yet we know that we need to be with God.
I am reading a book now by Joanna Weaver, called Having A Mary Heart In A Martha World, and this describes how many people live. Thanks to years of sermons, we know that we must make time for God. But the reality is that most of don’t. This book acknowledges that we are busy, and that some of our busy-ness is necessary. But she also insists that God must come first, if everything else is to be done as God wishes. She says that there is a bit of Martha in each of us, and a bit of Mary. As Christians, we should build on the Mary part. The Martha part – which applies to men as well as women – will build on itself. Next time you think that you are doing too much, that you are being pushed to the limit by the busy-ness of your life, look for the Mary heart within you, and allow it to take over for a while. I promise you, the work won’t disappear while you are otherwise occupied, with the better part.
Weaver quotes Robert Munger, who described the time he invited Christ into his heart. Munger showed Jesus around the rooms in his heart, and when he got to the drawing room, he wrote: We walked next into the drawing room. This room was rather intimate and comfortable. I liked it. It had a fireplace, overstuffed chairs, a bookcase, sofa, and a quiet atmosphere.
He also seemed pleased with it. He said, “this is indeed a delightful room. Let us come here often. It is secluded and quiet and we can have fellowship together.”
Well, naturally as a young Christian I was thrilled. I could not think of anything I would rather do than have a few minutes apart with Christ in the intimate comradeship.
He promised, “I will be here every morning early. Meet with Me here and we will start the day together.” So, morning after morning, I would come downstairs to the drawing room and He would take a book of the Bible… open it and then we would read together. He would tell me of its riches and unfold to me its truths…. They were wonderful hours together. In fact, we called the drawing room the “withdrawing room.” It was a period when we had our quiet time together.
But little by little, under the pressure of many responsibilities, this time began to be shortened… I began to miss a day now and then…. I would miss it two days in a row and often more.
I remember one morning when I was in a hurry… As I passed the drawing room, the door was ajar. Looking in I saw a fire in the fireplace and the Lord sitting there… “Blessed Master, forgive me. Have You been here all these mornings?”
“Yes,” He said, “I told you I would be here every morning to meet with you.” Then I was even more ashamed. He had been faithful in spite of my faithlessness. I asked His forgiveness and He readily forgave me…
He said “the trouble with you is this: You have been thinking of the quiet time, of the Bible study and prayer time, as a factor in your own spiritual progress, but you have forgotten that this hour means something to Me also.”
Now, you will notice that I did not say that Mary was right, or that Martha was right. It is not a question of right or wrong. There is work which must be done, but there is also listening which must be done. Jesus has grace to give us. All we need to do is to take it. Let’s not leave him waiting in the drawing room. Let’s go there to be with him. Thanks be to God.