Transcript
There is need of only one thing. Please be seated.
I have a manuscript this time. Have you ever stopped and just done nothing? Maybe sitting in a comfy chair or pausing while on a walk. And I don’t mean mindlessly scrolling on your phone, or zoning out at the TV or newspaper, or even falling asleep in that comfy chair. I mean, sitting still, doing nothing. Clearing your mind. Emptying your hands. Stilling your body.
I used to joke that I didn’t like to sit still and quiet, because the last time I did that, I heard a voice say I would become a priest. And who knows what that voice would say next? Now, I will admit I’ve gotten a lot better at quote doing nothing. Although even being better at doing nothing, I’m still definitely the Martha of today’s gospel reading.
In fact, all of you who heard this gospel reading and got mad or annoyed or rolled your eyes at Jesus, that’s because you’re totally a doer, a Martha, and you’re probably thinking a Mary is doing nothing. And Martha is busy doing all the chores, preparing the house, cooking the food. You’re also probably the one who picks up the dirty laundry off the floor in your house and washes all the dirty dishes in the sink, and does the grocery shopping and the lawn mowing and the car pulling. This gospel reading, which is only in Luke’s gospel, really seems to put the doers and the beers against each other. Even Jesus seems to say that Martha is wrong and Mary is right. Stop doing all the chores and start doing nothing. He says, and I quote, Mary has chosen the better part. And those of you who relate to Martha are thinking, then who will clean the house and do the laundry and all the other things that need doing?
So imagine… what if, instead of Jesus’s statement ending just there, Mary has chosen the better part which will not be taken away from her. What if Jesus is actually saying Mary has chosen the better part for Mary, which will not be taken away from her? What if this story isn’t about shaming all of us Type A doers. What if instead the story is about call and about gifts and about community? About recognizing that everyone has a place. Everyone has a part. Everyone has their quote assignment.
And some of us are called to serve, to clean and cook and prepare, to do chores and errands and take care of others. You know the word in Greek that is translated into English as tasks. When it reads that Martha was distracted by her many tasks, it’s the same Greek word we use for deacon. Diakonom.
Some of us are called to serve, are gifted with the skills needed to do our activists and task oriented. In Myers-Briggs, we would be the J’s, the judges instead of the Ps, the perceivers. We make to-do lists and we stick to them until everything is checked off. The last thing on my to-do list last night was to go to the neighborhood party, and I checked it off and some of us are called to be- are gifted with the contemplative skills, are more interested in sitting and listening.
The story about Mary and Martha. It’s not supposed to create a Mary versus Martha dichotomy. Pitting one type of person, one call, one set of gifts against the other. Instead, this is a reminder that we all are called to serve God according to our gifts. And sometimes those of us who like to sit and do nothing, the thinkers and the listeners maybe could try to actually do something. And sometimes those of us who get super busy in our constantly doing and doing and doing. Maybe this is our reminder to do nothing, just sit and do nothing.
After all, I would be remiss if I didn’t point out Jesus’s first response to Martha, not the Mary chose the better part line, but the very first line he says, Jesus says you are worried and distracted by many things. What if we played with how Jesus even said that line to Martha, instead of it sounding like Jesus was yelling at Martha, what if it was pastoral? Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by so many things.
Even those of us who have a habit of doing. We need to take time to not also to not pick up the dirty laundry off the floor, not wash all the dirty dishes in the sink, not do the grocery shopping, the lawn mowing and the carpooling. Instead, we also need to sit at the feet of Jesus and listen to what he has to say. Honestly, you might find that you’ve been fighting all your life to be a Martha, but really, you’re much more suited to being a Mary.
Nowadays, I find myself sitting alone, quiet and still quite often. After all, I live alone with my very old, mostly blind, completely deaf dog. At this point, the icemaker in the fridge is the loudest noise in my house. I haven’t heard a voice again, thankfully, and I do often get distracted by my phone, or a good book, or the TV, or even the dust on the floorboards. Those of you who are relating to Martha know what I’m talking about. But when I actually do nothing, it helps me reflect on all the other things I do, those that need doing, and those that worry and distract me. Those things that are part of my calling and those things that pull me away from God.
Society expects us to all be doers. In fact, our society rewards the over-functioners, the ones who do more than their fair share of tasks and chores and errands. After all, how many times have you gotten a raise or a bonus because, and I quote, you went above and beyond the expected tasks. Yet even within this demanding society, we need to have both kinds of people the do-ers and the be-ers. And sometimes we might assume we’re do-ers when we’re really be-ers.
So I want to invite you into this dichotomy and into this practice. If you’re inclined to do things, don’t. Take some time to be still and quiet. And if you’re inclined to just be, maybe try taking on some of the chores around the house and in your life. Try on the other set of gifts. See if they fit. It’ll probably be a little uncomfortable at first, but see if you can maybe stretch into that other role.
And bottom line, make sure whatever you decide to do or be, whether you fall on the spectrum of Mary or Martha, make sure you’re doing it or being it for Jesus sake. Don’t be worried and distracted by doing or by being. Instead, do all of it. Be all of it, for Jesus sake.
Amen.