A homily on Luke 10: 38-42. Martha and Mary wait on Jesus.
In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.
Our lectionary provides us with an interesting combination of readings for this Sunday: from Genesis, the story of the appearance of Lord to Abraham, in the form of three angels (whom we refer to as the Old Testament Trinity) by the oaks at Mamre, and from the Letter to the Colossians, a stirring statement of an exalted Christology, which Paul proclaims as his Gospel. Then, unaccountably it seems, after the two glorious readings we have just mentioned, we have the short, not very exalted, rather down-to-earth reading of an encounter among Martha, Mary, and Jesus, which appears, on the surface, to be nothing more than a spat between two sisters, in which Jesus appears, somewhat unsatisfactorily, to side with one over the other. After the impressive readings from Genesis and Colossians, we have been brought to earth with a thud, into a world of ordinary domestic labor and sibling resentment.
There is a painting by Vermeer which presents very effectively the conventional understanding of this story, which one commentator described as "the most famous sibling rivalry of all time." In the painting, Martha is setting down a loaf of bread before Jesus, while Mary is in repose at his feet, absorbing his teaching. Martha, while setting down the bread, is glaring at Jesus; she is clearly annoyed by the situation. The standard view of ancient and medieval commentators is that of two rival sisters, models of two different kinds of devotion, the one a contemplative, a monastic, and the other in active ministry in the world. Even today, this interpretation of the story is probably the most common. And there is even a tendency to take the story to mean that the contemplative way is superior to the active way.
Luke doesn't tell us the whole story. There is in John's Gospel an much fuller account of the relationships among Jesus, Martha and Mary, which can help us to understand better the account in Luke. In chapters 11 and 12 of John, the account of the raising of Lazarus and its aftermath, Martha and Mary are very prominent. And of course, Lazarus, whom Jesus raises from the dead, is their brother.
When Lazarus their brother is ill, Martha and Mary both send a message to Jesus, presumably asking Jesus to heal Lazarus. But Jesus does not come immediately, and in the meantime Lazarus dies. And as we know, when Jesus finally gets there, Lazarus has been dead four days. It is in this encounter that we find out what Martha and Mary are really made of.
When Jesus shows up, Martha goes to meet him, while Mary stays home. Martha challenges him, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." But Jesus says that her brother will rise again. Then we hear one of the great "I am" sayings of John's Gospel: "I am the resurrection and the life." Jesus says to Martha, "Do you believe this?" And Martha replies, "Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world." This parallels what we call the Confession of Saint Peter, which we hear in Matthew's Gospel, chapter 16, in which Peter says, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God." The Church commemorates the confession of Peter on January 18. There is a commemoration of "Mary and Martha of Bethany" on July 29, which merely repeats today's Gospel. It seems to me that we could elevate this event beyond a mere commemoration, with the appropriate Gospel from John, since it is connected with one of the great events of the Gospel.
In John's Gospel, we learn more about what Mary is made of too. Jesus goes to dinner, again, at the home of Martha and Mary and Lazarus. Note that this is a dangerous thing for them to do, since the authorities are looking for Jesus and Lazarus. But Martha and Mary are willing to make themselves and their home, which they own, available to Jesus. The courage and faith of these women are very important in the development of the Christian community. And we see the depth of Mary's faith when she anoints Jesus's feet with costly perfume. This is a clear sign that she knows very well who Jesus is, and what he, and they, are facing.
So we see that the events in John's Gospel in which Martha and Mary appear are way beyond the disconcerting household resentment, which is the conventional interpretation of the story in Luke's Gospel. And when we bring what we have learned from John's Gospel back into Luke's story, we find in Luke a few things which perhaps we did not notice on first hearing.
Our translation, the New Revised Standard Version, obscures a few terms which could lead us into deeper understanding of what Luke is telling us here, and which John's Gospel supports. In John's Gospel, we hear of the faith, leadership, and service, of Martha and Mary, of their importance to Jesus and his mission. These are present in Luke's story too, which a closer look at his words make clear to us. I choose just a few.
Jesus says, "Martha, you are distracted by many things." The Greek for "by many things" is "peri pollen diakonian." Actually, this says, "about much service," or, "about much diakonia." The service, the diakonia, here is not just table service, but all her work as a leader in the community, to which John's Gospel points. Luke reinforces the point when he quotes Martha as saying, "Do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself?" "Do all the work by myself" in the Greek is "monen me katelipen diakonein." "Diakonein" in this case is also not just "to wait on tables." It also means her ministry as a whole, her diakonia in the Christian community. That is why Jesus says, "there is need of only one thing," which is the devotion of Mary, which he points to. We remember that Martha welcomed Jesus into her home, which confirms her importance to Jesus, and his importance to her. And Martha rises to the occasion, as we see in John's Gospel, when she proclaims her faith in him as Messiah and Son of God, the Resurrection and the Life. Martha has absorbed what Jesus taught her. Jesus saw that Martha was on the brink of full understanding , full awareness of the nature of Jesus and of her own nature; Jesus gave Martha that extra push, that final word for which she was ready, and she opened to full understanding. Mary, indeed, does help Martha to do the work after all, the work of knowing Jesus for who he is. This knowing is not merely a form of words, an idea only, a theological statement, but a deep spiritual experience which Mary had reached, and the readiness for which Jesus perceived in Martha.
There is a painting by Vermeer which presents very effectively the conventional understanding of this story, which one commentator described as "the most famous sibling rivalry of all time." In the painting, Martha is setting down a loaf of bread before Jesus, while Mary is in repose at his feet, absorbing his teaching. Martha, while setting down the bread, is glaring at Jesus; she is clearly annoyed by the situation. The standard view of ancient and medieval commentators is that of two rival sisters, models of two different kinds of devotion, the one a contemplative, a monastic, and the other in active ministry in the world. Even today, this interpretation of the story is probably the most common. And there is even a tendency to take the story to mean that the contemplative way is superior to the active way.
Luke doesn't tell us the whole story. There is in John's Gospel an much fuller account of the relationships among Jesus, Martha and Mary, which can help us to understand better the account in Luke. In chapters 11 and 12 of John, the account of the raising of Lazarus and its aftermath, Martha and Mary are very prominent. And of course, Lazarus, whom Jesus raises from the dead, is their brother.
When Lazarus their brother is ill, Martha and Mary both send a message to Jesus, presumably asking Jesus to heal Lazarus. But Jesus does not come immediately, and in the meantime Lazarus dies. And as we know, when Jesus finally gets there, Lazarus has been dead four days. It is in this encounter that we find out what Martha and Mary are really made of.
When Jesus shows up, Martha goes to meet him, while Mary stays home. Martha challenges him, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." But Jesus says that her brother will rise again. Then we hear one of the great "I am" sayings of John's Gospel: "I am the resurrection and the life." Jesus says to Martha, "Do you believe this?" And Martha replies, "Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world." This parallels what we call the Confession of Saint Peter, which we hear in Matthew's Gospel, chapter 16, in which Peter says, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God." The Church commemorates the confession of Peter on January 18. There is a commemoration of "Mary and Martha of Bethany" on July 29, which merely repeats today's Gospel. It seems to me that we could elevate this event beyond a mere commemoration, with the appropriate Gospel from John, since it is connected with one of the great events of the Gospel.
In John's Gospel, we learn more about what Mary is made of too. Jesus goes to dinner, again, at the home of Martha and Mary and Lazarus. Note that this is a dangerous thing for them to do, since the authorities are looking for Jesus and Lazarus. But Martha and Mary are willing to make themselves and their home, which they own, available to Jesus. The courage and faith of these women are very important in the development of the Christian community. And we see the depth of Mary's faith when she anoints Jesus's feet with costly perfume. This is a clear sign that she knows very well who Jesus is, and what he, and they, are facing.
So we see that the events in John's Gospel in which Martha and Mary appear are way beyond the disconcerting household resentment, which is the conventional interpretation of the story in Luke's Gospel. And when we bring what we have learned from John's Gospel back into Luke's story, we find in Luke a few things which perhaps we did not notice on first hearing.
Our translation, the New Revised Standard Version, obscures a few terms which could lead us into deeper understanding of what Luke is telling us here, and which John's Gospel supports. In John's Gospel, we hear of the faith, leadership, and service, of Martha and Mary, of their importance to Jesus and his mission. These are present in Luke's story too, which a closer look at his words make clear to us. I choose just a few.
Jesus says, "Martha, you are distracted by many things." The Greek for "by many things" is "peri pollen diakonian." Actually, this says, "about much service," or, "about much diakonia." The service, the diakonia, here is not just table service, but all her work as a leader in the community, to which John's Gospel points. Luke reinforces the point when he quotes Martha as saying, "Do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself?" "Do all the work by myself" in the Greek is "monen me katelipen diakonein." "Diakonein" in this case is also not just "to wait on tables." It also means her ministry as a whole, her diakonia in the Christian community. That is why Jesus says, "there is need of only one thing," which is the devotion of Mary, which he points to. We remember that Martha welcomed Jesus into her home, which confirms her importance to Jesus, and his importance to her. And Martha rises to the occasion, as we see in John's Gospel, when she proclaims her faith in him as Messiah and Son of God, the Resurrection and the Life. Martha has absorbed what Jesus taught her. Jesus saw that Martha was on the brink of full understanding , full awareness of the nature of Jesus and of her own nature; Jesus gave Martha that extra push, that final word for which she was ready, and she opened to full understanding. Mary, indeed, does help Martha to do the work after all, the work of knowing Jesus for who he is. This knowing is not merely a form of words, an idea only, a theological statement, but a deep spiritual experience which Mary had reached, and the readiness for which Jesus perceived in Martha.
In nomine Patris, et Filii, et Spiritus Sancti. Amen.
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