ONLY ONE THING - plus maybe one more

Luke 10:38-42

Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me." But the Lord answered her, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her."

I think that one direction that people clearly should NOT go, is to diss Martha. She’s had it pretty tough.

And there are plenty of so-called Martha’s who feel beat up by this text. 

Of course, many of them are sort of annoying busy-bodies, so its dang hard not to pile on.

BUT -  like the parable that precedes it, there are depths here that can take you so deep, you could get the bends when you surface....

A few preaching paths - 

I heard Anna Carter Florence give a quite humorous presentation/sermon. She really hammered on “Lord, TELL HER THEN TO HELP ME”!!!!

very funny

Among her good points - 

Arguments are best between sisters and brothers. Who better to know Mary’s propensity to dodge the work than her long suffering sister? 

Notice the complete lack of direct communication. . . 

She says: “It’s hard to serve Jesus and fight with your sister at the same time. Its hard to stay focused on what he’s done, when you’re so mad about what she HASN’T done.”

then she notes that. . . Susan Derber (I think) has this great idea - what if the next night at dinner, Mary was getting tired of sitting at Jesus’ feet? 

“Lord, it’s not fair that I’m THE ONLY ONE sitting here listening and taking notes. Tell Martha to get in here and listen too!”

Funny. 

She drives to this: That Mary “chose” her role. So did Martha, really, but now she’s whining about it. 

What if we saw our many and varied ways of serving God as a joyful choice, instead of onerous burden? 

Not a bad point. As they say - - - somewhere --- “That dog will hunt.”

I’m beginning to wonder at two things. . . 

Why is it that no one makes any comment on this aspect of Jesus’ comment (chiding) to Martha: “which will not be taken away from her."

What does that mean? Is it possibly central to the story? Maybe (probably) not. Still.

The other thing I wonder at. I forgot. . . 

heck

Oh yeah. What is that ONE THING?

The Word? Jesus' teaching?

If so, then why doesn’t Luke tell us what he taught?

Could it be love.

There’s a song for this I’m sure.

Love that will go to the Cross?

Why does Martha prepare the meal?

Hospitality? Isn’t that a sharing of love? 

Why does Mary listen? Love?

Why do we do a lot of the things we do? 

Why do people come to Church on Sunday? Loving Jesus? 

Why do people gather on a Saturday, and clean the Church yard, care for the building, build a Habitat House?

What is lost when a good part of the conversation is whining about who ISN’T there? 

Love?

It is the ONE THING, and it gets lost in a million ways. The distractions are - to use a Lukan term - Legion

and then, there is this from Culpepper, who reminds us that Jesus might have loved with a love that doesn’t love boundaries. . . .

Part of Culpepper's (Luke, New Interpreter's Bible) "Reflections" on the text page 232 

The power of these two stories consists not just in that they exemplify the great commands of 10:27 but in Jesus' choice of characters to illustrate the love of neighbor and the love of God: A Samaritan and a woman. The social codes and boundaries were clear and inflexible; a Samaritan would not be considered a model of neighborliness, and a woman would not sit w/ men around the feet of a teacher. 

In its own way, the conjunction of the stories about the good Samaritan & the female disciple voice Jesus' protest against the rules & boundaries set by the culture in which he lived. As they develop seeing & hearing as metaphors for the activity of the kingdom, the twin stories also expose the injustice of social barriers that categorize, restrict, & oppress various groups in any society (Samaritans, victims, women). To love God w/ all one's heart & one's neighbor as oneself meant then & now that one must often reject society's rules in favor of the codes of the kingdom - a society without distinctions & boundaries between its members. The rules of that society are just two - to love God & one's neighbor - but these rules are so radically different form those of the society in which we live that living by them invariably calls us to disregard all else, break the rules, & follow Jesus' example.