GUESS WHO’S COMING TO DINNER
Sunday, July 17, 2022
First Congregational Church of Cheshire
© the Rev. Dr. James Campbell
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.”
As much as I would like to be, I am not an easy host. I hope my guests are not aware of that, because I work very hard to give the opposite impression; to appear as if dinner parties and weekend company are things that I can organize effortlessly. But the fact of the matter is that it all makes me a nervous wreck. It makes me nervous – not because I don’t like entertaining people - but because I am a perfectionist. And because I am, I want everything about those events to be perfect. And that means that I need a lot of time to plan; a lot of advance notice. But very often, true hospitality doesn’t allow for the luxury of planning.
That was certainly the case for Martha, who had a dinner party hoisted upon her without much notice at all. Now there are some significant differences between Martha and me – perhaps most significantly, Martha lived in a culture that deeply valued and continues to value hospitality. Any stranger who showed up at the door was fed and given a place to lodge for the night. That continues to be a bedrock value of many Middle Eastern cultures to this day.
And so, it was a no-brainer that when Martha heard that Jesus of Nazareth, the rising star preacher, was in town, she invited him to dinner. That doesn’t sound so bad. Even I can add one plate to the table without too much complaining. But if you read closely, you will see in the verses that precede these that Jesus was traveling with 70 of his new disciples. And we have every reason to believe that they came to dinner too. So, it was actually 71 people for dinner! And trust me, I could have six months’ notice and that would still make me a nervous wreck!
This Martha had a sister named Mary. And even though the Gospel of Luke doesn’t mention it, they also had a brother named Lazarus, whom Jesus had raised from the dead.
Jesus had settled in another part of the house and had begun teaching those who were gathered there. And Mary, eager to learn about the Kingdom of God, found the perfect spot right at Jesus’s feet.
Now, this detail is noteworthy of several reasons. The first is that one would expect to find Mary in the kitchen helping her sister, Martha. That certainly seemed to have been Martha’s expectation, given her reaction later on. The second is that Mary, in the simple act of sitting at the feet of a rabbi, shattered cultural gender expectations. She assumed the position of a male in a society that was strictly ordered on perceived biology. Only men were taught by men. But Jesus treated her for what she was – a disciple – showing everyone that in Christ there is no male or female, Jew or Greek, slave or free. But trust me, it was the talk of the town for weeks afterwards.
Meanwhile, in the kitchen, there was a lot of door-slamming and pot-rattling and heavy sighing. Martha was so distracted that she cut herself while chopping onions. And then three pots started to boil over at once. And the lamb was roasting too slowly. And the bread wouldn’t rise. And every time she walked past the doorway, there was her lazy sister – just sitting there. And frankly, it was driving her crazy.
Finally, Martha just couldn’t take it anymore. You know that point of no return - just before you do something you are going to regret for years to come? That’s the moment she was in. Suddenly, she burst out of the kitchen, strode into the parlor, and didn’t even look at her sister. Instead, and rather shockingly, her anger was misdirected toward the guest of honor. In a classic case of triangulation, putting everyone else in the room on edge, she blurted out: “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do all the work? Tell her to help me!” In other words, “Hey Lord, how about a little justice? Hey Lord, how about a little fairness?” Not a bad prayer, really.
For a moment, no one breathed. And then Jesus smiled and said her name… twice. Commentators say that this is likely an indication of compassion and tenderness. He was recognizing her humanity and her emotion. “Martha, Martha… you are worried and distracted by many things. There is need of only one thing… and Mary has chosen the better part.”
The better part… There are all kinds of ways that this passage has been interpreted, some of them better than others. Let’s start with the not so good. The first is to pit action and contemplation against one another, as if, in the Christian life, we have to choose one over the other. In this interpretation, we are told that the life of contemplation is superior because Jesus commends Mary for sitting quietly and listening to him. But he chides Martha for being busy trying to get a meal together for 70 plus hungry people.
But this interpretation doesn’t really hold water because the story just before this one is the story of the Good Samaritan, which is all about action and doing the right thing. And that tales ends with these words: “Go and do likewise.” Don’t think about it; don’t contemplate it. DO IT.
Pitting action against contemplation also ignores the fact that somebody has to make dinner. Somebody has to make the coffee. Somebody has to clean the church and pull the weeds and set up church school class rooms and organize backpack drives and youth mission trips and rehearse the music and pass out bulletins and write the sermons and visit the sick and take communion to the home-bound. Someone has to make sure that the mechanisms are in place so that contemplation of the Word of God can actually happen.
And then, in more recent times, feminist theologians have rightly pointed out that pitting action and contemplation actually propagates gender stereotypes. Notice that the one working in the kitchen - doing traditional woman’s work - is criticized, but the one who has assumed the role of the man – sitting at the feet of a great teacher – is valorized.
So maybe the truth of this passage is not so much about what the women are doing but much more about howthey are doing it. Notice that when Jesus spoke to Martha, he actually said nothing to criticize her essential kitchen. He certainly didn’t tell her to stop. His belly was rumbling too! Instead, he reacted to her angry outburst. And what he said was, “Martha, Martha… You are worried and distracted by many things…”
And because she was worried and distracted, Martha was unable to be present to the glory revealing itself in her house. But Mary, in being quiet and attentive and open, understood, on some level, that God had come to dinner.
This week, the whole world was dazzled by the amazing images, captured by the James Webb Space Telescope and released by NASA. These images are absolutely stunning, for they show us more clearly than ever before the shadows of our own beginnings. In these images, we are reminded of the immensity of the Universe; of all that is unknown to us. We are reminded of our smallness and the smallness of our concerns and the smallness of our opinions and the smallness of our ideas. And perhaps best of all, we are reminded that unbearable beauty exists for beauty’s sake alone.
Did you slow down at all this week to take any of that in; to ponder those images; to contemplate what they mean; to tremble at the Power of God; to sit at the feet of Wonder?
The late great scholar and rabbi, Abraham Joshua Heschel wrote, “Awareness of the divine begins with wonder.”
What did Mary see and hear that day that filled her with wonder? How did her life change because she paused long enough to see it? How might our lives change by staying in moments of wonder; in the presence of God; at the feet of Jesus – something our Lord himself once called “the better part”?
Sunday, July 17, 2022
First Congregational Church of Cheshire
© the Rev. Dr. James Campbell
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.”
As much as I would like to be, I am not an easy host. I hope my guests are not aware of that, because I work very hard to give the opposite impression; to appear as if dinner parties and weekend company are things that I can organize effortlessly. But the fact of the matter is that it all makes me a nervous wreck. It makes me nervous – not because I don’t like entertaining people - but because I am a perfectionist. And because I am, I want everything about those events to be perfect. And that means that I need a lot of time to plan; a lot of advance notice. But very often, true hospitality doesn’t allow for the luxury of planning.
That was certainly the case for Martha, who had a dinner party hoisted upon her without much notice at all. Now there are some significant differences between Martha and me – perhaps most significantly, Martha lived in a culture that deeply valued and continues to value hospitality. Any stranger who showed up at the door was fed and given a place to lodge for the night. That continues to be a bedrock value of many Middle Eastern cultures to this day.
And so, it was a no-brainer that when Martha heard that Jesus of Nazareth, the rising star preacher, was in town, she invited him to dinner. That doesn’t sound so bad. Even I can add one plate to the table without too much complaining. But if you read closely, you will see in the verses that precede these that Jesus was traveling with 70 of his new disciples. And we have every reason to believe that they came to dinner too. So, it was actually 71 people for dinner! And trust me, I could have six months’ notice and that would still make me a nervous wreck!
This Martha had a sister named Mary. And even though the Gospel of Luke doesn’t mention it, they also had a brother named Lazarus, whom Jesus had raised from the dead.
Jesus had settled in another part of the house and had begun teaching those who were gathered there. And Mary, eager to learn about the Kingdom of God, found the perfect spot right at Jesus’s feet.
Now, this detail is noteworthy of several reasons. The first is that one would expect to find Mary in the kitchen helping her sister, Martha. That certainly seemed to have been Martha’s expectation, given her reaction later on. The second is that Mary, in the simple act of sitting at the feet of a rabbi, shattered cultural gender expectations. She assumed the position of a male in a society that was strictly ordered on perceived biology. Only men were taught by men. But Jesus treated her for what she was – a disciple – showing everyone that in Christ there is no male or female, Jew or Greek, slave or free. But trust me, it was the talk of the town for weeks afterwards.
Meanwhile, in the kitchen, there was a lot of door-slamming and pot-rattling and heavy sighing. Martha was so distracted that she cut herself while chopping onions. And then three pots started to boil over at once. And the lamb was roasting too slowly. And the bread wouldn’t rise. And every time she walked past the doorway, there was her lazy sister – just sitting there. And frankly, it was driving her crazy.
Finally, Martha just couldn’t take it anymore. You know that point of no return - just before you do something you are going to regret for years to come? That’s the moment she was in. Suddenly, she burst out of the kitchen, strode into the parlor, and didn’t even look at her sister. Instead, and rather shockingly, her anger was misdirected toward the guest of honor. In a classic case of triangulation, putting everyone else in the room on edge, she blurted out: “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do all the work? Tell her to help me!” In other words, “Hey Lord, how about a little justice? Hey Lord, how about a little fairness?” Not a bad prayer, really.
For a moment, no one breathed. And then Jesus smiled and said her name… twice. Commentators say that this is likely an indication of compassion and tenderness. He was recognizing her humanity and her emotion. “Martha, Martha… you are worried and distracted by many things. There is need of only one thing… and Mary has chosen the better part.”
The better part… There are all kinds of ways that this passage has been interpreted, some of them better than others. Let’s start with the not so good. The first is to pit action and contemplation against one another, as if, in the Christian life, we have to choose one over the other. In this interpretation, we are told that the life of contemplation is superior because Jesus commends Mary for sitting quietly and listening to him. But he chides Martha for being busy trying to get a meal together for 70 plus hungry people.
But this interpretation doesn’t really hold water because the story just before this one is the story of the Good Samaritan, which is all about action and doing the right thing. And that tales ends with these words: “Go and do likewise.” Don’t think about it; don’t contemplate it. DO IT.
Pitting action against contemplation also ignores the fact that somebody has to make dinner. Somebody has to make the coffee. Somebody has to clean the church and pull the weeds and set up church school class rooms and organize backpack drives and youth mission trips and rehearse the music and pass out bulletins and write the sermons and visit the sick and take communion to the home-bound. Someone has to make sure that the mechanisms are in place so that contemplation of the Word of God can actually happen.
And then, in more recent times, feminist theologians have rightly pointed out that pitting action and contemplation actually propagates gender stereotypes. Notice that the one working in the kitchen - doing traditional woman’s work - is criticized, but the one who has assumed the role of the man – sitting at the feet of a great teacher – is valorized.
So maybe the truth of this passage is not so much about what the women are doing but much more about howthey are doing it. Notice that when Jesus spoke to Martha, he actually said nothing to criticize her essential kitchen. He certainly didn’t tell her to stop. His belly was rumbling too! Instead, he reacted to her angry outburst. And what he said was, “Martha, Martha… You are worried and distracted by many things…”
And because she was worried and distracted, Martha was unable to be present to the glory revealing itself in her house. But Mary, in being quiet and attentive and open, understood, on some level, that God had come to dinner.
This week, the whole world was dazzled by the amazing images, captured by the James Webb Space Telescope and released by NASA. These images are absolutely stunning, for they show us more clearly than ever before the shadows of our own beginnings. In these images, we are reminded of the immensity of the Universe; of all that is unknown to us. We are reminded of our smallness and the smallness of our concerns and the smallness of our opinions and the smallness of our ideas. And perhaps best of all, we are reminded that unbearable beauty exists for beauty’s sake alone.
Did you slow down at all this week to take any of that in; to ponder those images; to contemplate what they mean; to tremble at the Power of God; to sit at the feet of Wonder?
The late great scholar and rabbi, Abraham Joshua Heschel wrote, “Awareness of the divine begins with wonder.”
What did Mary see and hear that day that filled her with wonder? How did her life change because she paused long enough to see it? How might our lives change by staying in moments of wonder; in the presence of God; at the feet of Jesus – something our Lord himself once called “the better part”?
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