July 21 2013
Gen 18:1-10; Col 1:24-28; Luke 10:38-42

For many Gospel stories there is a general consensus about what they mean and why the Gospel writer included them.  That is not the case for today’s story about Martha and Mary, which has been read very differently by readers over the years.

One common interpretation years ago was that Mary represented the contemplative life, which was better than a life of action and service.  More recently, feminists have claimed that Mary represents the equality of women, because she is at the feet of Jesus, the traditional position of disciples, who sat at the rabbi’s feet and then became rabbis in turn.

Many people think that Martha gets a raw deal in this story.  In the first reading, Abraham tells his guests when they ask that Sarah is back in the tent; she’s probably slaving away roasting the fatted calf or baking a pie.  But Martha doesn’t have a wife to do the cooking.  She’s doing it all herself, and if she doesn’t do it, it won’t get done.

For me, one attractive interpretation comes from the place of the story in Luke’s Gospel, which is immediately following the story of the Good Samaritan that we heard last week.  That story begins with the lawyer’s question, “What must I do to gain eternal life?”  That’s a pretty basic question for all of us.  The question is how to be a disciple.  The response is, as we heard last week, to love God with our whole hearts and to love our neighbor as ourselves.  But the devil is, as always, in the details. So the lawyer’s question introduces two stories about how not to be a disciple.

First is the story of the Good Samaritan, in which the good Jews who follow the purity law are not good neighbors to the injured person; even a Samaritan can do better than they, just by doing what needs to be done.

The story of Martha and Mary balances that story with another way to not be a disciple.  Martha is a good hostess.  Like Abraham in the first reading, she greets her guest and wants to serve him.  So where did Martha go wrong?  Our text says that she was “burdened” with much serving.  The Greek original means to be pulled, dragged away.  She is doing a good service, but she is distracted by the work itself, maybe more focused on her own ideas of what was needed than on listening to Jesus.  Many of us have been there.  Working away in the kitchen, creating several dishes at a time, adding one more item to the menu, getting more frazzled by the minute.  In my case, that’s when my husband—bless his heart—usually comes in and says, “Oh, don’t go to all that trouble.  I’m sure it’s all fine just the way it is.”

Well, I hate to say it, but in this Gospel Jesus seems to take my husband’s side.  Abraham is all about hospitality.  Martha actually breaks the rules of hospitality; it is very bad form to interrupt the conversation to tell the guest—in this case the Lord—to scold your sister for you.  Martha is all about her “much serving”; she has forgotten to pay attention to Jesus and his teaching.  Mary may not be contributing much, but at least she is focused on Jesus.

So I can’t tell you the real meaning of this story.  But for me, it’s a reminder to keep my eye on the ball—that is, on the Gospel teaching, and not to substitute my own program for God’s program.  That includes kindness and thoughtfulness and remembering that at dinner, the conversation is more important than the menu, and what is on the chairs is more important than what is on the table.