6th Sunday after Pentecost

Glad to be back with you again this Sunday, as you prove the victory of hope over experience. If we have not met, I retired last November from St. Andrew’s, Tacoma, live in Gig Harbor, and am in the process of moving back to the Santa Cruz area of California, where we began our family and parish ministry.

Today’s Gospel reading is an important one for us today as people in the world, with families, jobs, activities. Historically, it has also been one of the more miss-handled stories in the Gospels.

There are two critical guides for us to begin to understand this story. The first is that this is NOT the story of Martha and Mary. This is Martha’s story. It begins with Jesus entering a village and Martha welcoming him, providing hospitality (much as Abraham and Sarah welcomed three strangers.) Second, the story does not compare the two sisters – Mary is defended by Jesus, not praised to the disparagement of Martha. (I will say more about their relationship and our view of these two later.)

The story begins, Jesus is traveling. He entered a certain village (“Bethany”).

A woman named Martha makes him welcome, actively welcomes him into her home, prepares food, etc. Martha is an able, active and responsible person: in the eleventh chapter of John’s Gospel, we hear how, when her brother Lazarus had died and Jesus was coming, Martha went out to welcome Jesus, briefs him on what had happened, and coordinates his visit. She was also a woman of strong faith – according to John’s Gospel, she is the first person to acknowledge Jesus as the Messiah. (Her profession of faith is parallel to Peter’s at Caesarea Philippi.)

Martha is a widow, who may have taken her sister and brother into her home when they were in need.

In today’s story, Martha has a sister, Mary, who when Jesus arrives, goes and sits at his feet to listen. Here and in John 11, we see that Mary is a quiet and reserved, maybe even meek, personality. Martha cares for her, having taken her into her own home.

Now Martha, in her very appropriate activity of preparing a meal and a welcome, handling all the arrangements of her household and of Jesus’ visit, was nevertheless distracted, fretful, fussed, and anxious about all the details and arrangements. (She was having one of those days, when everything seems to pile up or feel overwhelming.) As she, at one point, looks around in frustration, her eyes land on her sister and she complains to Jesus about Mary, and about Jesus and Mary’s seeming apathy to her plight. The Revised English translation of verse 40 gives the best sense of the moment: “Now Martha was distracted by her many tasks, so she came to Jesus and said, ‘Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to get on with the work by myself? Tell her to come and give me a hand.’”

Jesus responds: ‘Martha, Martha, you are fretting and fussing about so many things; only a few things are necessary, really – only one.’ Jesus does not tell Martha to stop her activity – he is no doubt hungry and looking forward to dinner. He speaks to her attitude – her distraction and anxiety about her many tasks. — What is he saying to her, and to us who are busy with many tasks and challenges in our own lives and households?

I want to tell you that this Gospel lesson is uncomfortably relevant for me and my wife these past few weeks. As I mentioned, we are moving back to California. We have bought a house, with bridge financing, and are in escrow to sell our house here. We discovered that our California house needs repairs we were not expecting, and arranging our move has been daunting. We are a bit stressed and distracted, like Martha.

What is Jesus saying to Martha, and to me, and to us when we find ourselves distracted and overwhelmed? Jesus says, ‘you are distracted by many things, there is need of only one thing . . .’ which is to say, perhaps, you cannot do everything at the same time, so take it a step at a time (as they say in AA). Do what you are doing at present, do what you can now, and let the rest come later. Remember the phrase ‘singleness of heart’ – it is in our Prayer of Thanksgiving after Communion. Singleness of heart is to will one thing – one thing at a time – to remember what is most important.

As Martha, I also at times find myself getting reactive to the anxiety of others. That adds to my distraction and feeling overwhelmed. Here and elsewhere, Jesus would say that we cannot please everyone. All you and I can do is manage our own anxieties as we do what is needed right now.

Here are three simple, practical ways that help me to avoid or break out of such distraction.

The first is to remember – regularly and especially in times of ‘distraction’ – that God is with us in our lives and in all our stuff. That is, you and I are not alone in dealing with all that needs to be done. (I forget that regularly.) Remember that God knows all our needs. So we can turn to God (even when you are driving from here to there) and share your worries and situations with God. This helps me to remember what really is necessary: God, grace, love, life, Christ in me, God’s righteousness. Let God come to the front of my list, and then go on with what needs to be done. (singleness of heart. First things first.)

The second is to pause and look around. When I get distracted, my vision and focus tend to get narrow. Look around at the trees, the clouds, the beauty of where we live. Remember when Jesus spoke about the birds of the air and the flowers of the fields?

And pay attention to where you are, the room you are in, and the people with you. Pause to listen and to be present with one another. (Last Sunday we remembered Abraham and Sarah who welcomed visiting strangers, and then turned anew to one another, coming to be blessed with a new birth.)

Also helpful in such times of feeling overwhelmed is to take some deep breaths and to practice smiling (if for no other reason than to loosen your face). These are ways to re-establish your own personal context and to acknowledge the grace in our lives.

A third practical reminder, related to these other two: Jesus reminds us Martha-s that fretting and anxiety are not productive. So, with God’s help, I try to remember what I am trying to do, and why. It is like the saying: ‘when you are up to your (waist) in alligators, it is hard to remember that your primary objective was to drain the swamp.’

Martha was distracted, and Jesus gently, gracefully, brings her back to center. As for Mary, he defends her sitting and listening and being present with him. He says that she has chosen the “good” or “better” or “best part” – the Greek word is “agathon”, which means worthy, useful, dependable. He says it shall not be taken from her – it is her part. Historically, this verse has been used to argue that the contemplative life is better than the active life in the world. But that is not what Jesus said, and all the guides I consulted, from Oxford Bible scholars to the 14th century classic of the contemplative spirituality The Cloud of Unknowing, all emphasize that Mary’s way is not better than Martha’s per se. Contemplation is not better than active living in the world; both are valuable and worthy. In this story about Martha, the issue is not what we do – living in the world or living contemplatively. The issue is attitude; it is the grace of living, for both Martha and Mary.

Martha – active and responsible woman of faith, who sometimes got distracted and fussy – and Mary were sisters. Martha maintained a home for herself and her sister, where Jesus was welcomed. Better said – where she welcomed Jesus and learned and grew.

At this point (since this is fun and meaningful stuff, and I won’t be with you again), let us broaden our perspective and focus – step back further, widen our lens. Perhaps this gospel lesson for us all today is not just about Martha or Mary. Perhaps it is about Jesus coming to us, entering our midst, into our own lives. Remember that the story really begins, “As Jesus and his disciples went on their way, Jesus entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home.” Jesus comes to be with us in our lives, where we live, and we can welcome him with both Martha and Mary aspects of who we are.

Our Martha aspect, however, in this story, seems to be ignoring the wonderful happening that Jesus has come to her. She is more focused on other things to do. Mary is sitting and listening to Jesus, but Martha is not cooking for Jesus, preparing dinner for Jesus, working and serving in response to our Lord who has come to us. Would that we could work and live joyfully because the Lord has honored us with his presence in our homes and lives and hearts.

Maybe Martha might have been, in part, threatened by Mary’s stance of sitting and listening to Jesus, by her spiritual attentiveness (or offended by Jesus’ love and grace for her, without her having earned or deserved it). Part of Martha was drawn to such spiritual focus, yet she was also scared by it, reluctant or resistant to such intimacy. Perhaps some of Martha’s vehemence towards Mary comes from such tension?

At the same time, Mary might have included in her practice some help for Martha. (I want to suggest another book for you. Last week it was the Jesuit Greg Boyle. I am reminded here of a wise book about enlightenment experiences in many spiritual traditions by the American Buddhist Jack Kornfield. The book title says it all: ‘After the Ecstasy, the Laundry’.)

Shall we be anxious and distracted in the presence of our Lord, who loves us more than we can imagine, even to die for us? Or shall we work, and pray, and leisurely sit, and do housework, knowing that Jesus is with us, and that, after all, is all that really matters.

I mentioned the medieval spiritual text: The Cloud of Unknowing, which affirms a time for active work and a time for contemplation. The prayer we begin every Sunday Eucharist, our Collect for Purity, comes from that work. Listen to it again, as the Martha-s and the Mary-s that we are:

Almighty God, to you all hearts are open, all desires known, and from you no secrets are hid: Cleanse – also refresh and renew – the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit, that we may perfectly love you – remember your love and presence, wait upon you – and worthily magnify your holy Name – serve God’s people, caring for and loving our neighbors – through Christ our Lord. Amen.