Two Rivers Pastoral Charge
July 9 and 16, 2023 (Annual Flower
Services)
Scripture: Luke 10:38-42
Today, as well as being our annual Flower Service, is also the first Sunday of our summer exploration of stories in the bible about women. Each week we will be looking at a different story, and to kick things off this week we have a short story about two women, sisters Mary and Martha. (And my apologies to anyone who was here last week/two weeks ago and is now getting two services in a row about the same story! I planned out the summer back in May, and I had no idea that Linda Watson was going to be reading the same story with you just a week ago!)
So here we have Jesus and his disciples, his followers, his students, travelling through Galilee, teaching and healing as they go. They are on their way to Jerusalem at this point in the story, and if you are familiar with the Good Friday and Easter story, you will know that Jesus’s death and resurrection aren’t too far in the future at this point in time.
They enter an unnamed village, and a woman named Martha welcomes them into her home as a guest. This is the first detail that makes my ears prick up. There is no mention of a father or a brother or a husband – Martha is welcoming Jesus into her home, into the home that she shares with her sister, Mary. In a time and a place where women were the property of men, this is an interesting detail.
So Martha and Mary welcome Jesus into their home, and then they take on very different roles. Martha bustles around the kitchen, getting a meal ready to serve to Jesus and to his friends. Mary, on the other hand, has joined that group of disciples and is sitting on the floor with them at Jesus’s feet, listening to his teachings.
Two different women, each taking on a different role in welcoming Jesus to their home. One serving, the other listening and learning. It is the difference between these two sisters that many writers and preachers like to grasp on to – are you a Mary or are you a Martha? Do you feel called to serve the world, or do you feel called to quietly listen and learn? Show of hands – who feels more like a Martha, living your life to serve others? What about Mary – who feels called to a life of quiet contemplation?
I remember a decade ago, when I took the Licensed Lay Worship Leader course back in Ontario, we spent one of our weekends exploring this story of Mary and Martha. One of our activities was to make a mask – we were told to make a mask that would express either our Martha-ness or our Mary-ness. And I remember sitting there, looking at the blank page, not quite sure what I was going to do with it, because there are times when I feel more like Martha, and there are times when I feel more like Mary. I am both Martha and Mary.
Like so many things in our world, I don’t think that this has to be an either/or question. You don’t have to be either Mary or Martha, pigeonholed into an expectation about how you are going to live your life. I suspect that most of us would find ourselves somewhere on the spectrum between Mary and Martha, with a bit of both in us, or maybe even moving to different points on that spectrum depending on the day.
I suspect that the same is true for all of the loved ones we are remember today at our Flower Service. Maybe he was a do-er, always willing to lend a hand to a neighbour the way Martha did, but he also appreciated a quiet time of prayer. Maybe she was someone who never missed bible study or a UCW gathering, and loved talking about her faith like a Mary, but when sandwiches were needed for Romero house, she was always willing to make a loaf.
The thing is, the church as a whole needs all of us, Marys, Marthas, and all of us who find ourselves somewhere in the messy middle. Keeping the church being the church isn’t the responsibility of one person, but depends on all of us sharing our gifts. In order for the church to be a community in which we can grow in our faith AND a community that serves the needs of the world, we need all of us. We can’t have the Marthas in the church complaining that the Marys aren’t helping to stock Ida’s Cupboard with food for our neighbours, or helping with the Mission and Service fundraiser. But at the same time, we can’t have the Marys complaining that the Marthas aren’t coming to bible study, and are missing worship more often than they are present. Because in order for the church to be the church, it takes all of us.
And I also wonder if, as we spend time in a community that values both the gifts of Mary and the gifts of Martha – as we spend time in a community that values both spiritual nurturing and serving the world – as we spend more and more time in a community like this, maybe all of us will shift closer to the middle of the Mary/Martha spectrum and find ourselves identifying with both of these women.
And may it be so, in our individual lives. And may it be so in the life of our church. Amen.
“Martha
and Mary”
JESUS MAFA
Used with Permission
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