Luke 10:38-42
Martha and Mary Problems
James Sledge July
21, 2013
Here
at the church we have a staff meeting every Tuesday morning, and twice a month we
have what we call an extended staff meeting. In it, we spend a significant
period of time meditating on a scripture passage. Usually we do something called
lectio divina or divine reading, an
ancient practice that has been described as praying the scriptures. The passage is read with each of us simply
listening for a word or phrase that strikes us. Silence following the reading
allows us to simply be attentive to the passage touching us in some way.
Then
the passage is read a couple more times, each time with additional times of
silence to contemplate why that word or phrase touched us and how God might be
speaking to us through it. It’s quite different from the more typical practice
of reading the Bible and trying to understand what a passage or story means. Lectio divina is less Bible study and
more a form of prayer.
A
couple of weeks ago, as we finished our time of silent reflection and began to
share with one another what each of us had heard or experienced, I was struck
with what an odd practice this might seem to someone who walked in on it. Here
we were, a group of employees “on the clock” if you will, and other than
occasional breaks in the silence for the scripture to be read aloud, no one
appeared to be doing anything, at least not as doing tends to be thought of.
In
terms of the typical workplace, our times of lectio divina are indeed an odd practice. I cannot imagine such a
thing going on in many places of employment. For that matter, I don’t know that
it happens with that much regularity in churches. After all, churches are busy
places. There is a lot to do, and there is limited time to sit around being
“unproductive.”
Mary
is rather unproductive herself when Jesus drops by to visit with her and her
sister Martha. She also steps out of the normal role of women at that time.
Sitting at Jesus’ feet is the stereotypical pose of a disciple studying under a
rabbi, and that was only done by men.
Meanwhile, as Martha does all those things that need to be done when company comes, as she follows the biblical injunction to show hospitality, she gets more and more frustrated with Mary sitting there, not offering to help.
Meanwhile, as Martha does all those things that need to be done when company comes, as she follows the biblical injunction to show hospitality, she gets more and more frustrated with Mary sitting there, not offering to help.
This
is a simple little story, but it wrestles with some difficult issues. There’s
an unfortunate tendency to reduce the story to either/or, good or bad choices,
but as many have pointed out, “If no one gets dinner ready, what will Jesus and
Mary eat?” And I’m pretty sure there was no take out or fast food available.
Our
Bible translation doesn’t necessarily help on this as much as it might.
Speaking of Martha as distracted by her many tasks has
made it easy for some to portray her as a harried, Martha Stewart type, overly
obsessed with getting everything just so. But in fact her “tasks” are more
normally translated as “service” or even “ministry,” and the word is the root
of our word “deacon.” And our Bible translation misses a second chance to note
this by not translating Martha’s complaint to Jesus in what seems to me a more straightforward,
word for word fashion. “Lord, do you not care that my sister has
left me alone to serve?”