Seventh Sunday after Trinity

You may have heard this week of Nelson Mandela celebrating his 89th birthday by forming a Council of Elders dedicated to fostering peace and resolving global crises. “Despite all of the ghastliness that is around, human beings are made for goodness. The ones that are held in high regard are not the militarily powerful, nor even the economically prosperous. But those with a commitment to try and make the world a better place,” said former Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who is the chairman of the Elders. They are a group that includes former US presidents and Nobel peace prize winners. They will seek to use their influence and gifts of persuasion to help resolve major conflicts and tackle humanitarian crises such as HIV aids and poverty in sub-Saharan Africa.

It is significant to me that this group of leaders should choose a Christian archbishop to be their first Chairman. But then, where better to start when seeking to achieve radical transformation than the Christian gospel. The gospel we heard last week, the parable of the Good Samaritan, and this week’s story of Jesus with Mary and Martha are about breaking boundaries. Boundaries that separate people from being, to use Paul’s words, reconciled to God; boundaries that separate people, one from another.

In the parable of the Good Samaritan those expected by society to care for the man in desperate need, the priest and the Levite, pass by on the other side. But the one rejected and arrogantly dismissed or ignored by the injured man’s people, the Samaritan, comes to his rescue. This is not just a parable about who is our neighbour. It is a parable about demolishing the barriers of prejudice and inequality. As Desmond Tutu said, it is not the powerful or the wealthy who are held in high regard, but those who try to make the world a better place.

The gentle domestic scene we encounter in this week’s story has a domestic familiarity we can all immediately relate to. Who is doing their fair share of the domestic chores; who prepares meals and does the washing up, are a rich source of discussion for many families. Ann has just resorted to putting a list of jobs in the kitchen door which she thinks our sons might like to help with! In the households of Jesus time the duties were very clearly delineated. It was the role of women to keep house. To prepare meals for guests and to serve them. Two thousand years later this pattern is only slowly being broken.

The likely source of Martha’s indignation was not simply that she was being left to do all the work. It was that her sister was taking the role of the head of the household, conventionally the man. She was acting as one who wanted to be a disciple of Jesus. In listening to him Mary was being taught by him. Because it is quite clear from other passages in Luke that listening to Jesus is only the first step. The story of the man who built his house on rock is, Jesus says, ‘what someone is like who hears my words, and acts upon them.’

It is very easy for us to misinterpret this encounter. To see Martha in a negative light whilst seeing Mary as an inspiration for us. The passage has been interpreted in the past as the basis for the superiority of contemplative holiness and devotion. It has also been used as biblical authority for the ministry of women within the church. But I think the story has an application that is much broader than these, more than in understanding the respective roles of Martha and Mary.

Jesus would not have criticised Martha for offering hospitality to him. Hospitality and welcome played a vital role in the early spread of the gospel. Jesus in appointing seventy disciples to spread the good news of the kingdom of God told them to find welcoming homes and to eat and drink whatever was provided. The early travelling missionaries were dependent upon this generosity. But there was a further purpose too. For the homes that welcomed the disciples were the seeds from which early house churches grew. Those who provided the hospitality moved on to become leaders of the infant Christian communities.

Jesus’ response to Martha is simply a defence of Mary’s right to do what everyone who welcomes Jesus must do, and that is to listen to him. And a reminder that none are turned away from his presence. Paul reminds us in the epistle that Jesus is the image of the invisible God – who can blame Mary for wanting to sit at his feet and listen? Martha works so hard to welcome Jesus, tries to do what anyone would have done in the circumstances. But she forgets just one thing is important above all – and that is the Lord’s word.

There was a wonderful episode in the Yes Minister series called the Compassionate Society. The minister, Jim Hacker, is incensed that there is a new fully functioning hospital that has 300 staff but has not one single patient. Asked why it wasn’t treating anybody the civil servants reply. "You have to sort out the smooth running of the hospital. Having patients around would be no help at all – they would just get in the way." Then the hospital manager showing Hacker around declares she has one of the best run hospitals in the country. “Yes, but you haven’t got any patients!” an exasperated Hacker replies.

Our lives are full of all those Martha like tasks, whether at home or at work or at the church. But the story of Mary and Martha calls out to us ‘there is need of only one thing’. We must take time to listen to the Lord’s word. ‘My mothers and brothers are those who hear the word of God and act upon it’ says Jesus in Luke 8. I quoted Desmond Tutu as saying human beings are made for goodness. It is our faith that to be fully human we must listen to the word of God. Through Jesus, God invites each one of us to sit at his feet and learn of his love for us. And in listening to his word we discover anew what that love means for our lives.

© Robert Jenkins 2007