The Uniting Church in Australia
Trinity - Dandenong


MARY and MARTHA

Pentecost 8


Luke 10: 38 - 42

'Teacher what must I do to inherit eternal life? What does the law say?'
replied Jesus. Love God with all your heart, soul, strength and mind." "Love your neighbour as yourself". Two stories placed next to each other. In one, Luke deals with our duty of love of neighbour. In this story of two women he expounds the other part of the lawyer's reply: the duty of love we owe to God,

Martha, invites a famous visitor in her house, but is pre-occupied with much preparations and serving to the point of driving her to distraction while her sister Mary sits at Jesus' feet in the attitude of a disciple. It was not the done thing for a rabbi to go into a woman's house and then give instruction to a woman in this way and this would not have gone unheeded by Luke's readers.

Martha becomes annoyed at her sister's attitude. There is much to do and help in the kitchen would be appreciated. It is easy to identify with and feel sorry for Martha. We may even picture her slamming things around the place, her stomach slowly stewing in irritation finally bubbling to the point where she appeals to the authority of the man to tell this woman to come to the kitchen and do what she should be doing.

Martha trying her hardest to be a proper hostess.
Mary trying her hardest to be a proper disciple.
The gentle and loving rebuke of Martha must have been hard to take, and to us seems quite unfair if not unjustified. But Martha missed the point by being so full of good works which was free initially of selfishness but which sought pleasure from serving But it's easy for this to be spoiled by self concern and self pity.

Luke balances what some may interpret from the story of the Good Samaritan of doing works for our neighbour. For works which don't forget self become a misery to the doer and are tyranny to others.

Jesus reminds Martha and the doers and servers of this world that there is really only one thing that is needed, and in a play on words of all the good food that Martha has provided, Mary has chosen the best portion, Mary has identified.where the true food of life is to be found: serving by listening at Jesus' feet to his teaching demonstrates a complete dependance on Him.
This is true discipleship for it is Jesus who brings the words of life and this is what Mary is getting.

Do we have a conflict between spirituality and service? That one woman is fulfilling the traditional role in the kitchen, and the other is demonstrating the call of God to firstly be a disciple or student of Jesus may not be a conflict between two kinds of valid Christian service as may first appear. Since a Christian is one who has been crucified with Christ, our life should reflect both components of this cross.

I have often spoken about the upright on a lamppost made of soft wood, and the cross piece carrying the power lines is made of hard wood. The upright can look strong on the outside but be weak or rotten on the inside so that wind or circumstance could cause easy collapse, bringing down the crosspieces and the power lines to everyone's detriment.

So with us. The upright may represent our vertical relationship with God; our duty of love to God, also of softer quality which on the outside my look solid but inside can be decayed, white-anted.
The cross.piece my represent our horizontal relationship with others - our duty of love to our neighbour. Though the need to care for others is strong in us to do the right thing in the commun- ity it is the more fragile upright which supports our outreach.

The cross piece carries the power line representing God's Holy Spirit which flows through the Christian in service in the world. We are but channels of Gods service. The works of service are not ours but God at work in us.

The Church exists to the praise and glory of God. It's not a service club with some Sunday rituals which are optional extras. Worship, prayer, study of God1s Word, personal and corporate, are important elements which undergird the life of the church.

We also face winds and rains in the difficulties of our life. Things happen to distract our attention drawing us away from our vertical relationship with God. Our life becomes decayed, or is in some way not as strong as it could, should or used to be. We struggle with the Mary and Martha tension that is inherent in us.

Irrespective of the strength of our service, it can fall apart or become an end in itself. It can fulfil our own desires rather than serve the kingdom of God. It can damage others. We retreat into a remnant mentality becrying dwindling resources - financial and human, which prevent the dream from becoming reality.

As individuals, or as Church, we struggle with being and doing.

To what extent are we a Martha Church doing its works of care and service, Iike the Good Samaritan which appeals to our sense of practicality - our doing nature? Or to what extent are we a Mary Church, sitting at the feet of Jesus allowing his teaching to instruct and shape our being in order that we may do the works of Him who has called us?-


In Christ God calls each of us to be Mary and Martha - to follow Christ, to love God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength, AND to love our neighbour as ourselves.

God has given us two legs. One is named Martha, the other Mary. To walk a balanced life we walk on evenly and steadily on both.

Our spirituality is the anchor of our service. Our spirituality is the foundation which gives service its purpose and meaning. Our life in Christ is the framework upon which our service is built.

Spirituality without service is pious escapism. Service without spirituality is merely self-centred humanism.

May we not experience the famine of the word of the Lord. As we choose always the best portion may it never be taken from us.

May we continue to hear the words of the Lord and choose to love the Lord our God with all our heart, with all our soul, with all our mind and with all our strength, and - love our neighbour as yourself.

And may all glory be in the Church through Christ Jesus, now and always.
Amen.
Pentecost 7