Luke 10:38-42 (NRSV)
38 Now as they went on their way, he
entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her
home. 39 She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and
listened to what he was saying. 40 But Martha was distracted by her
many tasks; so she came to him and asked, “Lord, do you not care that my sister
has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.” 41 But
the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many
things; 42 there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the
better part, which will not be taken away from her.”
Luke 10:38-42 (unique to Luke) (Year C July 17-23) is a biographical story involving Mary and Martha. The saying of Jesus is part of an ideal story constructed to illustrate the point. It is part of the emphasis Jesus placed on including women as part of his ministry, and is a special feature of the material unique to Luke. As part of the travel narrative, on the way to Jerusalem, in an unnamed village, the story occurs while Jesus is still in Galilee. These were common names, so it is clear they are not the same Mary and Martha who lived in Bethany, sisters to Lazarus (John 11-12). As unmarried women, they enjoyed a less-structured or defined role in first century Jewish society. Martha is doing exactly what the ancient world expected of a hostess. The words Luke uses to describe her initial behavior are overwhelmingly positive. It is significant that Luke mentions this simple action of Martha. She has received Jesus. Luke uses the same Greek word to describe Zacchaeus’ joyous reception of Jesus in 19:6. Earlier in chapter 10, Jesus has sent out 70 others to go before him and has given them instructions about a household receiving them. For those hosts who receive them, Jesus tells the 70 to grant them peace and to remind the hosts that the kingdom of God has come near (10:1-9). Immediately before our passage, Jesus has reminded the lawyer of the importance of loving your neighbor as yourself (10:25-29) and has recounted the parable of the Good Samaritan, who had compassion for his neighbor and demonstrated hospitality (10:30-37). Jesus ends the parable with the command, “Go and do likewise.” This is the setting in which the reader comes to this brief story of Martha and Mary. Martha has received Jesus into her home. She has offered hospitality. From the previous context, the reader should have a positive view of Martha as an example of someone who has welcomed Jesus. Why then does Jesus not commend her arduous work and remind Mary of her place? Luke’s gospel is keenly aware of timing. There is a sense of urgency that runs throughout the narrative — a sense that now is the time of action. Salvation must come today (13:11-17; 19:1-10). This urgency demands a reconfiguration of what one expects and a recognition of Jesus’ role in God’s overall plan of salvation. In context, both the Samaritan and Mary step out of conventional roles in Luke’s examples. Mary understands that, given the urgency of the moment, it is more important to pay close attention to Jesus' teaching. Mary sat at the feet of Jesus and listened to him. In the context, Luke has put together two stories that illustrate the two great commandments. The first commandment is to love God with all our hearts. The second commandment is to love our neighbors as ourselves. Luke tells the story of the Good Samaritan to illustrate the kind of love the followers of Jesus are to have toward their neighbors. Then he tells this little story of a woman who steps out of her traditional role. She becomes a disciple. She becomes an example of the second of the greatest commandments in being one who loves God with all her heart. In Luke 8, before he begins his journey, when he is first teaching his disciples, Jesus states that the true disciple is the one who lets nothing distract him or her from "hearing the word." In the parable of the one who sows seed, the seeds that fall in good soil (8:15) are those who do not let the distraction of riches and cares dilute their enthusiasm for the gospel. Jesus demonstrates this single-mindedness himself in 8:21, when he refuses to be distracted from his work by the arrival of his own family and states that his true family are those who "hear the word of God and do it." The story shows a contrast between Martha and Mary, just as before a contrast between Priests and Samaritans. Martha is serving others, a value emphasized in other settings. Given the entourage accompanying Jesus, the act of serving would be important. She may be trying to exemplify the type of servant lifestyle that Jesus desires in his disciples. However, Martha was not willing to serve her sister along with Jesus. Thus, the concern of the segment is with what Jesus the Lord revealed about being disciples. Martha appeals to the Lord, indicating she knows who Jesus is, for help in the needed service, wanting to accept her role in the household. However, her focus is not others, but her need for her sister to help her. In the response of the Lord to Martha, Jesus suggests that Martha does not grasp the magnitude of his visit on his way to Jerusalem, saying in verses 41-42 Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things; one thing is needful. Mary has chosen the good portion, which shall not be taken away from her. Jesus told a story, just two chapters earlier in the gospel of Luke, about what happens when a seed — representing the word of God — falls among thorns. In that case, the fruit of the seed cannot mature, because the thorny people are preoccupied with “the cares and riches and pleasures of life” (8:14). Poor Martha, as hard working as she is, is a thorn. Although she is fulfilling her social obligations, she is allowing her duties to distract her from hearing God’s word. In this situation, she simply does not have her priorities straight. Listening to the word is the one thing necessary. The proper service is not the elaborate meal but attention to Jesus' instruction. Mary has chosen the better portion in feeding on the word rather than the portions Martha dishing out in her service. Mary knows that a person “does not live by bread alone” (4:4). Like the disciples, she leaves everything to follow Jesus (5:11). Like the good soil in the parable of the seed, she hears the word, holds it fast in an honest and good heart, and bears fruit with patient endurance (8:15). As a woman, Mary chose the nontraditional role of disciple, rather than the more traditional role of supporter of Jesus and his disciples. This is a decision that Jesus appreciates, but Martha does not. In this overall setting of Luke’s gospel, Mary neglects her duties as a member of the hosting family, sits, and listens at the feet of Jesus. Mary recognizes the importance of this visit. The woman is a disciple at Jesus' feet. Mary is acting as another true disciple- one who not only follows Christ but also who knows his words well enough to pass them along as good news to others. Mary offers Jesus true hospitality. She becomes our mentor. One of the greatest acts of service we can give to others is simply to genuinely listen to them. This text is a gracious inclusion by Jesus of women as full participants in theological reflection and as a courageous reception by Martha of this potentially troubling rabbi, Jesus. This is not simply a moralistic example story in which urges exemplary behavior. It is a story about Jesus, revealing something about him and the way he graciously, sometimes riskily intrudes into our lives.
“You are my one thing” is a 2015 song by Hannah McClure, that uses the images of this scripture.
Your voice ever close, You called me
You never gave up, pursuing
I fell in love, You stole my heart
Your hand ever near, I hold to
I long for Your heart, to know You
Just to live in Your fellowship
My eyes ever fixed upon You
To live like a child, to trust you
Oh I hold on to this treasured love
My life ever set at Your feet
I give you my heart completely
To live this life always by Your side
[Bridge]
I have to know You
All that's within me
Cries out for Your presence, God
Nothing compares
Oh there's no one else
Oh Jesus You're my one desire
Nothing compares
Oh there's no one else
Oh Jesus You're my one desire
Woa-o-oh Jesus You're my one desire
[Chorus]
Just to be close to You
And just to walk next to You
Oh this is my one thing
You are my one thing
Just to be close to You
And just to walk next to You
Oh this is my one thing
You are my one thing
Even today, some Christian communities assume this role was appropriate only for the male followers of Jesus. This passage makes it clear that for Luke, the role of disciple was a completely acceptable role for women. Even if other women, in this or any future generation, were to object to women seeking to be Jesus' disciples, Jesus himself did not object. Jesus even implies that unlike others, who are given few gifts and find even those few taken away (Luke 8:18), Mary, who has only one - namely a wholehearted commitment to Jesus - will never have that one most important gift taken from her.
Other approaches will stay focused upon the actions of the two sisters rather than the pronouncement of Jesus. It is hard for those in our contemporary church to read the story of Mary and Martha without faulting Martha.
Early and medieval churches saw this text as showing the primacy of the contemplative over the active life of faith. Even Thomas Aquinas in his Summa Theologica offered the question of whether one finely divides life into active and contemplative. He concludes that one properly does.
Article 2. Whether life is adequately divided into active and contemplative?
Objection 1. It would seem that life is not adequately divided into active and contemplative. For the Philosopher says (Ethic. i, 5) that there are three most prominent kinds of life, the life of "pleasure," the "civil" which would seem to be the same as the active, and the "contemplative" life. Therefore the division of life into active and contemplative would seem to be inadequate.
Objection 2. Further, Augustine (De Civ. Dei xix, 1, 2, 3, 19) mentions three kinds of life, namely the life of "leisure" which pertains to the contemplative, the "busy" life which pertains to the active, and a third "composed of both." Therefore it would seem that life is inadequately divided into active and contemplative.
Objection 3. Further, man's life is diversified according to the divers actions in which men are occupied. Now there are more than two occupations of human actions. Therefore it would seem that life should be divided into more kinds than the active and the contemplative.
On the contrary, these two lives are signified by the two wives of Jacob: the active by Lia,[Leah] and the contemplative by Rachel; and by the two hostesses of our Lord: the contemplative life by Mary, and the active life by Martha, as Gregory declares (Moral. vi, 37 [Hom. xiv in Ezech.]). Now this signification would not be fitting if there were more than two lives. Therefore life is adequately divided into active and contemplative.
Issues of contemporary studies in gender roles suggest that here is evidence of the acceptance of women by Jesus, pointing to Martha as the formal head of the household and Mary appearing as one whom the Lord teaches. However, our ignorance of the roles for unmarried women is scanty. Casting the story as a negative for women in the mind of Luke, Elizabeth Schusseler-Fiorenza says Luke uses Martha and Mary as examples of two types of women active in the house-churches of his day. Martha is a strong and forceful figure in this story. Luke uses Jesus' gentle reprimand of Martha to undermine this historical development. Jesus insists to the assertive Martha that Mary's way - subordinate, quiet, sitting obediently at his feet, is the more appropriate stance women should take if they want to be his disciples. Luke wants women to be quiet and submissive, like Mary, rather than strong and active, like Martha. Traveling down the path of separating the authors of the New Testament from Jesus in such a drastic way is a path that undermines the biblical witness that can still be a form of Christianity, even if one that has cut itself off from its root. For the reasons offered above, both contemporary interpretations fall short.
No comments:
Post a Comment