Are we workaholics or do we take
time to lift our heads up, breathe deeply, observe the beauty around us and
listen to the birds sing? Do we miss what God is doing in the world because of
our busy-ness or are we attentive to the voice of God on a daily basis? Perhaps
our text today would ask it this way: Are you a Martha or a Mary?
Answering these questions may make
for an interesting time of self-reflection, but they mask some deeper elements
present in our text. If we are attentive to the details, we will hear Jesus
calling us to a profound realignment in our lives as we seek to live faithfully
as his disciples in the world.
To hear the full richness of Luke’s
narrative about Martha and Mary, we need to read it in light of its role within
chapter 10. The bulk of chapter 10 — verses 1-24 — reports Jesus’ sending out 70
of his followers. Their mission is to announce the kingdom of God, but their
method is to accept the hospitality of homes and towns, receive whatever they
offer in terms of food and drink, and then share the good news about the
kingdom with those gathered. The hospitality of those who will receive the good
news is contrasted with the lack of hospitality offered by those who reject the
gospel.
Immediately before our story of Martha
and Mary, Luke 10:25-37 tells the parable of the Good Samaritan. It begins with
a lawyer quizzing Jesus on how one attains eternal life. Jesus asks him what
the law teaches. The lawyer responds by citing the two great commands of the
Torah: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your
soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as
yourself.”1 At the heart of the story of the Good Samaritan is its
ability to redefine the question “Who is my neighbor?” while simultaneously
subverting co
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