Rev Gav

Are you a Mary or a Martha?

Luke 10.38–end

Jesus entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying. 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.’ But the Lord answered her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.’

There is a tendency, among us humans, to interpret the world around us in a binary way — male and female, good and bad, up and down, and so on — and I wonder if, when approaching Bible texts we look, first, for the ‘binary’ answer or application?

The traditional interpretation of this passage is to polarise it and assert that Martha was doing a ‘bad’ thing and that Mary was doing a ‘good’ thing — that ‘being’ is better than ‘doing’. This has been extrapolated to communicate to Christians that contemplative spirituality, with its meditation, prayer, and stillness is ‘better’ than one of activity, industriousness, and hard work. But what of the context of the story?

We must understand the patriarchal nature of the culture in which Jesus was living. Women held subservient roles where they were expected to clean, cook, and manage the household, and in this story we have two women who were expected to do just that — two sisters named Mary and Martha.

While Martha was busy with the many household tasks, Mary was sitting listening to Jesus. Martha remonstrated with Jesus, and asked whether Jesus cared that she was doing all the work, and deferred to his male authority to tell Mary to help out. Jesus answered with this strange reply — ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.’

What was the ‘one thing’ Jesus was talking about? And what was this better ‘part’ or ‘share’?

If we understand the bigger picture, that Jesus’ ministry was one of liberation and emancipation from all that would seek to subjugate and oppress, then what would this mean for how Jesus viewed the roles of women in society? What if Jesus wasn’t simply seeing two women choosing different ways of expressing their devotion, but seeing two women who were being defined by gender roles and societal expectations?

Okay, so I may be guilty of projecting our progressive views onto the text, but Jesus clearly breached social norms and boundaries to welcome others into the family of God — including women. Luke placed this story immediately after the story of the Samaritan who was a neighbour to the man beaten by robbers — an expression and instruction to cross another cultural boundary in the name of love.

It wasn’t Martha’s busyness and hard work that was the issue. Luke makes it clear that she was ‘distracted’ — even using that very word, and by inference, Mary was ‘attracted’. The distraction was from the way of Jesus and the way of God — the ‘one thing’. Mary was sharing in the way of God and it was this, not her lack of busyness, that was considered better.

Putting it another way, Mary was breaking gender norms and expectations. She wasn’t doing what was expected of a woman in a house where a man, and no less a rabbi, was in attendance. Of course, this rabbi was Jesus, the very instigator of a new way of living that transcended gender, race, age, and anything else that had been used to oppress or subjugate others.

The apostle Paul echoed this way when he wrote to the church in Galatia that, ‘There is no longer Jew or Greek; there is no longer slave or free; there is no longer male and female, for all of you are one in Christ Jesus.’ (Galatians 3.28)

It is also worth noticing that when Jesus addressed Martha he did so by repeating her name. This was not Jesus shaking his head and reprimanding her but quite the opposite. The repetition of someone’s name was a social convention for inviting or calling someone to something, and of course, in this context, Jesus was gently calling Martha to stop being ‘distracted’ and be ‘attracted’ — to be liberated and set free from oppressive social expectations.

The traditional binary interpretation of this passage has been bad news to all us ‘doers’ out there — those of us who express our love through acts of service, but it really is good news. There is absolutely nothing wrong with being busy and applying our skills and talents to bless others. Hard work is no less spiritual that meditation, however whether we express our love and devotion through labour or meditation, we must never lose sight that we do so as liberated people, set free from social gender expectations.

As Christians, we must always be aware where power is used to subjugate others, and it does not have to be gender-based, but can be role-based and occur in organisations, families, schools, businesses, and even the church — anywhere where there is a human hierarchy. The priest or pastor should be the first to put out and clear the chairs at a worship gathering. The CEO should know the name of the office janitor and stop and talk with them. The headteacher should be the first to pick up the empty crisp packet in the school corridor.

The way of Jesus, the ‘one thing’, is a the way of humility and obedience to God, and we are all invited to join the way.

Amen.

Holy God
Help me to always see
where positions of power
and authority can be used
to oppress others
based on their gender,
sexuality, age, race, or ability.
Thank you that you accept
me for who I am
and that I may freely express
my love and devotion
without fear.
Amen.

(Photo by Alexander Sinn on Unsplash)