7/28/2019 Sermon "When Martha was Mad at the Master" - Alan Neale

1/3

Sermon preached at The Church of the Holy Trinity, PhiladelphiaSunday July 21st 2013The Reverend Alan NealeWhen Martha was Mad at The Master

Heres a title for todays Gospel story from Luke 10 When Martha was Mad atThe Master and Mary and maybe herself or When Martha was Stewing in theKitchen where else would she be stewing?. Whatever the title, readers of this

story tend to have fairly strong reactions and fairly strong sympathies either withMartha or Mary.

So, who gets your vote? Or are you that quintessential practitioner of sophistrywho says almost by default, Well, it all depends?

And with which character do you most identify? Im not asking you to identify andcategorize the person next to you or the one with whom you work or live butyou.

Be careful how you choose. Martha is indeed the generous activist but also theangry person.

Be careful how you choose, Mary is not only the spiritual and devoted disciple butalso the one who begins a task and then deserts it, though doubtless expectinghunger pangs to be sated later. Maybe President Truman had Mary in mind whenhe said, If you cant stand the heat, get out of the kitchen?

Friends, short (almost terse) though it is, this is no easy passage.

There are at least five different partial texts (or lacunae) in this passage, all withslight differences. And the story is part of a recorded and ongoing history ofmisunderstanding and no little tension between the sisters.

It would be all too easy (and rather, I think, simplistic) to read this passage ascounterbalance to the preceding story of the Good Samaritan that we read lastweek; though Luke is known for careful authorship and, at one level, the praisedSamaritan activist is now somehow offset by the pietistic quietism of Mary.

I think the story is both simple and direct but also wonderfully expressive of

Lukes emphasis upon the great themes of cosmic redemption painted boldly onthe canvas of salvation history. But then, as by some master craftsman, Lukeengages the cosmic with the earthly, the expansive with the specific.

Consider just two themes of cosmic, expansive, invasive salvation acceptanceand reconciliation and see how they are etched into this story of everyday life.

Acceptance. Coming to the house at Bethany, Jesus accepts Marthas welcome.In the book, A Feminist Companion to Luke, Veronica Koperski writes, the wordLuke uses in verse 38 to express Marthas welcome also describes receiving,

7/28/2019 Sermon "When Martha was Mad at the Master" - Alan Neale

2/3

hearing or understanding the word equivalent to Marys listening to him. Andin the same book Amy-Jill Levine argues that Martha is seen to own the house that

Jesus enters and her act can be viewed as a type of patronage a position ofpower and influence. Jesus accepts warmly and definitively the ministry andpower of this woman, in line with Lukes theology. Jesus accepts Marthas service at no point is she asked to leave the kitchen and enter the room of prayer. Andas Jesus so poignantly accepts the service of Mary beside his burial tomb (John

20:16) so he powerfully affirms and accepts Martha with the twofold use of hername Martha, Martha.

And read, mark, learn, inwardly digest how this theme of acceptance is magnifiedonto the cosmic screen as Paul, in Colossians chapter one, sings out, the hope ofglory is in you and in him we are all created!

Acceptance and Reconciliation. In this few verses in Luke 10, we see the Masterat work as he moves these two sisters towards reconciliation. Though it mightseem that Mary was oblivious to all the sisterly angst taking place, I can imagine

that she was not left ignorant for long once Jesus had left! In this process ofreconciliation Jesus affirms the individuals, recognizes their psychic pain (or joy)and tries to move towards an awareness of a presence greater than temporary ill-will and misunderstanding. Quite a task, yes but then no-one ever said thatauthentic reconciliation is easy!

And I believe that in John 12 we see, at last, a healthy and functioningreconciliation Martha is in the kitchen, her brother Lazarus is listening to Jesusand Mary well, Mary is busy anointing feet and rather sensually offering her hairto massage and dry feet!

And read, mark, learn, inwardly digest how this theme of reconciliation ismagnified onto the cosmic screen as Paul, in Colossians chapter one, sings outthe divine exercise of reconciliation, the movement from

Fragmentation to integrationDysfunction to functionDisharmony to harmonyBrokenness to wholeness

Warfare to serenity

Separation to reconciliation

In Christ, God was pleased to reconcile all things making peace, You whowere once estranged he has now reconciled.

I believe this story, in part, teaches us that engagement with the divine is possiblein all tasks (in the kitchen and in the room of prayer), in all places and in allrelationships.

7/28/2019 Sermon "When Martha was Mad at the Master" - Alan Neale

3/3

Once we are grasped by this magnificent truth we have indeed the better partand Christ prays it will not be taken from us.

AMEN