Advent Lutheran Church

"Distracted"

Grace and peace to you from God the Creator, and from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  Amen.

            Back in the day, when I was a student at the University of Missouri (Go Tigers!) in the theatre department, I had a work/study job as the house electrician for two auditoriums on campus.  Whenever a touring production, a speaker or music group came to campus, I would get to work behind the scenes with them.  Sometimes they were big names (for the time,) like Bob Hope, Vic Damone, Three Dog Night and Chicago.  I even got to work a show that starred an as-yet-unknown Chevy Chase.  My roommate worked costumes and makeup, and so often she’d be on one side of the backstage area while I worked the other.  We met a bunch of great folks those days, and often we would skip the company party at the hotel and invite someone on the fringes of the company to come to our apartment for awhile. 

            If you have ever travelled for a living, you know that even today’s wonderful amenities at hotels cannot replace what it is like to be invited into someone’s home.  There is just a different atmosphere when you can offer a weary traveler a comfortable chair, a glass of wine, and a few hours spent listening to their stories.  My roommate and I were lucky to hear many stories of “the road,” and when I moved to New York City a few years later to “become a star” I had a network of contacts with these visitors.  It taught us both a lot about hospitality.

            Today’s lessons are both about that basic art of hospitality.  In the Old Testament we see the importance of welcoming strangers.  While later, for Greeks, hospitality would be a mark of civilization (after all, Zeus, their primary deity, was the God of Hospitality,) for the people of Israel, it was a mark of obedience to God.  Because they’d been strangers in Egypt and sojourners in the wilderness, they were to offer and be set apart, by their hospitality.  In the Genesis  reading this morning, Abraham and Sarah received three heavenly guests, and they were beside themselves to provide for these guests!  They weren’t worried about interrupted naps, or whether the visitors were people they’d like.  Their hospitality showed who they were as people, sort of like what the apostle Paul would talk about in his letters, “They’ll know we are Christians by our love.”)  And wouldn’t it be great if folks said about us, “We know they are Advent members by their hospitality?!”

            By the time of our story from the Gospel of Luke, hospitality hadn’t changed that much in the ancient world. Mary and  Martha still graciously received Jesus into their home, even though it might have been a tad strange – for none of the disciples seemed to have come along, and there was no other “chaperon.”  The curious twist is that Martha plays the same role as Abraham, the head of the household, the Host.  An old friend arrives, and a meal is prepared…but Heavens, it’s just the three of them!  No need for all this fuss, they could have split a medium pizza!  But it seems Martha is doing exactly as she should.  She is being WHO she is expected to be, WHO she has become in this time and place.  But is it who she really is?  Is this what she really desires?  The Bible tells us that Martha was “distracted,” which is a clear message that Martha’s problem wasn’t the work, but the distraction, the worry, the preoccupation with her role that became a problem.

            My grandparents were lovely people, Simon and Freda.  During the war they took in boarders and they often had folks around their table at meal times.  I remember that she rarely, if ever sat with those for whom she had prepared a lovely dinner, but would always be in the kitchen, or flurrying around making sure everyone had everything they wanted or needed.  I recall hearing my Grampy say (on more than one occasion) “Freda, sit down!  Freda, really, sit DOWN!”  It became a family phrase which my father used on my mom as well, and we all took it up when one of us was in a particular tizzy:  “Freda, sit down!” Grampy must have gotten the idea from Jesus, because that is exactly what Jesus was trying to get Martha to do.  But she was distracted in a very big way.  Look at the Greek words used to describe her:  the first appearance of distracted is “peri spa omai” (literally, all around, to be pulled in all directions.”)  The second word, worried is “mer im na o” (dangers, misfortunes;) and the third is the word distracted again, translated from a different Greek word this time, “thor u baz o”(a loud commotion, usually caused by demons!)  Wow.

            Now, being a “Martha” personality is not necessarily the negative thing here – in fact, it seems to have it’s place in the culture and tradition.  However, the interesting thing is that she obviously WISHES the situation was different…and her resentment bubbles over to Mary…through Jesus!  “Jesus, tell my sister….”  (Tell my sister, what?  To be as distracted as I am?)  To which Jesus replied, “Martha, Martha…”  I can almost hear Grampy now, “Freda, sit down.”

            What is this story saying to us?  It’s too easy to make this just, “How to Be a Good Follower of Jesus,” or even “Jesus Prefers Quiet Women.”  It does the story a disservice to resolve that this is a character study of the traits that Christian women should have, sort of Martha vs. Mary.  No.  The writer of Luke put it right after the story of the Good Samaritan for a reason.  That story, which Vicar Anteneh preached on so powerfully last week answered the question, “Who is my neighbor?” and redefined the cultural and legal answer to that question.  Anteneh suggested a way to understand what Jesus was doing by saying, “First, tell me who your God is, and then I’ll tell you who your neighbor is.”  (And since we have a God of all creation, well, our neighbor is pretty much – ALL CREATION.) 

            Now that Jesus has expanded the traditional idea of “neighborhood,” he goes another step further and redefines women’s roles.  And note, please, he does it first in the company of women!  Please remember that in this time of history women were property.  They had no status, and could not even study.  They were not allowed to worship with the men and they certainly had no place in society unless there was a man in their household.  But both of these women know Jesus as Lord, a title of respect given to a rabbi by his students and Jesus does not correct them, but invites them in to this special relationship, this special time with him.  For today, for this meal, they have him all to themselves.  And only one of them really takes him up on his invitation. 

            Martha assumes her expected role and resents it.  If she had just listened to who she really was and what she really wanted, she might have seen her own resentment as a chance to shed even her own expectations of herself, and find the woman who God was calling out of her.  Mary, however, takes advantage of a new reality, “the better part” – the part that will not be taken away, Jesus says.  Or, as Eugene Peterson translates in The Message:  Mary receives “the main course…”  Indeed, Jesus will be the main course at this table, and at ours.

            In a way, this is a very simple story.  However, it is but an introduction to Mary and Martha, and we do them a disservice if we judge them on this one scene alone.  But to find out more about them, we must turn to John’s Gospel:  where Martha (the distracted hostess) has found herself, and, at the tomb of her brother Lazarus, confesses her faith in Jesus by saying, “You are the Messiah, the One coming into the world.” And where Mary (the unhelpful listener) is spurred to action, and at dinner to celebrate Lazarus’ being raised from the dead, pours oil on Jesus’ head, anoints him for his burial to come, and in so doing acts out the very same confession of faith.  They were listening.  They were BOTH listening.

             How does God come to us?  Where will you see God today?  Will you have time for a good, long talk?  Remember, Jesus isn’t stopping by to be fed by you, he’s stopping by to feed you; to share a vision of a better world, in which you have been given a part.  How will you play that part?  Well, in today’s story, you just look at Jesus: the one at whose feet they are sitting, who will soon be washing feet.  May we always hear the invitation to learn from Jesus without distractions, and to serve God and neighbor with our very best hospitality. And thank God for giving us the opportunity to receive Vicar Anteneh and his family to help us learn that in a new way.  Selam, Anteneh, and go with God. Amen.