feb7

The Things We Learn at a Dinner Party

Or “What must I do?”

Luke 10:38-42

As Jesus and his disciples went on their way, 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."

I love these dinner party stories. Now Jesus is attending a dinner at the home of Mary and Martha of Bethany. We know Mary and Martha rather well because of their famous brother, Lazarus. Yes, the very man Jesus brought back to life from the tomb. Now though Martha gets a bad wrap in this story she is also a woman of faith. I think it is also important to note this story is about the dinner party, it is not about the teachings of Jesus that Mary is listening to. In fact we do not even have a hint what Jesus is teaching about on this occasion.

As I at the events of this story I see a reminder of the very core of what it means to live as a Christian.

I see four points.

The first is HOSPITALITY. Martha welcomes Jesus into their home. I know we preach a lot about hospitality but we do so because we think it really matters. It matters at the level of friendliness. I am committed to waving at my neighbors as they drive by my house. I think it is just a nice thing to do. It matters at the level of common courteousness of just holding the door for the person behind you.

When I was in England with our youth I started talking to a young man at the check out line in one of the cathedral snack bars. He was a teenager from Arkansas traveling with a friend and their mothers. Our kids started tugging at me saying “didn’t anybody ever tell you not to talk to strangers?” Now I don’t know if they were really concerned that I was talking to a stranger or if they were really saying, “don’t be an embarrassing old guy.” But I think we have taken “the do not talk to strangers” admonition a little to far. I think it is solid advice for a 5 year old and maybe even a young elementary school child. But as we grow up we should learn how to talk to people in all kinds of places, even strangers and enemies. I do think “Don’t go home with strangers” is a solid rule but talking can be good.

Hospitality and openness matters because in being open to the people around us, whether they are friend or stranger, is also about being open in our hearts and minds to God. If we go through life with a get out of my way attitude toward people we cannot help but also have that attitude toward God.

Mary sits at the feet of Jesus LISTENING. Now I see the self-serving irony of the preacher advocating listening. But I do spend a lot of time listening. Part of my job is to listen to the congregation. To hear how people’s lives are affected by their experiences. I listen to scripture. This is the 5^th cycle through our three-year lectionary and I still continue to hear new things in these readings of scripture. I work to hear things I disagree with or that are hard to hear. Listening is very important.

I love the story of the reporter interviewing Mother Teresa and asking how she prays. She says, “When I pray I sits and listen.” The reporter then asks, “What does God do.” She says, “ I guess God also listens.”

Listening is very important.

Another way to see Mary’s actions is to say she is simply BEING. Being is when we stop all of the action of body mind and soul we just go quiet inside and out. On our pilgrimage to England we stopped at the shrine of our Lady of Walsingham in little Walsingham. In the 1061 the lady Richeldis of Walsingham who was by that time a widow had a vision in which the angel Gabriel took her from her home in Walsingham to see the house of the annunciation. She was returned to Walsingham where she built a copy of the house. A church was then built over the house and it became a place of pilgrimage. The original shrine was later destroyed but in the early 20^th century the shrine was rebuilt and the pilgrimages began anew.

Inside the Shrine chapel was very peaceful. Our tour guide was not allowed to say a word while inside the shrine. That in and of itself was a piece of heaven. In this place I saw each of our pilgrims take time to kneel and pray. I am moved and intrigue by the idea of the original vision but I am even more overwhelmed at being in a place where thousands upon thousands of people have come from all over the world to pray. So I sat there in the house of the annunciation within the church.

Finally though, someone has to go DO the dishes. Now I know this to be very true. For my final year of college I lived alone in a small apartment. It was my custom to let dirty dishes pile up in the sink. I would only wash them when I ran out of clean dishes and often then would only wash the dishes I needed. Now living in Texas in the type of apartment I could afford meant that a large extended family of roaches moved in to share my kitchen.

Well finally I had a girl friend. The one I am currently married to and I thought now the dishes will get done. Well they sure did. She said, “You do those dishes and get rid of the roaches or I am not coming back.” And so I did.

As Christians it is not enough that we believe in God, think about God but we are also called to do the work of God in the world. We are called to feed the hungry, clothe the naked, comfort the sorrowful, care for those in prison …. We are called to respect the dignity of every person and to care for all of God’s creation.

* Now after this sermon a few people pointed out that I was pushing the text by claiming to find number 4 within it. While that is true let me say I think there are two things Jesus is doing in defending Mary. One is he is saying that this is the time for teaching and listening the time for doing will come later. I would like to think that after dinner he and the disciples went in the kitchen and helped with the dishes. The other thing he is doing is affirming the right of women to participate in the religious life of the community. The practice of his day would have seen thinking and speaking about God as Men’s work and most everything else as women’s work. Jesus is saying the women have a right to be in the dialogue also.