Grace to you and peace…from Jesus, who is with us. Amen.
Friends in Christ, we are distracted by many things. Often times when this text comes up or this story is told, we are invited to think about whether we are Mary’s — sitting at the feet of Jesus, or Martha’s — worried and distracted by many things. [It’s true, we can be both Mary and Martha at different times in our lives.] But today, for the sake of this sermon, I’m going to just assume that we’re all Martha’s — worried and distracted by many things. Yes, there’s a little Mary in each one of us too, but in this day-in-age, we are almost programmed to pick up and respond to distractions...
I’d like to just take a moment and ask you to jot down about 10 things things that are distracting you right now…in this place and in your life.
Are we relating to Martha yet? (Distractions in the world, in your life, in the news, in the community...) And how when we’re busy/serving, it’s easy to be judgmental of those who aren’t? “Huh, must be nice to go on vacation.” “Huh, maybe someone ought to work a little harder.” And then Martha pulls a classic triangulation with Jesus. Do you know what triangulation is? Concept introduced by Dr. Murray Bowen. (We see this all the time in the church: Instead of going directly to the person with whom we’ve got a problem, we go to someone else, and try to rope them into our conflict and get them on our side… For example, if I’ve got a problem with another pastor in the area, instead of talking face-to-face with my brother or sister, I go to the bishop: “Tell him to behave...but don’t tell them..” Another example: Husband and wife: She’s very frustrated by her husband’s work habits: long hours, time away from the children. But instead of talking to him, she calls her sister, and tells her, but tells her not to say anything because she doesn’t want to damage her relationship with her husband. Is triangulation a healthy way of communicating?)
Kacy Brown of the Well Counseling Center (just one of many resources out there) suggests some ways to avoid triangulation: 1) Go directly to the person with whom you have the conflict. 2) Avoid trying to draw others in and get them on your side behind the scenes. 3) And try as much as you can to de-triangulate...stay out of triangles. Encourage others who are venting to you to go directly to the person with whom they have the conflict.
This little side note on triangulation may be an unintended gift of this gospel text for us today, helping us communicate better with one another and reminding us of some unhealthy pitfalls in our communication styles, to which we’re all susceptible.
So, poor Martha. Poor you and me. Not only is she getting nicked just for being busy, but also for being a poor communicator. Yep.
But here’s where Jesus gives her a gift: “Martha, Martha, stop, sit down, breathe.” Rather than getting hooked into the triangle Martha is trying to form, Jesus offers her a path out of bitterness: to stop. To breathe. (Probably doesn’t help that he uses her sister as the example, but we do get an image of the human being from Mary...as opposed to the human doing.) “Stop, sit down, breathe.”
How we too can be distracted by so many things in our lives, in our world, even as we sit here in the sanctuary on Sunday. How we in the church can be all about church all the time, and yet never truly worship...even when we’re in worship.
[conversations about Martha’s bitterness: another distraction from Jesus’ point?]
How is Jesus inviting you to stop, sit down and breathe?
This, Christ says, is the “better part”. There is so much here that relates to us today. We are called to listen, more than talk; to watch and wait, rather than run, run, run all the time.
Walter Brueggemann, Sabbath as Resistance: "Divine rest on the seventh day of creation has made clear (a) that YHWH is not a workaholic, (b) that YHWH is not anxious about the full functioning of creation, and (c) that the well-being of creation does not depend on endless work."
Christ invites us to rest this day. To stop. To center. To listen. And to know that God is God. We are human beings, not human doings. And Christ makes us that this day, Christ redeems us from our incessant doing-ness — making us fully human being. We are made to sit at Jesus’ feet. (pillows in the sanctuary) In our busyness, in our fallen communication styles, in our running around we can almost loose a piece of our humanity, becoming like robots knocking tasks off our lists. I heard a story recently about “a mother who coached, drove her kids around and volunteered for every school committee. She was a supermom. She loved her kids. Thing is, one of the kids [at church youth group], confided in [her pastor] that she hardly ever saw her mom. Her mom was so busy coaching, leading, volunteering ‘for her kids’, she was too busy to spend time with them. This is a phenomenal lesson for those who are leaders in the church. We can become so obsessed with doing ‘God’s’ work, we lose track of God.”
But Christ redeems us today. Our humanity is restored, and we are offered a place and a time to center, and breathe and refocus. Prayer, listening, centering — it’s precisely when we say we don’t have time for these things, that we know we need them. It’s not that we shouldn’t serve, of course. It’s that centering and listening, sitting at the feet of Jesus like
Mary, must come before the serving so that we don’t loose sight of the vision. (scrubbing the deck of the ship, but not at the wheel, so the ship crashes)
Jesus speaks gently to you this day. Calls you by name. Invites you to slow down for a change. “There is need of only one thing,” Christ instructs us. God is love. In Christ, is our hope. We are gathered this day back to the center, the ultimate concern. And here at the center, we are forgiven and we are fed. The time will come to go and serve. But not before sitting at Christ’s feet, receiving God’s gifts at the table, the manger, which are poured out for you in abundance.
God’s forgiveness washes over you in this time. God’s peace shines upon you. God’s presence fills every fiber of your being. And in a moment God’s very body, the bread of life, will fill your body, Christ’s own blood, will co-mingle with yours. Stop, listen, watch, breath. Christ’s own gifts are being poured out for you and for many. There is peace and grace to go around, that never runs dry. Come and rest, here at the wellspring of hope. Here at the center. Here at the feet of Jesus. AMEN.
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Hymn of the Day is “Will you let me be your servant” #659 which might seem counter intuitive to this Gospel text today. But I chose it because of the second half of the first and last verses: “Pray that I may have the grace to let you be my servant too.” ...which may be our greatest challenge: to sit and receive and breathe.
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