Proper 11 Year C The Sunday Closest to July 20th
Colossians 1:15-28
Luke 10:38-42
Today’s Gospel lesson sounds strange to our modern western ears. Jesus had come into a village to teach. Preparations were well underway to extend to him that especial hospitality which was so characteristic of the ancient Jewish community. Martha had without doubt been working hard since she heard that the Master was coming into their village and home. There was a house to clean, food to be prepared, clothes to be washed, and instructions to give to the servants. All of the preparations for a major party consumed her time and her energy. Her sister Mary had probably started out being a pretty good helper as the preparations progressed. But when Jesus finally arrived, sister Mary was nowhere to be found. Sister Martha finally found her sitting at the feet of Jesus, listening intently to the Master’s words. Martha was consternated and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.” Jesus did not give her the answer that she wanted, or the one she expected. “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 daresay most of us would share Martha’s consternation in a similar situation. Certainly there is time to sit and listen to Jesus…after the work is done. Mary is shirking her duty. Shame on Jesus for letting her get by with that!
We are, like the ancient Romans, a nation of doers. We are in the main hard working, diligent, well organized, and pragmatic. We are serious about our religion, but we realize that if someone doesn’t do the work, it is not going to get done. Those characteristics have established our national power, built our business acumen, and helped us to create a spectacularly high standard of living. Martha was a lot like most of us. People like Martha, and like us, are the engines which make the economy work, and which lay the groundwork for much of what we would generally call human achievement. In their place, our characteristics are all admirable qualities and good things, but- and there is that most disturbing word- our general propensity to focus on doing sometimes causes us to undervalue other important things in life.
Mary was beginning to realize some things about Jesus of Nazareth which had not yet fully dawned on her hard working sister Martha. Saint Paul eloquently stated those “things” years later in what constitutes our Epistle lesson for today. “Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation; for in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers of powers- all things have been created through him and for him. He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together. He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, so that he might come to have first place in everything. For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross. And you who were once estranged and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, he has now reconciled in his fleshly body through death, so as to present you holy and blameless and irreproachable before him- provided that you continue firmly established and steadfast in the faith, without shifting from the hope promised by the gospel that you heard, which has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven.” This is the Christian Faith in a nutshell, and if it is true, then certainly “Mary has chosen the better part.” To sit at the feet of the master, to bask in the light of his presence, and to adore and worship him is certainly more important than anything I could do or accomplish in a thousand lifetimes. That is not to say that our good works and hard work are unimportant or that God does not expect them to flow from our faith, but it is to recognize that worship given to our Creator and Redeemer and Sustainer is infinitely more important than any work that we might be called to do.
Unfortunately, many of us only come to appreciate this truth when some great calamity or undesired situation arises in our life. For the poet John Milton, that realization came when he realized that he was going blind, and wondered how he could possibly get along without his sight. He wrote:
When I consider how my light is spent
Ere half my days, in this dark world and wide,
And that one talent, which is death to hide,
Lodged with me useless, though my soul more bent
To serve therewith my Maker, and present
My true account, lest he returning, chide:
“Doth God exact day labor, light denied?”
I fondly ask; but Patience, to prevent
That murmur, soon replies, “God doth not need
Either man’s work, or His own gifts; who best
Bear his mild yoke, they serve Him best. His state
Is kingly. Thousands at His bidding speed,
And post o’er land and ocean without rest;
They also serve who only stand and wait.”
Bishop Michael Nazir-Ali, in his book “Frontiers in Muslim-Christian Encounter,” points out that “the ancient Churches (of the east sic), because of the restrictions on them in the past, have developed a theology of witness which emphasizes the centrality of the Eucharistic liturgy in Christian witness. This is not surprising since the liturgy was often the only way in which they could declare their faith.”
How sad it is that most of us only come to give adoration and worship of Jesus its proper significance when health, political reality, or personal tragedy remove all other options in our lives. Blessed is that woman or man who, like Mary, can see Jesus for who he is, and realizes that to worship at his feet is “the best part.”
And this brings us to the place of worship in our lives, both individually and as a parish. We are called to ask ourselves if it is indeed “the best part” in our estimation. At the risk of preaching to the choir this morning, I fear that it often is not first in our lives. There are so many other things which we value above attending every week upon the word and sacraments, which is the way that God has given us to sit at the feet of Jesus. We have all heard those who might say “I feel closer to God in the woods, or on the boat, or on the golf course on a beautiful morning than I ever do in church.” It is a noble sounding sentiment, but unfortunately, it is not an option that God gives us when He says, “forsake not the assembling of yourselves together”, and “unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood, you have no part of me.” Oh that all the people of God might say with the Psalmist, “I had rather be a doorman in the house of the Lord, than to dwell in the tents of the wicked.” Over the years, I grew to appreciate the example of Fred Hatcher, who always was attendant upon the Word and Sacrament wherever he traveled in this broad world. Here in Lancaster, in Europe, Asia, or Elsewhere, he never missed Sunday Church. Might we all be blessed with a burning desire to claim “the best part” with Mary and Fred, and with the saints of God down through the ages. As we acknowledge who he truly is, and sit at His feet expectantly and regularly, surely he will meet us and transform us more perfectly into His image by the blood of the everlasting covenant and in the power of the Holy Spirit. AMEN.
