Chores.
Can you show me a kid who loves doing chores? I know that as a child, I did not always
appreciate the chores and jobs around the house that my parents assigned me as
the oldest child. In my mind it seemed
as if I was getting the burden of the work as my siblings were getting a free
pass. I know that this is not true
today, but way back then it seemed as if I was getting the short end of the
stick. Like any good child . . . I
moaned and groaned . . . I whined . . . and, I complained. What kid wouldn’t?
And, you know what it got me? It got me a nickname from my mother. My mother would smile at my complaints and
say, “Martha, Martha.” It took me years
to figure out the nickname . . . but, as we heard in our reading this morning,
Martha is the sister who complained about doing all the work while her sister,
Mary, lounged around at the feet of Jesus.
Jesus told said: “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset
about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will
not be taken away from her.”
What is this better thing that Jesus is
referring to? In Martha’s mind there is
company in the house . . . important company, at that. The latest celebrity in the land was visiting
and things had to be done in order to be good host. Food had to be prepared. People needed to be served. Thus, it is that Martha sees that there is
work to be done in order to make a good impression on her guests. Because of this Martha is busting her butt
and slaving away in the kitchen. Is this
what is important?
Well, it seems logical to me. I know that whenever we have company coming
to visit that our household goes into full combat mode . . . there are things
to get done before the company arrives . . . the house must be cleaned, toilets
scrubbed, and everything in its proper place.
I know that there are meals to prepare, time in the kitchen, piles of
dishes to clean, constant messes to clean up.
It is work, work, work . . . and, in the end, both Dana and I always say
that we are going to simplify things the next time company comes so that we
have less work and more play.
Martha’s choice seems logical, but Jesus
alludes to the fact that she has
chosen wrong. Instead he points to the person that Martha
is complaining about and says, “Mary has chosen what is better . . .” What Mary is doing is . . . well, nothing if
you ask Martha. Mary is sitting at the
feet of Jesus listening to every word that he said. While Martha is working at being a good host,
Mary is connecting. Mary is
relating. In this Jesus affirms that it
is not activities that define what is important, it is relationships . . . it
is connecting, being intimate, and forming a bond with another. This, says Jesus, is what is important.
Jesus tells Martha not to get
distracted.
I know that I have mentioned C.S. Lewis’
book, The Screwtape Letters, many
times in sermons over the years; but it really is a good book to read when it
comes to understanding what it means to follow Jesus. Quick recap:
Wormwood is a brand new devil who is sent to earth for his first
assignment. His assignment is a young
man and the goal is to keep Jesus from getting his hooks into him and drawing
him over to the Enemy’s side. Screwtape
is Wormwood’s uncle—a senior devil.
Wormwood finds in Screwtape a mentor to help guide him through his first
assignment; thus, he writes to his uncle seeking advice.
In one letter Screwtape tells his nephew
that an effective way of deterring the young man from hooking up with Jesus is
to distract him . . . getting him busy doing other things. For example, get the young man interested in
a hobby . . . hobbies take time, time that could be used for the Enemy. Or, get him a girlfriend . . . girlfriends
demand time and attention. Or, even get
the young man involved in politics.
Distraction will keep the young man from choosing and doing the right
thing. If the young man is distracted,
then he will be too busy to seek out Jesus and join the Enemy.
The simple definition of “distraction”
is “a thing that prevents someone from giving full attention to something or
someone else.” That is what Screwtape
recommends and Jesus warns about. Avoid
distractions and get to the meat of the moment . . . connect, relate. Martha was distracted. In her distraction she missed the opportunity
to connect with Jesus, to become intimate with Jesus . . . to build a
relationship. After all, in the end, it
is relationships that we remember the most.
In our distraction we forget the “other”
. . . we forget the person . . . we forget the Holy. In our distraction we become so focused on
what we are doing that we forget for whom we are doing it . . . we forget the
one who is right before us. We forget
that he or she needs our attention, our compassion, our listening, and our
support more than anything else. They
need us to acknowledge them for who God created them to be. They need us to be “present” to them.
I can’t answer that question for any of
you, but I can answer that question for myself.
I am probably not as “present” to others as I should and need to
be. Too often I have failed others . . .
and, God . . . by being distracted; and, in doing so, I have failed. Of course, like Martha, I have an excuse . .
. life is busy . . . I’m busy . . . there are things to be done . . . first
things first. In my busyness and
distraction, I have failed. In my
failure, I have hurt others . . . all because I was too busy to see. In the end, everyone loses.
Relationships are important. Those two commandments that Jesus held up as
the most important . . . well, they are about relationships. Relationship with God, relationship with
others. Do this, says Jesus, and all the
law and commandments will be fulfilled.
So, it should come as no surprise then that Jesus politely points this
out to Martha. It is Martha who is
missing the point . . . missing the opportunity of connecting and coming into
an intimate relationship with Jesus.
As we all journey through life and
attempt to follow Jesus, let us be careful out there not to be distracted to
what is important in the end. Let us
focus on relationships . . . our relationship with the Holy—God and Jesus . . .
our relationship with others. In the
end, that is what matters.
I am not so certain that Mary chose to
sit at the feet and listen to Jesus because she was interested in what he had
to say . . . she, like a true sibling, might have done it to get out of helping
her sister. We must admit that this is a
classic sibling story; but, whatever her motives, she was in the right place at
the right time. She got praised for
making the right choice.
And, how do we know that it was the
right choice? Because in choosing to
relate to another person Mary entered something that could never be taken
away. She made a intimate connection
with another . . . something she would have for the rest of her life.
Because of that, let us not get
distracted and veered away from that which binds us to God, binds us to one
another. Let us step forward and embrace
that which is placed into our lives. The
best hospitality is to welcome another into our lives for who they are as God’s
children. This is what is better, and it
will not be taken away from us. Amen.
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