In
\nall the times I’ve studied \u2013 and preached on – this little story
\nfrom Luke, I’ve never paid attention to where it falls in the Gospel.
\n I suspect I’ve \u00a0been too busy trying to justify Martha or emulate
\nMary to attend to such a basic factor. \u00a0It turns out that the story
\nof Mary and Martha comes RIGHT AFTER the Parable of the Good
\nSamaritan. \u00a0That’s a pretty significant location. \u00a0The Parable of the
\nGood Samaritan is especially potent and it seems very likely that the
\nbrilliant writer Luke would use the story that follows it to
\nstrengthen and emphasize it, right?<\/p>\n
Right.
\n They are meant to work together!<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
As <\/p>\n Alan \n\u201cIn <\/p>\n It <\/p>\n For <\/p>\n \nThe challenge of keeping this \n<\/p>\n \nMary appears deceptively passive \n<\/p>\n Yes.<\/p>\n It is radical because sitting at the feet of a teacher, a rabbi, was <\/p>\n Mary’s <\/p>\n I’m <\/p>\n The \n\u201cIn Thus, <\/p>\n I \n<\/p>\n \nFor \n<\/p>\n \nListening \n<\/p>\n \nMary \n\t1<\/a>\u00a0Robert W. Funk, Roy W Hoover, 2<\/a>\u00a0R. 3<\/a> 4<\/a>\u00a0Catherine 5<\/a>\u00a0Ibid<\/p>\n 6<\/a>\u00a0The 7<\/a>\u00a0IVP <\/p>\n Rev. Sara E. Baron<\/p>\n First United Methodist Church of Schenectady<\/p>\n 603 State St. Schenectady, NY 12305<\/p>\n Pronouns: she\/her\/hers<\/p>\n http:\/\/fumcschenectady.org\/<\/a>
\nthe Jesus Seminar puts it, \u201cBoth the Samaritan and Mary step out of
\nconventional roles in Luke’s examples. \u00a0This is Luke’s reason for
\nplacing the story of Mary and Martha in tandem with the parable of
\nthe Samaritan. \u00a0The Samaritan for Luke illustrates the second
\ncommandment (\u201cLove your neighbor as yourself\u201d), Mary exemplifies
\nthe fulfillment of the first commandment (\u201cYou are to love the Lord
\nyour God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your
\nenergy, and with all your mind\u201d).\u201d1<\/sup><\/a>
\n Other commentators point out that where the Samaritan \u201csees\u201d in
\nthe way Jesus wants his followers to see, Mary \u201chears\u201d as a model
\nfor how his followers should listen for God and hear Jesus. \u00a0The two
\ncharacters complement and complete each other. \u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\nCulpepper in the New Interpreter’s Bible explains the two stories
\ntogether in this way:\n<\/p>\n
\nit’s own way, the conjunction of the stories about the good Samaritan
\nand the female disciple voice Jesus’ protest against the rules and
\nboundaries set by the culture in which he lived. \u00a0As they develop
\nseeing and hearing as metaphors for the activity of the kingdom, the
\ntwin stories also expose the injustice of social barriers that
\ncategorize, restrict, and oppress various groups in any society
\n(Samaritan, victims, woman). \u00a0To love God with all one’s heart and
\none’s neighbor as oneself meant then and now that one must often
\nreject society’s rules in favor of the codes of the kingdom \u2013 a
\nsociety without distinctions and boundaries between its members. \u00a0The
\nrules of this society are just two \u2013 to love God and one’s neighbor
\n– but these rules are so radically different from those of the
\nsociety in which we live that living by them invariably calls us to
\ndisregard all else, break the rules, and follow Jesus’ example.\u201d2<\/sup><\/a>
\n(NIB, 232)<\/p>\n
\nseems this story may pack quite a punch! \u00a0So, while remembering to
\nkeep the Good Samaritan story close, let’s look at this text again.
\nBoth stories are set in the beginning of Luke’s story of Jesus
\ntraveling to Jerusalem, a journey that will be concluded on Palm
\nSunday. \u00a0This is part of a journey narrative.<\/p>\n
\nsome here today this is a new story, and for others it is very
\nfamiliar. \u00a0Often, I hear people talk about which sister they identify
\nwith, this is one of the stories people use to make sense of their
\nown lives! \u00a0It is sometimes tempting to make the story overly
\nsymbolic, but there are reasons to refrain from that temptation.
\nJohn Fitzmyer in the Anchor Bible Series says, \u201cTo
\nread this episode as a commendation of contemplative life over
\nagainst active life is to allegorize it beyond recognition and to
\nintroduce a distinction that was born only of later preoccupation.
\nThe episode is addressed to the Christian who is expected to be
\ncontemplativus(a)
\nin actione<\/i>.\u201d3<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n
\nstory in perspective is that we are easily drawn into
\nparticularities. \u00a0Jesus likely traveled WITH a large group of
\nfollowers and Martha was thus expected to prepare a large meal for
\nall of them, in this case without help. \u00a0We want to wonder if she was
\ntrying to be too elaborate, or if Jesus was simply taking the side of
\nMary because Martha triangulated, or if Mary was usually \u201clazy.\u201d
\nIt is easy to find ourselves in this story, but that makes it harder
\nto hear this story. \u00a0This is a story that KNOWS that faithfulness to
\nGod requires learning AND action. \u00a0This is a story about Jesus, who
\ncalled people to change their whole lives. \u00a0It isn’t about who is
\nstuck doing the dishes, even though we know that story well. \u00a0And for
\ntoday at least (we’ll get to Martha in the future), it isn’t about
\nMartha at all! \u00a0Today is all about Mary \ud83d\ude09<\/p>\n
\nin this story. \u00a0She doesn’t speak, she’s simply spoken about. \u00a0In
\nfact, all we really know is that she sat and listened. \u00a0Well, that
\nand her sister didn’t appreciate it. \u00a0Is sitting and listening really
\nso radical?\n<\/p>\n
\nthe position of a disciple.
\n And in that time, women were not usually allowed to be disciples.
\nAs the IVP Women’s Bible explains, \u201cIn
\nthe first century women usually had no part in organized education.
\nFew were literate. \u00a0Their education was confined to domestic and
\nfamily matters. \u00a0Thus the considerable evidence that women were
\nfollowers of Jesus and played a significant part in the disciple band
\nis in contrast to the accepted practices of the day.\u201d4<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n
\naction isn’t just reflective of her radical choice because it wasn’t
\none that she could take on her own. \u00a0Her action reflects the radical
\ninclusion of Jesus. \u00a0Back to the IVP Women’s Bible, \u201cJesus welcomed
\nmany different women as learners (Mary of Bethany, Luke 10:39, 42)
\nand encouraged them to engage with him in his theological
\nconversations (Martha, Jn 11:21-27; Canaanite woman, Mt 15:24-28;
\nSamaritan woman, Jn 4:7-26). \u00a0This was in contrast to the rabbinic
\npractice of excluding women.\u201d5<\/sup><\/a>
\n Throughout Luke, Jesus offered instruction in synagogues, homes, and
\nin personal conversations to WOMEN.6<\/sup><\/a>
\n Jesus was a radical teacher willing to accept many kinds of
\nstudents, and a radical student willing to claim her spot no matter
\nwhat others thought of her! \u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\ntold that Jesus taking on abnormal disciples extended well beyond
\nMary and the teaching of women. \u00a0Most rabbi’s took on only the
\nbrightest and best pupils and nurtured them from their childhoods to
\nbe excellent scholars. \u00a0Jesus took on adult men who had been making
\nlivings as fisherman, thus clearly not the perfect pupils another
\nrabbi had snapped up. \u00a0Jesus refused hierarchies \u2013 EVEN the ones
\nthat might have been seen as reasonable and helpful!! \u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\nwriters in the Women’s Bible also pointed out that Luke’s account of
\nMary and Martha seems to reflect a slightly later Christian
\ntradition. \u00a0By the time of Acts, it was common for evangelists to
\ntravel around preaching and teaching in the name of Jesus. \u00a0They were
\noften hosted by women, who were then responsible for two tasks:
\nhospitality AND discernment. \u00a0Clearly if a wealthy woman was going to
\nuse her resources to support a traveling preacher, she needed to be
\nable to tell if the preacher was worth learning from! \u00a0The radical
\ninclusion of women extended into the early church. \u00a0The Women’s Bible
\nexplains it this way,\n<\/p>\n
\naccounts of the early church we are made especially aware of the
\nwomen who revived traveling evangelists into their homes (Acts 16:15;
\n40; 18:2-3). \u00a0More often than those of men, we are told the names
\nwomen in those houses the early churches met (Acts 12:12; 16:13-15;
\n40; Rom 16:3-5; 1 Cor 16:19; Col 4:15). \u00a0Theirs was the
\nresponsibility not only to provide food and housing of the itinerate
\nmissionary but also to assess the message that was brought (see<\/i>2
\nJohn; 3 John). \u00a0This required that the women must be carefully taught
\nand possess a strong understanding of the fundamentals of the gospel.
\n \u2026 The story before us presents a paradigm of the attitude and
\nactivities of women who opened their homes for gospel ministry.\u201d7<\/sup><\/a><\/p>\n
\nin this story, Mary IS doing half of the work \u2013 she is learning and
\nlistening so that she will be able to discern who is worth listening
\nto in the future!!<\/p>\n
\nreally appreciate this idea that the women who offered hospitality
\nalso had to be careful about whose perspective they empowered. \u00a0I
\nlike the reminder that hospitality, and extending one’s home, is a
\npowerful and important action that these women played a curating
\nrole in who got to talk!!! \u00a0I also think it is helpful to think
\nof Mary as listening, learning, and sitting AT THIS MOMENT in time so
\nthat she would be of GREATER USE later. \u00a0This is often how I think of
\nYOU. \u00a0FUMC Schenectady’s identity statement is, \u201cWe
\nare a church that loves to learn and yearns to be a gift from God to
\nour communities.\u201d \u00a0These are two connected statements. \u00a0This church
\nloves to learn because this church loves being useful in building the
\nkin-dom and in being a gift from God to our communities. \u00a0This is a
\nchurch who cares enough to do things WELL, and that often means
\nslowing down and listening before acting.<\/p>\n
\nMary, like for us, listening precedes service so that service can be
\ndone well. \u00a0And that’s imperative. \u00a0Simply following our instincts
\noften means doing more harm than good. \u00a0Those who created \u201cIndian
\nMissionary Schools\u201d and those who taught in them meant to do GOOD,
\nbut they did harm that has been passed down through generations!!
\nThey didn’t listen to those they were trying to help. \u00a0In the past
\nfew years I’ve been part of a group trying to rethink the global
\nstructure of the United Methodist Church to eliminate colonialism and
\nbecome true partners around the world. \u00a0A few weeks ago I got to talk
\nto members of the UMC from Africa and in one succinct sentence they
\nproved to me that the plan was fundamentally flawed. \u00a0We didn’t
\nlisten to the people we were trying to include!<\/p>\n
\nand learning is an imperative first step to any acts of service.
\nTransforming the world, or loving our neighbors with the love they
\nreally need, or responding to the needs of people around us, or even
\nfinding the ways to be whole and peace-filled people whose presence
\nis a gift of grace requires listening and learning first \u2013 to God,
\nto ourselves, AND to others. \u00a0The Hebrew Bible lesson today suggests
\nthat the people of God were not listening to what God needed nor to
\nwhat people living in poverty in their midst needed. \u00a0Listening
\nand learning are of equal value and importance to action and service.
\n Together Mary and her sister show us what it can look like, just as
\ntogether Mary and the Good Samaritian show us what it is like to see
\nand hear.<\/p>\n
\nlistened. \u00a0Mary learned. \u00a0It was radical and subversive of her to sit
\nat Jesus’ feet as a disciple, and it was radical and subversive of
\nJesus to teach women alongside men. \u00a0Yet Jesus defends Mary’s right
\nto listen and learn, claiming that it is a good way to be in the
\nworld. \u00a0As important as action and service are, rushed action that
\ncomes before listening and learning is often more harm than good.
\nMay we leave this place open to the experiences of listening, and may
\nwe sit down to learn from those are good and worthy teachers. \u00a0May we
\nlisten, like Mary. \u00a0Because she sat, let us learn to sit and listen.
\nAmen\n<\/p>\n
\nand The Jesus Seminar, The Five Gospels: The Search for the
\nAuthentic Words of Jesus <\/i>(HarperOneUSA, 1993), 325.<\/p>\n
\n\tAlan Culpepper, \u201cLuke\u201d in The New Interpreter’s Bible Vol. IX<\/i>
\n\t(Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1995), 232.<\/p>\n
\n\t Joesph A. Fitzmyer, The Gospel According to Luke X-XXIV,
\n\t(Doubleday and Co.: NY, NY, \u00a01985) p. 892-3.<\/p>\n
\n\tClark Kroeger and Mary J. Evans, editors, The IVP Women’s Bible
\n\tCommentary (InverVarsity
\n\tPress: Downers Grove, Illinois, 2002), p 571.<\/p>\n
\n\tJewish Annotated New Testament: New Revised Standard Version Bible
\n\tTranslation<\/i>,
\n\tedited by Amy-Jill Levine and Marc Zvi Brettler (Oxford: Oxford
\n\tUniversity Press, 2011),124.<\/p>\n
\n\tWomen’s Bible Commentary, 574.<\/p>\n
https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/FUMCSchenectady<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"