To Bury the Lead ...

If you were to recount to me, the story of two of your friends, two sisters in fact, of their lives and their memories and things that may have been important to them and to me; I would expect you to tell me their story with the biggest events in it deserving the most attention.  To focus on only one small story and leave the great big one untold, seems unusual.  Maybe it is just a matter of perspective.  Or maybe it is just too difficult for you to believe the great big one as true.  Or maybe nobody ever told it to you, so you are unable to relay it to me.  Many reasons may account for it.  But in today’s language we call that “burying the lead”.  This is what our gospel friend writer Luke did in his letter to Theophilus.  None of us can be certain as to why.  Perhaps the big story would have been just too much for Theophilus to hear at the time Luke penned his letter to him.  Perhaps that was a sore point in Theo’s mind or heart.  But Luke does not omit the characters of Mary and Martha (the two sisters of Lazarus) in his gospel letter.  He does however not ever mention Lazarus as being their brother.  So no recounting of the resurrection of Lazarus in his gospel.  That my friends, would have been the lead story.  Luke focuses on another one.

And what, you may ask, could have been more important to Luke than the retelling of a resurrection in the house of the friends of Jesus in Bethany?  A story for the women (or men) of that age and any other age.  A story about what matters, and what matters more.  Let us take a second look at this story and to learn from it, let us ignore the lead we know has been retold in other gospels, and focus here only on what Luke is trying to retell to us.  The story itself is one of context, of back story.  It begins in chapter ten of Luke’s gospel, the last story of that chapter, down in verse 38 it begins … “Now it came to pass, as they went, that he entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received him into her house.”  Luke had been telling the stories of the trip of Jesus He made towards Jerusalem.  Jesus was received in some homes and villages along the way, in others He was rejected.  But in Bethany (Luke does not recall the name of it), Jesus is received by a family He has come to know well.  Perhaps this was His first encounter with them.  Perhaps this was one in a long list of them.  But in any case, Jesus (and His companions) were to be received here by Martha, presumably the older sister of the home.

Now receiving Jesus (and crew) implied a certain set of tasks for the women of that household.  In those days, the men worked and provided income and means to maintain a family.  But the maintenance of that family fell to the women (and children, if they had any) to actually perform.  So if I invited a guest to my home back then, presumably I would have provided grocery monies to my wife, but she would have done all the shopping, cooking, serving, and then cleaning that went along with having company at our house.  In addition, Jewish families had traditions of special cleanings they did before meals.  Foot washing was one of those for example, a logical practice given the most prevalent way people moved (by foot).  They also had ceremonial hand cleanings with special water set aside for it, kept in special containers, etc.  All of that had to be maintained as well as a good supply of clean towels to wipe with.  If the time of our meal was anywhere near the end of the day, candles had to be set out, or lamps trimmed with oil, to provide light for us to see with.  Flowers might have been set out to help insure a pleasant smell while we socialized.  All of this work done without indoor plumbing in most homes.  Water needed for any or all of it required a trip to the nearest well to gather it and carry it back to the home.  So as you can imagine to receive Jesus and crew meant that the women of this home in Bethany had quite a lot to do to insure a pleasant experience for any guest, much less the Lord of the Universe and Messiah to Israel they believed Him to be and at least 12 or more of His companions.

Luke continues in verse 39 saying … “And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard his word.”  We presume Mary to be the younger sister, but there is no documenting of this I am aware of.  Mary was likely also the more passionate sister, at least passionate for the Word of Jesus.  I am certain both sisters had traveled to hear Jesus speak at other events.  They knew Him.  They had come to believe in Him.  They had come to love Him.  And again how could they not?  Especially after the bringing back of their brother which Luke does not mention.  That entire story reveals more about the personalities and reactions of these two sisters where it comes to Jesus.  In any case whether this event was pre-text to that one, or happened long after it, Mary had developed an extreme fondness for hearing the words of Jesus.  They were the living water of which He had eluded to with the Samaritan woman back at the well.  They were living water to Mary.  When she heard them, she felt at peace, she felt saved.  As would any of us.  So Mary was eagerly sitting at the feet of Jesus, listening to whatever He would say.  Instead of doing the thousand chores a woman was supposed to do to receive a guest in those days.

Luke continues in verse 40 saying … “But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me.”  And here is where this story has meaning for us.  It is a battle of priorities.  Martha knows a pleasant meal does not happen by accident, or little elves descending into the kitchen to help.  It happens by hard, diligent work, she is eager and grateful to perform.  But that workload is not inconsequential.  It is massive.  And it would go much better if she had help.  You are not supposed to ask your guests to do it.  That is a no-no.  But your sister knows the drill.  And she is supposed to already be helping you, and furthermore, she is supposed to be grateful to help.  And before any of us get critical of Martha, she is trying to serve the Lord, the best way she knows how.  Are we any different?  We hear a sermon at church, or read something that moves us, and we set about trying to “do something” for Jesus.  It may not have been exactly what Jesus would have asked us to do, but we volunteer to do it because we wanted to.  This was Martha.  She found fulfillment in serving.  She has the heart of a servant.  And she has come to know extreme joy in the serving.  But she is also pragmatic and worried that without help, instead of being a pleasant meal, this meal may become a Jewish disaster in the minds of those attending.  No good traditions ready, no good food, or cleansing water, etc.  She is freaking out.  So she comes to Jesus and asks for Mary to get back to her responsibilities.  Get that – Mary has responsibilities (things she is supposed to do) – that she is NOT doing, in favor of listening to what God says.  If we could only get that lesson ourselves.

Luke continues in verse 41 saying … “And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things: [verse 42] But one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”  And here is where Jesus asks women to have faith that they can have it all.  Or rather, understand that serving as important as that is, must be secondary to loving the word of God, and the author of those words Himself.  If our ideas of serving God, create so much work for us to do, that we are only focused on the work, instead of the God, we have taken on too much.  Serving guests will always be a wonder and a blessing.  And it will be with them until they die of ripe old ages.  But Jesus will only be with them for a short while more.  Listening to Him is a once in a lifetime opportunity, so it is more important.  Mary knew she should be helping to serve, but she is unable to tear herself away from the living water Jesus is proclaiming.  Those words speak to her soul.  They nourish her in a way that will provide her strength to serve others for many years to come.  But to leave now, would deprive her soul of much needed nourishment that comes only from the mouth of God Himself.  Jesus asks Martha, don’t take that away from her, in fact, come and join her.

So how does the meal get served if Martha joins Mary at the feet of Christ?  Now all of the sudden we need Martha to keep working, and slug it out, so that Mary can stay at the feet of the Master and we can still eat as the guests.  This is the same question we often ask ourselves.  What will happen if I stop doing what I do, or fail to perform what I believe is needed?  But like in Martha’s situation the truth is not the either / or we have made it out to be.  What puts Martha and Mary in this contest of priorities for how to serve?  The same thing that impacts us today.  We assume we know what needs to be done, and worse, how exactly it needs to be done.  Martha was slave to tradition not to workload.  The crew Jesus was with, both men and women, could have easily jumped in and provided Martha with not just a set of two more hands, but a set of twelve plus hands, with many women more beyond that.  It was the false pride of Martha to some extent, combined with the traditions and the culture of the day, that prevented her from asking, let alone, expecting the crew of Jesus would help serve.  But Jesus was raising a culture of service in His crew, then and now.  Joining the servant team, was to be the highest aspiration any of them or us could encounter.  Being served was a gift.  But doing the serving was a higher gift and honor.  Martha felt constrained by her own ideas of limitations to make sure everything comes out alright.  She felt like it all depends upon her, and perhaps her alone.  Just like we do.  Instead of having faith that whatever takes place is OK with Jesus.  Jesus is not looking for perfect bread from the oven.  He is looking for the soul of Mary and Martha to be nourished from His words.  Is it so unthinkable to have the crew serve in Martha’s house?  Will Martha’s pride allow it?  Will Peter’s?  Will Mary Magdalene’s?

Just like in our day.  We volunteer to take on roles of service that culture and tradition predefine.  We have set expectations about what must be done, in what order, and by who, in order to be effective.  Why?  That is not what God is asking.  In fact, He may be asking something radically different from us.  Something else He has equipped us to do, instead of the thing we think we are best suited for.  God may be asking us to do some work for Him that requires us to depend upon Him for the skill and knowledge and strength to get it done, instead of thinking we have it handled.  And do our ego’s prevent us from asking for help?  Especially from those we are not supposed to be asking help from, or from those we are attempting to serve?  You may not know it, but the person you ask help from, may be longing to help you, to feel worthy of serving too, even if they are only able to do such a little bit.  Today’s church has not developed a culture of asking for help, but instead of trying like Martha, to show everyone we have it handled all ourselves.  That is the point, we trust, even in an act of service to others, to do it all ourselves.  We do not rely on Jesus to see it done, nor do we ask our fellow servants for help, nor do we break with expectations and ask those we serve to lend a hand as well.  We seem too proud to ask anyone.  Instead we like Martha seek out the ones we expect to do the chores we expect of them, and become so focused on the chores, we lose all sight of the beauty, and of a shared experience.

The story of Lazarus (the brother of Mary and Martha) being raised may well be the lead of other gospels.  But Luke here focuses on the serving lives of Mary and Martha and all women of his day and ours.  Luke tells this story and ends it with and invitation from Jesus not to let even the cares of service outweigh the craving of the soul for the Words of God.  Let us not be bound by traditions and culture and other false ideas that constrain us and bind us to “how” a thing gets done.  Let us instead, lose our pride, and ask for help from those who can provide it, even those we serve, in order to develop a culture of shared service among us all.  Let us not be too proud to accept help even when it comes from places we did not expect.  Even when that help is small, and perhaps not up to our standards, or done by clumsy old men like myself who probably creates more work to redo than it would be to ignore in the first place.  But that is the point isn’t it?  To accept service, such as it us, from all, is to create a team of servants, used to serving, and giving the highest gift we can give to each other – to join our Master in serving others.  Not at the exclusion of the Word, but because of it.