Who does the hospitality after Mass today? Martha. Who will set up for St. James day next week? Martha. And clean-up? Martha. Who goes to visit the sick and shut-in of the parish? Martha. Who is on the parish council and the various committees? Martha. Who waters the flowers and sets up for Mass and cleans the altar linens and opens up the windows and prepares the books? Martha. Who hands out the worship aids and bulletins? Martha. Who volunteers to keep the food pantry running? Martha. Who teaches the children in religious education? Martha. Who participates in the choir and serves as lectors and Eucharistic ministers? Martha. Who does the Church rely on to make it all that it does happen? Martha. If it wasn’t for Martha, there wouldn’t be a church. So why does Jesus say that Mary who is just sitting has chosen the better part? After all, as we heard in the story of Abraham and Sarah with the three visitors, hospitality was a core value in Palestine. In a desert culture, where you couldn’t pop into McDonalds or Holiday Inn, hospitality could even be a matter of life and death. Despite that heritage, Jesus seems to downplay the duties of hospitality that Martha is burdened by. What is going on?
An image: Dad is a traveling salesman. Every time he comes home he brings little Johnny something different to play with: a bat and ball, a train set, Lincoln logs, Lego bricks. Johnny is excited with the new things. “This is great, Dad. Let’s go play catch. Let’s run the train. Let’s build a house.” To which Dad answers, “Not right now. Dad is tired, maybe later.” But later never comes. Dad is always too busy or too tired or too preoccupied and Johnny never gets to spend time with him. In his own way Dad is attentive to little Johnny, showing he is thinking of him. But he is not giving him the one thing that Johnny wants most of all – his time. Those of a certain age might remember a Harry Chapin song: “When you coming home, Dad.” “I don’t know when, but we’ll get together then. We’re gonna have a good time then.” I wonder if something similar is going on in the Martha/Mary household. Martha is giving the gift she feels comfortable giving – cooking, serving, cleaning. But she isn’t giving the gift that Jesus actually wants to receive – her presence, her attention, her friendship. Mary chose the better part of being with Jesus instead of being for Jesus. Hospitality is more than a matter of chips and dips, of veggie trays and Swedish meatballs on a toothpick. Hospitality means not only welcoming the guest into your home, but also into your heart.
What does this story of Martha and Mary say to us at St. James? One thing I’m sure it does NOT mean is that all of the Marthas who make the Church tick should stop what they are doing! Perish the thought! No, I think it has something to do with shifting the focus off of what we are giving and onto whoever is receiving. Take, for example, the spirit of welcome which is characteristic of St. James. How wonderful it is to see one another and to catch up with one another. But to make that more of a Mary thing instead of a Martha thing we need to pay attention to the one who is new or visiting or alone or isolated. See things as they do. Instead of the happy buzz of conversation of the parishioners catching up with one another, visitors can experience confusion and loneliness. Noticing what they are going through and making time for them is what creates a true spirit of hospitality and creates the sense that all are welcome in this place. That’s a Mary thing
And did you notice how Jesus chided Martha, “You are anxious and worried about many things?” It echoes one of the commandments of Jesus from the Sermon on the Mount: Thou shalt not worry. So do not worry, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ (Matthew 6:31). This command of Jesus not to worry strikes us as, well, seemingly impossible first of all but almost irresponsible. It is because we worry about things that they get done. If we aren’t worrying about them, things fall through the cracks. However, worrying about things, Jesus warns, causes us to miss the big picture, what really matters. In the gospel story, because Martha worried about the pot boiling over she missed the opportunity to hear from her guest a word of hope and consolation, which are the words that Jesus wanted to bring to her. Our worries can get us off our game. We begin to imagine that it all depends on us instead of noticing that God is blessing us right now beyond all belief. We stop worrying because his eye is on the sparrow and I know he watches me.
A final thought: the story of Martha and Mary reminds us of the importance of timing. You might have heard from some preacher or other that in the Bible there are two different words for time. Chronos – from which we get the word chronological – is counted time. This second leads to this minute which becomes this hour and eventually this day, week, year, decade, century, millennium. The other word for time in the Bible, Kairos, has more of the feeling of the right time, the auspicious occasion, the opportune moment. One example of Kairos time is when to pop the question. Couples sometimes stage memorable events so that the moment when they got engaged stands out from the humdrum of life. That’s a Kairos. Martha missed the Kairos of Jesus entering her house – this was a special time that needed to be attended to besides providing some fried chicken with mac and cheese. We mustn’t miss the Kairos moment here in the parish. After Renew My Church we can’t just keep on with the same old, same old. We must, like Mary, attend to how Jesus is part of our life and bring that good news to others. When Jesus comes to call, things aren’t the way they used to be, and neither should we be.
