SERMON ~ 07/17/2016 ~ “Necessary”

07/17/2016 ~ Ninth Sunday after Pentecost ~ Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time ~ Proper 11; Amos 8:1-12; Psalm 52; Genesis 18:1-10a; Psalm 15; Colossians 1:15-28; Luke 10:38-42 ~ Union Service with the First Baptist Church at the U.C.C. in the Founder’s Room.

Necessary

“Jesus replied, ‘Martha, Martha!  You are worried, distracted, anxious, upset by so many things but only a few things are necessary.’” — Luke 10:41-42a

As I look around the room this morning I know some of you have been in my office and others have not.  Let me take a moment to describe what you will find there: a couple of computers, a couple of chairs, a couple of desks, many, many, many stacks of books, stacks and stacks and stacks of books and then there’s stacks of stuff scattered all around— stuff scattered on the floor, scattered on the desks, scattered behind furniture, scattered on chairs.

Even the most kind, generous person would have only one description of the condition in my office: chaos.  To be clear, I know exactly where everything I need is.

It is, therefore, organized chaos.  However, if someone else tried to look for something in there they would probably need a Machete and maybe a long stick in case anything with teeth jumped out from behind a desk or out of the stacks and tried to bite.

Based on that most people might say, “Well, Joe is merely sloppy.”  Well, yes and no.  After all, I can find what I need.  Besides— not to brag— there are a myriad of studies which say very intelligent folk often maintain a sloppy work environment.

Now, for me as a person, there is another side of the aforementioned chaos.  Some people would say I have a very serious neat streak.  Say what?  Neat streak?  Have you seen this guy’s office?

Well, here are a couple of examples of me and neat.  I cannot find it in me to leave dirty dishes in the sink.  It drives me crazy.  Even if I am late and need to rush out the door, if there are dirty dishes in the sink, I immediately stop and wash them and get them into the drainer.

Another item: over time many of you may have noticed I do not wear what one might call regular shoes.  I wear black sneakers and only black sneakers.

That’s something I’ve done for over 40 years.  And because podiatrists insist one should not wear the same pair of shoes two days in a row, I have several pairs.

But each pair of these sneakers looks exactly the same.  So, how can I tell the difference from one pair to the next?  Well, in order to facilitate that day to day to day rotation, those sneakers need to be lined up at the end of my bed in precise order.

The most recently worn pair sits on the right end of the line.  The pair to be worn next, today’s pair, is on the left end of that line.  And they move that way (the pastor indicates that movement right to left).

Another example: the cash I carry in my wallet— I need all the bills facing the same direction with the pictures facing me.  And all the bills need to be in ascending order, starting with one dollar bills, next the fives, etc., etc., etc.  (Slight pause.)

So, here’s my bet.  When it comes to neat most of us have some things we are really very neat about.  And other things— who cares?  We choose.  We make priorities.

Sometimes those choices make sense.  Sometimes those choices make sense only to us.  Sometimes we do what we do and we really don’t know why we do what we do.  We’ve not thought all those choices through.  This sound familiar to anyone?  (Slight pause.)

We find these words in the Gospel commonly referred to as Luke: “Jesus replied, ‘Martha, Martha!  You are worried, distracted, anxious, upset by so many things but only a few things are necessary.’”

There are a lot of levels in this brief story.  I will try to unpack just one.  But let me start by making a comment about how we read Scripture.  When I facilitate a Bible Study I often remind those in attendance of an important principle.

The first question we need to ask is ‘what did the words mean to those who first read or first heard them?’  Unless we ask that question and consider that premise, we cannot even begin to ask what the words in a passage might mean to us.

Further, in order to ask what the words might have meant to those who first read or heard them, one needs know what life looked like in that era.  To name just a few aspects, one needs to know something about the economic system, the system of government, the social conditions, the roles people played in their day to day lives.

That being said, there is something in this scene which would not necessarily be evident to our Twenty-first Century ears.  In this era the women would be the ones who did what Martha was doing, busy with all the details of hospitality.  Men were not expected to be attentive to those details at all.

To be clear, for some today that gender role situation still might be true.  Not where I come from.  Not in my world.  Not in my house.  But it still might be true for some.

So, in order to understand what’s happening here we need to be aware of not what Martha is doing.  In this scene what Martha is doing what would be considered normal.

We need to pay attention to what Mary is doing.  What Mary is doing is not normal.  And what Mary, a female, is doing in the context of the First Century of the Common Era, is what a male would do.

For those who first read this story or heard this story, that would not only have caught their attention.  That would have made the story shocking.

Why?  Because Mary is pictured as being equal with a male, something not normal in that time.  Further, if that is a given, a clear question becomes what are the choices Mary makes and why are they meaningful?  (Slight pause.)

So let’s think about that by putting ourselves in that First Century context.  In the course of this Gospel the writer has already established a link between the teachings of Jesus and the Word of God— and that’s Word, capital ‘W.’

Therefore, this scene resonates with the rabbinic lore and that’s lore— L-O-R-E and not L-A-W.  And this is what the  rabbinic lore in that era said (and I quote:) “Let your house be a meeting-house for the Sages and sit amid the dust of their feet and drink in their words with thirst... [but] talk not much with womankind.”

All of which is to say by sitting at the feet of Jesus, Mary is acting clearly  like a male and neglecting a socially assigned role— the household tasks.  This not only would have violated a clear social boundary of the time.  The consequence is much larger than that.  This would have been seen as bringing shame upon her house.

Hence, Martha’s protest to Jesus is not simply justifiable.  It is real.  And we also need to realize the narrator casts what Martha says in a negative light by characterizing Martha as “distracted” by this work.  Distracted from what?  What could have been so important that it demands she pay attention? [1]

Given the times, I think the conclusion is clear.  Although Martha is fulfilling the role assigned by society, simply because this is only a socially assigned role, she has therefore allowed secondary matters— matters not concerning God— to distract her also from hearing the Word of God.

So, it is not just that Mary acts like a male, on its own an amazing concept in this passage.  The implication is Martha also needs to act like a male.

And, once again, given the era, only a male was to be the one who listened for the Word of God.  All that leads us to what makes this passage so radical and yet one which possesses a basic message of the New Testament.

Hearing the Word of God is for all people, everyone.  Everyone is included.  There are no outcasts, no second class citizens in the Dominion of God.

Perhaps even more importantly and therefore, roles— roles of gender, roles of class, roles mandated because one had wealth, any roles assigned by society— all these did not matter when it comes to listening for the Word.  And in that era this was a totally new concept, a new idea.

All that brings me back to the question: am I messy or am I neat?  Why yes I am— I am both messy and neat.  You see, my point is we all pick and we choose priorities all the time.  I am neat about some things, not so neat about other things— priorities.

But what is it which takes priority in our lives, in the life of each of us, in the life of all of us as communities of faith?  Do we attentively listen for and to the Word of God?  Is listening for and to the Word of God a necessary aspect, an essential part of our life?

I would suggest that if God’s message of inclusiveness, God’s message that we are all made in the image of God, God’s message of equity among all people is internalized within us, then we are listening for and hearing the Word.  Indeed, that is the challenge for us.

Society always assigns roles.  It’s what society does— not saying it’s right or wrong— it’s just what society does.  So, can we as individuals and as communities of faith, overcome the messages of society to listen to and hear the necessary, inclusive message of the living God.  Amen.

United Church of Christ, First Congregational, Norwich, NY
A Union Service with the First Baptist Church of Norwich, NY
07/17/2016

ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Choral Response and Benediction.  This is an précis of what was said: “Am I sloppy?  My sister once told me I was the only person she knew who could make a pair of jeans look like a tuxedo.  And my late Mother once said to me I was born with a shirt and a tie on.  As I said, we all make choices.  And so we need to choose to participate in the Dominion of God by listening for and to and acting on the Word of God.”

BENEDICTION: We can find the presence of God in unexpected places.  God’s light leads us to places we thought not possible just moments ago.  God’s love abounds and will live with us throughout eternity.  The grace of God is deeper than our imagination.  The strength of Christ is stronger than our needs.  The communion of the Holy Spirit is richer than our togetherness.  May the one triune God sustain us today and in all our tomorrows.  Amen.

[1]  This analysis is found in the New Interpreters Bible (The Electronic Version) in the section about this passage.  Needless to say, the Electronic Version is the same as the print version but lacking page numbers for reference.