Guilt & Grace | Sixth Sunday after Pentecost | Luke 10:38–42
July 17, 2022 | 10:45 a.m.
Sixth Sunday after Pentecost
READINGS
Genesis 18:1–14
Psalm 27:1–14
Colossians 1:21–29
Luke 10:38–42
message presented by Rev. Frank C. Ruffatto
+Points to ponder
- What do you make of Martha and Mary’s actions when Jesus visited their home?
- Have you ever been labeled a ‘Martha’ or a ‘Mary’? If so, why do you think it was applied to you.
- How do you deal with guilt or feelings of guilt?
+Sermon Transcript
Grace, mercy, and peace be unto each of you from God our Father and our Lord and King, Jesus the Christ. Amen.
Let us pray: O God, You declare Your almighty power chiefly in showing mercy and pity: Grant to us the fullness of Your grace, that we, running to obtain your promises, may become partakers of Your heavenly treasure; through Jesus Christ our Lord; who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
In today’s Gospel we have the well-known account of Jesus’ visit to the home of Martha and Mary. As Jesus and the disciples were traveling, they enter a village, and we hear that “a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house.” Martha received Jesus as a guest and showed hospitality.
This echoes our Old Testament reading where Abraham showed hospitality to the Lord. We hear him say, “Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree, while I bring a morsel of bread, that you may refresh yourselves.” “Because there were few inns, people placed high importance on hospitality. Neglect or mistreatment of travelers was regarded as a great social evil.”
St. Ambrose remarked: “A man ought therefore to be hospitable, kind, upright, not desirous of what belongs to another … Such is the favor in which hospitality stands with God, that not even the draught of cold water shall fail of getting a reward. You see that Abraham, in looking for guests, received God Himself to entertain.”
So, Beloved, hospitality was part of the fabric from which Martha was cut.
Martha’s sister, Mary – her response to Jesus’ visit was woven a little differently as we hear that she “sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to His teaching.” Mary put herself in a position that was normal for students learning from a rabbi.
Two women, two different responses. St. Augustine observed that “The one was arranging many things, the other had her eyes upon the One. Both occupations were good.”
Martha, likely cooking for more than a dozen – maybe dozens of people was overwhelmed with ‘much serving.’ And so, she laments, seemingly rebuking or at least criticizing Jesus as “she went up to Him and said, ‘Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” She expected Him to understand the workload that His arrival with the disciples created. So, she implores Jesus to scold Mary to shame her into working. As Martha saw it, Mary should be elbow deep in hospitality, in helping Martha ensure that they were providing the appropriate hospitality. Here, we don’t want to be too hard on Martha as this, of course, was not an unreasonable expectation.
Jesus replies tenderly, with affection, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things.” He recognized the work she had been doing and goes on to say, “but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”
As necessary as hospitality was – especially as Jesus and His disciples were visiting – the one thing that remained truly indispensable was the Word of God. On this, St. Augustine opined: “One is preferred to many. For one does not come from many, but many from one. The things which were made, are many, He who made them is One… [Mary] chose that which shall abide forever”
And more, Jesus uses a deft turn of phrase saying that Mary chose the ‘good portion.’ This implicitly compares hearing the Word to eating a meal. And more, this would ‘not be taken away.’ A meal – food will come and go – and still the eventuality of one becoming hungry again looms. In contrast, the Word of God abides forever. It alone can truly and fully satisfy.
Again, St. Augustine comments: “In these two women the two lives are figured, the life present, and the life to come, the life of labor, and the life of quiet, the life of sorrow, and the life of blessedness, the life temporal, and the life eternal.”
So here, it would not be unheard of to speak about how we need to emulate Mary by doggedly pursuing the Word; that we need to tame any inner Martha that we have that would get in the way of that.
But, as I prepared for this sermon, I thought it a bit unsettling that people so easily label themselves or someone else as “a Mary” or “a Martha.” But, why, Pastor, would that be ‘unsettling?’ This phrasing is not necessarily bad or wrong. In fact, they may have some value to help people self-reflect by providing language and solid categories.
But if we aren’t careful with how we used them they can turn this narrative into a mere object lesson and dehumanize Mary and Martha into impersonal categories. Mary and Martha were not categories and our Gospel reading in Luke 10, while instructive, is not merely an object lesson.
While these verses are brief, note how personal they are. “A woman named Martha welcomed [Jesus] into her house.” Martha is not a category or a type of person, she is a woman with a name who welcomed our Lord into her home.
And more, she has a family. “And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to His teaching.” Martha did not just have a sister, she had a sister with a name: Mary. These are not archetypal or paradigmatic characters or categories. These are two real women who welcomed Jesus into their home.
And their relationship was complex and nuanced. I don’t think we should automatically and unfairly assume Martha was always a busy-bee who only found her identity in serving and her self-worth in her works. Nor would it be fair to say Mary was always resting in God’s Word or hanging on to every word Jesus ever said. People are not that flat, and our attitudes and actions are not that consistent.
But on this particular occasion, Mary sat and listened to Jesus, while “Martha was distracted with much serving.” We do not know if Mary was aware of how this made Martha feel, but Luke tells us what Martha did with her feelings. Martha was feeling anxious and troubled, so she used her words both to cast blame on Jesus and to use guilt to coerce her sister into action. Mary and Martha are not categories to define one’s disposition toward either serving or listening, they are fully and complexly human beings.
“A new pastor decided to visit the children’s Sunday school. The teacher introduced him and said, ‘Pastor, this morning we’re studying Joshua.’
‘That’s wonderful,’ said the new pastor. ‘Let’s see what you’re learning. Who tore down the walls of Jericho?’
‘I didn’t do it,’ said Johnny shyly.
Taken aback, the pastor asked, ‘Come on, now, who tore down the walls of Jericho?’
The teacher said, ‘Pastor, little Johnny’s a good boy. If he says he didn’t do it, I believe he didn’t do it.’
Flustered, the pastor went to the Sunday school director to talk about the incident. The director, looking worried, said, ‘Well, sir, we’ve had some problems with Johnny before. Let me talk to him and see what we can do.’
Really bothered now, the new pastor told the [elders] the whole story, including the responses of the teacher and the director. A white-haired gentleman thoughtfully stroked his chin and said, ‘Well, Pastor, I move we just take the money from the general fund to pay for the walls and leave it at that.’”
Part of the complexity of our broken humanity is the unpredictability of guilt. In our Gospel reading, it does not appear Mary feels guilty about sitting at our Lord’s feet and listening. But it seems Martha thinks she should. We cannot always control what we feel guilty about or what others feel guilty about. This is one of the challenges the preacher regularly faces. The accusing work of God through the Law (or of Satan the accuser through lies and deception) is beyond our control.
I confess that I sometimes wrestle with the fact that I do not always properly prioritize time for study and prayer as I should. Doing ministry sometimes feels like a whirlwind of dogged and relentless busyness. There is much to do and to plan – there is much to plan and to do. And so, it is tempting to feel guilty about ‘taking too much time’ to be in God’s Word. Unfortunately, and inadvertently I can find taking significant time studying the Word and being in prayer as an indulgence, even an extravagance.
And more, the twangs of guilt can come when I sort-of sequester myself to study the Word and our Confessions or other theological works – especially in those times when that time is not necessarily for Sunday Adult Class or Sermon preparation. After all, none of you guys get to read Scripture on the clock just for your own edification. It does not seem or feel fair that I should be able to.
Our feelings of guilt are human, nuanced, and complicated. I have experienced a sort of guilt for taking time to be in the Word. So, for me, this reading in Luke’s Gospel has been a refreshing text which gives me permission and a gracious invitation to sit at Jesus’ feet and receive His Word.
And this is the invitation Jesus extends to all of us – especially the guilt-ridden: “Come to Me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.” Amen.
“May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.”