A Balancing Act

Eighth Sunday of Pentecost
July 18, 2010
Year C
Amos 8:1-12
Luke 10: 38-42
A Balancing Act

A woman was vacationing in a quaint little New England village by the seashore; the town had a downtown of cute and unique little shops. She got a taste for a double dipped chocolate ice cream cone, so she goes into the ice cream shop. When she went into the shop, there was only one other person in the shop, dressed in jeans and a t-shirt, sitting at a table reading the paper, having coffee and a donut. She glanced at the customer, but had to do a double take – it was Paul Newman. Even though he was one of her favorite stars, she didn’t want to be a nuisance, so she pretended not to really see him. She ordered her ice cream cone, paid for it and hurried out of the store. When she got to her car, she had to congratulate herself, she had acted so coolly in the presence of a movie star – she had acted as if this was a normal everyday occurrence for her. But she also realized that something wasn’t quite right, where was her ice cream cone. She remembered getting it from the clerk, but she didn’t seem to have it. So she goes back into the store, and asks the clerk what happened. Paul Newman responds; you put it in your purse with your change.
How many of us would not respond in the same way, if we were in the presence of our favorite star? Under normal circumstances, we are calm and levelheaded people. But there are those circumstances in our lives, and those people who make us nervous, uneasy and distracted. Even in the midst of our trying to calm down, our distracted state makes us do dumb things. This lady ran into Paul Newman at an ice cream shop. Can you imagine how she would have responded had she been told that Paul Newman was coming to dinner? How would you respond if you were told that someone who you admired a lot was coming to dinner? Everything would have to be perfect, the house cleaner than it ever was before, the perfect menu planned, the perfect dessert picked out, the right activities to keep guest entertained. You know that no matter how much you try to get accomplished, as the guest arrive, there is going to be more and more that you realize needs to be done. This would be the perfect opportunity for nervousness and distraction to take over your life.
That is what was happening for Martha, as she prepared for Jesus to come to her house for dinner. She wanted everything to be perfect for him. This story is in John and Luke, in the John version it is clear that this is the Mary and Martha who are sisters of Jesus friend Lazarus. Luke does not specify who these two women are. What we do know is that no matter how hard Martha tried, things were not coming together. All she wanted was a little support from her sister Mary.
Martha means lady or mistress. It is the female equivalent of Lord – meaning she was the female head of the household.
When Jesus arrives, some interpretations of the story say that he told Martha that only a few things were needed, others say that he said that only one thing was needed. And it is not clear whether he was talking about the food, saying that he really did not need a lot to eat, just one dish, not a full spread, or was he saying that it was okay for Mary to sit with him and not help, because it was more important for her to get the word of God in her life.
Jesus acknowledges Martha’s nervousness about the event. He tells her that she is distracted. And just like the lady in the first story- it is her distractedness that makes her act, do and say things that she normally would not.
When I think about this story, my initial reaction is to think that Jesus is on the one hand criticizing Martha for doing the work that any woman would do. Wouldn’t any women be concerned about dinner for guest coming to her house. Wouldn’t any women want everything to be perfect. And in the midst of Jesus telling Martha not to worry about dinner, he and his disciples still expected dinner, and ate with her. Why wouldn’t Martha asked Jesus to pull his sister away from listening and studying. Women were not allowed to go to school, and there was certainly no reason for her to learn, when she was not allowed to teach.
But even 2000 years ago, Jesus knew enough to take us beyond stereotypes of what a woman’s work was. This could have easily been a story about two brothers, Jesus tells the story of the prodigal son, in which the older brother complains about doing all of the work, while his brother got all of the praise.
But jesus is saying that it is not the work that you do, but the state of mind in which you do the work.
Jesus points out that Martha is worried about a lot of things, in trying to make everything perfect, she is distracted from what is most important.
It is interesting that this parable is sandwiched between the story of the good Samaritan, and teaching his disciples the Lord’s prayer. It is in between the advice to get up and act and do the right thing and the advice to sit down and pray. Which is more important – a life of service or a life of prayer. Or are they equally important. Perhaps Jesus is not chastising Martha nor uplifting Mary – but reminding us that God’s work always needs to be done, but don’t forget to listen.
There is a story of a man on an African safari. He needed guides to take him through the rough terrain. They traveled for a few days – and he was enjoying the trip, but all of a sudden without notice the guides stopped. They set up camp and said they would be staying for a few days. The man being a go getter, thought this was a waste of time and he was upset and ready to go. The guides explained that they had been traveling so far, that their bodies had outrun their souls. And they needed to stop for a few days to allow their souls to catch up. They would be staying here until then.
When you think about the pace of our modern lives, how many of us are living lives in which our bodies are steps ahead of our souls. And we just keep going.
Amos addresses the busyness of our lives. I didn’t focus on Amos because it is such a harsh lesson. Amos is coming from a dark dismal place – where there is not hope for the people. They have reached the point of no return. The consequences of their actions has already been determined. God is going to address their sin.
Amos uses the vision of a bowl of summer fruit. Fruit that is good only for today, tomorrow it will be rotten. To show that the time has come, no room to wait, what will happen is already going to happen.
He talks about people who go to church, but even in the midst of service are calculating what they need to do to get ahead in life. He says that their measures are unfair. They raise prices, but give people less and less. I don’t want to call any names, but I have noticed that in more and more restaurants, they have raised prices on things, but decreased the portion sizes. In some instances they even made the plates smaller, so they can give you less. And I often wonder if things will change when the economy gets better, or will they continue to same practice just to make more money.
But here is another way that we use unfair measuring devices – in the way we judge people. We set unfair expectations for them, that we know they cant meet and we judge them when they don’t live up to our expectations. We even draw conclusions about people before we get all of the facts, another unfair measure of others.
We too have gotten so concerned about ourselves that we forget to think of others.
That is why Amos says that there is no second chance – the damage has been done. There is no hope. There will be a famine in the land – but not of food. Martha is still cooking dinner. But of the word of God. We will ask and get no answers, we will hope and get no peace, we will hunger, and even eat – but never feel full. All because we have forgotten how to listen and pay attention.
If you pack ice in a cold place, it will stay forever. In the north they build a lot of ice houses and put sawdust over them so that they will stay. One day there were building an ice house – and one of the builders lost his watch. The watch became a part of the house. When he realized he lost it, he went back into the house to find it – but it had become frozen on the ice, he couldn’t find it. Another man continued the search, and he looked for it – but couldn’t find it. One day, on their lunch break one of the sons went into the house to look for the watch. In fifteen minutes he found it – they asked how he was so lucky. He explained it wasn’t luck – he just took the time to listen for the ticking of the watch and he found it.
The good news of the gospel is that jesus called Martha name – not once but twice. Martha, Martha – stop, listen. Sometime Jesus has to say to me Harriette, Harriette, stop listen, you are distracted. Your are unfocused. You have forgotten your purpose. Few things are needed, indeed only one – your relationship with jesus.
You cant work in a food pantry week after week, dealing with constant hunger,constant need without remembering that Jesus didn’t ask you to stop hunger – but to feed my sheep.
You cant work with kids day after day watching them misbehave and get out of line – without being able to see the presence of Christ in each one of them.
Few things are needed, or indeed only one, Mary has chosen the better portion and it will not be taken away from her.
Every day we have to stop and ask ourselves what do we need to make it through the day.
If I stop and look at that big picture, and survey all that needs to be done in the next five years, within the next year, even within the upcoming week. I can get overwhelmed and have no idea of where to start, or how it is all going to get done.
Perhaps that is why in the next section of this story the Lord teaches me to pray the lords prayer, and teaches me to pray for my daily bread. What do I need to get through today, and how do I learn to not be so concerned about what happens tomorrow.
In choosing to be a disciple of Christ, timing is everything. There is a time to be in faithful service and there is a time to sit and listen at the foot of Jesus.
If Mary was allowed to sit at the foot of Jesus and learn, it was expected that whatever she learned she was to take that out in the world and to teach someone else.
In each of our lives and in each of our days there is a balancing act. We have to act , but we also have to pray.
I want to end with my favorite prayer – that I put in my bedroom to pray every day – sometimes I do and most of the time I forget
I got up early one morning and rushed right into the day, I had so much to accomplish that I didn’t have time to pray. Problems just tumbled about me and heavier came each task, who doesn’t god help me I wondered, he said but you didn’t ask. I wanted to see joy and beauty but the say toiled on gray and bleak, I wondered why God didn’t show me, he said but you didn’t seek. I tried to come into God’s presence I used all my keys at the lock. God gently and lovingly chided, My child you didn’t knock. I woke up early this morning, and paused before entering the day. I had so much to accomplish that I had to take time to pray. Amen.