This is a sermon I gave at Triniity Episcopal Church in Niles, Michigan, on July 18, 2010.  The sermon was on the topic of Martha and Mary.  This is only the third sermon I have given and the first with our Priest present.


Open my lips, O Lord, and my mouth shall proclaim your praise.




Today we heard the story of Martha and Mary. Martha is busy cooking and preparing for dinner. Martha’s sister Mary, is not helping and instead sits at the feet of Jesus. The sisters and their brother Lazarus must have been quite close to Jesus. In John, Chapter 11, we are told the story of Martha and Mary sending for Jesus because Lazarus was sick. Jesus comes to Bethany after Lazarus is dead and raises him from the grave.

Later Jesus returns and in John, Chapter 12, he is invited to dinner at the household of Martha. As in Luke, Martha is serving the meal, however this time Mary is anointing the feet of Jesus with oil. So there are two different viewpoints of the meal at Martha’s house. Each version has Martha serving and Mary listening to, or anointing, Jesus.

Seems like Martha is the only one doing any work and Mary is being very attentive to Jesus. In Luke, Martha complains about Mary and in John, Judas complains about Mary. Jesus rebukes both Judas and Martha for their complaints about Mary. Now it is apparent that Jesus loved the whole family, but perhaps Mary was his favorite because she was interested in his teaching. After all, Jesus was at the house with his disciples and Martha must have really worked herself into a frenzy trying to prepare a meal for so many. There is no mention of Lazarus helping out; indeed in Jewish society he would have been expected to be the host while the women prepared the meal.

So why does Jesus rebuke Martha? Wasn’t Martha working for the Lord? Was Mary lazy? From the passages it is hard to tell. But we do know that Jesus loved to teach. Indeed food had never been an issue with Jesus; remember the loaves of breads and the fish. His disciples were very important to him and it is obvious that Jesus was changing society as he preached to women and had disciples that were women. The rebuke of Martha can seem quite harsh, especially since Martha was working very hard to please the Lord. Why did Jesus favor Mary over Martha?

From the brief glimpses we are given in John and Luke we can picture that Martha was the oldest of the siblings, and we are told it is Martha’s house. So Martha would have been used to ordering Mary to help with the chores, food preparation, and such. We do not know if Mary was resentful or lazy. All we can gleam from the stories is that Mary was fond of Jesus and she wanted to learn the message that he was teaching.

We do not know if Martha was disrespectful when she tattled on Mary for not helping her. It must have been very hurtful to Martha when Jesus basically said that only one thing was really required and that Mary was doing it, so leave her alone. How did Martha feel? Did she sulk, burn the food, cry, we do not know. What we do know is that Jesus was more concerned with saving the soul of one person, Mary, than he was with having a meal. His priority was spiritual, not physical.

So how does that relate to us? On Father’s day this year I was tasked with cooking for our daughter’s graduation party. I was busy running around, doing my best imitation of Martha. Guests were arriving and everyone was having fun, but me. Now Jesus didn’t march in and rebuke me for wallowing in self-pity. I realized that even though it was Father’s day the day was not about me, it was about our graduate. The story of Martha and Mary popped into my head and I thought about how I was feeling and I sympathized with Martha. How many of us have been like Martha in our lives? I venture to say almost everyone, be it at work or home, has been resentful of some person we did not think was pulling their share. I also realize that our feelings may have been justified, if someone is watching a football game instead of helping; that can hardly be compared to that person skipping out of work to go to Church or to sit at the feet of Jesus while he teaches.

Clearly Jesus emphasizes that his message is the good thing, the good news that is more important than food, or sleep, or any of our earthly needs. For the word is forever and the flesh is for naught. When I am very tired and wake up on a Sunday morning, sometimes the urge is to go back to sleep, I tell myself that listening to the word of God is much more important than satisfying my own personal desires. Countless Martyrs have given their lives just for their belief in Jesus? Why shouldn’t I be able to sacrifice my sleep, my food, my money, for the cause of Christ?

But we know that Jesus loved Martha and if the rebuke seems harsh it was in all probability a gentle reminder to Martha that what he was doing was important, that his message was more than just a story meant to entertain the guests and disciples. Indeed after Lazarus died Jesus asked Martha if she believed in him and she responded that she believed he was the Son of God and the Messiah. So Martha obviously had heard his message and she believed in him.

Before we leave church today I would like everyone to look at the stained glass window depicting the sisters, Martha and Mary. Take a minute and reflect upon your own life. Has there been a time when we have ignored Jesus because we thought something else was more important? The famous running back for the Chicago Bears, Gale Sayers, once wrote a book entitled I Am Third. Gale writes that The Lord is first, my friends are second, and I am third. How many of us put ourselves third?

Remember what Jesus said was the greatest commandant, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.” And I believe that if we place God first in our lives, and remember what is truly important, then goodness and love will flow out of us and touch the lives of our neighbors and friends.

When the world seems hectic and you are suffering from anxiety or panic, remember the verse from Psalm 46, “Be still and know that I am God.” For in our stillness, in the calming of our mind, and body, and soul, that is when we can truly feel the presence of God. Be still! Amen

The age of computers.  Now if you have a problem you can e-mail support instead of calling them.  E-mails are very easy to ignore.  Unlike a ringing phone, the e-mail can sit gathering cyber dust in a virtual mailbox, inevitably meeting the scythe of the deleter.  At least if a human support person hung up the phone our anger would be immediate.  Now we are left to wonder if the e-mail was ever read. 

The DO NOT CALL list was a thing of beauty, twenty years late but by and large, worth the wait.  Now they tried a do not spam list ...ha!  Spam filters are at best a nuisance because they filter the occasional "good" e-mail and people such as myself don't bother going through hundreds of spam mails every day to see if a "good" e-mail was thrown to the side.  So perhaps the customer support people at Google, besides being very busy, overlooked my e-mail because it was considered spam.  Indeed the amount of customer service inquires probably amounts to what I would consider SPAM (hundreds if not thousands of e-mails).  So instead of becoming angry I merely remain frustrated, not knowing if my e-mail request for help was spammed away into the equivalent of a dead letter file, or merely ignored because I am annoying the customer support person.  The assumption of course is that Google is populated by people.  I best not look behind the curtain.