never let your fears
decide your fate
This is one
of those stories that it serves us well to just really slow down, and listen to
as if we've never heard it before.
The truth
is, this is probably one of the Bible stories that has made its way into
popular culture.
All too
often we hear things like;
'are you a
Mary or a Martha;'
or 'without
Martha, Mary would not have been able to sit there at Jesus' feet.'
You know,
things like that.
The problem
with reading the Gospel through such formulas, though, is that aside from being
boringly formulaic, it falsely pits Mary against Martha, it mistakenly pits
time of rest against action.
In other
words, this simplistic reading misses the real power of this story in some
sorry attempt to boil this rich instant down to some lesson on how best to and
not to behave.
Whenever the
Gospel becomes a list of dos and don'ts, we should get suspicions, friends.
The biggest
problem with such a simple take on today's Gospel-scene between Martha and
Mary, is that it robs this story of its power to speak to us, speak to us
today.
What I
propose is that these words of Jesus are a kind of prophecy, and a kind of
prophecy that has come true.
Now, the
truth is this prophecy comes true in many different ways, but today I would
like to speak about how it has come true at a sort of institutional level.
I don't need
to tell you all about all the handwringing that has occurred as attendance at
church after church has dropped.
There is
story after story about the possibility of a future without faith, there is
book after book on the topic of "post-modern christianity," and of
course we could also just look around us.
More and
more, Christian faith has become a marginal movement - unseated from its social
position of power and glory.
A position,
I would suggest, that was never becoming of Christianity in the first place.
For those
who can remember the glory days of yore, or for those trained in making the
church a relevant place somehow; the task is to figure out what, exactly, it is
that we need to do to boost attendance, lower our age and increase our budgets.
Goals that
most serious christians should be suspicious of; have more, stay young, and get
wealthy...
The possible
solutions people come up with the answer those questions of how the church can
do what no Christian should, range from the innovative to the pathetic.
The truth
is, friends, that there is nothing wrong with us spending time and using
creativity to consider how we can tell others, how we can share this good news
with a world waiting for reason to hope.
But as you
may have been able to infer from my sarcasm thus far; I guess I have to
confess, occasionally I do get suspicious about the attempts to boost
attendance, become relevant or what have you...
The problem
with these pursuits is all too often the question that is actually being asked
is:
• what can we do to save, not the
world, but the ELCA
• or what can we do to save, not
others, but Trinity
• essentially what can we do to
save ourselves.
Let us never
mind inconvenient things, like the certain kind of wisdom to Jesus' words
that those who try to save their own lives will lose them. There are two major
problems with this question of what can we do to get more folks here:
First, it is
all about what we can do,
Secondly,
and more importantly, the question is all about our survival.
See, both of
these questions are all about ourselves - as if the point of Christianity is
us.
All that
running around trying to save our own skin makes me want to shout, "Jesus
did not die for the ELCA, Jesus didn't even die for Trinity Evangelical!
Jesus died
for people, for God's empire, for the world, for folks like me and you."
The problem
is that our attempts to grow the church, to be relevant, to stave off decline
are all about us; not about others, not about this gospel message we
have to share for the good news of the world.
It is in
that reality, the reality of church-people running from one thing to another,
that today's Gospel-scene of Martha and Mary really has power. The truth is, I
think we can relate to Martha.
Here's
Martha trying to get ready, trying to be prepared, trying to make sure every
dot and tiddle is taken care of.
And in the
midst of that Jesus interrupts, interrupts and says Mary has chosen the better
part.
We get that,
don't we?
As we've
noticed Sunday School is smaller, attendance is down, the budget is tight,
we've run to this - that - and the other thing.
We run to
what we can do to fix this, what can we do to get more people here, what can we
do to take money from one place and put in our budget, and on and on - it never
stops.
We get
Martha's running, don't we?
The question
the Gospel prompts us to wonder then is, in the midst of our frantic running
could Jesus step in and say there is another, a better way for us too.
Jesus not
only could offer us an alternative to haggard racing to save ourselves, Jesus
does.
The reason
Jesus intercedes in this scene between Martha and Mary is not because
Martha is doing anything wrong. No, the Gospel is very clear about that. The
reason that Jesus weighs in is because Martha is worried and distracted.
In other
words, Martha is doing all the right things for the wrong reasons!
So these
words of Jesus could speak not only to Martha, they can speak to all of us, to
us today.
Trying to
figure out how to share this good news is a worthy enterprise, but when we're
doing it to save our own skin; we, like Martha, could be doing all the right
things for all the wrong reasons.
That is the
trouble Jesus speaks to right there!
As we run
from one program or another, one crisis to another, trying to save ourselves,
it is easy to become worried and distracted.
In our worry
and our distraction we forget what brought us here in the first place.
In our worry
and distraction, we forget why we're here in the first place.
Finally, in
our worry and distraction, church -Trinity Evangelical- ceases to be a place we
gather to encounter the risen Lord, and just becomes a never-ending to-do list,
a place we need to fix, save, or whatever...
Since we
need someone to interrupt our running, let's hear the Gospel of today's Gospel.
Here's the
thing, Jesus finally didn't interrupt Martha's worry and distraction because
her motives were misplaced. No, Jesus interrupted Martha's running because in
the midst of all that had her worried and distracted, Jesus had something to
give that would never be taken away.
That's why
Jesus weighed in, not to correct Martha but to offer her something that would
not be taken away - himself.
It is right
there that I think we can relate best!
As the
Christian faith becomes more and more of a marginal band of followers, we've
seen how so many things have been taken away - the world has a way of doing
that.
As stuff has
been taken away; we, like Martha, have become worried and distracted, running
from one thing or another to fix our budget, stay relevant, stay young, grow.
And just
like Martha, into our distracted running Jesus does interrupt -Jesus
interrupts and gives something that will not be taken away.
Think of it,
there have been many changes; changes in the world, in technology, in the
church; but amidst all of those changes the Gospel has continued to be preached
here, communion has still been shared.
In those
places where we run, like Martha, worried and distracted; Jesus does
show up and tell us there is another way, tell us that he offers himself to us,
which will never be taken away - no matter what changes we may face.
That finally
is the thing; it is true that Martha was right to welcome her guest and it is
true that if we believe we have a life-giving message to proclaim we should
find creative and faithful ways to share it.
When our
efforts, though, are merely a thinly veiled disguise to save ourselves, then
like Martha we've become distracted and worried, missing the point of what
we're about in the first place.
I want to
tell you all something; at this point I've been "lutheran" for about
seven years.
Only seven
years! This is well after the decline that we all know so much about, has
occurred.
You see it
wasn't how many people were gathered,
it wasn't how big the budget was, it
wasn't gimmicks that attracted me to this tradition.
What drew me
in was the witness of so many faithful people.
What drew me
in was the witness of all the other folks I had the occasion to sit in the pews
with, who practiced their faith for so many years, and who welcomed me.
What drew me
in was the witness of passionate pastors and professors who were convinced that
this message of being saved by grace was good news, good news that begged to be
shared, to be proclaimed.
What drew me
in were other folks grasped by this good news who were interested in figuring
out what living out, what gathering around this message looked like in the 21st
century.
It was not
any of that other stuff that we all too often run to and that Jesus was right
about, it wasn't any of that other stuff that will be taken away that drew me
in.
What drew me
in, and what I suspect draws you in, is those folks who like Mary are
captivated by this promise of Jesus that will not be taken away.
What drew me
in, and what I suspect draws you in, is that very-same message that Jesus
promises will not be taken away.
So what if
today's Gospel isn't about how we should behave, but about a promise. What if
today's Gospel is about a promise that no matter what has us running worried
and distracted, Jesus is there. What if the Gospel today is about the promise
that Jesus' word is worth our attention, and it doesn't need us to save it
-
so
much as we could be saved by it.
Amen
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