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Most of Us Are Marthas
by The Rev. Canon Heidi E. Kinner
Above: Diego Velázquez, Christ in the House of Martha and Mary
Year C, Proper 11, Luke 10:38-42
unedited
Most of us are Marthas.
I use that name broadly, because Marthas are not just grumpy, house-proud people, rather Martha is a sort of archetype for a particular mind-set. Martha, at this point in the gospels, stands as an example of someone living in anxious servitude to the Law.
To explain what I'm talking about, let's look at Jesus' visit described here in Luke.
Jesus, and presumably some of the disciples, have stopped at the home of Lazarus, Martha, and Mary. Martha, who was likely the eldest of the three siblings and something of the matriarch, tries to make Jesus welcome, and in doing so, we begin to see what makes her tick. We begin to see the arch-type I mentioned.
Martha hustles and bustles about the house, but her focus is not on Jesus, her guest, at all. Rather Martha's focus is turned inward. Her work is done to earn praise and recognition. She is anxious to win Jesus' approval.
When that praise is not forthcoming, she forces Jesus to notice her efforts by going directly to Him and complaining about her sister Mary. Her hospitality may have been busy, but it was not welcoming.
Martha, like so many of us, has spent her life trapped in servitude to the law. We have a sin-twisted understanding of God's word that makes us believe we can and must earn approval from others and from God, or risk being counted as losers and cast out forever. Essentially our whole sense of self depends on what we think others think of us. That understanding leads to overweening pride when we succeed, and to anxiety, fear, and anger when we fail or when such approval is not forthcoming. It is a never ending squeaking hamster wheel type of life, for no matter how hard you try, how fast your run, you never actually get anywhere different. Is it a wonder that such an approach to life leads to bitterness and anger?
And Martha was certainly angry. She was angry at Mary for Mary's freedom from such slavery to performance. She was angry at Jesus for not giving her the recognition that she needed to feel loved.
And Jesus knew she was angry, but He wasn't going to crumble under her reproach. He didn't condemn Mary for her proper focus on His teaching, and He didn't give Martha the praise she was craving.
You see, Jesus didn't give up His throne in Heaven to make her slavery to sin and law more tolerable by the occasional nice comment or pat on the back. No, He came to set her free from that slavery.
So, instead of reacting as most of us would and commending her for her busy-ness, which would have made her feel good and served only to tighten the bonds of her slavery, He looks at her and says, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things…”
We aren't told how Martha reacted to His comment, but no doubt it made her uncomfortable, possibly it made her even angrier than she already was, for none of us likes to be confronted with the darkness in our hearts, even by Jesus.
But Jesus had to make her see her driving motivations, had to make her confront her fears. He is the Great Physician, the divine heart surgeon, and He wasn't going to let Martha keep living with a hard, bitter heart.
So He began her heart transplant that day by exposing the old law-driven, fearful, bitter heart. He went on to prepare her for a new heart, a living heart that understands God's grace and mercy, with the words, “…one thing is needful…the good portion.”
The “good portion” is indeed the foundation for a new heart, a new life. It is the term used often in the Old Testament to speak of God and of a relationship with God. For example, Psalm 73 says, “Whom have I in heaven but you? And having you I desire nothing upon earth. Though my flesh and my heart should waste away, God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever…it is good for me to be near God; I have made the Lord God my refuge.” (Ps 73:25,26, 28)
Martha's “good portion” was sitting there in her home, Jesus. God the Son was there for her. He didn't need her to prove her housekeeping skills. He hadn't come for a white-glove inspection. He came to call her, to teach her, to be with her, and finally to give His life to save her from the slavery to sin and law that was shriveling her soul.
Now, we don't know what happened next, although I like to think that it was right then that Martha dropped her dish towel of self-justification and sank down at Jesus' feet next to Mary, ready to listen, ready to rest in His love and truth.
Whatever happened, we do know that at some point during her time as a follower of Jesus, Martha's life was radically and wonderfully changed.
The proof of this is found in John 11, following the death of her brother Lazarus. By that time, Martha's life is filled with hope and courage instead of bitterness and anger. It is Martha who makes a wonderful proclamation of faith when Jesus says to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?' She said to him, ‘Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.'”
Martha may not have had it all figured out, and undoubtedly she struggled with her “need to succeed” at points in her life, but fundamentally everything was different. She knew that Jesus was her good portion, and she trusted Him completely even in the face of death. She was free from the crushing weight of the law and she waited eagerly for the greater freedom in God that was still to come.
So you see, most of us here this morning are Martha's.
We live a good chunk of our lives in slavery to the law and to our fears and sin. We are always trying to earn approval, earn God's love. We seek our self-worth in all the wrong places, from all the wrong people, and so we remained chained to our hamster wheels exhausted but going nowhere, often anxious, angry and generally stressed.
But we are also Martha's because Jesus has come under our roof.
He is confronting us with our fears and making us look at our sin.
And He is offering us freedom. He has given His life to redeem us, to rescue us from slavery to the Law and to break the chains of sin.
He loves us because He is God, we don't have to earn it.
He offers us the “good portion,” relationship and life in God through Jesus.
So, we can keep cleaning house.
Or we can take a seat at Jesus' feet.
There is only “one thing needful” Jesus – he is our full good portion that cannot be taken from us now or ever.
Amen.
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