The Chapel of St. James the Fisherman

"Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her." Luke 10:42 
 
How many of us have felt rebuked or judged by this verdict of Jesus’' How many of us have been taught that, as Christians, we are supposed to be - in the words of my friend Mark Hollingsworth, Bishop of Ohio - supposed to be human beings, not human doings? 
 
I know I've felt that way. I've believed myself to be found wanting because I’m an activist rather than a contemplative. I've believed my spirituality to be inferior, superficial, shallow - all that. And that indoctrination came long ago, I'm sure, when I was in high school, and the President of the Episcopal Young Churchmen in the Diocese of Maine: a young activist who's spirituality was undoubtedly more social than  meditative! 
 
And I reckon I'm not alone. 

For the last two years I have served the diocese of Massachusetts as Chaplain to all those in the ordination process: those on track to become vocational deacons and priests. Last September I led a retreat for the new postulants for the permanent diaconate. I tried to imagine what their questions and doubts and anxieties might be, and to structure some bible study to address those matters. 
 
For one exercise I chose the Gospel passage from Luke we have just heard, which features Martha bustling around making dinner and being a good hostess, while Mary sits quietly soaking up Jesus' words. And then as a companion piece we read the following, from John's Gospel. 
 
On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Bethany was less than two miles from Jerusalem, and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home. "Rabbi," Martha said to Jesus, "if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask."
 
Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again."  Martha answered, "I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day." Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Those who believe in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"
 
"Yes, Rabbi," she told him, "I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world." 
 
We know what happens here. Lazarus is raised from the dead. Arguably, because of Martha's interference, Martha's activism, Martha's really accusing and nagging of Jesus. Moreover, Martha confesses her belief in Jesus’'Messiahship - a bold, prophetic, scandalous proclamation, and made by a woman, at that. 
 
So, the folks at the retreat read these passages several times aloud.  Then I sent them away with the following questions: 
 
1. List five qualities of yours that remind you of Martha. List five that remind you of Mary. Whom do you identify with more strongly? 
2. Do you value one set of attributes more than another - action vs. contemplation? A ministry of activism vs. a ministry of presence? 
3. Does the Church value on set more than the other?  
4. Does Jesus?
5. Do you aspire to develop your shadow side- the opposite to where you believe your strengths and gifts reside most clearly? Or do you more aspire to exercise your strengths? 

I asked them to write in their journals, and then meet in twos to discuss their responses. When we met together as a whole group again, they all seemed a bit stunned, and also, I think, relieved. 
 
Almost to a person, they had identified with Martha, and realized that they had felt inadequate, spiritually, because they didn’t have Mary's ability to sit still and listen. They had never thought of Martha's appearance as her brother's advocate and Jesus' challenger. 
 
One of the men said, piously, 'of course Our Lord wants us all to be like Mary'. “Oh really” I said. “And you know this how? Does Our Lord want this? Or does Luke? And if Luke wants it, why?” 
 
Feminist biblical scholars have a field day with this story, as you can well imagine. Is Luke telling of an unseemly competition between sisters? Is he advocating women's theological education: the studying of Torah and the teachings of Jesus? Or, conversely, is he echoing Paul in proscribing that women be quiet in church? 
 
Really, we will never know. But my point to the deacons-in-training, as my point always in dealing with scripture, is that it’s a mistake to take one passage out of context and consider it the final word. Mary gets the accolades here, but Martha behaves heroically and prophetically on another occasion. Both have valuable gifts. 
 
As I said, I'm an activist. I spend more time strategizing and working for social change within and beyond the Church than I do reading The Cloud of Unknowing. A couple of years ago I was weighing a possible decision about vocational change and my spiritual director suggested that I practice Ignatian exercises. Spend three weeks imagining your work taking this path, she said, and then spend three weeks imagining the other choice. 
 
Three weeks? I said, incredulously, How about three minutes? 
 
I wouldn't call myself impulsive. But patience is not my long suit, and I am decisive. In the event, it only took one comment by my husband to get me to my decision. If you took that route, he said, you couldn't keep working for marriage equality. Bingo! So much for Ignatius! 
 
I'm not proud or boastful about my temperamental make-up. I know I - and others - could benefit from my working to develop my shadow side - the contemplative side. I would have a deeper dimension if I spent more time in intentional disciplined prayer. If I worked to bring out my inner Mary. 
 
On the other hand, I think I have given up being defensive, as well. God seems to need me to be doing what I'm doing -  or at least, the Church and the world seem to need and value my modest contributions, and I seem to have more talent for activism than for the meditative life. I have to believe God's in the mix, leading me. And in fact I do pray to God about that leading, pray that I may be kept on the path of righteousness. 
 
And I hope you know that I'm not talking about myself alone. God's dominion is very wide, and the world and the Church are endlessly needy. Some of us are called to a life of prayer and study. Others are called to lobby and organize and march. Some of us are called to serve at the altar and lead bible study. Others are called to serve on vestries and run capital campaigns and head social justice committees. 
 
The spiritual life is not a competition. That’s not what we should take away from today's Gospel. 
 
Every summer I go to preach and celebrate the Eucharist for the Society of the Companions of the Holy Cross at the Adelynrood retreat center in Byfield. The Companions have a vocation to intercessory prayer. Some of you probably are Companions yourself. My mother was one. 
 
Years ago - my mother was fond of reminding me - someone asked me if I would consider joining the Society and I said - evidently, I don't remember this - it's not my cup of tea. 
 
And truth to tell, it’s not. But every year now when I go there I tell them that I want to preach the same homily. I want to say, thank you for your ministry of prayer. Without your ministry, I know I couldn't do mine. My activism rests upon, is grounded upon, your work of prayer. 
 
Our forms of spirituality are not competitive. They are complementary. God, the world, and the Church, need both. 
 
Jesus needs both. Jesus needs Mary. Jesus needs Martha. Without both, his ministry is not complete, is not whole. As Jesus needs all of us, with our various ministries, our diverse gifts and talents. Without us all, his ministry is not complete. 
 
 Alleluia! Amen. 

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