Service or Sitting

(Are you like Martha or Mary?)

Luke 10:38-42                        Rev. Todd B. Freeman

Bethany Presbyterian Church, Dallas                July 18, 2004

This morning we’re going to focus on balance. When you think about it, in one way or another, balance plays a huge role in many different aspects of life. Perhaps the first thing we think of us the simple case of keeping our balance when we walk.

When I was growing up, one of the challenges I really loved was to see how far I could walk down one of the sides of a railroad track before falling off. I was pretty good at keeping my balance. Have you ever noticed, however, how much easier it is to keep your balance when you’re only a few inches from the ground compared to when your higher up in the air?

Speaking of good balance, have you ever watched a female gymnast perform a routine on a balance beam? Or a circus performer walk across a high wire? Sometimes I can’t bear to watch, because I get so nervous for them in case they lose their balance and fall.

How good is your balance? If you’ve ever struggled with ankle, knee, or hip problems, you are keenly aware of issues with balance – and how debilitating it can be to be out of balance.

Nature also has a way of keeping itself in check. This is true in keeping populations of animal species in balance. And of course physics teaches us that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction. The three branches of our federal government were devised as a system of checks and balances. (At least they’re supposed to work that way.)

It’s all about balance. This applies to our individual lives in other ways as well. In fact, keeping things in your life in balance can be one of the most important ways to lead a healthy and fulfilling life.

Nutritionists remind of this constantly. How often have we heard how important it is to eat a balanced diet? I take vitamins every day of my life just to make sure. Health experts also remind us not only to eat right but also to get enough exercise and enough sleep. When eating, exercise and rest get out of balance in our lives, we feel it. And it affects more than just our physical health. For beyond all the physical implications of being out of balance, there are issues of finding balance in our emotional and spiritual lives as well. For instance, when our emotions are out of balance, not only do we suffer, but those around us – especially our loved ones.

Holistic medicine is becoming more and more popular in this country (like it has been in the Far East for thousands of years) because we are finally realizing that there is indeed a profound interconnectedness between physical, emotional, and spiritual well-being.

Think of a mobile that hangs over a child’s crib. Remove one of the pieces and the entire mobile goes crazy. Then it scrambles to find new balance. The same is true with our lives. When either our physical, emotional, or spiritual balance gets out of sync, our entire being is affected.

This can be true of institutions, as well – including the church. For instance, when a congregation gets out of balance, either with personality issues or overemphasizing one area of its ministry, the entire life of the congregation is affected. As I mentioned in my sermon last Sunday, it is important for me, as a pastor, to keep both the prophetic and the pastoral elements of ministry in balance. It is easy to end up focusing so much on one, that the other is neglected.

Well, in case you’re wondering, all of this talk about being in balance has direct implications and applications with today’s Gospel Lesson from Luke 10. Martha and Mary, in the hands of the literary biblical author, represent two different elements of Christian discipleship. It is a story about proper balance.

Martha, who is exhausted and exasperated with all her many tasks, represents the side of ministry that focuses on service – taking action to help others. She is an extension of the story that immediately precedes this one in Luke – the parable of the Good Samaritan.

The telling of that parable is set up by an expert in the Law of Moses asking Jesus what he must do to inherit eternal life. Jesus replies with a question, “What is written in the Scriptures?” The lawyer knows the correct answer, which comes in two parts, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength; and love your neighbor as yourself.” Jesus then proceeds to give an example of the second part, to love your neighbor as yourself. The parable of the Good Samaritan teaches us to reach out to those in need, even to those who despise us – just as the man from Samaria did to the injured Jewish man, who would have despised him in that ancient culture.

This is the outreach and service side of the equation of what is required of us as a disciple of Jesus Christ.

The story of Martha and Mary presents the other side of the discipleship equation by giving an example of what it means to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength. For faithful discipleship is more than serving and ministering to others. It’s also about pausing and listening and learning from Jesus himself – the living Word of God. That is what we do together as a community of faith every time we gather for worship. We listen for God’s word to us, individually and as a congregation, through singing, prayers, Scripture readings, preaching, and the sharing of our joys and concerns.

If we don’t pause to be fed and reenergized and empowered spiritually, then we get out of balance, which usually takes the form of burnout. We can even become resentful of those persons whom we perceive are not pulling their own weight concerning the many necessary tasks involved with running the church and participating in effective ministry efforts. We, like Martha, can end up being heard saying, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.” Before we dismiss Martha as a whiner, let us remember the parable of the Good Samaritan, and our calling to service and acts of ministry.

Yet Jesus’ response to Martha is very informative. He teaches that if we become so engrossed with constant activity, then all that hard work can actually become a distraction. And what is it that we are we distracted from? Like in story, from sitting at the feet of Jesus in order to listen and learn from him. Jesus, in fact, calls this “the better part”.

One biblical commentator writes, “One doesn’t have to look far to see that our churches are filled with far more folk like Martha than Mary.” While we social justice advocate types often complain that others spend too much time with their noses stuck in the Bible and not out in active ministry, the converse may apply to us.

Again, coming to worship is an extremely important part of the ‘Mary side’ of the equation. So is coming to Church School, and book study groups. But somehow this may not be enough. What spiritual disciplines, in addition to serving and caring for others, do you engage in during the week? What do you do to feed your soul? Is your discipleship in balance?

Martha and Mary are indeed two sides of the same coin of faithful discipleship. Today’s biblical lesson informs us that if our coin turns up too often on the Martha side then our spiritual life is out of balance. Therefore our challenge is this: What can you do so that the Mary side of the coin turns up an equal number of times.

Luke’s story is not a condemnation of activity and a praising of contemplation. It makes the point, however, that if our activity is to be wise and fruitful there must also be times of stillness, of prayer, of being in touch with our own inner worlds and being open to intimacy – to hear the inner worlds of others. Unfortunately, our culture of activity and production negatively affects our attitude towards stillness and prayer. But as Catholic priest Father Gerry Pierse writes:

Christian meditation is just being still in the presence of the Lord. It is a being still with truth, the creation of a space where our inner selves can speak. It is a way of accepting our whole being in such a way that our inner spiritual and emotional lives will be integrated with the activities in which we engage. It is a prayer that will make us recognize the subtle ways in which we all become imprisoned and lead us out of these prisons into more wholesome relationships with ourselves, others, and ultimately with God.

So when you flip the Martha and Mary coin of discipleship, which side turns up most often: service or contemplation? If one side is out of balance with the other, then perhaps it’s time that you rig the game.

Perhaps you need to do some more service. Perhaps you need to do some more sitting.

Let’s get our discipleship, our Martha and Mary sides of the equation, in balance – for the good of your own personal journey of faith, and for the good of the life and ministry of this congregation.

Amen.