Luke 10:38-42; Confessions of a Multi-tasker I

"Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. 39 She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying. 40 But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, ‘Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.’ 41 But the Lord answered her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; 42 there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.'"

Introduction

This familiar story directly follows upon one of Jesus' most memorable parables--the Parable of the Good Samaritan. It draws on twin themes developed in Luke 10--the importance of hospitality (10:1-13) and the essential nature of the one virtue above all ("Who is my neighbor?"). Thus, this Mary/Martha story will center on the proper kind of Christian hospitality and the importance of the one task--this time of listening closely to the Word of Christ. The multi-tasker, to use a phrase beloved in 2007, loses. It is the "single-tasker" who is commended for picking the better part.

As with many of the biblical stories, the dynamics of the interaction between parties are only fully understandable if the story is re-told slowly with attention to the flow of the language. That is what I will do here.

The Story Opens

This story occurs in the "travel narrative" of Luke, which began when Jesus set his face toward Jerusalem in 9:51. Though Jesus is on the move, even with an entourage, he stops and pays attention to people along the way. There is certainly an urgency in the disciples' task (10:1-13), but nothing is so urgent that it takes away from time spent with flesh-and-blood people.

When you spend some time thinking about it, you see how the mundane tasks of interpretation (Who is my neighbor?) and preparing for a guest (this passage) become the vehicles for Jesus' most memorable teaching. That, I am convinced, is why Jesus takes his time getting to Jerusalem. Even though it is the goal of the journey which is stressed in Luke, it is along the way where all the good things happen that are so memorable to us. Life is in the goal, but life is also in the process or the journey towards the goal. We live for tomorrow, to a certain extent, since hope is always bursting in on us, but we cannot really experience life except as we are in the present. Thus, we participate in the same tension as faced by Jesus. As the old hymn says, we are "Standing in the living present, memory and hope between." So is Jesus.

Well, the text tells us that as they were going along, he entered into a certain village. We don't know if he left his entourage at the gate or where they were. All the focus will be on Jesus and his intimate interaction with the sisters Mary and Martha. A certain woman named Martha received him. The word for receive (upodekomai) is almost a technical term in the NT for extending hospitality to someone. For example, in Luke 19 we have the story of Zacchaeus perched in the sycamore tree to see Christ as he passed. Christ told him that he must stay at Zacchaeus' house. The text says, "So he hurried down and was happy to welcome him" (upodekomai--19:6). The presence of upodekomai clues us in to the dynamics of hospitality which ch. 10 has been exploring. When the 70 go out to minister, they are to stay only with those who host them properly. Now, in this story, we will be given an express example of what it means to host Jesus correctly.

Tension Develops

Luke quickly draws the picture of the scene with the skill of an etcher using an echoppe needle. We are told that Martha has a sister named Mary, and Mary now was seated at the feet of Jesus. The Greek text emphasizes two things. The first is in the verb "to sit." It is an intensive form of the regular verb for sitting, with the prefix para added, and thus it emphasizes that Mary is sort of draped or wrapped around Jesus' feet. She is all around him, not wanting to let him get out of her presence. Then, second, the text emphasizes that she is listening to him. She "heard his word." When a woman in the crowd in the next chapter commends Jesus for the womb which bore him, he responds that the really blessed people are those who hear the word of God and keep it" (Luke 11:27-28). Thus, we see that the primacy already goes to those who hear, just as Mary is now hearing Jesus.

The real human element enters the story in v. 40. Martha, who is demonstrating the traditional understanding of hospitality, where one prepares food and scurries around to make the house look nice, is clearly bothered by her sister's sitting at the feet of Jesus. The text uses a strong word to talk about her preoccupation with preparations. She is being "dragged along" by much serving (perispao). It is almost as if she can't help doing what she is doing. She always is the hostess, and it just doesn't matter if the Lord of the Universe is sitting in her living room. She simply has to do the duties of hospitality. Isn't that true to life? We sometimes become so programmed in our lives, so determined by the expectations that we have of ourselves and others have of us, that we cannot act any differently.

But when we are doing this, the resentment begins to rise. Even though we are being drawn along by a current whose power we cannot really understand or explain, we still feel resentment at being forced to do the task. So, Martha feels the resentment. What are the variety of options that are before her at this moment? Well, she might have done at least three things. She could have done nothing on the hospitality front, and also plopped herself at Jesus' feet. Such a response, however, would have been so strange to a woman of her position that it is virtually impossible to conceive it. Or, she could have just done the simplest preparations so that she could "join in" to the fun. It is like a person (usually a woman) hosting a dinner party. She wants to join in the fun and conversation, but really cannot do so if she wants food on the table. Thus, we sympathize with Martha, even as she is becoming more and more frustrated and resentful. Finally, she could have continued serving and asked for help. That is what she basically decides to do here.

But the means by which she asks for help displays her pain for the world to see. She might have just called her sister aside for a moment or whispered in her ear to take a "time out" for a few minutes and let Jesus rest. Certainly he would stay around for a while and would be there when they returned. What she actually does is remarkable. In a word, she tries to put the burden on Jesus for the resentment she feels towards her sister. As anyone knows who has engaged in lots of conversations over the years, if you are able to shift the weight of your conversational burden to another person, you are "off the hook" for your behavior. That is what she will try to do. How does she do it? Read on.

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