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Gospel Lesson for the
Week
July 22, 2007
Eighth Sunday After Pentecost
Now as they went on their way, (Jesus) entered a
certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home.
She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened
to what he was saying.
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."
But the Lord answered her, "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 10:38-42
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Spiritual Pathology
.
Probing the depths of the
brain,
learned doctors are
mystified
at the phenomenon of
persons
unable to do the most
rudimentary tasks,
like tying a shoe or
buttoning a blouse,
but who can in an instant
answer complex problems in
math.
Such folks they label as “idio-savant.”
Now in the spiritual
realm,
sometimes we too are
idio-savants.
And that would be bad
enough, but that’s not all.
Compounding the problem is
the way
we tend to assume
the other person is the
idiot
and we,
the savant.
Take Martha, for instance.
While Mary knelt at Jesus
feet being all spiritual,
Martha was in the kitchen
cooking up a storm.
Maybe some blueberry
muffins, and beef stew.
(Martha was all for plain
cookin’ – none of that
Martha Stewart, Paula
Dean, Rachel Ray stuff,
with fancy ingredients)
After all, Jesus was their
guest;
you have to treat him
right.
So Martha spent every
waking moment,
and all her emotion and
energy,
on fixing things,
and fussing and fuming all
the while.
The kitchen savant, the
living room idiot.
Meanwhile,
Mary the kitchen idiot,
the living room savant,
never even noticed
that Martha was
overburdened.
Mary was too busy being
holy.
In smug superiority she
never saw
her sister Martha’s
fatigue,
never took notice
of the banging of pots and
pans.
Maybe Jesus didn’t notice
either.
And when Martha lodged her
complaint,
"Lord, don’t you care?
My sister’s left all the work to me.
Tell her to do her part. "
at first glance Jesus
seems to take Mary’s side:
"Martha, Martha,
you are worried and distracted by many things;
Mary has chosen the better part,
which will not be taken away from her."
Now what I notice here
is that Jesus says Mary
“took the better part”
Better,
comparative.
Not the superlative, not
the Best,
implying that there might
be some merit
in Martha’s complaint.
It got me to thinking:
If only I could somehow
bring together
Mary’s devotion and
Martha’s activist spirit,
My! What a well-balanced
spiritual genius I would
be!
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rvc
*** D I S C L A I M E R ***
The Weekly Lessons are based on the lectionary
texts for the week – usually the Gospel lesson. They are not designed as a
formal commentary. Rather, they are the personal reflections and original
compositions of The Relay Online editor, Rev. Robin Van
Cleef, and offer a jumping off point, using the scriptures as triggers to
thought, imagination, and (we hope) empowerment. As you read them, let your own
imagination play, and let the Spirit speak to you, leading you where it will.
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