Imperatives That Are Not

Luke 10:38-41
As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”
“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

This story is familiar enough to most of us, but something stuck out and made me chuckle a bit as I read this passage the other day. Luke treats Martha pretty generously! He doesn't suggest that Martha was engaged in pointless distractions. To the contrary, Luke writes is that she was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. They weren't optional. Until they were. They were necessary preparations by Luke's telling, but then Luke informs us that Jesus himself said they were not.

So which one is it?

Well the safe bet is to trust Jesus on this one, but it's fun to note that Luke has it going both ways. And after we're done smiling, the harder work begins. What things in our lives are imperatives? Which things do we think must be done? And have we asked Jesus about those things? Some imperatives are, it turns out, not. I really mean that.

2,000 years later, we still see this tension where hospitality is concerned. Being male, I'm pretty comfortable inviting the world into my home "as it is" and to relax amidst a bit of clutter. Not Imperative. My wife, however, is perfectly normal in wanting to get our home cleaned up before guests come. Imperative. It's clearly something that's wired into men and women quite differently, generally speaking. Martha, in this story, is perfectly normal. And Jesus is, too, if we'll let him be male. Mary is the exceptional woman acting like a man. Notch a victory for the boys because Jesus sides with Mary, who focuses on the company more than on the state of the house.

But before we close the books on this one and leave Martha feeling more than a little misunderstood, let's come back at this passage from a completely different angle. What if, let us ask ourselves... What if Martha and Mary had both sat at the feet of Jesus? What if? Here's where the boys might need to start fidgeting. A lot. Why? Two reasons. Both are liberating to women, and one (if not both) might be cause for great alarm among men.

For starters, it's important to understand that the sight of Mary sitting at the feet of Jesus would have been quite shocking to the average Jew of that day. Sitting there as she did was tantamount to declaring, "I am a disciple of Jesus." Mary was rather bold to bail on her household duties, but doubly bold to sit alongside the other disciples as a rabbi-in-training. Women simply were not permitted to become rabbis. No exceptions.

But Jesus takes the prohibited and makes it possible. Once again the rules are upended. Jesus approves of Mary's behavior so much so that he chides Martha for trying to drag Mary back to her other matronly responsibilities. This might trouble other Christian men (especially those less inclined to allow women behind the pulpit) but this is not troubling stuff for me. It's wonderful. I love that Jesus set women free to become true ministers of the word alongside their male counterparts. Others, such as Junias, would follow in Mary's footsteps. Awesome.

But before I rest on my liberating laurels, let's move to the second way Jesus liberates Mary here. (Gentlemen, you may want to sit down or, failing that, find something to hold onto tightly.) Let us return once again to that question we asked earlier. What if Martha and Mary had both sat at the feet of Jesus? What if?

Well, per Luke, these were things that really did have to be done. So I'm assuming Martha wasn't dusting the mantelpiece for a third time. No, the general assumption seems to be that Martha was preparing the meal. And it would be a big one, too. Thirteen men and two women, at a bare minimum. Probably more.

So... if Mary and Martha are both sitting at the feet of Jesus, you just know what's gonna happen. Thirteen men are going to look up at about the dinner hour, and they'll be expecting food. It'd better be good, and it'd better be soon. And this is where I have to speculate, because we're in alternative universes now. But I'm going to go out on limb and throw out some wild assertions.

1) Jesus wouldn't have expected Mary and Martha to miraculously crush three hours of preparation into three minutes.
2) Jesus wouldn't have himself done a true miracle that produced the same result. No "Feeding of the fifteen" miracle here, boys...
3) Jesus wouldn't have expected Mary and Martha to "get started", either. (And would the disciples have been able to patiently wait, regardless?)
4) Jesus would have enlisted twenty-four hands to help make a simpler meal happen faster.

Yes, I'm suggesting that Jesus might just have been radical enough to not only liberate a woman *from* the cooking but also to liberate (if that's the word) men to help out with the cooking. And on that note, I'd better head to the kitchen and make myself useful.