The Hostess Who Missed Her Party
Luke 10:38-42
Gettysburg Presbyterian Church
Harry G. Winsheimer
February 25, 2009

In Jesus' ministry, certain characters played dynamic or tragic roles, e.g., Peter and Judas.  There were others, people who seemed incidental to the sharp change in history that Jesus led, whose names never appear on the marquee, and play cameo roles.

One such family had three members who pop up and disappear in Jesus' life.  Between the lines we read that their relationship with Jesus was warm and intimate.  They were Martha, Mary and Lazarus, two sisters and their brother.  I give them more personality and history than the gospels offer, which although not true in detail would be typical.

Martha was the oldest.  To her fell the responsibilities laid upon the first born to over-busy parents.  She had to feed her sister, Mary, and watch that she not tumble into the fire.  At age ten, the burden became fully hers when her mother died in giving birth to brother.  Martha could not remember feeling free; all she remembers is responsibility.

At the age of fourteen, her father married her to a man of fifty.  She was his third wife, the two previous wives having died.  Neither had been blessed with children, so the man had high hopes of Martha giving him an heir.  Tragically, it did not happen.  (Today, we would know that he was sterile.  But, in those days, the burden was erroneously laid upon the woman.)

The marriage was not pleasant.  Although kind to her, he was a stranger, a sex partner but not a lover, a man in the house but not a friend, a financial deal without tenderness.  Living a woman's role, the child in her cried to be let out.  She wept many tears of despair and loneliness.

On a hot, humid April day, trudging behind his plow, he suddenly dropped dead.  At the age of eighteen, Martha was widowed and looked as if she was forty.

Martha handled her grief by working harder.  Impossible it would seem.  Work became a compulsion.  She never sat down.  When she went to the village well for water, it took only fifteen minutes.

On the other hand, Mary could take over an hour just to get a jar of water.  But, when she returned she carried more than water.  She knew every morsel of gossip and news.  As Martha raced about her work, Mary would idly report all that she learned.

Mary could make Martha so furious!

One morning at the well, Mary heard about the rabbi who healed people and who taught so persuasively.  A person from God!  Mary went to hear him.  Jesus, the Nazarene, won her heart.  Her enthusiasm was so contagious that Martha and Lazarus visited Jesus.  They, too, were impressed, and a deep friendship developed between Jesus and the family.

At the well this morning, Mary heard that Jesus was coming to their town, Bethany.  Maybe he would visit!  Excited, Mary rushed home, spilling water all over her.  She shouted, "Martha, Jesus is coming!  Maybe he will stay with us if you invite him!  You just have to invite him!"  How could Martha refuse Mary's bubbly urging?  "All right, Mary!  All right!  I will invite him."

As Jesus entered their village, Martha approached him dreading his rejection.  In the Jewish world, men held the status.  Why would a rabbi as popular as Jesus accept the invitation of a woman?  To her surprise and pleasure, he accepted.  She hurried home ahead of Jesus, going directly to the back wall.  Grabbing the bench there, she trotted with it to under the olive tree in the courtyard.  Jesus could sit on it in the shade.  She rushed back into the house and frantically rummaged through her storage jars to find the best quality raisins to give her honored guest.  She pulled the jug of her best wine out of the hole under the floor where it kept cool.  Oh, how many wine cups did she need?  She jumped to the doorway to count, and wilted.  There must be twenty-five people out there!  Jesus, plus his usual disciples, plus some townspeople.  How could she give all those people something to eat and drink?  Oh my!  Oh my!

Charging about her kitchen, she piled bread cakes onto a tray.  Martha hailed a neighbor, asking to borrow some cakes.  She grabbed the wine jug and cups and headed to serve Jesus as a good hostess would.

Gasping for breath, wiping sweat from her brow, she calmed herself to appear graceful as she stepped through the doorway. ------- Her face turned red and her back stiffened -- there sat her sister at the feet of Jesus, doing nothing!  It was too much!  She couldn't hold back.  "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself?   Tell her to come and help me!

Jesus answered her, "Martha!  Martha!  You are worried and troubled over so many things, but just one is needed.  Mary has chosen the right thing, and it will not be taken away from her."

Silence.

If she dared, Martha would have slugged Jesus with the wine jug.  If she could have, she would have evaporated.  Surprised, insulted and embarrassed, she just stood there for a moment that seemed an afternoon long.  Never did she expect to be rebuked for being a good hostess!  Then, she became mad, did an about face and stomped into the house!

The next morning, kneading her bread dough, she mulled over what Jesus meant:
"Always I considered hard work to be highest priority.  As the oldest child, what choice had I?  (Martha hooted out loud at herself.)  I was so busy being a hostess that I missed my own party!  I didn't have a chance to talk with Jesus.  I have no idea what he said, except when he corrected me.  Maybe that was the point:  I missed the party!

"Jesus sounded miffed that I was hostessing and not talking with him.  Did he not care if he got wine?  Apparently not as much as he cared to talk with me.

"`Worried and troubled about many things.'  That I am!  Life is hard!  I am tired, pushing myself to get everything done.  There are so many things which could go wrong if I am not careful.  I cannot remember when I relaxed, really relaxed.

"`Only one thing is needed.'  I have invested in one thing: work and when you do not succeed, try, try again.  My life has been one of trying.  Surely, my whole orientation could not be wrong!  What would this world be without people trying?  What would the Marys do?”

(In her bones, Martha knew that she was wrong, but the thought shook her as she continued to think.)  "What is wrong with work?"  (She picked up the dough and flung it down on the table and jammed her fists into it.  No dough ever was more roughly kneaded.  She knew that she had not asked the right question -- just another effort to avoid facing the real issue and the change of values which Jesus presented to her.)  She continued: "There is nothing wrong with work.  Work is good.  It is my attitude that salvation comes through work which is wrong.  I have been so obsessed with work that I missed the party.  I have been so stuck with trying to earn my way that I missed God's offer to accept me out of love.  God loves me just because I am.  I do not have to prove myself to God to be loved.  God is not standing with a clipboard checking off my performance.  God loves me, just because God loves me.  Sitting at the feet of Jesus is the party.  The party is a friendly relationship with God.  Everything else is secondary.”

Going to Jerusalem, adding to the business, caring for the family, getting new living room furniture, earning another degree, putting more in the bank -- they are important.  They are necessities, or comforts, or make life more interesting.  Ultimately, however, when the mind is taken over by Alzheimer's disease, when the body wrinkles, when status is forgotten and the word `retired' becomes most important, when termites eat the house, when thieves steal the diamond ring, when fire consumes the mementos, when the six feet of cool earth lie overhead, then who do we have?  What do we have?  God!  Only God!

"Then, God throws the only party in town.  And what a party heaven will be!"

The next morning, Mary went off to get the day's water supply from the village well.  But, she didn't come back and didn't come back.  When she appeared, Martha scolded her, "Where have you been?  You knew that I needed the water to bake.  The fire in the oven is nearly out.  What were you......?"  "Martha, Martha, one thing is needed... ."  What was it Jesus had taught?  "One does not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God."

Not all things are equal in value, obviously.  One is a foundation upon which others are built.  Spirituality is a foundation.  One thing is needed.  One thing is needed: God.  Prioritize.  Triage. 

Martha's life changed.  The house was not quite as clean.  Mary and Lazarus had to do more for themselves.  Martha made time for Jesus, for her spirituality, for her core values, for her soul.  She prioritized her activities.  God came first.  Always she kept the weekly worship time.  Every day she disciplined herself to think about God and to speak with God. 

If you visit Bethany, ask for Martha.  You will hear: "Martha?  Of course, everyone knows Martha.  She is a dynamo.  Yet, in her soul is a well-being, a peace, that comes from her walk with God."

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