So, Jesus, Mary and Martha. It's a story we can all sympathise with. I think we've all been Martha, stuck in the kitchen or behind the scenes wanting to be noticed, wanting to take part. I think also that we've all been Mary, so engrossed in what's going on that we either haven't noticed or don't want to notice the jobs that need doing. I also think we've probably all been Jesus too – suddenly finding ourselves used or called upon to weigh in on someone else's argument.
What we shouldn't take from this is that our relationship with Jesus means that we should never do any housework, or that we should never do the behind the scenes jobs. These are important things that were part of Jesus' life. From his very first day in 'ministry', at the wedding at Cana, he took the jobs of servants – he organised more wine, he washed the disciples feet, he became a scapegoat on a cross so that we wouldn't have to.
Paul talks about this in our passage from Colossians – he says that 'in Jesus all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things'. In Jesus and through Jesus, we find someone who is not just fully man, but fully God. We find someone who is so madly in love with us that he goes out of his way to reconcile us to God and he does that by putting himself in the place of a servant to show us what true love looks like.
This is our God, who sat in the home of a woman and met with her and her sister. Martha fell into the standard position of a woman in that time, and Mary into the standard position of a man. Just in terms of societal expectations, this is rogue! Add in the sisterly expectations, and understandably Martha is miffed – who does Mary think she is? What is she playing at? She is her sister, her equal, and they are both less than Jesus. What does Jesus think he's doing in a room one on one with a woman who isn't his wife? So she calls out, perhaps from the stove, or from the water bowls outside:
I need help – Jesus do you not care that Mary has abandoned me? Do you not care about all these implications which Mary is pretending to be unaware of?
And we know how Jesus replies – Martha, you are worried and distracted by so many things but you do not need to be, you can be here with me, you are worthy to sit with me and speak with me. You do not need to be in the kitchen today for there is only one thing on this whole earth that has any eternal significance and it is me. There will always be washing up, there will always be stress and worries and potholes to fill and cracks to paper and cows to milk and agendas to send and papers to mark and meetings to moan about but me, I will not always be with you. Mary has chosen the better part, Mary has chosen to spend time with me.
But what does this mean for us today? We do not have Jesus sat in front of us. In our reading from Colossians Paul said that Jesus is the image of the invisible God, except he really is just an image for us, not a bodily being that one day might disappear.
But, we have Jesus all the time – he is the beginning and the end, the firstborn from the dead so that we might have reconciliation with God. We have the joy and the privilege of un-ending access to Jesus so that when we are distracted and worried by many tasks, we can bring them to the one through whom all things in heaven and on earth were made.
We quite often say with this Martha and Mary story that it's about making sure we give our full attention to God, that we're not worrying or distracted by many things when we pray or when we worship. But if Martha had sat at Jesus' feet too, chosen the one thing that is necessary, she would have brought her worries with her. She would have brought her concern about the gender imbalance, she would have brought her worry about the lack of food being prepared for this honoured guest, she may well have brought the image of her massive pile of washing up too. And incredibly, Jesus knew her worries. She asked him whether he cared that Mary wasn't pulling her weight, and Jesus said Martha, Martha, I know you are worried, but there is need of only one thing.
Perhaps it is about bringing our worries and our distractions to God. It's not about shutting God in one room of our house, and going about the tasks of the rest of our lives in the kitchen and never bringing our worries to God, but allowing God to be with us in every room of our lives – in the kitchen, and in the garden, and at work and at church, when we rest and when we run around looking after others, when we weep and when we celebrate, when we worry about Putin and climate change and energy bills, and when we rejoice over good news.
Paul says: Jesus is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For in him all things in heaven and on earth were created, things visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or powers – all things have been created through him and for him.
All things have been created through him – thrones, dominions, rulers and powers. Every single worry and distraction we have, God knows about, and he calls us to bring ourselves to him.
So, this week, that's my challenge. The distractions and worries of life – try and use them as a reminder to come into God's presence. There's no need to leave them in the kitchen and pretend that they're not there – bring them to Jesus, there's no hiding them, he already knows them but he wants to hear them from you.
Let's pray:
Lord God in whom all things in heaven and on earth were created, be with us in our everyday lives, in our worries and our distractions.
Remind us that you are with us in our whole lives, remind us that we do not have to pretend to not be distracted or worried, remind us that we do not walk our journeys alone.
Prompt us to bring our whole selves to you, call us by name like you called Martha - to take a moment here and there with you, just to be, without covering up or pretending.
Lord God, we pray this in your all powerful name.
Amen.