Isaiah 40:1-5, 9-11; Luke 2:15-20; Psalm 89
December 20, 2020
Maryanne Mutch
Do Not Be Afraid to Choose Love
The theme that I have been asked to speak on today is “Do not be afraid to choose love”. I must admit that when Noelle called me to ask to do a reflection on ‘love week’ I felt a bit let down. Love? What is there left to say about love?
On the one hand love seems like a simple concept, an overused term. On the other hand, love is immensely complicated- a powerful, though underused force in our world. We have been told that “perfect love casts out all fear” and we believe that love, when coupled with justice and truth, is the antidote to the fear that causes so much exclusion and pain in the world today. I could talk for quite a while about love as a force for social justice, but the title of this homily is “do not be afraid to choose love” and so instead I will focus this reflection on an area where I often avoid choosing love.
In the Old Testament reading this week we hear the prophet saying “Comfort, O comfort my people, speak tenderly to Jerusalem and cry to her” it goes on to say that “God will feed his flock like a shepherd, God will gather the lambs in his arms, and carry them in his bosom and gently lead the mother sheep”. These are beautiful pictures of love and acceptance and rest, but I must admit that I find it challenge to embrace them fully. Do I really believe myself worthy of comfort and rest? Is, perhaps, this the area where I am afraid to choose love?
Of the many biblical stories that get under my skin, the story of Martha and Mary in Luke Chapter 10 may be the most maddening. The gospel says that one day Jesus and the disciples entered a village and a woman named Martha was kind enough to welcome them all into her home. I am sure that she was honored by the visit and as it was her home she absolutely wanted to be a flawless host. I can’t imagine Martha would have had much notice of their arrival and I assume that she would have all sorts of time sensitive tasks to get underway to make sure that that there would be food to give to Jesus his companions and clean places for them to rest their heads.
As she is flying around the house, frantically trying to get her tasks done so that at last she can sit down with her visitor, she notices that her sister, Mary, is not even lifting a finger to help. Instead, she is just sitting at Jesus’ feet and listening in, completely oblivious to all the work that Martha has now been left to do on her own. Martha, stressed out and overworked, sees this and says “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.”
Yes, finally! Now there will be some justice in the world. Surely Jesus, as observant as he is, can see how this situation is not fair to Martha?
Jesus responds with, “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.”
What kind of response is this? I get the overall lesson – sure. But secretly, inside, I am still siding with Martha on this one. Does Jesus, a man, even know how much work it will be to get supper prepared for him and his pack of disciples? It’s easy for him to take Mary’s side now, but how is he going to feel in 3 hours when everyone is starting to get hungry and there is no food in sight, and everything will take at least another couple of hours to prepare? Or when it’s time to go bed and there are not enough places for everyone to sleep? Martha knows, at the end of the day it is all going to fall on her if everyone’s night is ruined, so she frantically toils away trying to get things ready, trying to get things prepared so she will prove herself finally worthy of love, worthy of the grace of the Lord’s attention.
And yet Jesus has said, “There is need of only one thing” and Mary has chosen it. Mary has not toiled or tried to achieve things to earn God’s attention. Instead she has chosen, in that moment, to believe herself worthy of love and comfort and to trust that this will be enough. So what would have happened if Martha had also turned aside her fear (fear of letting everyone down, fear of not fulfilling her role as a hostess) and also plopped down at Jesus’s feet? Sure, maybe some people would have been a bit put out at the end of the day to find that no food had been prepared, but what might have Martha learned? How might her life have been transformed by choosing love?
How might have her bravery to abandon old roles created new space for others to assume unfamiliar roles and to find new ways of relating, supporting and caring for each other?
Jesus Visits Martha and Mary
38 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.[a] Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.”