Some time ago, a John and Sharon were invited over to dinner at the home of their friends, Jane and Ray. At the appointed hour, the young couple arrived at their friend’s home, parked the car in the driveway and walked up an immaculately manicured lawn to a beautifully decorated two storey brick house and rang the doorbell. Then they waited… and no one came. They exchanged puzzled looks and each wondered if perhaps the bell wasn’t working. They both leaned into the door as they reached for the doorbell again. Ding! Dong! No doubt about it. The bell was working. They waited again… and no one came. They exchanged more puzzled looks and just as they were about to knock on the door, the door was opened and there stood Jane and Ray, ‘Sorry for the wait. We were busy in the kitchen.’ John and Sharon were led into a beautifully decorated living room where they were invited to sit down and make themselves comfortable while their hosts disappeared into the kitchen where great things must have been in the works because the smells that came wafting from the kitchen were just wonderful. Some moments went by. John and Sharon occupied themselves by looking around the room. It was beautiful and there was much to look at. There were beautiful oil paintings on the wall, well-tended plants by the big bay window and even a baby grand piano situated in the far corner. But after a few minutes, they ran out of things to look at in the room, so they looked at each other and shrugged their shoulders. ‘Where were they? Were they ever coming back?’ Occasionally, they could hear pots banging in the distance. Some times they could hear frazzled voices: ‘Where is that recipe card?’, ‘Have you seen the colander?’ And even, ‘Quick, get me a pot holder!’ Eventually, John and Sharon made their way through the house toward the commotion on the kitchen and peeked their heads inside. ‘Can we help?’ they called out. Jane turned her head in their direction, blew a bit of wayward hair from her face as she removed a dish from the oven, ‘No, we’re fine. Just go sit down and enjoy yourselves.’ Finally, Jane and Ray appeared at the living room door looking very tired and just a bit disheveled to proclaim that dinner was ready. They all sat down to a beautiful table and were served a wonderful meal. Four courses, all beautifully prepared and presented – and they all tasted as wonderful as they had smelled… but it was a very quiet meal. No one spoke and the only sound was the clang of dinnerware and the ting of forks and knives. John got up the courage to initiate conversation, ‘So, how have you two been lately?’ Ray gave him a tired look, ‘You know, John. We’ve been cooking all day and we’re just too tired for visiting with anyone.’ About that same time, Tom and Linda were invited to the home of two of their friends. At the appointed hour, they arrived at their friends’ home and before they could ring the bell, their hosts were already at the door to welcome them. ‘Come in! Come in!’ they called. Their home was one of those that we might call ‘clean enough to be healthy and dirty enough to he happy’. Tom and Linda were ushered into the living room where their hosts sat them in comfortable chairs and sat across from them on a generous couch. For the next several minutes the conversation was interesting and animated. They discussed weather and sports, politicians and celebrities. But Tom and Linda were never offered something to drink. There were no snacks and not even any cooking smells emanating from the kitchen. They wondered if perhaps they were having something delivered. Time passed: 15 minutes, 30 minutes, 45 minutes. Finally, Linda could hear Tom’s stomach starting to make rumbling noises so she asked, ‘What time are we having dinner?’ Their hosts exchanged puzzled looks and then they asked, ‘We’re not serving anything. We just assumed that spiritual food would be enough.’ This morning’s scripture is short – just 5 verses – and we have a full story in the 5 verses – a story that has been interpreted by better minds than I and has been used throughout the centuries to support varying views of works and grace. I am hoping that perhaps this morning we can take a slightly different slant on these familiar lines of scripture. Luke’s gospel is designed for a gentile audience and throughout the gospel, we see reasons for gentile readers to understand that it is not only Jews who are called to be followers of Christ. Everywhere in the gospel we see Jesus welcoming the stranger and the outcast. Just last week, we heard the story of the ‘Good Samaritan’ where the hated outsider – the one least expected to act well – is the one who shows mercy to the stranger. This week we see Jesus stepping outside the bounds of so-called ‘polite society’ to welcome those often ignored. First, we notice that Jesus speaks to a woman – a woman to whom he is not related - in public – something no good Jew would do. Second, we notice that Jesus – and his entourage – accept her hospitality and go to her house. We can assume that Martha is a widow since she is in her own home rather than the home of her father or husband. As such, the obligation of hospitality would fall squarely on her shoulders. In the ancient world, hospitality was an important facet of community life. The joy, no the obligation, of preparing a meal for a guest, of taking in the stranger, was inviolate. If someone came to you in the desert, you were obligated to treat them like royalty for three days – after which you could in clear conscience send them on their way. If someone came to you in the city, then hospitality was a way to accrue honor – to make a name for yourself in the community according to the importance of the guest who might be under your roof. When Jesus comes into the home of Mary, much is at stake. No doubt there are many people traveling with Jesus. Certainly there were the twelve. Perhaps there were members of the 70 disciples who had earlier been sent out into the countryside to prepare the places where Jesus would be visiting. Perhaps some of the women who traveled with Jesus and supported his ministry from their wealth were there also. There was a lot of cooking to do. There were many dishes to prepare. You couldn’t let an honored guest go hungry. And so we find Martha, doing the right thing – doing what women do - busy in the kitchen – making a nice meal for company – doing all the things society told her she must do – winning the approval of her household – gaining the respect of her neighbors. And we find Mary – and what is she doing? She is not doing what women do. She is not busy in the kitchen making a nice meal for company and loyally helping her older sister. Mary is not busy doing the things society tells her she must to. Instead of gaining the approval of her household and the respect of her neighbors, she is breaking down the traditional separation of genders. Instead of keeping her distance and staying in the background, Mary is out in front – sitting at the feet of Jesus – listening to his teachings and learning what it means to be a disciple – just like one of the guys. No doubt, many of the men there are uncomfortable. They should not be sitting so close to a woman who is not their close relative. Women do not sit at the feet of prophets and a righteous prophet of God would not be teaching her as he would a man. Certainly they are thinking, ‘What is she doing in here? Why doesn’t she go back to the kitchen? Why doesn’t Jesus send her away?’ Certainly, they agree that Mary is in the wrong place – and doing the wrong thing. When Martha comes into the room and complains to Jesus about her sister, they are secretly relieved. Finally they think, Jesus will tell Mary that learning is for men and serving is for women… and something amazing happens. Jesus looks at her lovingly. ‘Martha, Martha’ he begins. ‘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 10:41b, 42)’ There must have been silence in the room as Martha and the other guests took all this in. We wonder, did she return to the kitchen with a puzzled look on her face? Did she leave the room in anger? Did she perhaps, get a relaxed, relieved look on her face and smiling widely, sit down next to her sister so that she too could sit at the feet of Jesus and hear the good news of salvation? – And no one would get dinner? The world is a busy place and we who live in it are busy people. Adults are busy with work of various kinds, both in and outside the home. They have hobbies and friends and charity work to accomplish and they go to bed exhausted. Young people are shuttled between school, athletics and friends and are told they need to show lots of activities on their transcripts to help them get into college. We all go and do and try to get all the right things done in the right way and somewhere along the way we have discovered that nowhere is there a special time for relationship building. Nowhere is there time to sit with loved ones and share. Perhaps worst of all, nowhere is there time to be still and know that God is God. But before we start canceling all our activities and commitments, let’s go back to the scripture. Martha, we must remember, is not criticized because she is busy preparing dinner – the criticism is that she is ‘distracted by many things’. Like our first couple so busy in the kitchen they have no energy left for their guests, Martha finds that she cannot enjoy the presence of Jesus in her home because she is working too hard to make sure everything is perfect. How would we feel if those we know spent more time sitting at the feet of Jesus – more time being with Jesus – and less time being busy – being distracted – with so many other things in our lives? How would we feel if we spent more time sitting at the feet of Jesus? ------------------ Certainly Martha could not let Jesus go hungry. Certainly we can’t stop working, stop cooking, stop learning or stop doing works of charity and hospitality so we can devote our lives to our spirituality. But this morning’s scripture gives us a better picture of the delicate balance we must make between knowing and doing, between being and acting. Last week, we heard the story of the lawyer who knew the law – it was his specialty – but needed to discover how to use the spirit of the law to do good to those in need – who needed to understand that neighborliness is not for the few, but for the many, who needed to understand the limitlessness of God’s love. He needed to know that knowing the law was not enough. This week, we see that doing limitless good works without knowing the law, without knowing the God of the law, without first sitting at the feet of Jesus was not enough either. Sometimes doing the right thing means reaching out to the unloved and the unlovely. But sometimes doing the right thing means doing nothing but rather being someone in the presence of the God who loves us and died for us that we might live in Him. Sometimes doing the right thing means crossing lines of society of gender and culture, inconveniencing ourselves for those who can never repay us or failing to meet society’s expectations of us. Sometimes doing the right thing means incurring the world’s contempt instead of the world’s honor and sometimes doing the right thing means pulling back from the world so we can sit at the feet of Jesus. As we leave this place on this day, let us each strive to leave behind the business that distracts us and let us listen to the still small voice of God to do the right thing. Amen.