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Dr. Jac Kelewae RCLPC products of our expectations Luke 10:38-42 18 July 2010, Ordinary 16C The traditional way of interpreting the story of Martha and Mary is to see Martha as a fuss budget who is so wrapped in serving a meal that she forgets who her guest is. We all know that she should set her preparations aside and really listen to her Lord. Mary is always seen as the cool and wise person, laid back and letting the meal preparations slide, while sitting at the feet of Jesus and taking in what he is saying. Some could see Martha as productive and a good host and Mary as a slacker, but the Scriptures refer to Martha as “distracted” and Mary as choosing “the better part.” But, as often is the way with the Scriptures, I believe there is more going on in this text than a surface reading would communicate. For one thing, look at its context. This story follows the commissioning of the seventy to go out on their first mission trips and then the story of the Good Samaritan. The Martha/Mary story could be carrying the message that “works alone are not sufficient,” that we need the spiritual development of allowing God’s word to speak deeply to us and mature us in the faith. But, when we put the overarching structure of Luke’s story in his gospel account and the record of the Acts of the Apostles, we hear him making the point that the gospel is first presented to the Jews. They did not listen and the word is then taken to those outside of the “chosen” people and those people do listen. In a sense Martha is the Jewish leaders and Mary plays the part of the rest of the world. I was wrestling with the deeper message of this passage, when I heard an interview on the radio with a young man named Wes Moore. Wes had been in South Africa on a semester abroad experience, when the Baltimore Sun ran an article about him winning a Rhodes Scholarship. His mother let him know about a strange additional article about another Wes Moore in the same paper, who was wanted for murdering a police officer. The coincidence bothered Wes and he tried getting to know the other Wes Moore. It turns out that they had both grown up blocks from each other in Baltimore, had both been underperforming in school, had both had run-ins with the police, both were fatherless, had both hung out with similar kids blocks from each other. And yet, one ended up in prison for life without chance of parole and the other ended up a Rhodes Scholar, decorated combat veteran, While House Fellow, and business leader. “How did this happen?” he wondered. Wes commented about the other Wes Moore that, “The chilling truth is that his story could have been mine. The tragedy is that my story could have been his.” In talking with the other Wes Moore in prison, he asked, “Do you think we’re all just products of our environments?” The other Wes replied with a smirk, “I think so, or maybe products of our expectations.” What the other Wes was blaming was the expectations of others. The one was expected to graduate, to get a job. The other was expected to go to jail, and that is where he ended up. Wes recoiled at this comment but came to realize that it was choices of expectations, choices along the way, choices that sent him on his path and the other Wes Moore to commit murder and go to prison. While the stories are different, the underlying message is the same. Martha chose to live by expectations that caused her to miss out on the most important moment in her life, the moment when she had the Lord Jesus in her house, but was too busy being the perfect hostess to spend time with him and hear words from him that could change her life. It is not that Mary was any better a person than Martha. It was her choice of expectations that was the “better” way, the only thing needed. Mary chose to let the house and meal preparations go and sit and listen to Jesus. And, of course, the message was that the Jewish leaders were doing the same. They were choosing to be focused on expectations of living a perfect life according to the law, while missing the very word of God coming to them in the person of this teacher from Nazareth. It was those same expectations that had the leadership criticize Jesus for doing miracles on the Sabbath, completely missing the wonder of those miracles and celebrating the feedings and healings of people starving, desperately ill, dying, or even dead. Such discussions about the trivia of the law could even get into the details of how much effort could be expended by a faithful Jew to save a drowning person or animal on the Sabbath. It is laughable to us that such nonsense could be taken so seriously, but only because we do not choose those expectations. But how similar are we, how much are we, in our day, products of our expectations? When I think of someone like Karen Carpenter dying from anorexia nervosa, I realize that a wonderfully bright and talented person died because of expectations of trying to fit a perfect body type. When I read the stories of a teenager dying because they were texting while driving, I realize that someone died because they were trying to stay up with their friends and be popular. When I hear about the various tragedies of talented athletes enhancing their bodies through steroids or other performance boosting techniques and tarnishing their records and the sports they participate, I realize that these people chose certain expectations that set them on a path that led to their fate. But, what about us here today? How much are we missing because we are too busy focusing on work, or keeping our yards and bushes trimmed, or watching the current sports contest when our family grows and changes without our noticing? How much are we focused on amassing wealth and miss out on spending lifetime experiences with those we love, because we are anxious about our money? Or how much are we so focused even on our favorite mission project that we miss out tuning in and finding the way to touch the lives of those in the pew with us or just gain enough personal quiet to finally hear God speak to us through the music, through the spoken word, through the silence so that we are in touch with the reason for the mission? We choose our expectations, they do not choose us. This is what Wes Moore realized in looking back on his life. This is what Jesus was trying to tell Martha. This is, also, what he is trying to tell us. That this story was placed following the commissioning of the seventy and the Good Samaritan story is clueing us in that our expectations are open to choice and can be changed. The seventy had never expected to pick up and go on mission trips, but they changed those expectations as they heard Jesus’ call. The Jewish leaders passing by on the other side of the road so they did not have to look at the injured man made choices and so did the Samaritan. He had never expected to pick someone up from the road, treat them for injuries, take them to shelter, and pay for all of it. But, he did chose to care for a person in need and go the extra mile for him. And those choices of expectations made those people, they were products of their choices. By placing the Martha/Mary story following those two stories, Luke is trying to tell us that we need to put balance into our lives. We do need to act, to respond, to follow our calls from God. Our expectations to always be in action, though, causes us to miss out on the centering time of prayer and reading the Word of God that give us the foundation for what we are doing and the resources. Our focusing on words both in prayer and reading can causes us to miss God speaking to us, because we aren’t choosing to listen. How can we know what we are called to do, if we are not listening first? We are products of our expectations, but we make the choices of those expectation. Those choices do make us who we become. Where do we get our expectations from: peers, athletes, rock stars, parents, mentors? What are they? Have we really looked at them and examined if they fit what we want to become, what God wants us to become? Have we exercised our choices over those expectations and made sure we choose expectations that will enable us to hear God when he speaks to us? |