Sermon for Proper 11 Yr. C: Mary then Martha

Proper 11 Yr. C: Mary then Martha

Genesis 18:1-10a; Colossians 1:15-28; Luke 10:38-42

The Rev. Paul D. Allick, Church of the Advent, July 20, 2025

Upon entering a new parish, I met with a group of young people

who had recently been confirmed. My intention was to create a

youth group.

After some food and games, I began reviewing basic catechism

topics with them. It became apparent that they had not heard

much about the sacraments or the Church Year.

I asked them what they had done in their confirmation class. They

said that they had done outreach projects like helping to clean up

a local pond. They also visited other places of worship including a

Synagogue and an African American Pentecostal Church.

All well and good but it seemed to me that learning their faith

should come first. In light of today’s Gospel, I would say they

skipped right over Mary and went straight into Martha mode.

I was and was not surprised. This is so often where we find

ourselves in the Church. Contemplation and study of the basics of

our faith often come second to taking on all manner of social

action and/or keeping the business of the Church going. It is an

easy trap to fall into. As a professional Christian, I find myself

caught in the business end too often.

It makes little sense to go out and to do the work God has given

us to do both in-house and out in the world if we have no idea

why we are doing it. Or we think we already know all we need to

know about the Catechism. We will never know everything we

need to know.

In John Steinbeck’s novel, East of Eden, he sketches a brief

character. Mrs. Edwards lives a respectable middle-class life and

is very involved in her Episcopal Parish.

Steinbeck describes Mrs. Edwards in this short statement which

has stuck with me for years, “Mrs. Edwards was persistently if not

profoundly religious. She spent a great part of her time with the

mechanics of her Church, which did not leave her time for either

its background or its effects.”

Like Martha we sometimes energetically welcome Christ into our

homes through fellowship and worship, but we forget to first

welcome him into our hearts.

We are distracted by cultural messages which tell us that multi-

tasking is a beneficial skill and that being busy makes us worthy.

Also, we default to trying to save the world without first doing the

hard work of working out our own salvation with fear and

trembling.

In his sermon, The Ultimate Concern, Paul Tillich preached on

this Gospel story. He explains the concerns represented by each

sister. Martha represents the finite, the preliminary, and the

transitory. Mary represents the infinite, the ultimate, the lasting,

what Jesus calls the One Thing that is necessary.

Tillich points out that while Martha’s concerns are important, they

are not ultimate, and, in fact, they produce anxiety. (pp.152-3)

Hospitality was essential to the religious culture of ancient Israel.

Martha is following the example of Abraham and Sarah. Mary is

ignoring it. This does not look good on Mary. But the Gospel of

Luke is showing us that something very new is happening. In

Jesus we have a new intimacy with God.

God appeared to Abraham and Sarah cloaked in mystery. Mary

sits directly at God’s Incarnate Feet listening to his Incarnate

Words. Something new indeed.

“The Lord appeared to Abraham at the entrance of his tent in the

heat of the day. He looked up and saw three men standing near

him.”

He and Sarah immediately begin the work of hospitality. And then

the Messengers of God, or is it God himself, give them the

incredible message. One of them said to Abraham, "I will surely

return to you in due season, and your wife Sarah shall have a

son."

God had appeared to our spiritual ancestors in so many

mysterious forms: a burning bush, a cloud by day and pillar of fire

by night. God appears to Abraham and Sarah as Three

Messengers. At the Creation God mysteriously says, let us create

them in our image.

And now we meet Jesus. A flesh and blood presence to us. A

teacher and a companion on the way.

Yet, we still find God in Christ mysterious as well. This is exactly

why we need to sit with Mary before we go full Martha.

We cannot authentically welcome God into our homes and

Church buildings without proper preparation because God’s

appearing is always unpredictable.

God has not only come to us as a Burning Bush, Three

Messengers, a pillar of fire and a cloud. God has come to us as a

newborn infant in a barn. God has come to us as a man dying on

a cross.

Obviously, we cannot comprehend, let alone welcome God in the

way we welcome others.

Hard work to keep the Church going and to serve God in the

world is admirable and essential but the work itself will not

prepare our hearts for God. It is the preparation we do to know

God intimately that will fuel our work and give it power.

With Martha we can get stuck in the here and now. With Mary we

stay focused on the eternal.

Steinbeck, John East of Eden

Penguin Books Ltd. London 1992

Tillich, Paul The New Being

University of Nebraska Press, Lincoln and London 1955, 2005