The Sixth Sunday after Pentecost
The Very Rev. Steve Lipscomb, Dean
Grace Cathedral
7/18/10

Luke 10:38-42

My, My, My. Such a big message in such a small scripture passage. This story is one of the best known stories in all the gospels. But what does it mean, really? What message is the gospeler trying to convey? Many things, perhaps. There are certainly many theories. But I believe it is a lesson on the importance of hospitality.

Hospitality is one of the most grace-filled of all virtues.  To receive someone into your home (or church), whether friend or stranger--to entertain him or her with goodwill and with no thought of being repaid--such hospitality is regarded by men and women of nearly all cultures as a high and special duty.

The Apostle Paul, in his letter to the Romans commends it as one of the marks of the true Christian, and Peter charges us to "be hospitable to another without complaining."  Hospitality is an extension of our Christian stewardship, and it is an almost holy obligation.

Jesus and his disciples could hardly have survived without the hospitality and support of ordinary people with whom they came in daily contact.  They were almost entirely dependent for their care and lodging on the hospitality of others. 
         
They had left everything—the disciples: --home, family, and trade--to follow Jesus, and for three years (and for many of them for the rest of their lives) they relied on the mercy and grace and care of other people.                                     

We tend to romanticize the wanderings and sacrifices of Jesus and his followers, without thinking of such practical matters as who cared for them and fed them, and who gave them shelter from the cold and a place to sleep at night.  Jesus reminds us that sometimes it was nobody, -and of his stark life-style when he says, "Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head."

The early missionaries of the church lived in a similar situation--dependent on the hospitality of the communities they visited.  Paul, Barnabas, Silas and the others were not independently wealthy, nor were they bankrolled by some ecclesiastical structure back home.  The extensive journeys of those early missionaries and the remarkable spread of the gospel were made possible by the generosity of Christian sisters and brothers who shared their homes and substance in return for fellowship and the good news of Jesus Christ.  Those who had gave – abundantly – without complaining, and with great thanksgiving. 

That is gracious hospitality.  And today's first reading reminds us of the high value placed on hospitality by the Lord.  The Hebrew people have strained their relationship with God beyond limits. After all God’s blessings – his generosity, his love, his care – God’s own hospitality in giving a wandering people a Promise land flowing with milk and honey – the people have responded with selfishness and greed and inhospitality toward the needy and the poor.

Amos proclaims to the Israelites that it will not be long before their ungrateful response and selfish acts will cause them to fall from God’s good graces. They will become captive to another nation and their land and all their gifts will be taken from them. They, themselves, will become the poor and needy. They will see a bitter day. Their songs will turn to lamentations and their laughter to tears. For they will seek God, but will not find him.

The story of Martha and Mary is also a story about hospitality.  Their home in Bethany seems to have been a favorite haven for Jesus and his disciples.  Bethany, on the back side of the Mount of Olives and only two miles from Jerusalem was presumably the place where Jesus lodged that final week of his life.  So, in Bethany, with Mary and Martha and their brother Lazarus, Jesus was among his dearest friends and supporters; he felt completely at home there --and we can sense that in today's reading.

Martha is often unjustly used in this story to make a point, and unwarranted, even foolish, things are sometimes said in praise of Mary. But, if we pay attention to the story and Jesus’ words, we see that Mary is defended by Jesus, not praised.  Martha was vigorously exercising her traditional role as female host; the duties of hospitality were in this case joined with her friendship and love of Jesus and her pride in entertaining such an important guest.
 
Small wonder, then, that she was annoyed by Mary's lack of help.  Mary, she thought was being both selfish and negligent; but Martha, consumed as she was with the occasion – and the anxiety of the occasion--failed to see her own pride and fretfulness, and in fact, her lack of attention to her guests.

Jesus rebuked Martha for her fussing and fretting.  Her need to be hospitable was getting out of hand and she was missing the mark of true hospitality; her preparations were too elaborate.  Only one dish was necessary, not twenty.  Jesus probably wanted the company more than the service -and the fare.  “Simplicity and time spent with your guests are to be preferred,” is what Jesus seems to be saying to the overly complicated and lavish meal and preparations.

By opting for a more caring and genuine hospitality, Mary was shown to have chosen more wisely than her sister.  But, we do an injustice to Jesus' intention if we try, on the basis of this account, to exalt the life of contemplation over the active life.  This is not a contest between prayer and service; it is a story about how to welcome our guests.

It is instructive, I think, to notice that Luke precedes this story with the parable of the Good Samaritan (another story about true, caring hospitality), then follows (the story of Martha and Mary) with the account of Jesus teaching his disciples to pray the Lord's Prayer.
         
"Give us each our daily bread."  Give us, we ask, what we need for the occasion – enough to fill us, but just what we need. Not all we can desire, but the one thing that is needful – the one dish – our daily bread—the bread of life.  Give us this and we will have enough. It will be enough to satisfy us and to keep anxiety from elbowing reason and good sense out of our lives.

In Matthew's Gospel, the Lord's Prayer as well as the teaching about anxiety over what is enough, are found in the Sermon on the Mount.  There Jesus teaches us that we should not be anxious about things like clothing and food – material items.  Instead, he says, "Strive first for the kingdom of God and all these other things will be given to you as well."   
 
Martha and Mary's story instructs you and me in our own receiving of the Lord Jesus as our guest.  We act as his host when we open our hearts to him in prayer and sacrament and invite him into our lives.  On such occasions we would do well to keep Martha and Mary in mind. 

Our aim should be to spend time with Jesus – quality time. It is a time to be nourished by his caring and wisdom.  It is a time to be as quiet and composed as we can be – to be focused, -to be directed.  It's not a time to be flustered or distracted by our many cares.  Not that we can't or won't bring our cares with us to share them with the Lord, who will ease their burden.  But we need first to fix our minds on the kingdom and on that One whose presence we have invited into our lives.

And then, by lingering with him – by being in his company – our cares will fall into their proper place.  Inviting Jesus – receiving him – into our lives and our hearts is a matter of hospitality.

And our hospitality toward Jesus – if we practice hospitality toward Jesus – must naturally extend and flow to others.  We must expect to meet and greet him in the lives of others, especially those who most need our care:

"For I was a stranger and you welcomed me; hungry and thirsty and you gave me food and drink; naked and you clothed me; sick and in prison and you visited me." 

"Do not neglect to show hospitality . . . For just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me."

Our hospitality, whether toward family or friends, or the stranger among us, or the Lord himself – this hospitality will be a sign of gratitude to God, our acceptance of the stewardship of our lives and the graceful presence of the Spirit within us.

To practice hospitality is a gift. It is a gift which is measured best not by how elaborate our preparations are, but by the extent to which we have given of ourselves for the guest in our midst.  Hospitality is a wonderfully human virtue, because it is so readily within the reach of us all.  And the beauty of it – the best part – is that in practicing it, we mirror within us the very love of God and of our Lord Jesus Christ. And when you get right down to it, there is need of only that one thing: Hospitality, In the Name of the Father, and the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.