Which is better--a 2010 Chevy Corvette or a 1969 Ford Mustang Convertible in mint condition?

Which is better--fresh salmon marinated and then grilled to flaky delicacy with a light brushing of lemon or a prime steak grilled medium rare with fresh mushrooms? 

Which is better--Johns Hopkins Medical in Baltimore or the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota; an MBA from the University of Chicago School Booth School of Business or Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management? 

Which is better--Beethoven or Mozart--Michael Jordan or Babe Ruth--Shakespeare or Charles Dickens--Steven Spielberg or Cecil B. Demille? 

Which is better, Mary or Martha?  Jesus comes to visit.  Mary sits at Jesus’ feet listening, reflecting on his words, contemplating the promise of his teachings, celebrating the power of his miracles.  Martha is busy in the kitchen, serving, touching, fixing, preparing and caring so much that she will sacrifice her very being for another person.

The traditional and most common reading of our Gospel text for today is to compare and contrast the actions and priorities of Mary and Martha.  Most often it is suggested that what we find in this story is the contrast between the active and the contemplative life.  Since earliest Christian antiquity we have been haunted by the words of Jesus that given Mary and given Martha--Mary chose the better part.

The commonly understood point of this story is the need for us to realize that in living our lives we need to be anxious enough to be responsible and get life's necessary chores done, but, we don't want to get so "worried and distracted" over so "many things" that we forget what makes our activity meaningful-"the better part" (Mt 10:42) that Mary chooses. We may need bread, but we also need to remember we don't "live by bread alone" (Lk 4:4).

The Christian community has struggled for centuries to give real life expression to these contrasting approaches to faith and life.  In the middle ages various religious orders emerged reflecting these two approaches to the world.  On the one hand there were the reclusive or enclosed Christian communities, who gave themselves entirely to the work of prayer, living stoic celibate lives often in silence cut off from the world in the monastery or cloistered convent.  On the other hand there were those religious who were active in the world performing corporal works of mercy caring for the sick and the needy, feeding the hungry, educating children and reaching out to the world as missionaries of the Gospel

We have come to recognize that Mary and Martha do not represent two mutually exclusive life styles. People have realized that the world cannot exist for long if everyone is praying and no one is working.  Yet the text does say that Mary chose the “better part”.  We need to be careful that we do not interpret Mary’s choice of the better part as making her a better person than Martha.  We should also recognize that nowhere is it indicated that Mary was not capable of doing all the same things that Martha was doing.  If we accept the story as it is presented at its most basic descriptive level we find two views of what it means to follow or serve God. Martha is busy serving everyone with all the details of hospitality, food, drink, attention to guest’s needs, serving Jesus and those with him, but Mary also has taken a position of service by sitting at Jesus’ feet.  In ancient times to sit at someone’s feet was the position of devotion, of following.  In the book of Acts in the Bible we read that the early Christians would gather at the feet of the disciples.  One placed themselves in service to the Word by listening, by sitting at the teacher’s or rabbi’s feet.

Martha’s task orientation is far easier to identify with today than the more elusive position of listening, contemplation and reflection.  In our modern world it is not easy to pause, to take time to reflect, to actually think about the faith, to pray.  We generally know more about action than contemplation, reflection and prayer.  Our lives are organized around the many activities we have on our calendars.  Our Blackberries and iPhones are constantly flashing us reminders of the next thing we need to be doing.  We are a Martha society and our technology is designed to support our activity priorities.  I don’t know of anyone who programs their calendars with reminders  to pause, listen or pray.  But not all the world is like us.

Pastor Chris and I have just returned from two weeks in Turkey.  We visited our son Tim and his work with refugees in Istanbul, we had some time with family relaxing on the southern coast of Turkey, we visited a number of archeological sites at locations where the Apostle Paul first proclaimed the Christian faith.  Places with familiar Bible names from the Book of Acts like Ephesus, Petera, and the island of Rhodes.  Turkey is a Muslim country and has been for well over a thousand years.  The first night we arrived in southern Turkey after traveling for 19 straight hours.  It was after dark by the time we were settled in our hotel room a short distance from the airport.  By the time we had finished our dinner it was approaching midnight local time.  We collapsed in bed agreeing we would sleep in a bit in the morning.  At 4:21 a.m. we were both jolted awake by a voice chanting over a loudspeaker that sounded like it was located in the upper corner of our room. 

Allahu Akbar the voice chanted in long extended syllables.  Then paused and repeated the phrase again.  Allahu Akbar.  Another pause and then the next phrase. Ash-had an la ilahah illa llah  It was the morning call to prayer, the adhan, offered an hour before sunrise by the muezzin who used to have to climb to the top of the minaret five times a day to call upon the people to pause and prepare to pray.  Thanks to modern technology, the minarets are now equipped with the best and loudest speakers to be found so all the muezzin needs to do today is flip a switch and pick up the mike.  I would later learn that the morning call to prayer translates into the words: 

God is the most great

I testify that there is no deity except for God

I testify that Muhammad is a Messenger of God

Make haste towards the prayer

Make haste towards success (reward)

(And here is the line used only in the morning)

Prayer is better than sleep

God is the most great

There is no deity except for God.

The phrases are repeated over and over with dramatic pauses between each line.  For a good ten minutes the muezzin chanted the words over and over.  When daylight finally came and we could see out our third floor motel window we discovered that about 150 yards across the olive garden that stood behind our hotel was the mosque with its minaret speaker array aimed directly at our windows.  For the next two weeks, five times a day, where ever we were a loud speaker voice would call out for the people to pause, to reflect, to pray.

We are a task oriented people.  The most common question we heard this week was What did you do on your vacation?”  I’ll be honest, we began each day of vacation with a discussion of what we were going to do.  Nobody flies all the way to Turkey just to sit, do they?  And yet as the weeks passed we were drawn more and more to the street cafes and the crowds of people stopping for mid-morning and afternoon tea.  Turkey may be a secular state but the need to pause, even if not in prayer, still had its place in the culture and society.  “Ah, American, sit here” one café host would say to me as we walked by.  “Here,” he said as he pulled out a chair.  We would keep walking and I would hear him saying “What, you cannot even take time to sit?”

There was a time when Christians also set aside certain times each day for prayer and contemplation.  We did not have muezzin in minarets but we did have church bells.  Now we prioritize the doing parts of our lives but our text would remind us that the Christian faith is not defined simply or completely by doing.  The Islamic call to prayer is understood as the obligation, the required work of an observant Muslim along with expectations of pilgrimages and contributions.  Ours is not a faith that is defined as an ethic, by the doing of good works or the right or the proper deeds. The gift of the Protestant reformation, the center of our Lutheran confession, is that our faith does not depend on works or rituals but wholly on the word of God and God’s grace.

Mary sat at Jesus’ feet and listened to what he was saying.  To hear God’s word today means taking time to read scripture, taking time to sit quietly in church, taking time for reflection, contemplation, prayer, and thinking the faith.  Such a time of pause, reflection, centering and thinking does not mean that nothing happens.  In fact, when we take time to let God’s Spirit move in and around us we usually find ourselves responding with some call to action.  I don’t know about you but one of the scariest things my spouse can say to me is “I was just thinking...” Maybe what scares me most is the fact that her thoughts always lead to some action.  Left alone to our own thoughts the actions usually involve our agenda. I was just thinking--we really need to paint this room I was just thinking--we could take a bike trail all the way to Chicago I was just thinking--  But when our thoughts are centered on God’s word, when we are in prayerful dialog with God, then the actions that flow forth often find new direction.  I was just thinking about those who are hungry in the world, you know what we can do?  We can...  I was just thinking about that family up the street, what I would like to do is...

On vacation in Istanbul we attended an Anglican service which allowed me to worship and listen to a sermon.  For me, one of the best things about worship and listening to sermons, is the time I have to sit and reflect. I guess if I’m honest it is a bit of guided day dreaming, a time to reflect on thoughts suggested by the scriptures read, hymns sung and prayers offered.  There are very few times when we really just sit with our thoughts when we take time to center ourselves like we do during worship.  To have time to listen, to listen to what God would have us think--and then do.  This is actually part of the miracle or revelation, one of the gifts of this morning.

There is a very powerful idea behind today’s gospel text.  There is a basic assumption that if you think about God and the world properly there is no way you will do other than what God would have you do.  I have just returned from a land where for two weeks I found it impossible to go for more than a few hours without thinking about God.  Each time the Muezzin’s voice echoed across the city or the country side I found my thoughts turning to God.  As a Christian I was under no obligation to unroll my prayer rug and try to turn toward God but I did find it a powerful reminder to me each day of God’s constant presence in our lives, our thoughts, our prayers.  My return to America and this morning’s worship service sadly reminds me that fewer and fewer Americans are hearing God’s call to prayer even once a week.  Our Martha driven agendas are too busy to pause, to listen, to pray.  That is why our story today is so important.  Jesus said, Mary chose the better part.

Martha did nothing wrong, her intentions were good, her actions truly commendable, but she was distracted by her many tasks.  Life passes so quickly.  Children grow up too fast, relationships slip away.  There is a literary saying, Carpe Diem, it translates as “seize the day" and the point of the saying is to stress the importance of not wasting time, of taking advantage of every moment Each moment consists of more than just actions and things that must be done there is a revelatory quality. A chance to sit at the teacher’s feet, to discern what God would have us think.

There is a part of our lives that is the better part.  There is a part of our lives that is the one thing that we need.  There are answers to the questions of our lives that come as we learn to think our faith.  That means following Mary’s example pausing to hear what Jesus would have us to know. 

Mary chose the better part because it made her life fuller, more meaningful, richer.  There would be time enough to do, to be busy but for this moment she would sit at the master’s feet.  Taste of his teachings, drink deep from the cup of grace, then rise and go, do, serve.  Let us pause and listen to that voice that calls us to think on God not just five times a day but with every breath we breathe.  Let us also choose the better part.

Amen