What do Mary and Martha teach us about discipleship?
The short stories told by and about Jesus in the gospels are both attractive and challenging. They are attractive because they are hands memorable (and at that place is a basic neuroscientific connection between story and retention), considering fifty-fifty in their compressed retelling they include compelling characters, and because we are fatigued to Jesus' pithy summaries of what we are to larn from these narratives ('Go thou and do likewise', 'Mary has called the meliorate part' and then on). Yet they are besides problematic, since the stories are set in a culture that has, in many respects, a different outlook from ours and a different gear up of values, and the lessons are oftentimes implicit rather than explicit. This means that we can easily misinterpret what is being said; nosotros can go locked into a tradition of interpretation which isn't actually faithful to the text; and we tin can use the story to adapt our own agenda. (I read a sermon terminal week on the Parable of the 'Good' Samaritan, and it turned out that the point of the narrative was to be inclusive and liberal, rather than being like those unpleasant narrow biblical scholars; yous might be able to infer from that the beliefs of the preacher!).
This is especially true of the lectionary gospel reading for Trinity 5 in Year C, the very short narrative of Jesus at the dwelling house of Mary and Martha. The Wikipedia entry on this story nicely summarises the dominant interpretive tradition:
Mary chose listening to the teachings of Jesus over helping her sister set food. Jesus responded that she was correct because only one thing is needed, "i affair" plainly meaning listening to the teachings of Jesus… To simplify, this is frequently interpreted equally spiritual values beingness more important than material business organisation, such every bit preparation of food.
At that place are many practical problems with this reading (who is going to move the chairs and tables after the Dominicus service?) too as personal ones (can I really justify my laziness by saying I was listening to Jesus?) and in that location has been some push back against this idea, ane of the most interesting existence Rudyard Kipling's verse form 'The Sons of Martha' which celebrates those engaged in practical service, which concludes:
And the Sons of Mary smile and are blest — they know the angels are on their side.
They know in them is the Grace confessed, and for them are the Mercies multiplied.
They sit at the Feet — they hear the Word — they see how truly the Promise Runs:
They have bandage their burden upon the Lord, and — the Lord He lays it on Martha'due south Sons.
Moreover, there is good research show which shows that Christians both experience they are expressing their faith most clearly when involved in practical action, and that this helps them learn and abound as disciples.
And Joel Greenish, in his NIC Commentary on Luke (p 433) rejects this tradition, since 'the interests of this brief narrative unit lie elsewhere' and Luke'south narrative is 'manifestly concerned with the motif of hospitality'. There are, in fact, textual, contextual, and canonical reasons for reading the text differently.
The passage begins with 'Now, every bit they went on their manner…'. We need to infer who 'they' are, and some ETs (such as TNIV) brand this explicit ('Jesus and his disciples') fifty-fifty though Luke's text does not specify this. The idea of being 'on the way' is typical of this long section of Luke'south gospel, until the archway into Jerusalem on Cloak Sunday (no palms in Luke!) and connects dorsum to the beginning of this textile in Luke ix.51. But there is also a connection with the preceding episode about the Good Samaritan, where the practical context was the danger of journeying and the importance of help and hospitality.
As is typical of many gospel stories, the disciples quickly disappear from view as 'he [ETs supply 'Jesus'] entered a certain village.' We know from John 11.one that this village was Bethany, which is virtually Jerusalem, and in that location is no reason to think that Luke's and John's descriptions of Mary and Martha and their household are distinct, contradictory or imagined. The different characterisations of the two sisters in the quite different episodes actually correlate well. Neither is there whatever need to be concerned most the selective nature of each story (where is Lazarus in this account?), since we know that each gospel writer is highly selective in what they recount (why does but Luke tell the story of the raising of the widows' son in Nain?). But what is clear is that Luke is taking this outcome out of society; we are a long way from Jerusalem in Luke's narrative of 'the Style', and even so Bethany is only a couple of miles from Jerusalem. For Luke, the controlling theme is questions of discipleship, rather than an interest in chronology. The idea of 'entering a village' whilst involved in the proclamation of the kingdom is reminiscent of the sending of the 12 and the 72 in Luke 9.6 and Luke 10.viii.
The proper name 'Martha' comes from the Aramaicmarahmeaning 'mistress' or 'lady', and is the feminine class of the termmar pregnant 'Master' or 'Lord', every bit inmaranatha('Our Lord, come up!' 1 Cor 16.22). Information technology is therefore not surprising that she is mentioned first, before the much more mutual name of Mary (I think Richard Bauckham suggests that about 25% of women that we know of in the first century were called 'Mary',Miriam). As would be expected in this culture, welcome and hospitality comes at the initiative of the one doing the welcoming, rather (as we might assume) in response to the initiative of the one seeking hospitality. Luke here uses an most technical term for 'welcome', one that recurs when Zacchaeus welcomes Jesus into his home in Luke nineteen.6. Martha here is operation every bit the 'person of peace' (Luke ten.half-dozen) in receiving Jesus in this way. Luke has a detail interest in hospitality, as we accept already seen in Luke 7.36; information technology occurs frequently in Acts, where hospitality and the welcoming of others into the habitation is non only a normal function of culture, but is also the mode that the gospel spreads and grows.
Martha's sis Mary is introduced abruptly, and in 'sitting at [Jesus'] anxiety' she is adopting the posture of a disciple in relation to a rabbi; existence seated is the traditional Jewish posture for education (Matt 5.one–2), hence bishops having 'cathedrals' name afterward thekathedra, the seat from which they teach. Although this is not completely without precedent, it contradicts the normal get-go century Jewish expectations of the function of women; they would larn the Torah in relation to their domestic roles, but that learning would usually come through other women, in detail, their mother. Jesus welcome of women likewise as men into the circle of his disciples is distinctive and counter-cultural; it is a characteristic of Luke (who emphasises the office of women, run into Luke 8.1–3 and the role of Priscilla in Acts 18) but it is also found in the other gospels, most notably Jesus' clarification of 'his brothersand sisters' as those who mind to his education and obey it in Matt 12.50.
Jesus is referred to iii times as 'Lord' (in verses 39, xl and 41); again, this is a distinctive of Luke and has of import Christological implications, since the term is not simply ane of respect ('Sir') but implies that Jesus' teaching is the didactics of God which must be heard and obeyed. The dissimilarity is usually inferred between Mary'due south listening and Martha's action in offering applied hospitality, merely that is not actually the dissimilarity that Luke is pointing us to. After all, in the preceding parable, Jesus has emphasised the importance of practical care asthe test of love of God and neighbour. And in the text, the issue is not the activity and then much as the focus. Luke tells usa that Martha is 'distracted' and Jesus observes that she is 'anxious and troubled', and nosotros tin can begin to see why in her request. Her concern is with 'me'—'Mary has leftme…tell her to helpme'—rather than her focus being in attending to her invitee, Jesus. The real contrast here is between lark caused by the 'many' rather than focus on the 'one'.
Mikeal Parsons (Paideia Commentary on Luke, pp 182–3) notes:
It is difficult too imagine that the authorial audition would empathize Jesus' praise of Mary to be an implicit criticism of Martha's hospitality, a point underscored past the repetition of Martha's name..a rhetorical device used to indicate pity or pity…
The saying is less a condemnation of Martha's frenzied activeness and more a citation of Mary's posture as a disciple.
And Joel Green concurs (pp 434, 437):
The welcome Jesus seeks is not epitomised in distracted, worrisome domestic performance, but in attention to this guest whose very presence is a disclosure of the divine programme…
With Jesus' presence the earth is being reconstituted, with the effect that (ane) Mary (and with her, those of low status accustomed to living on the margins of guild)need no longer be defined by socially determined roles; and, more than importantly in this co-text (2) Mary and Martha (and, with them, all)must understand nd act on the priority of attending to the guest earlier them, extending to Jesus and his messengers the sort of welcome in which the accurate hearing of discipleship is integral.
There is a rather nice reflection on the consequences of this on the Catholic website Aleteia:
So how will I treat Jesus when he sits at my tabular array this holiday? Will I ignore him in favor of basting the turkey?
I hope not. I promise to sit down and take in his beautiful face. I hope to spoon him the mashed potatoes that take been sitting in my crockpot since that morning because fifty-fifty if I'chiliad not a natural Martha or Mary, I'm faking information technology all the way. Of course, "Mary chose the better office when she chose [Christ]" but since I want nutrient on the tabular array when my guests arrive I'll concord with Fundamental Anastasio Ballestrero, the former archbishop of Turin: "In our firm there is room for Martha and room for Mary, and we must occupy both places. We must be Mary considering we are welcoming the Word, and we must be Martha because we are receiving the Son of Man."
So the chairs and tables do still need putting away, and the practical assistance of neighbor needs to exist done—only they all need to focus on the One in whose name nosotros practice them.
If yous enjoyed this, practise share it on social media, maybe using the buttons on the left. Follow me on Twitter @psephizo.Like my folio on Facebook.
Much of my work is washed on a freelance ground. If yous accept valued this post, would you lot consideraltruistic £one.twenty a month to support the production of this weblog?
If you lot enjoyed this, do share information technology on social media (Facebook or Twitter) using the buttons on the left. Follow me on Twitter @psephizo. Like my page on Facebook.
Much of my work is washed on a freelance footing. If you accept valued this post, you tin make a single or repeat donation through PayPal:
Comments policy: Good comments that appoint with the content of the post, and share in respectful debate, tin add real value. Seek first to understand, so to be understood. Make the most charitable construal of the views of others and seek to acquire from their perspectives. Don't view debate equally a conflict to win; accost the statement rather than tackling the person.
Source: https://www.psephizo.com/biblical-studies/what-do-mary-and-martha-teach-us-about-discipleship/
Belum ada Komentar untuk "What do Mary and Martha teach us about discipleship?"
Posting Komentar