Luke 10:38-42

You can take this story at face value and make it about a busy older sister (we don’t know for sure, but based on how bossy she is - she probably was the oldest ;) and her “got my priorities straight” little sister who models making Jesus #1 in our lives (perfect little sisters, am I right?). I mean, if you’re like me and grew up in church you have probably never heard this story any other way.

But viewed in another light, Martha’s complaint about her sister is not just about needing help, but rather about gender roles and the “place” of women. Look where Mary puts herself - seated herself at the feet of Jesus. Now not everybody recognized Jesus as the Messiah, but He was recognized as a good teacher and a rabbi. And the only people who sat at a rabbi’s feet were those learning from him, usually in a conversational, question and answer style dialogue. Culturally at this time, that excluded and prohibited women. Mary, sitting at the feet of Jesus, with all the men, was not culturally accepted in that time. So Martha complains, because in her home perhaps she is bothered by this atrocity. Or maybe she’s pointing it out, full of hope that Jesus will affirm her own heart that agrees with Mary. We really can’t know Martha’s heart except she certainly pulls from cultural gender roles. She tells Jesus that Mary needs to get back in the kitchen where she belongs. Mary needs to help serve the men, where she belongs.

And Jesus replies, Mary is exactly where she belongs.

I don’t think my younger generation can really feel the impact of that in today’s world where women are more and more being recognized as equal to men (though we certainly have a far way to go, especially in the church at large). Imagine all the men sitting at Jesus‘ feet learning - and the whole time they’re casting sideways glances at this woman who just plopped herself down in the middle of them. Jesus never looks at her and says anything and the men are starting to wonder. If they are good Jewish men they probably inched away from her because they certainly would not want to accidentally touch her! Jesus keeps teaching and they’re trying to listen but they just can’t understand what this woman is doing. Finally, finally, her sister comes out of the kitchen and tells Jesus she should not be there! All the men take a big sigh of relief because it’s finally going to be put right. But Jesus chastises the woman from the kitchen. He tells her that Mary has chosen the best thing, the good and proper thing (in other versions). He affirms to Martha and to the crowd of men that Mary can learn and grow and be a disciple and follow Him, just like they can. In a culture that didn’t, Jesus was acknowledging that women were just as smart as men, were valued just like men, and also had the full acceptance of God. The story ends there for us, but I wonder if Martha plopped herself down at the feet of Jesus too at that point.

Even if you want to hold onto the fact that this story is just about being busy and not taking the time to make Jesus a priority (which of course, I don’t), you have to admire Mary’s tenacity in that culture to put herself in the middle of a group of men. It takes guts to do things that are counterculture. I’m reminded of a meme I shared on Facebook a while back, it makes me think of Mary in this moment. With a pretty background it simply said, “Strong women. May we know them. May we be them. May we raise them.”

Amen.