Ninth Sunday after Pentecost (11C), July 21, 2013; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz
Colossians 1:15-28: “Jesus Christ is the image of the invisible God.”
Luke 10:38-42: “There is need of only one thing.”
As I wrestled with the news events of the last week and our readings for today (or perhaps as they wrestled with me), I realized that there were several sermons I wanted to preach this morning. One sermon would be about the prophet Amos’s strong critique of his people’s dependence upon military power, for his people’s grave injustices in social and economic interactions, for their repugnant immorality, and their shallow religious devotions. One sermon would be about the hymn text reading from Colossians, which, if sung to a majestic chorale tune or set in a Bach cantata chorus, would make many of us smile instead of squirm. And one sermon would be about the Gospel of Luke’s extremely well-known story of Jesus’ visit with Martha and Mary and how often it is used to pit one sister against another sister. In each sermon I would somehow find a way to add my voice to the public conversation about racism in our society, remembering our parish conversation about racism one month ago when we gathered in the parish hall to talk about Patrick Cheng’s latest book, Rainbow Theology.
1) Amos’s harsh critique is very pertinent to our own present context. 2) We have a savior in Jesus in whom we are called to see a manifestation of the living and invisible God (or Love, capital L, if you prefer) but our vision is so foggy. And 3) if the Tuesday morning Bible Study group and the vestry of Emmanuel Church are representative of this parish – and I think they are, we have some reconciling work to do if we are going to proclaim this particular passage from Luke as Good News for everybody.
And then, Trinitarian that I am, it occurred to me that indeed, those three sermons are one. I could hear Jesus saying, “Pam, Pam you are worried and distracted by many things!” Another way to translate is, you are anxious and getting pulled in many directions or, you are concerned and troubled, beset on every side. Why does Jesus need to say my name two times? To get my attention.
“There is need of only one thing.” But what is it? Surely the one thing is not sitting around all day when there is work to be done. Surely this is not about privileging contemplation over action, privileging gazing at the Lord over the work of hospitality. Surely this is not evidence of the superiority of faith versus works, or spiritual versus secular, or rest versus work. And surely Jesus was not lifting up the silence or passivity of Mary by throwing Martha under the bus. (Although, the Gospel writer of Luke might have been doing that; his portrayals of women are notoriously weak compared with the other Gospels.) A reading of this Gospel that perpetuates the pitting of these sisters against each other is a false reading and no Good News. A reading of this Gospel that assumes that this is just about women and household chores is feeble. So let’s stipulate that, just as the story of the Good Samaritan doesn’t just apply to how only men should or should not behave, this story of Martha and Mary doesn’t just apply to how women should or should not behave.1
What is the one thing that there is need of? The clue to the answer to this question is right in the verses which precede this story of Jesus with Martha and Mary in the encounter that prompts Jesus to tell the Good Samaritan story. The clue is the Sh’ma. The key is attention – attentiveness — listening. That is the one thing. It is the only thing. It is the central command of the Bible. “Hear, O Israel, the Lord is your God. The Lord is One.” Or as I prefer to translate it, “Listen deeply, you god-struggler, the Name (too holy to pronounce) is your God (Who is Love). Or, in short, “Listen deeply to Love.” Or “Listen deeply so that you will Love.” In this Gospel passage from Luke I hear Jesus calling the name, not just of Martha, but of each and every one of us—twice, to get our attention—when (or whenever) we get anxious, or distracted by much serving or by many things. The word distracted in Greek is literally pulled or dragged in all different directions. I hear Jesus calling us to focus on one thing – not just any one thing and not just one thing at a time, but THE one thing Which or Who is Love.
Let me just remind us all that Biblical Love is always much more a verb than a noun. Biblical Love is a being and doing, not an emotion or a feeling. Having called our names and gotten our attention, I am imagining that Jesus would like us to re-examine our assumptions and our commitments, our responses and our actions, while we focus our gaze on the embodiment of Love, while we tune our ears to listen more deeply to Love – so that we can be and do justice and mercy much better. There is need of only one thing: Listening to Loving.
Loving2 gets food on the table – everyone’s table and Loving gets the dishes done and the beds made. In fact, Loving makes sure that everyone has food and a bed. What’s more, Loving respects the inherent dignity of every human being. Loving includes action and contemplation, work and rest, public service and personal devotion. Loving insists on dismantling weapons, ending violence, and ensuring the just distribution of resources. Loving demands everything, costs everything, gives everything, and transforms everything. Loving is not naïve – it’s brave. Loving is NOT naïve. It’s brave. Loving is more powerful than even death. It won’t prevent death, mind you, not even Jesus’ death, but in Listening to Loving there is eternal life.
Whenever we are feeling pulled or dragged in many different directions, anxious and worried by many things, Jesus invites us – begs us to focus on Listening to Loving, to tune in to Loving.
And that brings me to what I want to add to the public conversation about racism in our culture. This is not a perfect metaphor, but it’s the best I’ve got this week.3 The racism present in our society is like cancer. You know, scientists have discovered that we all have cancer cells in us at all times. Something genetic and/or environmental causes those cells to organize and multiply in a body at a level that dramatically interferes with that body’s health. When that happens, the reaction is often some combination of shock, denial, confusion, anger, and grief. That’s what I’ve been noticing about the reactions to the Zimmerman verdict of last weekend, both in personal conversations as well as in what I see and hear via the media.
How do we best respond to cancer? Well, many many people work to learn more about prevention and cures – in research and development in medicine but also public health and environmental science – across many disciplines actually. We work to learn about factors which collude to trigger ill health due to cancer. Many more people fund that work. How do we best respond to an individual incidence of cancer? With treatment, elimination or prevention of the spread, sometimes palliative care, hopefully always with compassion. You know what’s not a helpful response to cancer? Denial, shaming or blaming. They are not helpful in treating and preventing racism either. Tuning out will not stop the spread. Avoiding talking about racism will not make it go away. Throwing up our hands in despair will make it worse.
We have to continue to deepen our understanding that we have work to do in our own hearts, in our own families, in our own neighborhoods, in our own cities and towns. We have to more widely and bravely enact our moral and ethical baptismal narrative about equality and the dignity of every human being. We have to engage in Loving solidarity with people right out there, who as I speak, are being treated as if they are disposable, as if they are less worthy of valuable resources like food and shelter, education and jobs, safety and well-being. It starts with kindness and redistribution of all kinds of resources. There is need of only one thing: Listening to Loving. Pray that we may Listen more deeply so that we will Love more perfectly.