Food for the Journey - a Spirituality of Liberation
Luke 10:38-42
Rev Dr Thorwald Lorenzen

The Ladies' Fellowship is a very important part of our church's life. They meet regularly for fellowship and inspiration. They study the Bible together and pray together. They care for each other and for us. They regularly visit the hospitals and share their lives with people who are housebound. They make nice things and hold bazaars and sell things and give the money to a good cause.

And they have given to the church a beautiful stained glass window "to honour the contribution by women to the early life of this church." Some of the women who actively pursued the donation of this window and who took part in the Church Anniversary Service (March 23, 1975) when the window was unveiled, are still active in the church today.

The picture points us to the story of Martha and Mary and Jesus in the Gospel of Luke. We heard it again this morning. But the sub-text also points us to a word from the Sermon on the Mount.

"You are the light of the world.
A city built on a hill cannot be hid.
No one after lighting a lamp puts it under the bushel basket,
but on the lampstand,
and it gives light to all in the house.
In the same way,
let your light shine before others,
so that they may see your good works
and give glory to your Father in heaven."
Matthew 5:14-16

We shall keep this text in mind as we give our attention to the story of Martha and Mary and Jesus.

Jesus

The centre of our story, as the picture beautifully illustrates, is neither Martha nor Mary, but Jesus. He accepts Martha's invitation and is welcomed to her house. So the question that both the story and the picture want to evoke, is what difference Jesus makes to the life of these two women, Martha and Mary.

And of course, as you all know, the church is not the school or university; a worship service is not a class room or information workshop; and a sermon is not a history lecture. We may therefore also want to know how this story, gathered up in this picture, interprets our life.

Martha

Martha is defined by her activity and her activity is described as - and here I will have to use the Greek word, which will help you immediately to get the point! - diakonia (v.40)! That rings a bell, doesn't it? Diakonia (service. ministry, preparing the Lord's Supper) was one of the main functions of ministry in the early church. There was the ministry of the Word and of Prayer, and then there was diakonia, looking after widows and orphans, running the soup kitchens. It was an important ministry - and it is no accident that many churches today are trying hard to retrieve and re-invigorate the office of deacon.

Some people have used this story to downgrade the diaconate and especially the diaconate of women. They say that women should be like Mary (at least Mary in this story). She is not saying a word and she silently listens at the feet of Jesus. But that sort of thinking has more to do with the wishes of some men than with the dynamic of the gospel.

This is not a story about Mary. This is a story about Martha. And we have given Martha a bad deal. So let me say it quite clearly: there is nothing wrong with Martha's activity and every church wishes to have more people like Martha. So, our challenge is to bring the diaconic ministry of the church together with Jesus' gentle reprimand: "Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her."

Let me try to inter-relate Martha and Mary and Jesus in this story with our world. We need more Marthas. We need more people who are committed to the church as diakonia! At the same time, we need food for the journey. We need a spirituality of liberation. Otherwise things and we will turn stale and sour.

Please consider three illustrations, from the world, from our own country's Church scene, and from our own individual experience.

Spirituality and Liberation. You will have heard about what is loosely called Liberation Theology. It started in Latin America, and from there it encircled the world and brought hope and renewal to many people who felt fated and forgotten. It was and is a small movement, but it touched a raw nerve in the world's and the church's conscience - and even put some fear into the power brokers of the world, like then President Nixon and Foreign Secretary Kissinger.

How did it all start? The poor in Latin America, Blacks in South Africa, women all over the world, oppressed in Korea and the Philippines, African Americans in the US, First Nation People in Canada, Aborigines in our own country, all those people who experienced oppression, injustice, fatedness - and who still wanted to hang on to God, and as such needed to interpret their situation before God.

Traditional churches were not very helpful. They said that the poor will always be with us; they exhorted people to remain in your state; they advised: don't rock the boat; women and slaves are second class; blacks need homelands and separate development; Aborigines need to be assimilated if they are to survive.

And then in 1968 and 1972 there were conferences of Roman Catholic Bishops in Medellin, Colombia and Santiago de Chile where some of the church leaders rediscovered that the pillars on which the church stands are the Exodus and the Resurrection. People began to understand that their poverty and oppression was not God's will, but it was the result of human selfishness and unwillingness to share power and resources; that they were not fated, and that things could be changed.

In the US the Baptist pastor Martin Luther King, Jr. led the Civil Rights movement with the song "we shall overcome". In Korea and the Philippines they developed a "theology of struggle". In South Africa they proclaimed the kairos, the moment of truth and change. A movement of activism swept around the world. Martha!

But then came the realisation that you need food to sustain the journey. The journey is important. But it is hard work. It is difficult to sustain. Many don't make it. But where would be without the courageous and insightful women and men who have reminded us that faith means freedom and freedom becomes manifest in liberation? We can't survive without diakonia. Martha is the lifeblood of the church.

But you get tired, you burn out. And when you get tired, you get jealous and frustrated and suspicious and critical. The vision becomes dim; the strength begins to drain away. Like Moses of old you can't keep your arms up and there are too few to hold them.

The Theology of Liberation was followed by a Spirituality of Liberation to remind Martha and us that there are wells to drink from. That we can't sustain the journey without the one thing that is needful: to listen to the word of Jesus.

Welfare and Koinonia. Here is another illustration - from our church scene. Who is the best known and most respected Christian group in our society? The Salvation Army! Why? Because of its commitment to help the battlers and speak up for the poor and disadvantaged. That is what the church should be, many say.

But do you know what the Salvation Army at present is concerned about? About building communities to sustain the vision and provide food for the journey. They realise that unless you have a spirituality undergirding your social justice work, you will burn out or you will end up as a secular welfare organisation.

We. And now to us. Do you know the feeling? You try to take your faith seriously. You realise that faith in Christ is more than going to church and saying your prayers. You work all day and then at night when others watch TV or are at the club or take it easy, you are engaged in diakonia. You realise that the church runs on volunteer time and energy, you have submitted your gifts to the altar and you want your church to be active and you realise that every one is needed to make the life of the church dynamic and relevant.

But then come the times when you wonder. Why haven't I got time to go to the movies or the theatre? Why should I do the work while the others seem to take it easy? Perhaps I have a helper's or a martyr's complex! Perhaps I need the work, rather than the work needing me. Martha's question has a ring of familiarity: "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work (diakonei=n) by myself? Tell her then to help me!" I don't know how often I have said that!

It is a dangerous statement. We are taking our eyes off Jesus. We are engaged in the human business of self-pity and self-justification. Not God or Jesus or the church or the poor, but the "I" enters centre stage. We forget that service does not seek rewards, that it has a certain self-forgetfulness related to it.

It is at that point where we need to hear that there are wells to drink from. That there is a spirituality to renew us. So when the self gets too much in the way, we may need some new and some more food for the journey.

Mary

It is at that point that Jesus' word about Mary is helpful. Mary is a minor player in the narrative. She does not say anything. She is a learner. She is a good reminder that we need to listen before we speak; that we need the word from beyond to fill us, before we can be of much earthly use.

And yet Mary also stands for liberation. You see in those days it was unusual - also in the churches - for a woman to be associated with the Word. The apostles are all men and it was only slowly that the church, and especially the men in the church, began to understand that Jesu had brought something new! So we know of quite a few churches (all churches were house churches in those days) that were led by women: Phoebe (Rom 16:1), Nympha (Col 4:15), Lydia (Acts 16:14f.40), Chloe (1 Cor 1:11) Mary, the mother of John Mark (Acts 12:12), and Priscilla, who is often mentioned before Aquila (Rom 16:3.5a; Acts 18:18.26; 2 Tim 4:19). But the learning was and is slow - up to the present day, as we all know.

Mary listens to Jesus. She studies the word. And when it sinks in, when she begins to understand that God's activity calls for our activity, indeed that God can only be known on the journey, then she will become like Martha. She will join the church's diakonia. And then she will need to remember what Martha needs to hear and what we all need to know - that when we become cynical or frustrated or tired, we may want to join Mary for a while and listen again to the words of Jesus - they are words that bring healing and inspiration and the power of renewal into our lives.

TL/Canberra 5/8/2001