Today's gospel reading from the daily office is from Luke 10, the whole Mary and Martha thing. Sidenote: I once saw some sort of religious resource for women titled: Having a Mary Heart in a Martha World. If memory serves, I remember gagging a little bit, anyhow...the story is that Jesus goes to Mary and Martha's house, Mary sits listening at Jesus' feet while her sister does all the cooking and housework. Martha is like, "Hello? I'm doing ALL the work here, tell her to get off her ass and help me" To which Jesus replied "Get a grip, what's more important, me or the dishes?" (Revised Nadia Translation) actually the text reads: "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." (Luke 10:41-42 NRSV). I've always heard this story being told as a tale of 2 sisters, one a faithful disciple who knows how to be a follower of Jesus and one who is a selfish, bitter busy-body. Maybe that's not the point at all. On one hand I feel like ...seriously, it's easy for Jesus to say "don't worry so much about the housework" when he didn't exactly have a household to run and in reality was supported by his followers. true. But maybe he's telling us that the kitchen will become dirty again about a milisecond after we clean it . . . that we should not tend to these things at the expense of that which cannot be taken away . . . namely, an experience of Christ. Then again, maybe the message is "don't be such a bitter bitch" either way, it's good for me to hear.
I've always liked this passage for its affirmation of women in ministry. I see Martha as being most pissed that Mary was out of the women's quarters and sitting at Jesus feet. The only reason to sit at a rabbi's feet was to train to become a rabbi oneself. Mary was not only not doing housework, she was challenging basic cultural assumptions about women...
Posted by: Julie Clawson | October 27, 2006 at 07:48 AM
Nice. Thanks for the perspective. I'm all for gals bustin' out!
Posted by: Nadia | October 27, 2006 at 07:55 AM
what a great photo to put with this post! (i love sherman's photography.) i've only recently heard this story put the way that Julie puts it, it makes me really like the story more than i did before. Love your Revised Nadia Translation!
Posted by: brenda | October 28, 2006 at 08:01 AM