Prayer: Come Holy Spirit, come.  Take my lips and speak with them.  Take our minds and think with them.  Take our hearts and set them on fire with love for you.  In Christ’s name, we ask it.  Amen

Each spring semester like clock work, I get a series of visits in my office from a particular cross section of UT students.  They all have two things in common.  One they are all seniors a semester away from graduating and entering “the real world.”  And, two, they all come pondering the same question.  Typically a question that they have been asked ad nauseam by friends, loved ones, and perhaps an anxious parent or two hoping their child will soon be off the family payroll.  That question is of course, “What am I going to do with my life?”  The first thing I tell them to do is breath and the second is that they don’t have to have it all figured out…at least yet.    

The poet Mary Oliver asks a similar, but perhaps more thoughtfully worded, question in her poem, “The Summer Day.”  Oliver writes, “What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”  On this fine summer day, as we discuss Jesus’ visit to the home of Martha and Mary, I think Mary Oliver’s question is appropriate, “What is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?”

If we were able to ask Martha and Mary what they planed to do with their lives, at least, during Jesus’ coming visit, we probably would get two totally different responses.  Martha might say, “Oh, I plan to straighten up the house, arrange some flowers, prepare a meal. After all, as a proper woman, this is my duty.”

“And what about you, Mary,” we could ask.  “Well, I plan to sit at the Lord’s feet,” she might say, “and listen to what he is teaching.  I have just one ‘wild and precious life,’ so I’m going to use it to soak up what rabbi Jesus has to say.”

Now the duty of a first-century Jewish woman was to do just what Martha was doing to help with household chores, and Mary knows this.  By sitting at the feet of Jesus, Mary is acting like a man—taking the place of a disciple.  She’s violating a crystal-clear social boundary and perhaps in the eyes of many bringing shame upon her family.  The Mishnah, which is a book of rabbinic lore, reads, “Let thy house be a meeting-house for the Sages and sit amid the dust of their feet and drink in their words with thirst.”  That is sort of what Mary does.  She seems to drink in Jesus’ words with a thirst.  However, the teaching in the Mishnah continues, “Let thy house be a meeting-house for the Sages… [But] talk not much with womankind.”  In a first century cultural reality, Martha is the one of the two sisters who makes the proper decision on how to live her precious, if not wild, life, not Mary.

Therefore, the end of the story is totally unexpected and is a radically new teaching.  As we heard, Martha asks Jesus to put Mary in her place. “Tell her to help me,” says Martha, assuming that Jesus will want their household to be in the proper physical and social order.  But not so, Jesus answers her, “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.”   

Now, as enlightened 21st-century Christians, we might want to give Mary a thumbs-up for her willingness to rock the societal boat and for choosing the better part of soaking in Jesus’ teaching rather than being distracted by mundane responsibilities.  But before we do so, I think we need to face the fact that many if not most of us tend to live our precious, if not wild, lives like Martha—not Mary.  You see we have a deep desire to be neat and tidy and organized.  We feel badly that our desks are overflowing with papers and our closets crammed full of clothes.  Most of us tend to follow, and rarely question, the rules that govern our lives.  And we tend to be busy bodies.    Cleanliness is next to Godliness.  The idle mind is the devil’s playground.  We believe these old adages and often live our precious lives by them without question.

Pittman Mageehee, former dean of Christ Church Cathedral, once told the story of a baptism he performed one Sunday morning.  He said it was his tradition to walk the newly baptized child up a down the center aisle of the church so the whole congregation could get a good look at the newest member of the Christian family.  This particular Sunday as he walked down the aisle he felt a tug on his robe and turned to see a disheveled woman dressed all in red with a huge smile on her face.  He didn’t recognize her and thought initially that something might be a little “off” with her.  The woman looked Pittman straight into his eyes and said, “I am Jesus.”  Well, he continued on down the aisle and then as he made his return trip back to the front of the church he felt the same tug, turned, and again the same woman looking straight into his eyes said, “I am Jesus.”  As he returned to the altar, he whispered into the ear of Canon John Logan who was assisting with the service, “I think Jesus is in the congregation.  What do we do?”  Without questioning the strange statement, Canon Logan said simply, “Look busy.”   

No offence intended to Canon Logan, but there is a problem with this sentiment.  God wants us to take seriously the value of our “one wild and precious life.”  And to do so, we must pay attention to Jesus when he honors Mary for listening instead of laboring.  And we need to accept the fact that a perfectly organized life that is full of activity is not the key to living the wild and precious life that God and our own hearts’ desire for us.

I believe what Mary has to teach us about living an adventurous and meaningful life concerns setting priorities.  Martha fusses around in the kitchen, “distracted by her many tasks”, while Mary leaves her stuff in a pile and plops down at the feet of Jesus.  You see Mary’s first priority is taking this rare and rich opportunity to be filled by the wisdom and blessing of God’s word as it flows from Jesus.  Moreover, through this empowering experience Mary will be more and more able to go and to do, to work hard, in a way that will be exciting and produce fruit in abundance.

As I am sure you know, Jesus told a story, just two chapters earlier in the gospel of Luke, about what happens when a seed—representing the word of God—falls among thorns.  In that case, Jesus says the fruit of the seed cannot mature, because the thorny people are preoccupied with “the cares and riches and pleasures of life.”  Poor Martha, as hard-working as she is, is a bit thorny. Although she’s fulfilling her social obligations, her duties distract her from hearing God’s word flowing from the lips of Jesus.  In this particular situation, she simply doesn’t have her priorities straight.  She is missing out on an opportunity to be fed by the bread of life and to drink from the living water which would give greater meaning and excitement to everything else she accomplishes in life.

As for Mary, she “has chosen the better part,” says Jesus, “which will not be taken away from her.”  Mary knows that a person “does not live by bread alone.”  Like the disciples, she risks much to follow and learn from Jesus.  Mary is much like the teenager who gives up a week of the summer holiday to go on a Mission Trip that serves the urban poor in Galveston with the EYC.  She’s like the man who gives up a Saturday golf game to attend a quite day for spiritual growth here at All Saints’.  She’s like the woman who devotes an hour every week to lead prayer on a Tuesday morning here at Loaves and Fishes for members of Austin’s underserved population.  She’s like the family who makes a commitment to be in worship every Sunday morning—even on a lovely Sunday like today, in the middle of the summer.

Now I feel like this sermon has been really unfair to Martha who does nothing more that what was required of her and, I am certain, does that work well.  The fact is creating opportunities for spiritual growth is not an excuse to let everything else in our lives spiral out of control.  It’s still important to cook nutritious meals for ourselves and our children. Perhaps sadly, we still must pay mortgages and utility bills on time and maintain good tax records in case we ever get a friendly call from the IRS.  Today’s gospel lesson simply suggests that these activities should be kept in their proper place.  They should not be allowed to distract us from the higher priority of paying attention to the ways God speaks in our lives. 

If we will create rare and rich opportunities to hear God and grow spiritually, we’ll find that God has given us one wild and precious life—a life that can be filled with love and challenge and risk and purpose.  It’s a life that may be messy at times, but is often filled with adventure and that bears much fruit. 

So put down the Blackberry, walk away from the busyness of daily life, like Mary, it’s time to take a seat amid the dust of Jesus’ feet and drink in his words with thirst.  Amen.

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