Seeing humanity

 Martha and Mary are quintessential displays of opposites within the scriptural challenges that appear in the Gospel passages (Lk. 10.38-42).  In looking at this passage all sorts of reasons are given for the reason for Christ's saying that Mary had chosen the better part.  In some respects all are quite right and it is very dependant on our own circumstance as to how we will interact with the implications within this small vignette.

Perhaps, for me it is the way that the two women are in their being which is of importance rather than what Christ is doing or saying.  Martha is for me the epitome of  many wives and partners who are house proud.  I am not saying anything against this, in fact I am reminded by Martha of my wife.  Whilst she was alive we enjoyed, immensely the opportunity to entertain friends and colleagues around the dinner table.  Often I would be the cook for these occasions whilst she would make the table arrangements and  insist that every nook and cranny was dusted and cleaned to perfection.  There was none of this sweep it under the carpet or close the door on the untidy aspects of the house.  The house was swept and cleaned from top to bottom prior to the guests arrival.  I would often despair at the minutiae and detail to which she was prepared and insisted on going to on behalf of the guests.  It helped that she kept the house appearance clean in the first place.  For me this is Martha.  A woman who worries about the state of things prior to and during the guests stay in the house.  It is a celebration of the household and the person takes pride in offering first class hospitality to the stranger and friend alike.

I am in contrast somewhat like Mary.  I am content to be with the guest or the company (if I were not cooking), not as an entertainer, nor as a conversationalist but by the pleasure of being with, listening and contributing to the peace and companionship of the moment.  My concern was that the food be delicious and that I could spend quality time with our guests, irrespective of who they were. I often became frustrated with the pedantism  of my wife in the lead up to a dinner or having guests around.  It was not that I did not see the need for a clean house and a neat appearance, what I objected to was the fuss.  I am quite content to ensure a clean appearance but I don't need to make an overt effort just because guests are arriving.  My kids and the family live in the home, it is not a show house, we are here to be with the guest not to showcase the house as if it were an object for sale.

In this story, we must remember that it is Jesus that they are entertaining.  This is something we often overlook when trying to come to grips with the interpretation of the story.  We automatically see the entry of the Christ and make an assumption that this illustrates Mary's understanding of the Christic presence.  Let us see the humanity on display when we look at the episode not the presence of God/Christ.  This for me is an emphasis on Jesus' humanity and the interaction that is happening at the human level.  If we delve into the fanciful footwork of seeking the spiritual in every reading we fail to accommodate the more basic human reality that brings us into contact with God. It is here in the simple humanity of two people in company that brings in the Christic presence not the fact of Jesus 'the Christ'.

Interacting with a person takes energy, is this why we only see individuals? (www.lifehack.com)

This simple interaction of a person with a person, when we engage with the other as a person not as a label, denies our tendency to ostracise and individualise everyone.  If we do not see this in our lives, we become the same as the Israelites that Amos rails against (Amos 8.5-6) who are only after their own individual success and not the concerns of the person.  Our day to day dealings are with individuals who have no personality or rather whose personality is of no consequence to us.  Until we realise for ourselves the need to come into conscious communion with our neighbours as ourselves, look them in the face and see them for themselves, we will be unable to find Christ and God's gracious presence in our lives. We burden ourselves with our day to day concerns, as Martha did, whilst not attending to our day to day interactions that happen in the present not the future.  The presence of God is in the present, this is where we live. Mary sees the person of Jesus in the present and therefore sits before Christ.  It is not that Mary sits before Christ who happens to be Jesus, this is the wrong way round as it means that Mary is seeing an object not a person.  Although Dr Ike, from Global Ethics, is talking about leadership and followership his quote equally applies to each of us on a daily basis:

 "The bottom line for leadership and followership is not always the emphasis on what I have but rather on who I am. Not what I learnt from others but rather on what I taught.  Not what I received, but rather on what I gave.  Not what I pulled out and took but rather on what I put in. Not what I accumulated, but what I shared.  Indeed and worthy of thought, not even on how or what I lived, but what I left behind.This is the challenge."

Neglecting the plumb line

 We all enjoy the stories and the parables that are in the bible and one that has become  something of a commonplace saying in our society is that of the "Good Samaritan". We even have groups that call themselves Samaritans who do good works. So when we say someone is a 'good Samaritan' we automatically think back to Christ's parable in Luke's Gospel (10:25-37). However, this story has no real impact in today's world as it's meaning is to a certain extent known and applied as a descriptive to people in society. Attempts have been made to re-cast the story so that it has made more of an impact, such that in the modern world we might substitute 'LGBTQIA+ person' or 'Refugee' or 'Russian soldier' to try and make an impact depending on the audience. Yet, we know the story so the impact is often lessened irrespective of how we choose the protagonist. The shock factor is gone from the edgy story that Christ tells in his community. So what does the story and the other readings tell us for the modern day?

When we walk through the community or when we engage with the community it is always a specific group that we interact with either friends or else others that we know through some means or another. It is not often that we interact with strangers to and within the community. That is simply because we are often unaware of their presence or else we like everyone else in the community shun them. They are often thought to be beneath us or are tolerated within the community because they are doing an essential job. In some instances it is because they are doing the jobs that no one else wishes to do. They are those that pass unnoticed, for whatever reason, through the community and society in general. It is also of note to suggest that many of these will also profess 'no religion' but certainly not all. In a manner of speaking these are often the outcast of society those that are untouchable. It is not those that are within the system, so to speak, that are the ones that are demonstrating the presence of God. In reality it is often those that are on the inside who have lapsed into inattention and require a shock to the system to enable them to participate with God.

So, who is your neighbour?

I pause to note an article by Rev Sempell referring to the conservatism in Sydney and suggest that this ultimately reveals the loss that we have when we neglect the outsider that Christ uses to illustrate the point in the Samaritan story. It is clear that we often do not take note of that outsider and are more often prone to look only at the priest or the scribe as they make their journey past the wounded man, more importantly we should change the gender of the wounded person to make this point. Even when Christ tells the story we are left to wonder the ethnicity of the wounded man (sic). Is it indeed a case of like looking after like or as we seem to have surmised is it the other looking after the other and opening themselves up to that love. By committing ourselves to our own self portraits of what it means to help the other or even listen to the other we seem to limit our ability to reach out. What is fascinating about this is our loss of 'bums on seats' and the increased number of 'nones' (who used to be 'none of the above' meaning the normal list of religious affiliations) who almost see this as another 'religion'. The disillusionment that has been increasing has increased the number of those on the outside who we should be listening to rather than disregarding whilst bemoaning their loss. Perhaps, it is our own laissez faire attitude to our faith that has allowed this to occur and demonstrate that we too are among those who pass by the opportunity to engage with the other to bring healing and love.

The plumb line that God (Amos 10:7-9) has taken out is the one that matters and we cannot disregard those who say otherwise. We cannot afford to be dismissing of the voices of the other (Amos 7:12-13) but rather we need desperately to listen to those who are not part of our little group in the world and try to find that open ground that allows us to listen as much as speaking about what God can do for the other. It may well be that we will find that each of us is travelling towards God in different ways but all of us still have Christ at the centre rather than the laws that we enact and that we formulate and that we control our lives by. God calls us out to the other to bring the Kingdom of God near to them by willingly ministering and showing God's love in our lives rather than preaching what we do not necessarily live. 

Following the new possibilities

  We all have our faults and sometimes those faults exacerbate our poor relationships. Unless the fault is pointed out we often believe that we are doing nothing wrong and yet our relationships continue to suffer. The repair may become something simple as it was for Naaman who was asked to wash in the Jordan but balked because it was not a river of his own country (2 Kings 5:10-11). We often find our faults within our own religious experience as we have a tendency to push our own views on others so that we look as if we are in the right or at least in a position of spiritual and faith authority (Gal. 6:13). I feel that this is often where we go wrong in terms our walking with God and proclaiming the Gospel in the world. Certainly when the missionaries went out into the world from London and conquered the world for Christ there was much harm done as a result of their thinking. In a manner of speaking we too have inherited the gifts of fault from our forefathers in how we look at spreading the Gospel.

We really need to look at the sending out the disciples in a new light (Luke 10:1-24). This is not so much as radical as practical and is as such radical in a manner of speaking. We always talk about doing mission but what is that in terms of the Gospel? There are reams written on missiology or the study of mission and how it is undertaken. There are a number of Theological degrees in Missiology or contain aspects of Missiology. I am no means a missiologist but it seems to me that Christ instructions are either lacking or simply superb for our modern day. There are no detailed how to paragraphs in the passage around the sending out of the disciples either in Luke or any other Gospel. There are really only about four things stay where you are, eat what is set before you, heal the sick and tell them that the Kingdom of God has come near. In other words become accepted into the community without disrupting and live as God intended you to live. There are no commandments around worship, around proselytising or anything other than to be ourselves and in doing so heal those around us. Yet, this is the hardest thing to do because we cannot allow our behaviours to disrupt relationship but rather create relationships in the presence of God.

Just think for a moment about the political life of the Anglican church here in Australia when we think of harm being caused as a result of our belief systems. In some sense there is a tendency by some to focus on the narrow aspects of the law and cling to this as if it is a lifeline while others seek God's presence in difference so they can out reach to those who are in need. Neither are wrong but the way that we as a group behave by creating the polar difference, we are enacting that which has gone before. We are not asked to place our burdens on others but rather to heal and relieve the burdens that others carry. We cannot heal if we ourselves are imposing restrictions and the means to bring healing into the world by our increasingly polarised views. No matter how we go out into the world Christ asked us to bring God's love not our own views on who or what God is or the restrictions we place on ourselves as a result of our own viewpoints.

Walking with God does not have to be alone

If we are to think of ministry and mission in these terms what does that actually mean for a community such as ours or any other community that believes in God? Some would I am sure tell you that you should be gearing up for a group effort to go out and bring the Gospel to those around us. How? Well obviously going house to house and telling them about God and talking about the Church, which Church? Well the Anglican, one of course! The Catholics and others have all got it wrong. However, I do not think that is what Christ and God actually call us to. Christ gave himself to new life, not a re-hashing of what has gone before. We need to re-look at ourselves and say what is it that does not appeal to those around us to such an extent that they do not want to worship or come together? Perhaps, it is not that they do not want to participate but feel that our anchors in the past are too much to overcome. Perhaps they are just looking for a normal life but with love. Perhaps its wanting to explore new understandings without being tied to traditional ways and yet profoundly show God's love in what they do. Perhaps you are called by God into something new which others deem as not us. If so then perhaps you need to find God's Spirit and be encouraged because God calls us to new life not stagnant life.