19 July 1998
Jesus is going to Jerusalem because it is unthinkable that a prophet should die anywhere but there. It had not been one of those comforting journeys south. In the course of that journey, Jesus alternates between the public forum and the private place. Last week, it was a confrontation with the lawyer: Lord, what must I do to earn eternal life? And who is my neighbor? Today, Jesus is in this wonderful private home in Bethany with friends he loves, taking time out to be away in a private place from the crush of the crowds.
The public and the private. We know them so well, because we, too, live in both arenas. Both demand our attention, our time and our efforts. Both demand about 80% of our time and effort. So there is always some kind of conflict in balancing the public with the private in our lives. It is quite challenging to face the dictates of business, career and schools on the one hand, and to face the demands of being a family and a household on the other. As it is with us — so it is with Jesus.
Jerusalem is for him the public place, the place of confrontation, the place of being with so many more people, always on stage, always being watched, always being the one in the middle. Galilee for him is a place of retreat, his homeland, the place with that wonderful lake that he loves so well — to go boating or fishing there, to sit by the shore and talk with his friends without the crowds that gather to him.
As he nears Jerusalem, the temple becomes the public place of Holy Week, the place of intrigue, plotting and trouble, and of taking out whips and beating up on the money changers. The Mt. of Olives in this little place of Bethany would be a place of retreat throughout the week. This home in which he goes today is a private place, and yet even here, there is conflict between activity on the one hand and contemplation on the other, symbolized by the two sisters, Martha and Mary.
Now, I do not know about you, but if one of my closest friends were to drop in for dinner, I would not be too terribly upset. I would be thrilled. But if he brought twelve of his friends with him, and I was just preparing soup and a salad for the two sisters, I would be a little more than upset — but never let on, of course, because the host or hostess doesn't let on how much trouble you are causing.
So Martha busies herself in the kitchen. She goes to the freezer and finds something in there and microwaves it. She is bustling around getting it cooked, getting the vegetables and the meat prepared and the beverages made, and all of that. You know what she is doing in there besides cooking! She is arguing with Mary who isn't even in the room. She is thinking of all the things she would say to that sister of hers who knows how busy she is and who is out there with the guys!
She doesn't go out and say, Mary, would you come here, I could use a little help in the kitchen. By the time she goes through the door into the living room she is so upset she won't even look at Mary. She goes straight to Jesus and says, "Lord, can't you see how busy I am and that woman over there is just sitting around chatting. Send her out to the kitchen!" (You've been there. You know what I am talking about!)
Jesus says, "Martha, I did not come here to cause trouble. I didn't even come here to get a free meal. What I came for was refreshment and peace, to sit down and relax, take my shoes off, crank the Lazy Boy back and maybe watch a golf match on TV. So just chill. Sit down and join us. Mary has chosen to relax with me and just to be present. Why don't you? We'll eat later."
You see, the business of life and the respite of life are not opposites. They are two facets that are very necessary for balance in life and it is a universal struggle. It is true with Jesus and it is true with us. We need to be busy, to do things that are important, to show hospitality, to provide nice meals for our guests, but we also need to make our guests honored by being with them. We also need, like Jesus, to take some time out once in a while — to go away alone or to go to the home of a friend where there is no agenda, where no one is watching, where no one is taking names or notes and just to be able to be ourselves with our guard down, to relax. We know what it is like and so does Jesus — it was not new with Jesus.
A similar type of event is going on in the life of Abraham and Sarah today. Three people show up out of nowhere. Who they are Abraham doesn't know, but it is obligatory in the desert to show hospitality to any who come your way — to give them something to drink and something to eat, because after all, you may be in their shoes next week. It is a dictate of desert life to show that kind of hospitality. So Abraham quickly goes into the tent and says, "Sarah, Sarah, we have guests. Would you please get ready and prepare a meal." So 90 year old Sarah says, "Oh, absolutely." (Well, she probably didn't say that - but they didn't write that part in the scripture.) Sarah busies herself preparing part of the meal. Abraham goes out and kills the animal so it too can be cooked up and hospitality can be provided.
Once again, we have this division between the business, the setting aside and just being around. Abraham, of course, after giving the chores to his wife, sits around and entertains his guests who seem to know who Sarah is. So Sarah misses the announcement they give that next year, the son that has been long promised will be born. You know, a tent would not have thick walls, so she does overhear it. She is so busy preparing and making provisions that she does not hear the good news directly and face to face.
One of the points that we get from reading the story of Abraham and Sarah in all of its richness is that when we are really busy in providing for others we can often wind up sterile. We often wind up with nothing to give — burned up and tossed away. In the process, we do not actually meet the other people's needs either. As Jesus was in the home in Bethany, his real need was just to be with his friends, not to have a good meal and a full stomach. For Jesus, the place in Bethany is a place of peace and respite. It is a place to which he withdraws from the public to be re-created. He takes time out so that he can take something in, because he is going to Jerusalem. If he is not full when he gets there, he will have nothing to offer us when he empties himself on the cross.
In taking time out, Jesus gives us an example. In taking time out, he bids us, without apology, to acknowledge our humanity. He bids us, without apology, to acknowledge our limitations and our needs. In taking care of himself and spending some private time with his friends, he bids us, without apology, to withdraw from our business and to seek refreshment. He bids us to withdraw from our business to find renewal and re-creation. He bids us, without apology, to withdraw, from time to time, from our own business in order to find new life.
We know the rest of the story, and so let us never forget that Jesus has indeed set his face towards Jerusalem and he will never shirk from his mission and ministry. We have also read beyond that story to the Ascension story and we know that he sends us out to do the work that he began, the completion of which he has left for us. He sends us out in ones and twos and fours and hundreds to do his work.
So let us be serious about that. Let us be serious enough about the Kingdom of God, about our own mission and ministry in our own time. Let us be serious enough about our discipleship that we, periodically, follow Jesus by taking time out to take something in. Let us be serious enough about discipleship, about the kingdom of God, to find places and times where we can be filled again, not just for our own benefit, but for the benefit of God's people to whom we go. AMEN
The Rev. Dr. Robert Certain
rgcertain@stmargarets.org
19 July 1998