Luke 10.38-42 Commentary

As soon as I read this week’s text, I remembered the last person who was described as sitting at the feet of Jesus: the Gerasene man after the demons were exorcised (Luke 8.26-37). If there is a place to be that is good, it is at God’s feet. At his feet, we are people who are ready to follow where he will lead. At his feet, we are people who are ready to listen to what he says. At his feet, we are people who are at rest, ready for our purpose to come from him.

What we see in this tale of two sisters is how necessary it is to receive Jesus Christ all the way, completely, to sit at Jesus’s feet. There appear to be two steps of in welcoming Christ—we might welcome him like Martha, but we also need to welcome and receive him like Mary.

Truly, Martha does a lovely thing, opening her home to Jesus and the group of disciples that he always has in tow. She welcomes them. But then, Martha becomes more attached to the role of welcome than to the person she has welcomed. She becomes “distracted” which can mean pulled or dragged away or to become distracted, quite busy, overburdened (BDAG). It might be more accurate for us to say that Martha’s home has welcomed Jesus and the disciples, not Martha. Martha has been pulled away from Jesus and her focus is on all of the other things she thinks are necessary or important because she is host, not because it is Jesus who is there.

Martha’s name is a play on the word “Master” and she is the head of this household: it is her reputation on the line. But she clearly expects some help from her sister, and she clearly expects that Jesus sees the issue the same way as her. We might be able to soften our hearts to the weight of expectation Martha feels about her role as host, but it is difficult to extend that as she speaks to Jesus. Rather harshly and demandingly, she implies that he doesn’t care about her and then orders him to command her sister to help.

Martha’s welcome has turned bitter because she has been distracted by the obligations that have come from outside—make no mistake, these are not the things Jesus, her guest, has expected or requires from her; she has decided what is necessary. Her welcome comes with caveats and self-limits.

And those limits have kept her from the full welcome Jesus was there to give and to receive. Mary, whose name is a play on the word “height” or “summit,” is at the proverbial spiritual mountaintop as she sits at Jesus’s feet, eschewing all else but his words and presence. Mary has chosen what is a better portion or expectation than the world can provide or expect. Mary has welcomed Jesus into her home, but even more importantly, she has actually made room for him in her life.

Whereas Martha might fool herself into thinking she is attending to the Lord, her demand that her sister’s life with God look the same way proves that she is and has not. Of course, it’s not too late for Martha to be pulled back towards the one who should be her focus. She can put her rags and plates away and join her sister at Jesus’s feet. She will have to let go of a lot of things that have kept her busy and distracted, full of worry and contempt. In fact, she will probably have to work pretty hard to quiet her mind so that she can be still and listen to the Saviour speak. But if she does, the sacredness of the presence of Christ will not be taken away from her.

As we examine our own lives for what is pulling us away, we receive the lack of resolution in this story as our own invitation. Will we join Mary at Jesus’s feet?

Textual Points

Some commentators connect this story with the one where Zaccheaus welcomes Jesus into his home. Zaccheaus testifies to that necessary double welcome: he receives Jesus into his home and he makes room for the way of Christ in his life.

John Nolland also points out that worry is a theme that crops up a lot in this area of the gospel of Luke. At minimum, Jesus talks about it in 8.14, 12.22-26 (three mentions), and 21.34.

Illustration Ideas

In the movie “Conclave,” the nuns play a significant—if mostly unnoticed—role as they housekeep and cook for the archbishops who are voting for the next pope. We only ever learn the names of two of the dozens of women shown in the movie. I thought of this movie because of the way that Sister Agnes comes to play a pivotal role in turning the tide against a corrupt candidate. We are not to be fooled: she may look like a Martha but in the key moment, Sister Agnes is not distracted by her many tasks; instead, she serves the Lord by speaking an important truth.

In Latin, the word of host and guest is the same, hospes, so context has to help you decide which is meant. I really like this complexity because it shows the meaning being worked at in our story: Martha and Mary are hosts to Jesus, but they are also meant to be his guest. There is a reciprocity of giving and receiving in the life of faith.