Genesis 18:1-14

Psalm 15

Colossians 1:21-29

LUKE 10:38-42

Martha, Mary and Jesus

Abraham was a patient guy.

As this morning’s reading from the Old Testament begins, it’s been 24 years since the LORD said to Abraham, “Go from your country and your kindred and your father’s house to the land that I will show you. I will make of you a great nation…” and so forth and so on. So Abraham had left his home up near the modern border of Syria, Iraq and Turkey and followed God’s directions to what we now call The Holy Land. He had various adventures and heard God renew and give specifics to God’s promise (Abraham would have descendents as many as the stars of heaven and a homeland in that land), but as of Genesis 18:1 he has exactly zero children by his wife Sarah.

And they weren’t getting any younger.

Whether you take at face value their ages as stated in Genesis – Abraham as 99 years old and Sarah as 90 – or not, it had, as the Bible delicately puts it, “ceased to be with Sarah after the manner of women.” If she was 90 or 50, if she was past menopause, any conception would be a miracle.

But, as was said by the mysterious visitor to Abraham and Sarah, “Is anything too wonderful for the LORD?” And so it was that Isaac, whose name means “laughter,” was conceived, and was born nine months later. Isaac would be the father of Jacob, who would be the father of the 12 patriarchs of the 12 tribes and of all of the Jewish people. Isaac’s older half-brother, Ishmael, would become the ancestor of the Arab people and is the figure beloved by Muslims.

Exploring that relationship is one direction I could take this sermon. Another would be the wonderful example given us in the text of Middle Eastern hospitality. Another is the mysterious visitors, who appear out of thin air walking in the Negev semi-desert “in the heat of the day” which, trust me, no mortals would be likely to do. The text first says that the LORD appeared to Abraham, then it describes three visitors, then it seems there is one leader and two attendants, or perhaps three angels. Greek Orthodox icon painters have rendered this three-in-one and one-in-three encounter as a visit by the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

But instead, I’d like to focus on the figure who was busy preparing food and then hid behind the tent flap as a proper Middle Eastern woman of 1,800 B.C. would have done: Sarah.

The LORD comes to announce that Sarah will become pregnant and will have a son, and gives this great and good news to…Abraham! Sarah, who this news concerns just a little bit, overhears the good news.

Women in the Old Testament generally had a higher status in some ways than in some ancient Middle Eastern cultures…but that’s not saying much. The Patriarchal Age was, well, patriarchal: men had the power, used it, and women had to deal with the consequences. While Sarah herself exhibited her own personality and some power, she was a very distant second to Abraham.

When ancient cultural assumptions and traditions gave way to a formal structure of laws in ancient Israel – received, written down, interpreted, adjudicated and enforced by men – the second class status of women was formalized, despite a small counter-cultural movement within the people of Israel and a few women whose distinguished leadership is known to us.

Male children were more desirable than daughters in the Torah, the Law (Leviticus 12:1-5). The cash value of a man between 20 and 60 years old was 50 shekels, but a woman of the same age was worth only 30 shekels (Leviticus 27:1-7). A daughter’s life and destiny was controlled by her father until he sold authority over her to her husband (Genesis 34:12, Exodus 22:16). Generally, women were not allowed to own property in their own names and did not automatically inherit from their fathers. A woman could testify or take a vow, but it could be cancelled by her father or husband.

One law (Exodus 20:17, Deuteronomy 5:21) describes women as the property of men. A woman who had premarital sex was supposed to be executed (Deuteronomy 22:13-21). If either her father or her husband allowed her to be mistreated or abused, she was supposed to submit (Genesis 19:8, Judges 11:29-40 and 19:1-36). Only a husband could charge his spouse with infidelity (Number 5:11-31), and women were never allowed to initiate divorce (Deuteronomy 24:1-4), no matter what.

Women had a secondary role within the religious culture and could not become priests. While bearing children was the most honored role for women, mothers became ritually impure once they gave birth and were barred from worship. The mother was ritually unclean for seven days after bearing a son and required 33 more days for her purification. After bearing a daughter, however, she was barred from worship for twice as long. (See The Interpreter’s Dictionary of the Bible for more information like this.)

Get the picture?

Now, in this cultural, legal and religious context, let us read the story of Jesus’ visit to the home of Martha and Mary!

Let me say that again: the visit of Jesus to the home of Martha and Mary.

The two sisters, Martha and Mary (the same ones featured in John Chapter 11) are, evidently, unmarried, adult women with their own home. There is no mention here of their father, their brother Lazarus, or of any husbands (alive or deceased) or any children. They are independent adults, functioning matter-of-factly totally outside of the traditional cultural-legal-religious prison for their lives handed down for generations.

The “revolution” has come. In the context of traditional Middle Eastern culture, including First Century Palestinian Judaism, the very first sentence of this Gospel story is revolutionary – before we even get to the rest of it. Remember, Jesus also was single – an unusual state for a 30 year old male in his time and place – who had been wandering around the countryside with a diverse group of followers, men and women who were not necessarily married to each other (Luke 8:1-3). This would have shocked the traditional folk, to whom this traveling entourage probably looked like “groupies” or “roadies” for The Grateful Dead or other rock band compared to the strictly defined and controlled behavior expected of women and men in that culture. They were, however, free, responsible, respectable adults, both men and women who were part of Jesus’ traveling ensemble of followers – a revolutionary idea.

Get ready for more shock. Even Martha, this “liberated woman” in her own home, thinks her sister ought to spend less time listening to Jesus and more time in the kitchen!

Martha is the “perfect hostess” for her Lord, Jesus, but she becomes peeved that Mary isn’t doing more to help her out. Jesus gently admonishes Martha for being too caught up in the traditional female role in the kitchen and implies that a simple, easily-prepared meal would be just fine. The important thing, he says, is for Mary – and, implicitly, women in general – to have a front row seat as his feet. As disciples.

In accordance with ancient Jewish custom, if I were, say, to go and sit at Deacon Barbara’s feet while she taught, that would mean I regarded her as my teacher and she regarded me as her disciple. For Jesus to teach Mary of Bethany while she sat as his feet – she’s the only one in the room, remember! -- would be to give her the status of a disciple of his.

Come out from behind the tent flap, Sarah, the LORD has come to talk to you!

I think we can only appreciate how wonderfully revolutionary and liberating Jesus was – and is – when we see him in bold relief against the cultural, religious and legal context into which he came. And, unfortunately, when we contrast the Gospels with the New Testament letters, especially the later ones like I and II Timothy, we see how the ancient traditions of male supremacy reasserted themselves within a couple of generations in the Early Church, to a lesser extent (compared to ancient Judaism) but still significantly compared to how Jesus operated.

But we live in an age of unprecedented opportunity for people of many languages and cultures to read the Bible for themselves and to see how Jesus treated people, which I think should be the ultimate authority for our behavior. He came, and comes, to transform us in accordance with his vision of the Kingdom of God, which was visible in embryonic form during his life, death, and resurrected life on earth. And please note that the Gospels – written by men – unfailingly testify that nearly all those who were present at the foot of the cross were women, and all those who were the first witnesses to the resurrection were women, who told the men (who generally didn’t believe them, as the men themselves later admitted).

So now, almost 2,000 years later, it’s considered controversial by some for the Episcopal Church to have elected as our Presiding Bishop someone named Katherine Jefferts Schori?

I think Martha and Mary are both cheering. And Sarah. And so are Sojourner Truth and Harriet Tubman, two heroines of the anti-slavery movement in this country who were commemorated in the Episcopal Church’s calendar last Friday. And so are a lot of women whose names we know or don’t know but who are among the multitude of all the saints whose devotion, courage and love have touched the lives of millions as they served, like Martha and Mary, as faithful disciples of our Lord.

There is a lot to cheer about. And let’s also affirm that women becoming liberated from the prison of the old ways means liberation for men as well – liberation to be equals, to be themselves, not to be a cultural role or a stereotype but to be, like women, disciples, sitting at the feet of Jesus and then being active in his service in accordance with their individual gifts and circumstances.

Let’s hear it for Martha and Mary – and for Sarah – and for all the women here and around the world who are faithful disciples. But most of all, let’s hear it for Jesus. As St. Paul wrote, “for freedom Christ has set us free.” Praise God from whom all blessings flow!

The Rev. Francis A. Hubbard

St. Barnabas Episcopal Church
Monmouth Junction, New Jersey