Friday, 7th Week of Easter

Luke 10:38-42

So, are you a “Martha” or a “Mary?” Or are you more into study, prayer and worship, or you more into social activism, or the bricks and mortar of Church? These kinds of questions are the ones usually evoked by this story. Perhaps the power of the Word of God is that as each generation reads scripture, new meanings open up in response to changing cultures and expectations.

But when Luke’s original audience first read this story, they would not have seen the contrast between contemplation and activism. What they would have noticed was the scandalous behavior of a woman going into the main room, and sitting with the men. In that time, men gathered together in the main room, while the women would stay in the kitchen preparing the meal. Only outside, where children played, and in the bedroom, would a man and woman mix company. And not only is Mary mixing with men socially, she is sitting with them to hear Jesus teach. And just as the men were being prepared to be preachers of Jesus’s message, so was Mary presuming to be an apprentice, and a future preacher and teacher.

On Tuesday, we saw Jesus obliterate the national boundaries between Israel and the Gentiles. Yesterday, Jesus obliterated the religious boundaries between Jew and Samaritan. Today, he sweeps away the cultural boundaries between male and female.

If you think this is radical, just wait until the wind and fire on Sunday!