The Presence of Doing

Are we Role Playing or Role Living?

Are we all in?

Purpose Driven Story

It is all about me, my role, I get the driver’s license, my first car, my first date, first job, off to college, live on my own, graduate, get a real job, get engaged, get married, go on vacation, have kids, grow in my career, have grand kids, retire wealthy, live out my life comfortably.

Living our life not by anything divine, even though we go to church on most Sundays. but based on how other people live successfully or least path of resistance, what is the min I can do to get by. Social Media and TV, celebrities, billionaires, you know real living, How many exotic vacations you go on? How much you consume, the latest trends.

It is not about my story, but our story. Not just my family, my community, my nation but our divinely created world. The divine is always pushing us beyond ourselves in the infinite and eternal.

ME-WE We have a lot of great information but real living, the real life, is daily slow gradual transformation. The spiritual life is 3 steps forward, two steps back. Does not sound too successful. We want more! It is not about gaining but what am I willing to lose?

God- Read Scripture, we put ourselves in it, in other words we immerse ourselves in it. It is not just about finding the right answers but mostly about asking better questions. If you are reading the Scriptures for certainty, than where is your faith? We want to control the narrative, we want to read it our way, to fit our agenda. to fit our life experience. Narrow view, proof-texting the Bible. We are not learning anything new but just looking for comfort words to fulfill our comfortable beliefs. But real living requires more, it requires not a one-time transaction with God but a daily walk of progressively transforming with God and all humanity and creation.

It is not a static Gospel of a one-time transaction but a living Gospel of transformations over our lifetime. We are all equally human. We all have an opportunity to live our lives seeking the divine.

We like to make heroes and villians when we read Scriptures like this or parables. This is just a moment in time and people all created humanity are never all good or all bad. I had a boss that people were either all good or all bad. He liked them or he didn’t. One exception, if they were bad but they made their numbers they weren’t that bad but they were never good.

That is the problem with judging others, we keep looking to compare and contrast rather than see how similar we are and how much potential we share together. That is the Gospel story, we have a God that creates and chooses to be a part of the divine creation. That’s the Good News

How we read celebrities, sports players, and people we engage with? I urge you to go beyond that way of thinking and look at Martha and Mary as simply human beings.

Mutually dependent- Mutual submission vs. mutual manipulation.

Not about achieving or succeeding, competing better than others but considering others putting others before yourself, you give up your rights freedom to do anything, freedom to follow your created purpose, real living.

The Lexham English Bible (Chapter 10)

Martha and Mary 38 Now as they traveled along, he entered into a certain village. And a certain woman Martha welcomed him.

Martha was playing the right traditional role. She was the hostess with the mostest. She welcomed Jesus, great role of hospitality. Greeting her guests.

Also Martha wasn’t taken frozen pizza out and heating it up. She was cooking from scratch. I mean real scratch. She didn’t have the luxury to go down to the local Whole Paycheck or Granola Joes and get all her food from the Paleo Diet Section. Hard Work to cook and clean up afterwards (the part I hate about cooking!)

Bring in Genesis 18 Abraham is the host, showing hospitality. working together with his wife. traditional roles. serving strangers, who passing through, you didn’t show up on my Google calendar.

l 39 And a sister named Mary, who also sat at the feet of Jesus and* was listening to his teaching.

She had her noise cancellling headphones on and listening to her favorite podcast or her favorite music on spotify. She was not only present she was fully present. She was giving the Son of God, Son of Man her presence. She was not distracted. Note Acts 22:3 sitting at the feet of Jesus The only other time this verse is used is with Paul being a disciple of Jesus. Was not just sitting but listening to his teaching. Mary was in the wrong, she was in the wrong room. Women mostly were confined to the kitchen and bedroom. And Mary for whatever reason, chose a different way.

This passage is not about gender vilification but gender vindication.

40 But Martha was distracted with much preparation, so she approached and said, “Lord, is it not a concern to you that my sister has left me alone to make preparations? Then tell her that she should help me!”

Martha is appealing to authority, calls Jesus Lord Rabbi, Master, and she is only making this appeal because she believes in her own authority and own righteousness, and demands Jesus to tell that sister you gave me to help me! She is in the right and Mary is in the wrong.

Martha is acting out and telling Jesus how I pray to Jesus! I can easily relate to Martha.

41 But the Lord answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things!

Martha Martha, you are just like a woman, all emotional all task driven, full of stinking thinking

Does he tell Martha that? No, in fact in the denomination I grew up in, you didn’t have a lectionary or calendar to follow. You preached on what the Holy Spirit gave you. And let me tell you, the Holy Spirit loves the Martha and Mary story. For the most part, the main idea was Mary and her submission to God but the underlying story was always about the worrying woman Martha. And I always thought was demeaning to women. I didn’t know why, but I would ask my Mom and other women and they were not offended. But what really got me is when a pastor chose this passage for Mother’s Day and to focus on Martha and not Mary.

What does Jesus say? Martha, Martha you are anxious and troubled about many things- Well, isn’t Jesus defining the human condition.

Have you met a single man who is chasing women- and he is worried about his career status, get the right car, fashion, make sure he is knows the right restaurants and trendy places, into yoga, exercise and what he eats, so he can online date and have many impressive first dates but not so many second dates. I am so glad I wasn’t like that when I was single. You know I was praying every day in church.

Stereotype this to a gender, than let’s use our imagination and place two disciples in these roles of Martha and Mary.

How about Peter as Martha? Peter who was so excited to walk with Jesus on water until he figured out he couldn’t walk on water. Peter who does not get the washing of feet, gets so excited, and asks Jesus to wash all of him. Who on the night of Jesus betrayal uses violence to defend himself (to be a lead disciple that was learning to be non-violent) and Jesus and later the next morning denies even knowing Jesus.

Isn’t that just like a man, all emotional, task oriented.

We can make unjust gender judgements all the time, Jesus was letting Martha know you are being human and I am going to teach and show you a better way.

Notice Jesus is not condemning but convicting Martha

42 But few things are necessary, or only one thing, for Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.”

Few things are necessary, one thing, what is the one thing, Mary has chosen the better way. What way is that?

What is the one thing, the one need, what is present in front of you? We want to live in our past, or future. But throughout Scripture, we must engage in the present moment.

Mary had a choice, in this situation, she would not get the wrath of her sister and embarrassment of her asking the Rabbi, she risked something. Kierkegaard, christian philosopher, faith, is taking a risk in a direction. taking an unnecessary risk or impulsive but you are going in a direction beyond yourself. Jesus could have been like a regular rabbi, go back in the kitchen.

Do you think Martha had a choice? Yes, but a better question, did Martha feel like she had a choice. I don’t think so, I think she thinks like a lot of us. She does not question her role, she just tries to abide in it and she expects everyone else to do the same thing. It is what it is, in the Divine, in Christ, in the Spirit, it is what it isn’t.

My question is why did Mary think she had a choice and Martha didn’t. Do you see that? Martha was so full of her self-righteousness indignant to her sister appearing to be doing nothing. Martha thought she had only one choice, be the hostess with the mostess, fulfill her traditional role of physical labor, she didn’t have the time to sit around and listen. She had many tasks and little time even if Mary was helping her. Martha had only one way of seeing.

Mary stepped out on faith like Abraham who met 3 strangers who he treated like neighbors and worked hand in hand with his wife Sarah. Abraham was the host with the most

Christianity is full today with Big believers in if it is not broke, don’t try to make it better! Status quo of certainity of what is visible, not an uncertain faith, that makes us uncomfortable. But what a minute aren’t we called a people of faith? One of my favorite t-shirts I have worn it so much, my wife is saying no way, “I did not say that, underneath big letters GOD”

Jesus Christ was so exclusive because he was all inclusive.

What is necessary? What is optional? We have a choice to live in the present moment? Or do we just want to role play? live in what we want to be not who are?

The Main Thing, The Main Thing— Do the Right Thing? Hard, tough but against conventional wisdom, but seeking beyond yourself requires you giving up yourself. That is what Mary did. Not Static, we do not know the reaction of Martha, maybe she didn’t cook anything for Jesus and Mary or maybe she did with some extra spicy. Or maybe Jesus said we are fasting tonight. Or maybe Mary went back in the kitchen to prepare her and Jesus something. Maybe the next day,

We all have choices with how we live our life, it is easy to choose what is safe, customary, a life we play roles serving ourselves. or life of real living serving others.

In the first example, our being does not change that much but when we give up ourselves we live a different way, our way of being converts and overflows into our doing.

Mary- Martha, Martha go sit at the feet of Jesus and I will do all the cleaning.

Conclusion of Martha and Mary- Maybe Mary goes back in and tells Martha- I will clean up everything, you go and sit at the rabbi’s feet. because he told some incredible stories, he just wasn’t telling us what not to do, but how to really live, in fact, he treated me like he treated his diciples like I belonged, like he loved me for me, like he was giving me the space to be who I already am. Martha go and experience it for yourself. That is a witness, that is evangelicalism in the 1st century.

When we pray it is actionable, prayer for others, you pray it is what it isn’t you pray for conversion, conversion of you to see things the way the divine sees them.

Martha Hospitality

Abraham

On the Job Training- Seamless Being to Doing

Life in the Divine Presence is on the job training

Matthew is all about change, Mark is suffering- maybe he is very brief. John is mystical joy. Luke is about serving. Serving others. Luke writes the book of Acts as soon as the Spirit comes on the community, what do they do they start serving one another.

Two OT stories- Mother Hannah - Audacious Abigail 1 Samuel seamless being and doing.