Our culture gives
our lives structure. It gives us rules
and norms to follow and teaches us how to fit in. What is acceptable in one culture is
unacceptable in another. For example, many
consider a burp in public to be impolite.
But in Amish culture a burp is a compliment at a meal. Unless you travel internationally you never
really realize how much cultural expectations rule our lives.
The parable of the Good Samaritan and the
story of Martha and Mary contrast cultural expectations with being a disciple
of Jesus. At first these two seem to
have nothing at all in common – a foreigner helping a Jew, and sisters
squabbling over who does the chores. But
there is more than just these two stories showing up side by side.
The parable of the Good Samaritan
features “a certain man” who went down the road to Jericho. Martha is referred to at first as “a certain
woman.” The good Samaritan exemplifies a
disciple’s seeing. Mary exemplifies a
disciple’s hearing. Both the Samaritan -a
foreigner- and Mary, -a woman- represent marginalized persons. They are unlikely heroes. Combine them and you have a model disciple –
someone who hears the Word of God and does it.
Let’s get at the combined teaching
more deeply by first looking at one individually. In the parable of the Good Samaritan Jesus
says that a man – presumably Jewish – was going on the road from Jerusalem to
Jericho. It was a notoriously dangerous
road. It descended 3,300 feet in 17
miles. It ran through narrow passes at
places and the terrain offered easy hiding for thieves who wanted to attack
travelers. In the parable an unfortunate
man is attacked, stripped, beaten, and left for dead. Notice that Jesus does not tell us the
nationality of this man. I’m not sure
what to make of that. Perhaps we are to
assume that he is a Jew. Or perhaps
Jesus deliberately does not want the man’s nationality to be important. Commentator R. Alan Culpepper hints that that
is Jesus’ point – simply a man in need.
So, two religious leaders come by – a
priest and a Levite. You kinda think
these religious people would offer help to this man in distress. But for whatever reason, they don’t. Perhaps they were too busy – both were
important people after all. Or perhaps
they didn’t want to defile themselves.
Technically that would make them ineligible for religious service for
awhile. Many upstanding Jews would see the
decision of these men not to help as understandable.
Perhaps think of it this way. A man in Afghanistan traveling alone in a
remote region is attacked by a band of criminals. Everything is taken from him and he’s left by
the side of the road bloody and unconscious.
An American supply convoy comes by.
Should they stop? Is man an
American soldier or someone else? You
can’t tell quickly. They just keep
going. Perhaps they fear an ambush or
maybe their schedule is tight and so they just keep going. Later an American medical crew comes by. But seeing the danger of the situation and
fearing an ambush they continue on too.
These are the type of people we Americans want to think would take the
risk and help.
In the parable a Samaritan then comes
along. Jews hated Samaritans, and
Samaritans hated Jews. Given that Jesus
is a Jew creating the parable you’d expect the Samaritan character to continue
on. But he doesn’t. He stops.
He accesses the situation. He
takes risks and offers help.
In our Afghanistan retelling it would
be as if I high ranking Taliban officer would then stop and help the unidentified
man. The Taliban official gives him
first aid then takes him to a nearby hospital for proper treatment. That would seem like a good and generous
thing to do. But Jesus doesn’t end the
parable there.
As Jesus tells it the Samaritan’s help
to the injured man goes way above and beyond, to the point of being
absurd. He takes the man to an inn. And remember innkeepers were notoriously
corrupt – think of the innkeeper in the musical Les Miserables. Yet he offers to pay whatever is needed in
the future. The Samaritan gives the
innkeeper a couple days wages as down-payment.
Then he says charge him whatever more is needed – a sure opening for the
Samaritan to be exploited.
If we return to our Afghanistan
retelling, it would be as if the hospital the Taliban official goes to determines
the man’s injuries are too severe to be treated. He needs to be transported to a Level 1
trauma center; and fast. So the Taliban
official says, “Bring in a helicopter to fly him there. I’ll pay whatever the transportation expenses
are out of my own pocket. And whatever
his treatment costs are, I will pay.” Such
kindness and generosity would be absurd.
Yet such is the action of the Samaritan.
This is Jesus’ lesson on loving your
neighbor and who is your neighbor.
Jesus’ last words on the subject are, “God and do likewise.” And before our minds have even settled on the
enormity of the demand of who our neighbors are we’re right into the account of
Martha and Mary. Cultural expectations,
and religious teachings in those days would be that male members of the
household would gather around to hear a great rabbi. Women had their own place – service to the
men. Hear these words from the Mishnah
(Jewish teachings from around the 1st Century), “Let thy house be a
meeting house for the Sages and sit among the dust of their feet and drink in
their words with thirst… [but] talk not much with womankind.” (Mishnah, Aboth 1.4-5)
Jesus would certainly have counted as
a great rabbi, a Sage. By sitting at
Jesus’ feet Mary is acting like a male.
She is neglecting the duty of her sex, which is to assist in the
preparation of the meal. This is not
laziness on Mary’s part. This is not
that Mary is spellbound by the teachings of a great guest in their house. This is a clear violation of rules. Mary’s conduct is bringing shame upon the
entire household.
Martha does not scold Mary
directly. Martha, knowing the shame that
is occurring, goes directly to Jesus, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has
left me to do all the work by myself?
Tell her then to help me.” (10:40)
As I hinted a moment ago, our ears of
today hear this as an accusation of laziness on Mary’s part. But in the ears of the original readers this
was Martha asking Jesus to affirm gender roles.
Men were to listen and learn.
Women were to serve. If a woman
needed to know something her husband, or the head of the household, would teach
her what she needed to know. Does Jesus
not value these rules?
Nope.
Not one bit!
The key to it is earlier in Verse 40
where we learn that Martha was distracted by all the preparations. For Martha her self-worth was determined by
her gender roles. It was of supreme
importance to her to be a good hostess who could put on a good meal for an
honored guest. I imagine her doing
everything she could to put together the most magnificent experience she could
possible to for Jesus.
There’s nothing wrong with Martha’s
motives. There’s nothing wrong with
wanting to do something great for an honored guest. The problem is that she has put gender
expectations above hearing the Word of God.
When Jesus says we are to leave everything and follow him we tend to
immediately think of material possessions.
But Jesus really means everything.
Gender roles and expectations are secondary to discipleship. Jesus words to Martha are not a criticism
that a simple meal would do rather than an extravagant one. This is about the love of God and obedience
to God’s Word take precedence over all other things.
Here these words from commentator R.
Alan Culpepper, “Neither the story of the good Samaritan nor the story of Mary
and Martha is complete without the other.
Each makes its own point – the Samaritan loves his neighbor, and Mary
loves her Lord – but the model for the disciple is found in the juxtaposition
of the two. To the lawyer, Jesus says,
“Go and do,” but he praises Mary for sitting and listening. The life of a disciple requires both.” (New Interpreter’s Bible, Volume 11, Pg. 232)
The two stories completely break and
ignore all distinctions of race, gender, and religion. All are made in the image of God. All are sinners in need of grace. All are loved by God.
The rules of culture make distinctions
of who’s in and who’s out. The rules of
God’s kingdom reject all such distinctions.
St. Paul follows up with his now famous words, “There is neither Jew nor
Gentile, neither slave nor free, nor is there male or female, for you are all
one in Christ Jesus.” (Galatians 3:28)
The rules of God’s kingdom are very
simple – just two: Love God. Love your
neighbor. They’re simple enough to
remember. They’re pretty much impossible
to carry out. Yet carry them out we
try. It is God’s way. It is what we strive for. And the more who are trying to live that way
the more God’s kingdom comes to flourish.
You’ll never get financially rich by those rules. You may get hurt and walked all over,
even. But you are accomplishing the work
of God’s kingdom anyway. And that is the
goal which brings fullness to life.
