A Time for Being Martha
Most of us know the story. Busy-bee Martha and low-key Mary. Martha all about being active, doing stuff, getting work done, voicing her displeasure. Mary all about simply being, deeply listening, fully present with Jesus. Jesus commends Mary and cautions Martha. He says, few things cannot wait. He implies one of those things that cannot wait is spending time with a beloved friend visiting you.
I want to highlight that included in the action-orientation of Martha is the action of speaking out. Martha actually speaks out in our story from Luke 10. “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her, then, to help me.”
Mary is not doing enough to help. Jesus, correct her and tell her to get busy!
Jesus says, right now, relationship matters more. Love matters most.
Jesus is not ruling out Martha’s action-orientation for the sake of love, just that there’s a time and place for everything. Most things can wait.
But one thing can’t wait. Love, the work of love, can't. Jesus living and dying for love can't.
You know me well enough now to know that I am more Mary than Martha. Contemplation and connection – this is my wheelhouse. Activism is not me. Speaking out like Martha is not me.
With that, I’m more of a teacher than a preacher. In the role of spiritual leader, I prefer to stick to the text. Using the text, I point to moral principles that Jesus espoused, practiced, lived and died for. I’m sometimes implicit about my critique of culture and politics, but rarely ever explicit. In the role of spiritual leader, I focus on helping ground Christians in their relationship to God, fostering the healing of the spirit so that we can face the unwell world and point that world to the well-being found in Christ.
Speaking out on current events, highlighting politics, is not me. I’m a rather political person privately. I have my opinions. If you’re a Facebook friend you know that. But I leave that outside the pulpit.
As I said, though, there’s a time and place for everything. There’s a time for being Mary content to rest in the presence of Jesus and there’s a time for being Martha doing the work and voicing the need for change. There’s a time to be implicit and a time to be explicit. There’s a time to speak the truth in quiet poetry and a time to speak the truth in loud prose, or in the least, louder poetry.
.jpg)
This brings me to a place called Alligator Alcatraz. Its mere existence means the time to be Mary has ended. Some things are so wrong, so anti-Christ, that to be silent or even implicit about it, is to be complicit.
In case you didn’t know, Alligator Alcatraz as its explicitly named on highway signs in Florida, is an encampment meant, as we are told, for detaining immigrants suspected of being here illegally. The suggestion by authorities was that only violent criminals would be detained there. But the reporting is that this is not true. It already seems representative of the percentage of detainees elsewhere, 72% of which have no criminal offenses, being undocumented a misdemeanor. That number - 72% of detainees not being criminals - that comes from ICE itself, by the way. Even those here legally and American citizens are being detained.
The encampment is in the middle of the Florida Everglades, surrounded by alligators, pythons, and mosquitoes. Fear is the point and the practice. Inside, there are rows of bunk beds in the open with toilets in the open. The beds and toilets are surrounded by wired fencing. It has no windows and no clocks. It has air conditioning but no shade surrounding the structure, and the air conditioning is reported to be inadequate during the heat of the day. Mosquitoes are also reported to be a huge issue. With mosquitoes comes the threat of malaria.
Though the encampment just opened, there are already lawsuits because of poor conditions.
What looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and waddles like a duck, is a duck. Alligator Alcatraz looks like, works like, functions like a concentration camp.
You might say this is hyperbole. It’s not as bad as it seems.
Let’s say you’re right.
There’s a biblical principle we ought to remember, however. I Thessalonians 5:22 - avoid even the appearance of evil. I Timothy 5:7 – be above reproach.
Avoid looking like a duck, quaking like a duck and waddling like a duck so you aren’t confused for a duck.
Alligator Alcatraz looks like a concentration camp, to me. And from what’s been reported, maltreatment and inhumanity is happening there already.
How can I be silent?
Being implicit is not good enough. I must say it clear. In the name of Christ and all we stand for, this cannot stand.
This December, which is Universal Human Rights Month, will mark the 77th anniversary of the Universal Declaration’s adoption in 1948.
In many ways inspired by the U.S. Declaration of Independence and Constitution, the Universal Human Rights Declaration affirms among other things these rights for all people no matter who you are:
How are we doing? Does the mere existence of Alligator Alcatraz align with our highest principles?
If not, we must say so. We must say, no, not in our name. For a pastor preaching the good news of God’s love, the call to stand against wrong is especially loud.
So, in the name of Christ, I say simply and firmly – no, this, Alligator Alcatraz, and the callousness that built it, cannot stand.
Amen.
I want to highlight that included in the action-orientation of Martha is the action of speaking out. Martha actually speaks out in our story from Luke 10. “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her, then, to help me.”
Mary is not doing enough to help. Jesus, correct her and tell her to get busy!
Jesus says, right now, relationship matters more. Love matters most.
Jesus is not ruling out Martha’s action-orientation for the sake of love, just that there’s a time and place for everything. Most things can wait.
But one thing can’t wait. Love, the work of love, can't. Jesus living and dying for love can't.
You know me well enough now to know that I am more Mary than Martha. Contemplation and connection – this is my wheelhouse. Activism is not me. Speaking out like Martha is not me.
With that, I’m more of a teacher than a preacher. In the role of spiritual leader, I prefer to stick to the text. Using the text, I point to moral principles that Jesus espoused, practiced, lived and died for. I’m sometimes implicit about my critique of culture and politics, but rarely ever explicit. In the role of spiritual leader, I focus on helping ground Christians in their relationship to God, fostering the healing of the spirit so that we can face the unwell world and point that world to the well-being found in Christ.
Speaking out on current events, highlighting politics, is not me. I’m a rather political person privately. I have my opinions. If you’re a Facebook friend you know that. But I leave that outside the pulpit.
As I said, though, there’s a time and place for everything. There’s a time for being Mary content to rest in the presence of Jesus and there’s a time for being Martha doing the work and voicing the need for change. There’s a time to be implicit and a time to be explicit. There’s a time to speak the truth in quiet poetry and a time to speak the truth in loud prose, or in the least, louder poetry.
.jpg)
In case you didn’t know, Alligator Alcatraz as its explicitly named on highway signs in Florida, is an encampment meant, as we are told, for detaining immigrants suspected of being here illegally. The suggestion by authorities was that only violent criminals would be detained there. But the reporting is that this is not true. It already seems representative of the percentage of detainees elsewhere, 72% of which have no criminal offenses, being undocumented a misdemeanor. That number - 72% of detainees not being criminals - that comes from ICE itself, by the way. Even those here legally and American citizens are being detained.
The encampment is in the middle of the Florida Everglades, surrounded by alligators, pythons, and mosquitoes. Fear is the point and the practice. Inside, there are rows of bunk beds in the open with toilets in the open. The beds and toilets are surrounded by wired fencing. It has no windows and no clocks. It has air conditioning but no shade surrounding the structure, and the air conditioning is reported to be inadequate during the heat of the day. Mosquitoes are also reported to be a huge issue. With mosquitoes comes the threat of malaria.
Though the encampment just opened, there are already lawsuits because of poor conditions.
What looks like a duck, quacks like a duck, and waddles like a duck, is a duck. Alligator Alcatraz looks like, works like, functions like a concentration camp.
You might say this is hyperbole. It’s not as bad as it seems.
Let’s say you’re right.
There’s a biblical principle we ought to remember, however. I Thessalonians 5:22 - avoid even the appearance of evil. I Timothy 5:7 – be above reproach.
Avoid looking like a duck, quaking like a duck and waddling like a duck so you aren’t confused for a duck.
Alligator Alcatraz looks like a concentration camp, to me. And from what’s been reported, maltreatment and inhumanity is happening there already.
How can I be silent?
Being implicit is not good enough. I must say it clear. In the name of Christ and all we stand for, this cannot stand.
This December, which is Universal Human Rights Month, will mark the 77th anniversary of the Universal Declaration’s adoption in 1948.
In many ways inspired by the U.S. Declaration of Independence and Constitution, the Universal Human Rights Declaration affirms among other things these rights for all people no matter who you are:
- the right to recognition before the law, ensuring all are treated equally under the law
- the right to equality before the law and equal protection under the law.
- the right to an effective remedy for violations of fundamental rights
- the right to a fair and public hearing by an impartial tribunal
- the right to a legal defense.
- that all are to be presumed innocent until proven guilty
- that no one shall be subjected to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.
How are we doing? Does the mere existence of Alligator Alcatraz align with our highest principles?
If not, we must say so. We must say, no, not in our name. For a pastor preaching the good news of God’s love, the call to stand against wrong is especially loud.
So, in the name of Christ, I say simply and firmly – no, this, Alligator Alcatraz, and the callousness that built it, cannot stand.
Amen.
Comments
Post a Comment