Reading the story of Martha and Mary in Luke 10 with my Female Christian Ministry Leaders cohort this morning, a fresh perspective dawned on me.
Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made - likely overwhelmed by fixing up a feast for Jesus and his entourage all by herself, while Mary, her sister, was sitting and listening to Jesus teach instead of helping.
It’s not that Martha didn’t want to sit at Jesus’ feet and spend time with him like Mary did. But in a culture that valued hospitality and conditioned women into domestic roles, Martha felt obligated to all the busy work she was doing.
But then Jesus’ response to Martha’s request for Mary to help was completely countercultural: Mary “has chosen” what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.
Wait, what? Mary had a choice? This must have come as a shock to many who were present at the time. It’s mind-blowing, because women in that culture didn’t really have the option to not take on domestic responsibilities.
The culture and society assigned women to domestic and caretaking roles, but Jesus says: Woman, you can choose. I’m giving you the freedom of choice. You don’t have to assume the role your culture, your society, or even your church assigned to you.
And through Jesus’ response, it becomes apparent that these gender roles and responsibilities were imposed by culture, society, and even religion, but not by Jesus - not by God.
“What, then, are they gonna do about the meal when Jesus is done teaching?” you ask.
Well, if, for Jesus, domestic responsibility wasn’t inherently a woman’s burden, then it’s not a woman’s problem to solve. I imagine he’d either get everybody - men and women to help out afterwards, or…how hard is it for Jesus to pull food out of nowhere?
Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made - likely overwhelmed by fixing up a feast for Jesus and his entourage all by herself, while Mary, her sister, was sitting and listening to Jesus teach instead of helping.
It’s not that Martha didn’t want to sit at Jesus’ feet and spend time with him like Mary did. But in a culture that valued hospitality and conditioned women into domestic roles, Martha felt obligated to all the busy work she was doing.
But then Jesus’ response to Martha’s request for Mary to help was completely countercultural: Mary “has chosen” what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.
Wait, what? Mary had a choice? This must have come as a shock to many who were present at the time. It’s mind-blowing, because women in that culture didn’t really have the option to not take on domestic responsibilities.
The culture and society assigned women to domestic and caretaking roles, but Jesus says: Woman, you can choose. I’m giving you the freedom of choice. You don’t have to assume the role your culture, your society, or even your church assigned to you.
And through Jesus’ response, it becomes apparent that these gender roles and responsibilities were imposed by culture, society, and even religion, but not by Jesus - not by God.
“What, then, are they gonna do about the meal when Jesus is done teaching?” you ask.
Well, if, for Jesus, domestic responsibility wasn’t inherently a woman’s burden, then it’s not a woman’s problem to solve. I imagine he’d either get everybody - men and women to help out afterwards, or…how hard is it for Jesus to pull food out of nowhere?
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