Day 2 – A Month with M&M

My heart goes out to Martha, I admit.  Her story could be mine many days.  Here she was, faced with the Messiah on her doorstep.  Oh, and his twelve disciples, too.  Thirteen men showing up for supper?  What sane homemaker wouldn’t freak out?  What I find most unfortunate is that this is one day in the life of a wonderful woman.  Think about it.  What if your snapshot was taken on one of your most stressful days and that’s the profile picture that defined you for 2,000 years?  How would you like it?  Huh?  Down through the annals of history, all the generations would ever know of you was how you came unraveled when trying to make a nice dinner for company.  What would your Polaroid look like it if it captured you on your worst day?

When all four kids were little, I remember a day like that.  I was in the kitchen making jam; up to my elbows in strawberries and sugar and Sure-Jel.  I shooed the kiddos outside to play, but they kept coming in and out, slamming the screen door over and over.  Someone ran in for a drink of water.  SLAM.  Someone needed a band-aid.  SLAM.  Someone tattled on someone else.  SLAM.  I warned them to stay outside and not to slam that door one more time.  A few minutes later the doorbell rang.  “Very funny,” I yelled.  My voice rose, “If you come in here one more time….”  Then I turned around to give the stink-eye to the smarty pants who dared to ring the bell, and behold, there was our next door neighbor, Adelaide, standing outside my screen door with a plate of cookies.  The elderly woman had been enjoying watching the kids play in the yard and thought they might like a treat.  Wince.  Click.  You’re on Candid Camera. 

I’m not sure I’d appreciate being the topic of hundreds of sermons down through the ages based on that particular day.  Know what I mean?

Day 1 – A Month with M&M

Welcome to a month with Mary and Martha.  Or is it Martha and Mary?  See, if we’re going to spend a whole month on 5 little verses, we’ll have to be pretty picky.  So before we even get one word into the story, let’s figure this out.  Every sermon I downloaded on Luke 10:38-42 is titled, “Mary and Martha”.  Why does Mary get top billing, I wonder?  It seems evident that Martha is the older sister, as the scripture states, “…a woman named Martha opened her home to him.”  Her home.  Not many women owned property back in those days.  It leaves me wondering if perhaps the parents had died and the three siblings (Martha, Mary and brother Lazarus) were left with the house.  Maybe Lazarus was too young to manage a home and Martha was more than capable of running a household.  She was definitely in charge.  Typically, the oldest is mentioned first: Cain and Abel, Peter and Andrew, James and John.  Hmmm.

When I was little, we went to the Biddick and Rundell Picnic every summer.  As the story goes, one day in the early 1800’s in Cornwall, England, Matthew and Mary Biddick took their 14 children to the beach for a Sunday picnic.  As it happened, James and Betsy Rundell and their 14 children were also at the beach that day.  Out of that meeting on the rocky shores of Cornwall, four of the Biddicks married four of the Rundells and they came to America together.  Hence, the Biddick and Rundell Picnic every June. 

After I got married and moved away from the area, I heard that attendance at the yearly gathering began to dwindle.  After several years had passed, my brother went to the picnic, only to find that it had been renamed the Rundell and Biddick Picnic.  Why?  Because the Biddicks stopped showing up. 

Showing up is important.  Mary showed up at Jesus’ feet.  Maybe that’s why her name comes first.

I love the Bible story of Mary and Martha in Luke 10.  I love it so much that I’ve downloaded 20 sermons about the sisters on my ipod.  I love it so much that I can practically recite it by heart.   I love it so much that I’m making our women’s Bible study group focus on it for 12 weeks starting in September. (It’s one of the perks of being a Bible study leader – you get to pick what to study.) 

Starting sometime in September, (not sure when yet; it’s one of the perks of writing a blog – you get to decided when to write) I plan to post a daily reflection on this little 5-verse, 7-sentence passage.  Let’s just see how much we can squeeze out of this small section of scripture.   For a whole month, let’s explore what M&M might have to say to us.  You are welcome to stop in daily and join the conversation.  (It’s one of the perks of reading blogs – you get to leave comments whenever you want.)