Hearing Martha (Seek to Understand Rather than Persuade)

08/09/22 • -1 min

Mike Rewers decided to step into the pulpit after 25 years of listening due of his love of empathy — both in receiving empathy and in helping others to extend it. And we give less empathy when we’re blind to what is happening. The topic of empathy was week 6 of the 9-week Peaceful Practices we’ve been going through as a congregation. Mike, a therapist, spends his week helping others find ways to bring more peace into their lives. And our primary scripture for the day is with Martha and Mary in Luke 10:38-42, where Martha asks Jesus to send Mary to help serve. Mike extends his look Martha and Mary by adding two other glimpses of them from the book of John, giving us a fuller picture. In addition, you’ll hear him refer to the second passages Matthew 13: 10-15, with Jesus quoting Isaiah about listening without understanding, looking without perceiving, and hearts that have gone dull.

Mary and Martha, by He Qi

We enter the passage with a rather unpeaceful Martha — and Mike empathizes with her blindness in the situation. While it can be soothing and loving to feel understood by someone, we enter this passage with Martha feeling unseen. Yet God helps us move from being blind to seeing the one needful thing — the transformative love of God that allows us to see both within ourselves and to see others.

The more we are aware of our own blindness, the more empathy we can have for others in their blindness. Both parties on different sides of a conflict think the other just doesn’t get it. But culturally, are 50% of people just stupid? And it’s always the 50% we’re not on, right? But at some point the gospel has to be about helping us to see beyond our own perspective. When we can see that we are blind, we become more able to see the other with loving and accepting eyes, which is how God sees us — and them. But we have to bump into others to become aware of ourselves. God lives in the space between us and the other, and calls us into healing.

This passage isn’t about making Martha into Mary, but about having a deeper understanding of who each of them are — actually seeing one another. In order to see our brokenness, we need to learn forgiveness, acceptance, and vulnerability. When we can become aware of our own pain, we can begin to have empathy for others. We must be able to see the other from outside of our own perspective in order to comfort them.

Hear more as Mike walks through the emotions of Martha, and her ensuing interaction with Jesus — and how this impacts their relationships going forward.

Mary and Martha, by He Qi

Hear more as Mike walks through the emotions of Martha, and her ensuing interaction with Jesus — and how this impacts their relationships going forward.

Previous Episode

The Power of God in Acts

We were privileged to share a worship service this week with our host church, Conexión. Juan Pablo Plaza brought the message from this English/Spanish congregation, while Frank Scoffield Nellessen translated for non-Spanish listeners.

In speaking to two communities together, Juan Pablo referenced the wisdom of Acts and the early church. but rather than being the story of the early church, Juan Pablo notes that it is the story of what God was doing in the early church and its transformation through the Spirit, as well as the fulfillment of Old Testament promises. This changes our reading of the book.

Jesus appears to his apostles over a period of 40 days, addressing their questions. They continue to wonder whether Jesus has returned to restore the kingdom of Israel. Jesus instead speaks of power that will come upon them in the form of the Holy Spirit.

The Pentecost, by El Greco

Juan Pablo asks us how we currently think of power in our lives. This was not a dominion over others, but the power of the Spirit of God. What was this power to be for? To interpret scripture? To discern what God is doing amongst the community? To accomplish the mission of the church?

What if instead this is a power that allows us to bypass the offenses of others, that makes it possible for us to live in peace, the power to be able to be patient and kind to others, to trust in God despite adversity, the power to able to control our desires — power that can only be given by the Spirit of God. This is a power so simple, so sweet and profound that it can really only come from God. And it invites us to accompany others.

This is also a power that leads us to differing practices in our faith communities. The coming of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, Acts 2:4, was not simply to send the church out with a mission, but to lift up the church, and to involve it in different practices — those of sharing, of mission, of prayer, studying the scriptures — those practices that make up a community.

The essence of being a faith community, shown in Acts 2:42-47, is to know what is happening in one another’s lives — to learn the capacity to share in what others are living. And when we can do this within our church communities, it will be easier to do so outside the church as well.

How do we practice these acts of love in our own communities of faith?

Hear these words and more in the audio below.

Next Episode

Jesus and Justice

On September 11th, we were honored to hear from Sarah Augustine, a Pueblo (Tewa) descendant and the author of The Land Is Not Empty: Following Jesus in Dismantling the Doctrine of Discovery (Herald Press, 2021). This is the first week in a back to basics series called Anabaptist Academy, and centers around Jesus and Justice.

We were privileged to have Sarah speak to us several years ago, and learned about and became members of Reapair Network for the Anabaptist Coalition for Dismantling the Doctrine of Discovery, commited to becoming a people that repudiates the doctrine of discovery in our words, thoughts, and actions.

Sarah talks about becoming a mediator through Lombard Mennonite
Peace Center, learning the tools for effective nonviolent resistance. Her theme on this September 11th Sunday was how violence is exponential in its growth.

The Doctrine of Discovery is a legal doctrine, a paradime for creating law. It is the current legal doctrine in the United States that defines reality for indigenous peoples, dating back to colonization., mission, and economic development. It was last cited in 2005 in a majority opinion written by Ruth Bader Ginsburg, who said that this is a matter of settled law.

And it is also based upon Christian doctrine deployed by the church.

Hear more as Sarah talks about indigenous boarding schools, the role of Indian agents and pastors, missions and economic development, and the current impact of the Doctrine of Discovery — along with Jesus’ message of justice.

(Apologies that the first lines of her sermon were clipped.)