Meyers and Briggs and Martha and Mary: A Homily for the Sixth Sunday After Pentecost

A homily for the Sixth Sunday after Pentecost.  Preached at All Saints, Collingwood, Anglican Diocese of Toronto, 21 July, 2025.

Lections for Proper 16C: Am 8:1-12; Ps 52; Col 1:15-28; Lk 10:38-42

“She had a sister named Mary, who sat art the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying”.  (Lk 10:38).

Some of you have probably taken one of those personality tests such as Meyers Briggs or the Enneagram.  Seminaries and clergy recruiting boards are very fond of them.   If you haven’t, they way they work is that you are presented with many descriptors and you choose the ones that apply to you. One such choice may be “I am the life of the party” vs “I like to keep to myself”.

The results tend to sort people according to how they think and process information, whether they make choices according to the head or the heart, and of course, the one that everyone seems to understand, whether people are introverts or extroverts, introverts being those who need time by themselves whereas extroverts get their energy from crowds of people.

Here’s a test of whether you’re an introvert.   There’s a book club where you all go to a cafe, you all sit by yourselves at different tables, you read the book of your choice silently in peace and quiet, and then you go home.   If that sounds good to you, then you’re probably an introvert.

Just as there are personality types defined by psychological tests, there are also just common characters, stereotypes if you will,  that we all recognize, and this is especially true in churches.    Every church I’ve been in has recognizable personalities that I know from previous churches.  For example, there’s the person who runs the kitchen with the iron fist, there’s the person at vestry meetings who asks finicky questions about a forty seven cent line item in the parish budget, and the fellow who you’ll never see in church on Sunday but who would be there in the dead of winter to fix the furnace.

Today’s gospel reading gives us two characters, Mary and Martha, whose names have become synonymous with church stereotypes.   Some background first.  Mary and Martha are familiar names to us, some months ago we heard the story of how Jesus visited a house in Bethany and raised Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha, from the dead, and then returns for a party where Mary anoints Jesus with costly perfume.    We heard these stories towards the end of Lent this year.   In today’s gospel reading we don’t hear anything about Lazarus so we don’t know if this is the same Mary and Martha, but who’s to say they aren’t the same.

In today’s story I think we can assume that Jesus has dropped by with his disciples, so at least a dozen people, and of course they need to be welcomed properly and fed, so Martha is in charge of the hospitality, whereas Mary has adopted a disciple’s posture and “sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying”.   Preparing lunch for so many unexpected guests is a big chore, and Martha is frazzled and grumpy that Mary isn’t helping.   Jesus’ answer, that Mary “has chosen the better part”, has provoked centuries of theological writing on what Jesus means by “the better part” and will come to that in a moment.

But to return to my idea of character stereotypes, I know lots of Anglicans who use the names Martha and Mary as shorthand for different church types and roles.  If you’re a Martha, then you can be found in the kitchen or in the altar guild, and you like to work with your hands.  If you’re a Mary, you go to every bible study and belong in the prayer group and go on retreats.  It’s often said in Christian literature that Martha is the active Christian at work in the world and Mary is the contemplative Christian who prays for the world.   Those stereotypes are of course at least half nonsense because we all know people who are happy in both roles, but the stereotypes endure and I know church women who call themselves Marys or Marthas.   Interesting that these are feminine stereotypes.  What about male church stereotypes?   That would be a subject for another sermon.

But what does Jesus mean about Mary taking the better part?  Does that mean that he is elevating one type of discipleship about others?  Is listening to Jesus better than serving others?   If so, then that would be odd seeing as in Luke’s gospel Jesus has just finished telling the story of the Good Samaritan, which is all about serving others.  Hospitality is a huge deal in Luke’s gospel.  A few weeks ago we heard Jesus send out his disciples to seek the hospitality of strangers, who would be blessed for welcoming them (Lk 10.9).  So I don’t think the problem is that Martha is engaged in a lesser role.

More likely, Martha is being gently chastised by Jesus for being aggravated and judgey about her sister.    There are several gospel stories like the parable of the Pharisee and the Tax Collector, where one person compares themselves favourably to another.   I think Jesus is saying, let her be, she’s doing good and you were doing good until you let yourself be vexed.

One of the recurring messages of the gospels is that we should listen to Jesus.    In the story of the transfiguration, the disciples here the voice from heaven saying “This is my son, listen to him” (Lk 9.35).  Likewise, Jesus says that his true brothers and sisters are those who “hear the word of God, and do it” (Lk 8.21).   The right place for Mary is to sit and hear the words of Jesus, literally to be in the presence of the Word made Flesh, and this is the correct posture of the church.

The role of the church includes feeding the hungry, speaking for the helpless, striving for justice, being salt and light for the world, and welcoming all to God’s table.  How do we know that the church should do these things?  We know because Jesus tells us to, full stop, period, end of story.   The church obeys Jesus because, as Paul tells us in our second reading from Colossians, he is “the head of the body, the church”, and it is the work of the church to hear the word of Jesus and then to make that word known to the poor through our deeds.   Marthas and Marys are equally needed for this work, we must be hearers of the word AND doers of the word.

If the church does not constantly listen to Jesus and interpret the gospel’s instructions for us in the world we live in, then the church serves no purposes but it’s own.   The prophet Amos, speaking to the complacent and corrupt rules of Israel, warned them their unjust practices would alienate them from the word of God, that the word of God would go silent, would vanish like food vanishes in a famine.

Today, in a world full of lies and boasting, and obscene concentrations of wealth and brutal politics, we can’t let the word of God go silent.   We need to listen to Jesus.  We need to hear stories like the Good Samaritan and enact them in our own ways and local contexts.   We need to show care and hospitality like Martha, and be prayerful and attentive like Mary.   All of us have a role to play - doers of the word, hearers of the word, introverts and extroverts.  We can lose the church stereotypes - they aren't really helpful, while revelling in the fact that God takes all types, and puts our gifts and talents to use in the service of God's kingdom.

Jesus doesn’t need stereotypes but he welcomes all types: Marthas and Marys, introverts and extroverts, and you Nd me!