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Jesus in “Hell’s Kitchen”. Here is a moment in the ministry of Jesus in which we can all easily place ourselves…. Martha is scurrying around preparing a meal and seeing to the comfort of her guests, all the time getting more and more distracted by the absence of her sister. To Martha, Mary, nowhere to be seen is, AWOL!  It is easy, very easy, to read Martha’s mind: “Here I am cooking and working and there she is seated, mind you, with the men, at the feet of Rabbi Jesus, as if SHE were a disciple.” Martha’s anger and frustration intensify and deepen as time passes. She begins to stomp around in the kitchen, banging down pots and pans, slamming cabinet doors, speaking to the servants in quick sharp tones. Then finally, she can’t take it anymore, and so she storms into the room to pass on her wisdom, and her frustration, not only to Mary, but to Jesus as well. She gives them both “that look” and a piece of her mind!

This scripture sets out to expose a very important contrast which we will do well to grasp if we are to grow as disciples of Jesus Christ. Not the contrast between doing and listening, but between being able to hear and receive and act upon God’s Word, spoken from the mouth of Jesus and being unable to receive Jesus’ words. The contrast is between "truly hearing the word" - hearing in such a way that the Word can be embraced, can take root in our lives and so can be lived out and expressed. That is: discipleship on the one hand and "anxious" behavior i.e. the antithesis of discipleship on the other.

Martha runs this household. It is she who offers hospitality to Jesus and those with Jesus. She offers in this regard a positive role model, because hospitality is important. But in offering this hospitality, Martha becomes absolutely distracted; so much so that she cannot pay attention to nor receive the word Jesus was offering to and for all in the household.

Let me try to demonstrate. [Jim moves to the front of the Communion Table]

The Greek word perispaomai, translated in your pew Bible as “distracted”, literally means “pulled in all directions”. “Spaomai” used for example in the phrase, “to pull a sword out of its sheath” and “peri” as in peripatetic, all around.

Martha was “perispaomai” distracted, pulled away by all she was doing and thinking about in her “Hell’s Kitchen.” As you will see and hear, we know this woman. Heck... we are this woman! As she buzzes about, listen in on all she is thinking about. How long before she needs to take the bread out of the oven... Taking her boys to their chariot racing practice. Her brother, Lazarus is on her mind; he has been poorly recently, thinking she would buy him that new book, “Preparing for the next life.” Oh yes, and she needs to be ordering tickets for the new Broadway musical in Jerusalem, Judean Boys! Will she do the Bike Ride across Galilee this year? Decanting some wine... Getting her girls to their Bethany Beauties cotillion down at the synagogue. Oh yes, and while she is there she needs to check on her eldest girl’s application to join the Daughters of the Jewish Revolution. Then there is her oldest boy’s financial aid application and renewing her membership in her local cooperative: SAMS CLUB! How long have those vegetables been boiling? Should she light the candles yet? There is planning to be done for the big family get together at the Club Med for Rosh Hashanah... Renewing her subscription to “Cooking for Others”... Paying her taxes. Can she go with her girlfriends for that weekend at her friends new house on Lake Galilee? Building that cabin in the Mountains... Son enrolled in the Kaplan Bar mitzvah Prep Class.

Distracted, Martha cannot receive the message of Jesus! Distracted, she is deaf and blind, untuned to that one thing that she needs. Distracted, we cannot see that one thing that we really, really need, and so we get lost or tired or worn or beaten down, because we are unable to receive that which will alone can nourish and sustain us.

Then, on behalf of all of us, Martha addresses Jesus using the first of three words for anxious that we find in verses 40 and 41. Out of her distractedness, out of her anger, out of her anxiety, out of her frustration Martha, using the word, “melei”, abruptly asks Jesus, "Don't you care? Jesus, aren't you concerned or anxious about what you see happening here? Can’t you see all that I am going through for you, and my sister isn’t helping, nor by the way is any of the other “guests” you brought with you?” In a loud and clamorous fashion Martha seeks to spread her resentment and anger to others. She wants to drag Jesus into her agitation:  “Don’t YOU care Jesus…? I thought YOU would care Jesus?” At times don't we all want to make sure that everyone around us knows about our inner anxieties?

Jesus, don’t you care about what is happening to me and around me? Isn’t that a question we sometimes start asking with a lot of emotion when we have allowed ourselves to be so distracted, when our backs are turned to the One with whom we need to be, when we have so filled up our minds, our hearts, our lives that we have lost our connection with our Savior?

Take for example how many distractions get in the way of making the best preparations for active participation in worship on a Sunday. First of all there is, for many of us, a very long list of distractions that when we lay down to them prevent us from being here week by week.

And then, even when we make sure we are here, the problem can still exist. There is an old saying from the old country: If we arrive five minutes before the Service starts, we are 10 minutes late! If we are distracted, we risk not being able to see, and hear and receive what really matters.

In “Hell’s Kitchen”, Jesus is not anxious about the possibility of a late dinner or a simple dinner or even no dinner. And so Jesus responds to Martha urging her not to be distracted. The first word Jesus uses is the word, merimnao, meaning anxiety or worry, which within its meaning is the idea of apprehension over possible dangers or misfortunes. It is the word, used repeatedly in Jesus' "lilies of the field" speech in which you may recall Jesus says “don’t worry (merimnao) about tomorrow, about what you will eat and drink or wear. Don’t worry, instead, seek first the Kingdom of God.”

How often, like Martha, do we get it into our mind what a disaster is in the making if everything, and I mean everything, isn't done just right and on time? How often do we let ourselves think that anything less than absolute perfection is disastrous and makes us a failure? This can often happen when we imagine that everything depends on us and when we look at our lives with our backs turned on what we really need. Unable to touch and taste, unable to truly eat and drink, shut out from the nourishment of the life of Jesus our life can quickly become a disaster. A disaster in which we imagine that hope is lacking, joy is absent and love seems lost, all because we deny ourselves the friendship and fellowship which our Savior offers to all of us.

The second word for anxiety that Jesus uses is the word “thorubazo” which is a word related to a "riot" or a "loud commotion". Though not used elsewhere in the New Testament, it is used elsewhere to refer to the commotion, the weeping and wailing and the related distress, at the time of a death. Jesus’ use of this word strongly hints at the noise Martha was making beyond her inner turmoil.

We know that noise too. The noise we make when we are well out of sorts; when we are jealous or proud or slow to forgive or ready for a fight or unwilling to bend! You can tell... I know a lot about this kind of noise! Too often that is how I end up dealing with myself or others as I allow myself to drift away from the One whom I know I need much more than that One needs me!

Jesus' reaction, Jesus’ response, Jesus’ rebuke to Martha is not at all harsh, but is very sweet and tender. We hear that tenderness in the way Jesus repeats her name, “Martha.. Martha.” It could be suggested that if Jesus was from Georgia, instead of Palestine, he would have said, "Martha, honey…"

Jesus speaks Martha’s name to penetrate the inner noise, to cut through and to still the clanging mental cacophony generated by Martha's misplaced priorities and resulting anger.

Jesus speaks Martha’s name to help bring her into a face-to-face relationship with Himself, so that Martha can discover who she truly is and her highest calling as she comes closes and pays close attention to Jesus and Jesus’ words.

Jesus speaks Martha’s name, Jesus speaks your name and my name, inviting us to turn around, to gather at His feet, to sit at His Table, to discover and re-discover the love of God for us and for the world.

Jesus speaks our names, and shares with all of us the grace we need and which can only come to us as a gift from God.

Jesus speaks our names to remind us that we cannot be doers of the word without taking the time to listen to it first! We cannot offer our witness of Jesus Christ if we haven’t witnessed Jesus by being in Jesus’ presence!

There is no better place to allow Jesus and Jesus’ words to call you into a restored friendship and fellowship than right here at this, the Lord’s Table. Here we see the heart of our faith, the center of our existence, the point of our lives. Here Jesus– the crucified, risen, ever-present Jesus meets us and offers us His Life. Here Jesus, our living savior, the head of His body, the church, the Lord of Heaven and Earth meets us. Here Jesus has created and kept a place and space for you! Here Jesus, who loves the world to the uttermost and so loves you to the uttermost, invites you, to slow down, to stop, to turn, to pull up a chair, to sit at Table and join with all the disciples of the past, the present and the future in the banquet of love and life. “Hell’s Kitchen” no more... this is Heaven’s Table on earth!  Amen.