Being "of the earth"

Dr.Becky King Cerling

What was the tone with which Jesus said, "Martha, Martha" in Luke 10:41?

We tend to think it was a scolding, but Dr. Becky King Cerling spoke to the women of Brentwood Presbyterian Church today and suggested that it could have been very tender.  Only three times in the Bible does Jesus repeat someone's name: "Peter, Peter...," Martha, Martha..." and "Saul, Saul" (Acts 9:4).

Becky led about forty women in examining two Bible passages, Luke 10:38-42 and John 11:27-37.  Mary and Martha are the two main characters in both of them.  We often hear sermons about these passages, and we tend to identify with either Mary or Martha.

But Becky said:

            “We need both: to tend to what is needful (such as food) and to tend to what is holy.  When both are together, we have the virtue of humility.  Humility comes from humus, meaning soil or earth.   We are rooted in the soil.  We are not divine.  We are creatures.  We are dependent on God, our Creator.  All our gifts are from God."

Furthermore, she said, we’re all sinners. We all screw up.  

As Julian of Norwich wrote, “When we sin, God looks at it more with pity than with blame.”  We’re all stalled, stuck human beings.

 "We need to be real with each other – not competitive with each other.  Humility is a way of developing love.  It flattens out differences and distinctions between us.  We are moving toward God and also moving toward one another, other people." 

"It’s not a choice of being either Martha or Mary.  We have to look at Jesus and understand who we are—we come out of the soil.  We need to work on being both Martha and Mary.  In daily life we can be who we are and still grow closer to Jesus.  We can be both.  We each have our unique qualities and gifts, but we also have our common humanity."

Understanding that we have both can lead us to authenticity. 

A note of humor:  

While talking with her, I learned that she holds a doctorate in medieval English history, specializing in Canterbury in the 11th C.  I told her I have a doctorate in medieval English literature.  

We had been sitting together at lunch when this topic came up.  Unusual!