‘Press the pause button … and worship!’
This blog will look at two New Testament passages and will point to the one priority I believe we are called to practise. It is my final blog as University Chaplain. This is also personal as I prepare to start a new phase of ministry. It is something that I need to practice myself.
The Gospel passage is Luke 10:38-42.
As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”
“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one.[a] Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”
This passage begs a question which I will come to in a moment.
First let me set the scene. I am finishing at the University of Bath after nine years. My modus operandi has been, since day one, to:
- Always seek Christian unity
- Always practice compassion
- And always model prayer
Seeking Christian unity prevents spiritual elitism – the claim that ‘my church is more alive than your church’. Practising compassion prevents judgementalism; I know this is not easy. I have always tried to look for the ‘person behind the degree’, ‘person behind the sport’, or the ‘person behind the comment’. Modelling prayer – well, prayer should be natural. This is the way we speak to the God we believe in. Prayer should be as natural in the pub, or on a walk in the countryside as well as on Sundays in church.
Seeking unity defines our common ground. That is Jesus Christ. He is the ground on which we are camped. If we celebrate that with, and in, each other we can then manage the areas on which we think differently. The Church needs to work at this. Its behaviour on gender is shameful. Gay Christians think so …
I was invited to speak at a university reception. The senior executive and other colleagues from many aspects of university life had gathered to say farewell. We are a science university. Science looks at evidence, so I spoke of the evidence for faith. Traditionally, this includes scripture, tradition and reason. As a young adult I knew all this. I was brought up in a Christian home and sang in choirs, in both school chapel and university college chapel. However, it was not until I was 30 that the Christian faith made sense. That is when I accepted the truth of Jesus Christ. And it was the experience of God that completed my evidence picture. Many believe that experience is the fourth strand of faith for evidence, which is the evidence that changes a person’s knowledge about God (head knowledge) to a belief in God, in Jesus Christ’s name (heart/soul knowledge). For me, aged 30, the experience was the understanding of forgiveness. Then, some years later, my wife Pat and I, experienced the peace of God when, with our second child on the way, I was out of work for a while and had to regroup my surgical career.
So here is the question that that passage of Jesus’ conversation with Martha and Mary begs: who here can relate to Martha?! If Jesus came to tea, what would you do? Especially if your family were also around. We are so good of making a virtue out of our busyness. I was asked recently about the theme of this blog, and I thought, somewhat grumpily, ‘come on, I haven’t written it yet’. How often do you make a comment ‘I am so busy’? We pride ourselves in our diaries. Is this all for God? And on our busy days, when logically we have more need for help, we actually spend less time in prayer, fitting in ‘a quickie’ in between the tasks on our to-do list.
What is Jesus saying in this Gospel passage? This is why this teaching is so difficult. Most people who hear this narrative have great sympathy with Martha. That is because we all have an element of Martha in us.
Let us be gentle with ourselves. And also be encouraged. This teaching of Jesus about Martha and Mary is not an either/or option. Jesus has taught elsewhere that we show our faith by acts of service to others. And Jesus loves Martha too. It is Martha who runs to meet him after their brother Lazarus has died. She has the conversation with him first about how Lazarus would still be alive if he had come sooner. Jesus says to Martha ‘I am the resurrection and life. He who believes in me will live even though he dies and whoever lives and believes in me will never die.’ And, when Jesus asks Martha if she believes this, it is Martha who says ‘Yes, Lord, I believe that you are Jesus to Son of God who has come into the world.’
Looking at the text I think it is likely that Martha is the older sister. All first born children have a sense of blazing the trail, setting out a lifestyle and sense of duty for others to follow. We have a picture that Jesus, Martha, Mary and Lazaraus are intimate friends. Look at the meal they have together after Lazarus has been raised from the dead – Martha is serving and Lazarus reclining at the table – that must have been extraordinary.
So, how do we harness the Martha in us and yet learn from Mary? I am going to suggest that we read a passage from Colossians (Chapter 1: 15-20). Read this in a different way. Take time to pause and sit as Jesus’ feet. Invest time to reflect on the words, to contemplate their significance and let them sink in. This will engage more with the experience of the love of God as it forms our faith.
The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation. For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross.
Maybe you might recall the experience you felt at the moment of belief - a sense of rescue and understanding of forgiveness, an experience of the ‘peace the world cannot give’.
In conclusion, remember it is Jesus we proclaim by our lives - by our worship, as well as our task list. You might also wonder at God’s grace as well. Again, imagine … Jesus knocks at your door, and you say ‘Ah Lord, come in … but I am sorry my house is a bit of a mess.’ Jesus still says ‘I know … can I come in?’
So, press the pause button … and worship!
AMEN
Revd Nigel Rawlinson
University Chaplain
University of Bath
21 July 2025
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