This is the third sermon in a series on what it means to be “beloved” by God. It is also a reprisal of the “Children’s Story” series I typically preach each summer. Due to limitations in accessing new books, this year we are revisiting books from previous years, with those sermons being revisited, revised, or completely rewritten as the Spirit moves.
Children’s Story: The Little Red Hen (Paul Galdone)
Responsive Reading: Psalm 145:10–18
Scripture Reading: Luke 10:38-42
Intro
I’m not sure how many of you have noticed this yet, but the books we are using in this year’s Children’s Story Series are not new. The realities of life, work, and pandemic prevented me from the time-consuming deep-dive into the children’s section of the library that is required each year. And as the worship committee and I discussed all this, the idea of revisiting some of these stories seemed appealing all-around.
Personally, it was probably today’s story that I was most interested in revisiting—especially in its paring with the story of Mary and Martha from Luke 10. I remember how deeply I was drawn to holding these stories of seemingly opposite themes in tension with one another, and I remember feeling that there was much more to explore than what we were able to do at the time.
The Wrong Lesson: Little Red Hen
This time around, I am struck by how we are tempted in both stories to learn a different lesson than then one the story itself wants to teach. The lesson we draw out of these stories is not the lesson we are supposed to be learning.
In the story of The Little Red Hen as a lot of us hear it, we recognize in the title character a certain midwest work ethic that we pride ourselves for. The Hen’s industriousness and hard work stands in stark contrast to the laziness and unwillingness to work that the other characters demonstrate. In the end, we see them as greedy, good-for-nothings who deserve nothing and get nothing. Do you want to be like that?—(we ask ourselves and others)—Or do you want to work hard and have good things?
Unfortunately, the lesson we learn and teach is that only those who work hard enough deserve to have good things in their lives.
- But how much is “hard enough”?
- And what is the threshold between “having what is needed” and “having good things”?
- And what about what God wants for all those who bear God’s image and are deeply loved? How does that factor in?
Admittedly, these are complications that are beyond the reach of this simple story. And while they are further critiques of what I suspect is the common interpretation of this story, the simple reality is that the moral of the Little Red Hen is not “busy is better.” Rather, the moral is that good things are worth working for. And that if you are not willing to work together with others and do your part, then you are not likely to end up with what you want.
You see, this story is not about laziness and hard-work, but about participating in community and its benefits. The Little Red Hen intends to teach us of our responsibility to share in the work of life together in order to benefit from that shared work; simply put: working together is better for everyone. If the other animals had stepped up, the labors would have been easier, the tasks could have been shared, and the result would have benefitted everyone.
The Wrong Lesson: Mary & Martha
I fear the story of Mary and Martha likewise suffers from our attempts to learn the wrong lesson.
As a lot of us hear this story, we tend to demean Martha and honor Mary. We look at Martha as someone doing all this cultural/worldly stuff and not any Jesus-ey things that matter. Martha is so busy that she seems to miss Jesus completely, and aren’t we so glad we are more like Mary?
- Ha! Isn’t it interesting how we always gravitate toward identifying with whom we imagine to be the story’s hero? More on that later……
For now, it is vital that we recognize how, in the story of Mary & Martha, Jesus does not reprimand Martha for any of her service or intentions to show hospitality—not at all!. What she is reprimanded for is her narrow imagining of what it means to honor Jesus. She is reprimanded for her conviction that everyone else’s experience and service of Jesus should be exactly like her own. Martha wants to control Mary and her experience so it follows the pattern of her own, and that is what Jesus stands up against.
The lesson here is not that Mary’s act of adoration is better than Martha’s act of hospitality. If Mary’s is somehow”better,” then it is because her act is the more appropriate one for that specific moment—as the author in Ecclesiastes proclaims: “There’s a season for everything and a time for every matter under the heavens” (Ecclesiastes 3:1 CEB).
Instead, the moral of this story is that God draws us into different callings, different paths, different embodiments of our faith. Part of growing in Christian (and human) maturity is letting go of our need for others to do everything our way—an demonic impulse this is particularly damaging when it comes to faith and the church.
Participation
The common thread between the two stories—The Little Red Hen and that of Martha & Mary in Luke 10—is that both have significant things to say about participation.
Looking to the biblical story, I suspect there is much for us to glean about participation in God’s kingdom and in community together.
If we try to read the story of Martha & Mary in its historical context, we have to acknowledge that Martha was very busy and invested in what she was doing to try to show respect and welcome to Jesus. Hospitality is important—and it was especially so in the ancient world—and Martha was reaching out in all the ways that her world and culture had taught her and shaped her over the years. She was being the perfect hostess, showing complete deference and respect and warmth to their guest Jesus.
Mary, in contrast, seemingly abandoned all cultural norms and expectations and proprieties (to the point of being what her culture would have called rude), and she was simply basking in the presence of Jesus.
While Martha was busy with many things, they were not bad things to do. It is true they were localized cultural expressions of respect and consideration, but we are all products of our context; and I do not believe God dismisses any of our efforts to love God because they are somehow not pure enough. No, the problem for Martha here is that she is so engrained in those cultural expectations, those societal norms, those powers and principalities of her world that she could not recognize what Mary was doing for what it was.
Because Mary was participating too. While Martha’s faith in Jesus drove her to participate in acts of service, Mary was participating in the work of worshipping. She was doing the work of presence. She was drawn into an awe and wonder that could not help but shape faith and fuel transformation.
Busyness & Retreat
These are not things that have visible value when we are busy. Awe and wonder and curiosity cannot be engaged when we are too distracted with tasks to see beyond our to-do list. We must slow down to see their value. We must disengage to find renewal.
And yes, this is now less about Martha and more about ourselves.
But this reality is why retreats and the like have been of such value for faithful people over the centuries. Even to simply take 24 hours and purposely separate oneself from everything that is normal can be enlightening, refreshing, and fulfilling.
Imagine the renewal you experience with even a short vacation—times you drove up to Omaha or down to Branson for a few days, or that quick trip to camp and fish at the lake, or whatever. Such retreats can be invigorating and refreshing in ways that simply remaining at home would not. These purposeful excursions pull us out of ourselves…… out of our norms…… out of others’ expectations of us…… and they give us the freedom to be in the present. That’s where Mary is: she is fully in the present with Jesus.
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Who Are We?
And maybe because of our tendency to try to learn the wrong lessons, it is worth exploring who we are in both of these stories. As I already mentioned, we almost instinctively identify with who we believe is the hero: both the Hen and Mary. And yet it is hard to ignore that the “hen” in the bible story is Martha, and the “Mary” in the children’s story is the cat, dog, and mouse. If we are honest with ourselves, it is hard to claim both simultaneously.
And moreover:
- There are times when what we need most is a comfortable place and space to sleep for a bit, like the cat.
- There are times when our vitamin-D deficient bodies need to bask in the sun, like the dog.
- And there are times when we need to snuggle up alone on the couch and close off the world for a bit, like the mouse.
There are times in our lives when these are the healthy, faithful, responsible choices to make.
But there are, of course, also times when they are not.
- Sometimes we close ourselves off to others and the world so completely that we remain ignorant to the lives and struggles of those God invites us to fight alongside for a better future.
- Sometimes our lives can feel so sunny and warm that we are not willing to journey into the darkness with those who grieve and struggle.
- Sometimes we just aren’t willing to give up our comfort in order that another might find a little of their own.
- Sometimes we are too selfish, too self-absorbed, too self-centered to recognize the work of Jesus that the Spirit invites us into.
And yet even here we find grace, at least with God. For as Jesus demonstrates in the story of Luke 10, God recognizes that we all follow different paths. That we all have different experiences. That we are all gifted and enabled and privileged and even disadvantaged differently. And so God honors our paths as God honors us, all while drawing us deeper into true life and God’s heart of love.
When we are embodying that heart of love, we also are able to honor others’ journeys, even when they are different than our own.
Because ultimately, it is living out God’s desires in the world that is the goal.
- Sometimes that means we need to sit in awe of our Savior, as did Mary, in order to have a clear picture of what those desires actually are.
- Sometimes, like with the Little Red Hen, that means we need to go about God’s business of preparing the Bread of Life to feed the world.
- But always, it means paying attention to where God is at work, and that means listening, and watching, and and waiting—three things that we cannot manage if we are too busy to be interrupted by the Spirit.
Let us therefore not fail to “seek first the kingdom of God,” that we may be capable of the same love that won our own hearts to the God who loves us so.
rogueraconteur 