May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer.  Amen.

Are you Martha, Mary or Lazarus?

Each one of them is loved by Jesus.  Each one is the friend of Jesus.  They are all very different.

Martha – hardworking, detail oriented, knows what needs to be done and does it.  Many people believe that Martha represents the organizers of the early church.  She is the one who provided the space, gathered the people, and made it possible for worship to happen.  Martha exemplifies the leader of a house-church or small worshiping community that met in someone’s home.  She is the combination of the ACW, Altar Guild, Lay Reader, communion administrator, warden, and landlord all rolled into one efficient package.  She either has a rich husband or comes from a rich family.  She would need this backing because her house-church is a full time job plus some.

This very tiring picture is the up-side of Martha.  The downside is that she is so busy that she has forgotten why she’s doing it all.  She never takes time to just sit back and think about the big picture.

Mary is a visionary.  Mary is consumed with the big picture.  She looks around her and just knows what is important.  She knows ahead of time that Jesus is going to die, either because she understood what he was saying (which pretty much no-one did) or maybe because she was a prophet.  We don’t really know why Mary knew, but she did.  Mary, to me, represents the response of the church.  She sees a need and takes action, regardless of the cost.  She knows that our response needs to be one of generosity.  She is the why of the church.  She shows us were we should be going.

Mary also has her down-side.  Mary is response oriented.  If the church were run by her, very little would get done.  It would be all outreach with no fundraising to back it up.  Nothing would ever be set up in time for worship.  People would never know when to be there.  There would be no organization.

Lazarus seems to have the easy job.  He doesn’t have to do much.  He just has to be there.  I see him as the average church goer (which doesn’t actually exist).  He is consistent.  He provides support for both Martha and Mary.  He listens to what they have to say and adds his own input.  Without him, neither Martha nor Mary have anything to do.  Martha has no congregation to prepare for, no meetings to organize, no books to keep, no meals to prepare.  Without him Mary has no resources to respond to needs, no one to listen to her when she describes her understanding of God and God’s call.

Oh – and Lazarus has to give up his life for Christ.  Lazarus has to be so devoted to his calling that he is willing to die so that Jesus can show the world that death no longer has any power.

Together, these three people make up a healthy church.  If any one of them is missing the church is in trouble.

But there is more to it than that.  Each of these people is a reflection of the trinity of the Christian brand.

Martha is stewardship.  She manages and takes care of God’s gifts.  She uses what she needs and is very conscious of her responsibility for it all.  She lives simply.

Lazarus is humanity.  He is called to be alive, to live as Christ teaches him.  He simply lives.

Mary helps others to live as Christ teaches us.  She observes her world and responds to any need that she sees.

I believe that every one of us is a mix of all three.  Each of us has our strengths and our weaknesses, but they are all there.

I know that I have a large portion of Mary in me.  My weak side is Martha.  I have to work very hard at the organization, at making sure that all of the work gets done.  I am easily distracted when I see a need, any need.  I get caught up in responding when I need to be planning or preparing.

I think that it is important for us to know ourselves.  To know where our strengths lie, where our weaknesses are.  To make the best use of our strengths and to work on our weaknesses.  To become more complete as human beings.

When we know our own strengths, we can recognize them in others.  We can seek out people with complementary strengths and work together.  We can help each other with our weaknesses.

This is the good news today.  This is the grace of God.  Individually, we are incomplete, imperfect, not capable, or unworthy as our translations say.  Together, we are complete.  Together we are, as our Bible says, perfect.

Thanks be to God.