Break the rules?

     Our readings for this week are once again giving us a lovely conversation starter: is it better to follow the rules or to put relationships first?
     Last week with the parable of the good Samaritan, we saw that the rules don't always work.  When the priest and the Levite followed the rules, they were not loving their neighbor, and so we had an 'exception to the rule'.  We discovered in conversation that the hard part is knowing when the rules don't work anymore.

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     In this week's gospel lesson, we have a similar scenario, though the two texts are hardly ever compared in such a way.  This week we continue in Luke 10 with a story about Jesus visiting Mary and Martha.  Typically the story has been interpreted that poor Martha just misses the boat - she puts daily tasks above loving Jesus.  The moral of the story, then, is not to get too distracted with daily life so that you miss Jesus in your midst.
     This is a fine interpretation, and it impacts my life all the time - I tell myself not to get too caught up in the little details so as to miss five minutes of playtime with my daughter, or the quick chat with a neighbor on the sidewalk.  However, given where the text is placed in Luke, I think there is more to just paying attention to Jesus.
     Recall that Jesus, when we sent out the 70 disciples on their mission at the beginning of chapter 10, instructed them not to take anything with them and to rely on the hospitality of those whom they met along the way.  Jesus himself was reliant on the hospitality of his friends and acquaintances since he was a traveling teacher.  Martha, knowing the hospitality laws, was both fulfilling the law and fulfilling what Jesus had earlier commanded.
     There is also precedent for Martha serving honored guests.  In Genesis 18, our other reading for Sunday, the Lord appears to Abraham when three men appear outside his tent.  When he sees them, he invites them in, tells Sarah to make cakes, and prepares a calf for them to eat.  This was the tradition of hospitality, and the men gave permission for Abraham to prepare them a meal.
     It would seem then, that these two texts are at odds with each other.  In Genesis, Sarah is expected to be doing the 'traditional hostess role.'  In Luke, Martha expects that her sister Mary help her in the 'traditional hostess role' and Jesus chastises her by saying, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing.  Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her."
     Perhaps rather than focusing on the fact that Jesus is praising Mary for choosing to sit at his feet, we might think about Jesus praising Mary for not letting the rules get in the way.
     Think about it.  Why do we do what we do?  Who made up the 'chores' list for your house?  I once heard a story about a family pot roast recipe.  The recipe had been in the family for at least three generations - and it was a prize-winning, always-requested dish and source of family pride.  To begin, you had to cut one of the ends of the roast off and place it in a smaller dish, while the rest of the roast went into the roasting pan.  One day, however, one of the youngest generation family members asked, "Why do you have to cut it?"  No one knew, it was just because that's what the recipe said.
     After doing some investigation into the matter, one woman discovered that in the generation the recipe was perfected, the cook didn't have a roasting pan large enough to hold a whole roast.  So you had to cut the end off and cook in two batches.
     We often do things just because, without giving it much thought.  Jesus, in his interaction with Mary and Martha, is not necessarily only praising Mary because she is sitting and listening, but perhaps more because she has given the matter thought and decided that the rules of playing host to Jesus weren't as important as simply being with him.
     That is the freedom we have in Christ - we are totally freed from the 'rules' and can choose to live where the Spirit blows, rather than being confined by the rigid boundaries of societal pressures and unwritten rules.  For me, however, the sad reality is that I am often like Martha, unhappily confined by the invisible chains of living up to made-up expectations.
     While it is important not to live too distracted and therefore miss God's presence in your life, it is also important to live in Christ's freedom by surrendering all of yourself, including your expectations, and be willing to become new in the Spirit.  It is a challenge to throw all the rules out the window, trusting that God's Spirit won't let you go astray, and confidently stepping forward in faith knowing that living in Christ's freedom sometimes means breaking rules.