Sermon – The Yin & Yang of Mary and Martha
Sermon Preached by Reverend Tracey Gracey on Sunday, 20 July, 2025
Luke 10:38-42
Last week, Jesus sent us out with a clear command:
“Go and do likewise.”
To show our love for God and to model the life of Jesus by acting compassionately and providing loving service to others.
This week, the story that follows on from the Good Samaritan feels quite different.
For we are now being encouraged to pause—to stop—and listen.
Two stories.
Two very different rhythms.
One calls us outward to serve.
The other draws us inward to sit at Jesus’ feet.
And into this contrast, we meet two women—Mary and Martha.
We often think of Mary and Martha as opposites,
With one person getting it right and the other wrong.
But this isn’t a story about choosing the right or wrong way.
It is a story about finding the balance between doing and being.
For Martha and Mary aren’t rivals.
They’re a picture of a spiritual rhythm.
Martha’s world is the outer life — responsibility, hospitality, energy, service and care.
Mary’s world is the inner life — stillness, attentiveness, presence and prayer.
They are not in competition — together, they complete the picture of faithful living.
In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus doesn’t rebuke Martha for the work she is doing.
He is gently addressing what she is feeling — because she has become disconnected from the heart of her service.
She has become resentful, distracted, anxious, and overwhelmed.
She has lost sight of the “one thing” that truly matters: serving God through loving attention and action.
In her busyness, she not only loses her sense of peace—she casts the blame on others and wants them to fix her feelings by demanding that Jesus make Mary help her.
Which is why Jesus gently says:
“Martha, Martha… you are worried and distracted by many things. There is need of only one thing.”
In Martha’s resentment, she feels that Mary is not pulling her weight. She views Mary as unhelpful, inconsiderate,
and avoiding her responsibility.
But what looks like avoidance is actually deep engagement.
Mary is teaching us so much, for she’s taking the posture of a disciple—sitting at Jesus’ feet, listening, learning.
In her culture, this was radical—a woman learning openly from a rabbi.
Her love is shown through attention, presence, and choosing the one thing that is needed now.
Mary’s actions bring the household’s attention to what truly matters: the presence and teaching of Jesus.
Her posture reminds us that discipleship begins with stillness, with listening.
For many of us, our lives have been lived in Martha’s world—organising, caring, entertaining, helping and getting things done.
But without the grounding of Mary’s stillness and connection to God, we can find ourselves exhausted, bitter or disillusioned by the very things we believe we are doing for God.
Jesus isn’t asking us to be Mary instead of Martha.
He is inviting us to let the Mary within us
to shape the way our Martha lives.
He is inviting us to let Martha be nourished by Mary.
To let our doing flow from our being.
To let our actions spring from a place of stillness and sacred listening—to let our inner life sustain our outer life.
To help us visualise this way of life,
I’d like to use a visual symbol once again.
This symbol originates from Chinese philosophy — the yin-yang symbol.
- Yin: the dark side, inward energy—stillness, reflection, prayer, the inner life (like Mary).
- Yang: the light side, outward energy—action, work, service, the outer life (like Martha).
But notice that on each side there is a small circle of the other colour —a reminder that they are interconnected, each making room for the other.
That the Mary within us has the potential to serve.
and the Martha within us has the capacity to listen.
Notice also that the shape of the yin-yang symbol is not split straight down the middle.
Instead, a flowing curve melds the two together — each side leading into the other in perfect symmetry.
To remind us that faith isn’t about balancing two opposites — it’s about letting them move together.
And in that flow, in that motion between being and doing, we find Jesus.
Jesus is not standing apart from the two — he moves with them.
He is the one who sits with us when we listen, and walks with us when we serve.
Jesus holds together our inner and outer lives — teaching us to listen deeply and act lovingly.
As you reflect on your own rhythm of life — your inner yin and outer yang — I invite you to pause and consider:
- Where is your Martha showing up — busy, striving, but perhaps losing peace
- Where is your Mary — quiet, attentive, longing for space and presence?
How might you begin to listen for the rhythm between them?
To let your doing grow out of your being.
To let your service be grounded in stillness.
To let your inner life set the pace for your outer actions.
So that, in you, Jesus might create a holy symmetry — where being and doing move together in faithful harmony and living.
Amen.