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The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit
be with you all.
Amen.
In today’s Gospel text, we learn about two types of people who are gathered in the presence
of Jesus.
On the one hand, you have Martha.
Martha is gathered there before Jesus.
She welcomes him into her house and she began to tend to Jesus, meditating and
thinking about Jesus, serving Jesus and showing him hospitality. Now on the other
hand, you have her sister Mary. Mary sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his
teaching. Mary began listening to Jesus as she was meditating and thinking about
Jesus, receiving from Jesus by hearing his words. You see, both of these women
were meditating, and we understand meditating. Now, we don’t mean Eastern
pagan meditating on nothing. We mean biblical meditation upon the Word of God,
the Incarnate Word who comes in the flesh. I mean, we understand what the word
meditate means. It is to think, it is to be concerned, to have a thought that’s
clear, to have a goal in mind, your focused attention, your attentive. I mean
for example, when I was planning to drive out here to Austin, Texas from Los
Alamos, New Mexico, we had to have a plan. We had to meditate. We had to think. We
We had to have a goal.
We had to look at a calendar and say, when are we going?
When are we coming back?
We had to look at a map to make sure we get to the right place.
But you’re set on doing something
and achieving your task.
And well, the mission has been accomplished.
We’re here.
In fact, this is what you did in the morning.
When you woke up, you were set with a goal
to come here to St. Paul from your house.
So you were driving down the street, whatever path you took, you wanted to gather here to
hear the Word of Jesus.
And mission accomplished for you, too.
You’ve done it.
You see, now you’re here to be attentive and to be focused upon Jesus.
And it’s on this day, today, where we gather in His presence, and He appears to us at this
altar with his body and his blood. He comes here to feast with us so that we
would rejoice in his voice. One thing is necessary. And today we hear about Martha
and Mary as they’re meditating upon Jesus. Mary feasting with Jesus at his
feet, listening and attentive to all of his words. However, Martha, Martha became
distracted. She started to meditate and dwell on something else. Martha is
distracted with much serving. I mean, notice how the text flows. At first she
sees Jesus. So she’s meditating upon Jesus. She’s focusing on Jesus. And then
pretty soon she starts meditating and focusing on what she’s doing. And as soon
as she starts to zero in on what she’s doing, she looks over there and notices
what her sister is not doing. So now she’s meditating upon what her sister
doesn’t do. So what does she do? Martha goes and complains to Jesus. Says,
Jesus, aren’t you gonna do something about this? Make my sister help me. And
now notice her meditation is on what Jesus is not doing. Martha has become
distracted. She’s anxious and she’s troubled. Now again, just like we
understand meditating, we understand what distractions are. We get it. Something
else grabs your attention. It shifts your focus now to a different topic and a
different goal. I mean, if you’re driving from New Mexico to Texas, or if you’re
driving from your house to St. Paul, different things happen on the way to
your destination. I mean, that’s why all those signs are posted, because of those
cell phones which are so distracting. Talk and text later. Stay attentive. Watch what
you’re doing. Now we even understand that as you’re driving, now here’s where meditating
makes sense. Meditating is the daydreaming that we do. When we start thinking about things
and our mind starts wandering in all kinds of different ways from one topic to another
like a chain reaction. Maybe you’re driving down the street and you start
thinking about work on Friday or work tomorrow. Maybe you start thinking about
the meeting that you have scheduled later this week. Or, let’s face it, maybe
you’re thinking about the sporting events that you’re doing or going to,
maybe an Astros game, or you’re going fishing and now your mind is set on
your fishing trip, or maybe you’re thinking about a loved one in the hospital.
You see, as your mind wanders around in all kinds of different directions, that’s meditating.
That’s what you’re zeroing in on, that’s what you’re focusing on.
In fact, you’re doing it throughout the whole service.
Your mind’s probably wandering to the left and to the right.
As I’m talking right now, your mind’s probably wandering from the left to the right and saying,
oh yeah, what time is that Astros game? You see, by nature, we are people who are easily distracted,
anxious, and troubled. So the real questions in your own lives, what is it that distracts you?
What is it that makes you anxious? What is it that troubles you? I mean, do you
find yourself meditating upon all the things you’re doing for Jesus? And then
before you know it, you start thinking about your neighbor and your fellow
member of St. Paul and saying, that person’s not doing as much as I’m doing.
And then you start wondering why that person is doing nothing at all. Or do you
start meditating upon what Jesus is not doing and why he’s not doing it your way
and why he’s not doing it in your time. You see, that’s meditating. It’s focusing,
it’s thinking, it’s being concerned about something. Before your thoughts, before
your mind, these daydreams that we have as we wander around, as we go through the
day, whatever is the most important thing to you in the moment is the thing where
you are attentive, where your attention is located. But here’s the problem, those
things that become so attention-grabbing in your life, if you fear it, love it, or
trust in it more than God, guess what? It’s become a God. It’s become an idol
that you have in your heart and that’s why we gather today to hear once again
and to be reminded one thing is necessary Jesus recalibrated focusing
once again on the person and work of Jesus here now feasting with him at his
feet listening to his teaching now in the Garden of Eden when Adam and Eve
originally created understand that they were originally created without anxiety, without
trouble. Can you imagine? What an easy life, nothing to be worried about, nothing to stress
about, nothing to be anxious about. But it’s the devil who brought in the first distraction.
Notice how he does this. Immediately he wants to distract the attention of Eve away from the
Word of God. And he wants Eve to look at creation without God’s Word. And after
that, the game’s over. Now all of us, by nature, we are sons and daughters of Adam
and Eve. Our hearts are filled with anxiety, and our hearts are filled with
trouble. And so every time that we recognize and realize all this anxiety,
all this trouble that comes to our minds and in our lives, it reminds us of the
situation we found ourselves in, in a fallen creation that’s falling apart
and our nature is corrupted and we need a Savior. You see, by nature we are people
who are easily distracted, easily.
We’re continually setting our eyes on the things of this world, constantly chasing after
the shiny things that we see go before us, catching our attention and our imagination.
We have a temporary focus that wants to hold on to the temporary things.
But Jesus tells us one thing is necessary. Jesus, He is eternal. Set your
eyes on Jesus. By nature, we are a people that quickly become anxious. I mean, you
know, you start dwelling upon all the endless possibilities of outcomes that
could happen, the concern about the future and the uncertainty of it, worrying about
it.
We become stressed and depressed by these things.
We become obsessed and oppressed by these things.
But Jesus comes to us today and says, one thing is necessary, Jesus, Him.
You see, we don’t know what the future holds, but we know the one who holds us in the future
with his hands pierced for us and his blood shed for us.
By nature, we are people who become unexpectedly troubled.
I mean, right now you’ve got no troubles, but believe you me, trouble’s going to find
you.
Maybe later today, maybe later in the week.
it causes a commotion in your life, it causes a disorder in your mind and in
your heart. These are all the trials and tribulations that are sent your way in
this life. These things happen to us, but Jesus reminds us one thing is necessary.
Jesus, Him, He brings peace and order back into our hearts. He restores our minds
and sets them right with God. In this life, you will become distracted, anxious,
and troubled, but one thing is necessary. Jesus, do not fall for the distractions
of the devil. Instead, cast your anxieties and your troubles on Jesus
because he cares for you. Jesus came to serve us. He is the suffering servant. And
how does he serve? He’s a servant who takes away our sin and he takes away our
death. He is a servant who frees us from anxiety and trouble. Where the devil
tries to distract us away from God’s Word, Jesus is always coming to join with
us in the midst of our anxiety and trouble, just like he did in the Garden
of Eden when he came to Adam and Eve, as they were now fallen and filled with
anxiety and trouble. And then he came and gave him a promise, the promise that he
would defeat the devil for us. Today we rejoice in this promise. We’ve
gathered here knowing that the devil is a defeated foe, and Jesus comes to us in
this feast of victory over the devil to teach us, to lead us, so that we would set
our eyes on Him, focus on Him, what He’s saying and what He is doing. It’s right
now where He comes to gather us and to gather with us, to eat with us, and we
would sit at His feet, listening to His teaching, knowing that He gives to us His
very body given for you, his very blood poured out for you. In Jesus, you need not
be anxious about the future or be troubled, for he is the Prince of Peace.
He is the one thing necessary. Meditate upon him. Amen. Please stand for the
blessing, the peace of Christ, which surpasses all human understanding. Guard
and keep your hearts in Christ Jesus. Amen.
