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The story is told about a group of soldiers who were released from a prison camp at the
end of World War II.
Because transportation was limited and bad weather threatened to cut off the port, the
remaining soldiers who were to board the last boat were told they could bring only one piece
of luggage.
Two soldiers had been together throughout the war and had looked out for one another.
When one was selected to go, the other was forced to stay behind and wait for a later
boat.
The first man emptied his duffel bag and then told his friend to climb inside.
He then strenuously lifted the bag onto his back and carried his most important
piece of luggage aboard the ship. There are certain moments in our lives that
reveal where our true priorities lie. And for the Christian, what is often most
important is life, the time we spend in life alone with God.
We turn to our gospel reading for this morning, which is out of chronological order.
And the reason I believe Luke placed it here, after he had talked about Jesus sending out
the 72 and telling about the parable of the Good Samaritan, is to show that doing things
for God is not all that is important.
The good Christian life is more than just doing good deeds.
We find two characters in our story who are sisters, Martha and Mary.
They lived in Bethany, about two miles outside of Jerusalem.
and it was to their house that Jesus came. Martha was very busy working to
serve Jesus and whatever she could do. Martha was a real go-getter. She was a
woman who knew what she wanted and went after it. She was logical and vocal about
her faith.
In today’s story, we’re told that Martha was distracted by her many tasks.
See, she was not just busy, she was distracted.
She was overburdened by the household chores.
And the picture that comes to my mind is Martha being chained to the stove and a large vacuum
cleaner dragging her around the house.
And if we saw that in a comic or cartoon, we’d think that’s funny.
But in real life, that is not funny.
Her duties had taken a life of their own, and they were controlling Martha, rather than
Martha controlling them.
Martha’s dilemma is no doubt familiar to many of us because being dragged around
life is no fun. Who or what is controlling us and preventing us from
truly serving or worshiping God.
The other character in our story is Mary, the sister of Martha.
Mary sat at Jesus’ feet and listened to his teachings while Martha was in the kitchen
working.
Mary’s position at Jesus’s feet may indicate that she was a pupil and he the
teacher or that as a friend Mary was conversing with Jesus about his life and
work thus a more apt description of Mary might be that of an eager student or of
a devoted friend.
Mary was committed to her friend, to her faith, and to her Lord.
And other accounts of Mary in the New Testament would support this description.
We all have merry moments in our lives.
And if we pause to reflect, I think we can remember times when we felt that we’re very
focused on God and felt especially touched by his spirit. Maybe it was
during a time of personal illness or during a time we experiencing death in
the family and we sensed that God was very real and we felt his comfort or
maybe it was during a special worship service when God’s Spirit spoke to us
and convicted us.
Perhaps it was simply through a smile of a friend or the reading of a favorite passage
of Scripture.
Wherever the experience, it was a time where we knew that God was real and we were being
moved to actively respond and to worship God.
Some call this mountaintop experiences, where we feel particularly close to our Lord.
So, picture here the frazzled Martha and the contented Mary, and it’s easy to predict
the tension.
Martha gets angry at Mary for not helping out with the host’s chores.
Martha was bothered by the situation, and so she asked Jesus to tell Mary to help her.
However, Jesus responds to Martha’s request in a way I don’t think she was expecting.
He repeats her name twice for emphasis.
She was worried and bothered about so many things when only one thing was really important.
What is necessary is the good part, Jesus says.
She’s sitting at the feet of Jesus, talking to Him, listening to Him, worshiping Him.
That is what is necessary.
That’s what Jesus says is the good part.
This intimacy with Christ is always available to the believer if he or she will make that
a priority in their life.
So, on the surface here, it seems like Jesus is saying that Mary’s way is right and Martha’s
was wrong.
But let’s take a closer look.
Jesus actually recognizes Martha’s anxiety.
And He does not say that Martha’s work is wrong or is sinful.
He says, it is her distractions that are wrong and sinful.
He knows that she feels burdened by these many chores.
He also knows that she loves him and has a strong faith.
So rather than chastise Martha for her attitude, instead Jesus reminds her that only one thing
right now is really important.
That one thing is staying focused on her relationship with the Lord, taking some time to also sit
at Jesus’ feet.
Now to do so means to let go of some things that are unnecessary, and she must learn to
determine what work is truly important and what work can be left undone.
I think it’s easy for us to be Martha’s, but if we never stop to hear God’s voice,
how do we know what God is saying to us?
Many of us are quiet Marys.
We sit at Jesus’ feet, we’re in His Word, we’re in prayer, and get very little else
done.
How would the church survive if all of us were Marys?
You see, we all have merry moments, but we can’t stay in those merry moments or in those
mountaintop experiences forever.
After all, if that was our case, where everything was good and perfect and going well, hey,
They were talking about heaven, but we’re not there yet.
This is Satan’s world full of evil and challenges that calls our attention.
Sometimes we wish we could make this heaven, but we can’t.
So we have to deal with the place that God has us right now.
Consider what might happen in this Mary and Martha account if Mary was the only character.
then who would have opened the door and welcomed Jesus in? Who would have eagerly
met Jesus and request his help in light of their brother Lazarus’s death? Who
would have prepared the meals? Who would have cared for Jesus as a guest? In short,
who would have done the work? Many times we can be busy doing good things that are
really distracting us from that which is more important.
Responsibilities of work, family, and the church can get in the way of what is to be
the best part of the Christian life.
And it is a strange irony that we can actually be pulled away from the Lord while we are
ministering in His name.
And I think we don’t want to be either the distracted Martha or the quiet Mary.
So somehow, can we find a balance between the two?
We too hear these words that Jesus speaks to Mary and Martha.
And we must take the time to examine our lives and realize that the time we spend at Jesus’
Jesus’ feet is essential to our spiritual, emotional, and physical health.
We must discover those things that are keeping us from learning and growing in our faith
and ask God to help us get rid of them because it’s at Jesus’ feet where we discover our
gifts and how God wants to use our gifts to further His kingdom.
One night a father was going past his little boy’s bedroom where he saw his young son kneeling
next to his bed, head bowed, hands folded, and repeating the alphabet.
What are you doing?” Dad asked. The son said, I’m saying my prayers but I couldn’t
think of just what I wanted to say. So I’m just saying all the letters and God
could put them together any way he wants. Now there’s a point here. You see God
wants us to come and spend time with him. And so often we worry about what are we
going to say? What am I to do? And Jesus says to us, just come spend some time with me.
Just say something. Say anything. And I’ll work with that. And I’ll equip you and send
you and bless you. Just do something.
This is a rather brief gospel text. But there’s three takeaway points I want to leave with
you.
The first is this gospel presents to us a clash of temperaments, and there is really
no right or wrong here.
Remember, God did not make us all the same.
In society, and especially in the church, we need to allow for a difference in individual
temperaments.
Some of us are naturally more extroverted and more active, and others are naturally
more introverted and more cerebral, and it’s hard for an active person to understand someone
who just sits around and contemplates, and a person who is devoted to quiet times and
meditation is apt to look down on the person who is always so busy, whether it be in prayer
either, or an act of service, both are serving God.
And God needs both His Marthas and His Marys.
They work together.
Secondly, I think these verses also show us a wrong type of kindness, a wrong type of
kindness.
See, remember where Jesus is going when this episode happens.
Jesus is on His way to Jerusalem to die.
It’s near the end of His earthly life.
And Jesus’ focus at this time was His inner battle to bend His will to the will of God
the Father.
and when Jesus came into that home in Bethany, Martha was eager to celebrate it
by being the best host possible. And so she rushed and she fussed and she cooked
and that is precisely what Jesus did not want. All Jesus wanted was quiet with the
cross before him, and with all this inner tension in his heart, he had turned aside
to Bethany to find an oasis of calm among the demanding crowds that were following him.
And when Jesus said, only one thing is necessary, quite possibly that means, I don’t want a
big meal or all the fuss.
All I want is a bite to eat and a place to rest.
It seems Mary understood this and Martha did not.
These verses also present a challenge to us.
So often we desire, we want to be kind to other people.
But usually our kindness is shown in our own way.
way, we choose how to show that kindness.
And when our way is not the necessary way, then often we then take offense or think,
well, I’m just simply not being appreciated.
When trying to be kind to another, we need to first see the heart of the person who we
desire to help.
See, Jesus loved Martha and Martha loved Jesus.
But when Martha sent out to be kind, she did it based on her own understanding of kindness.
She failed to see the heart of Jesus and what Jesus really needed at that time.
Jesus loved Mary and Mary loved Jesus.
and Mary seemed to understand Jesus’s need at that time. As Christians we need
to value intimacy with God and make that a primary goal in our life. And this
requires setting aside time to pursue knowing God above everything else. But
And then when God speaks to us, we need to respond, actively living out the call that
we received from our Lord.
And then we need to put into action and display the faith which God fills our hearts.
So that’s the challenge this gospel text places before us.
Are we willing to allow God to balance the Martha and the Mary that’s in each one of
us and so that we can be better servants for Christ?
Reach out and be a helping, caring hand to others and be a blessing to others as our
Lord continues to bless us. In our Lord Jesus’ name, Amen. I’d like you please to
stand as we conclude the message with a moment of prayer. O Lord, creator of all
that we are, we stand now in your presence, wearied by the pace of our
lives. We know well the tension of our responsibilities and the need we also
have for for quiet. Slow us now that we might sit quietly at your feet in
preparation for doing your work. We offer our Marys into your presence that we
might learn and know more of your will. Our Marthas come full of energy and
willingness to be your ministers in this world. Instruct us gently in what our
duties are to be. Accept us in your wholeness that we might be your faithful
and joyful disciples. This we ask in our Lord Jesus’ name. Amen.
