Today’s message is intended to be very practical for your life, not a heavy theological treatise so just relax and enjoy what Jesus teaches in this very familiar encounter at the house of Mary and Martha. Jesus teaches a fundamental value by which we are to live out the Christian life. Martha welcomes Jesus into her house and gets very busy preparing the house, the dinner, and all the details of hosting, but her sister Mary just sits at Jesus’ feet listening and Martha gets so bugged about it that she says, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore, tell her to help me!”
What would you do if Jesus were coming to your house? Or an important historical figure like J.S. Bach or Martin Luther? Or a famous person living today like Patrick Mahomes, Lionel Messi, LeBron James or singers like Lady Gaga or Bruno Mars assuming you go for music like that? Haha.
Well, let’s start with your house…you think you might clean it up a bit? Get rid of that pile of newspapers or stack of bills in the corner? Dust, sweep, polish, wipe off the counters, mow the lawn, trim the bushes? Would you Windex out the dirt and streaks in your windows? Of course you would go all out cleaning up for a special guest! And we haven’t even gotten to the meal. Make your fanciest dish. Put out your best china. Sterling silverware. Cloth napkins. Flowers on the table. Mood music in the background. Let’s be honest. If a really famous person were coming to see you, wouldn’t make your place immaculate? Make your best meal? Even brush the stray hair out of your dog or cat? Of course you would! I would too! Now – what ELSE would you do if God Himself were visiting your house? Holy Moses, what might you do for a visit from a Holy God!?
I wonder how many of you watch and are fans of the show called DOWNTON ABBEY (show of hands?) I’m a fan, too. The series, though fictional, is historically accurate for the time period between 1912 and 1926. It focuses on the Yorkshire country estate of Downton Abbey, depicting the lives of the aristocratic Crawley family and their domestic servants showing the effects
that the great events of their time had on their lives and other British citizens. (Events like the sinking of the Titanic and the horrors of WWI). Many guests of various prominence visited Downton Abbey including King George V and Queen Mary, along with Princess Mary, their daughter.
Every time important and even lesser guests came to Downton, the servants went into high gear, dusting the chandeliers, cleaning the 35 main fireplaces, 80 bedrooms and other 250 rooms of monstrous castle. It was a frenzy of preparation.
Upon arrival, there was a grand welcome: guests would be greeted outside by the butler and tuxedo-dressed footmen, who would assist with their luggage and announce their entrance into the [accent] drawing-room where the proud and imposing Crawley family awaited.
Mrs. Patmore and her kitchen staff would work diligently to make delicious meals. There was impeccable table service: Footmen, under the direction of the butler, were responsible for formal table service, served according to strict etiquette, including wearing gloves, and moving quietly and unobtrusively.
Now just imagine YOU were hosting King George V and Queen Mary, not to mention God in the flesh – Jesus – himself. What would YOU do to prepare for His visit? Nothing but the best, right? And if your housemate or your spouse or whomever you share your place with refused to lift a finger to help, wouldn’t you, like Mary’s sister Martha, be more than a little perturbed and upset? Her growing frustration with her sister Mary comes out in verse 40 which reads: “Martha was distracted with much serving.” So she finally blurts out, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” I’m sure she thought Jesus would be on her side. After all, it was to Martha that Jesus taught this important truth, a scripture from John 11 that is read at almost every funeral I’ve ever been to. He said, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me shall never die. Do you believe this, (Martha)?” She said to Him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.” Martha was a true, sincere, wonderful believer. But, honestly, asking Jesus to rebuke her sister was tantamount to rebuking Jesus Himself for not pointing it out on His own. His
kind but truthful response was, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but only one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the better portion, which will not be taken away from her.”
I have to be honest and admit what I might have said if Jesus came to my house for a visit. “Lord, I want to be like Mary today, but can you please send Martha over to clean my house first?” (ha!) I have to admit I have always identified with Martha, despite all the Bible lessons, commentaries, and sermons that explain the significance and true meaning of this story. If I knew Jesus would be coming to my house for dinner, I would be in a panic to be sure everything was spotless and the meal perfect. The pressure would probably kill me. Don’t get me wrong. I realize the whole point of the story is to show where our best priorities should lie. But let’s give Martha a break. Even in our day, someone has to clean the bathrooms in the church.
So before we reflect on Jesus’ response to Martha, let’s take time to consider her predicament. On the surface it might sound like a simple dinner party for 3: Mary, Martha and Jesus. But quite possibly their brother Lazarus whom Jesus raised from the dead and who lived in town would be on the guest list. That was the event that prompted Jesus to teach, “I am the resurrection and the life,” remember? And please recall who Jesus always took with him on all his journeys It’s even spelled out in vs 38 at the beginning of our Gospel reading. It says, “Jesus AND his disciples were on their way….” He always traveled with his 12 disciples. So Jesus, Mary, Martha, probably Lazarus and the 12. My math says that makes at least 16 guests and logic reminds me they didn’t have King Soopers to easily supply dinner ingredients we take for granted like a stick of butter, or egg noodles or chicken broth or bread. All that and more would have to be made from scratch. You see where I’m going with this? Martha truly had her work cut out for her! 16 people for a handcrafted meal and a house to fix up for visitors – all by herself!
Don’t misunderstand, however. Let me pause here to say that service is an extremely important virtue in the Christian life. It’s a necessary spiritual gift to be used in the Body of Christ. I’m very impressed how our ladies, for instance, provide meals for attendees of every funeral. So nice! So caring! And I was impressed when I first found out about Ascension’s Severe Weather Shelter
Network, housing and feeding people who need out of the cold. And when we serve others we actually serve Christ. (Matthew 25:40) “Whatever you do unto to the least of these my brothers, you have done it unto me.” Last week’s scripture was all about the Good Samaritan and how great it was that he helped the guy on the roadside who had been beaten up by robbers. Service is an important part of the Christian life. The problem is when SERVICE becomes a SUBSTITUTE for spending time with the Lord in Word and prayer. I’ve looked at many church calendars that are just chock full of business – service and “doing” – this meeting, that meeting, this fund raiser, that fellowship event. All GOOD things but not a substitute for the PRIORITY of the BEST thing: sitting at Jesus’ feet.
Jesus’ response that Martha was too focused on minutiae is so familiar I think we too easily underestimate her predicament. We like to imagine we’re more like Mary in the story just sitting at Jesus’ feet hanging on every word and happy to let Martha take the lump from Jesus for being so distracted. In our minds, we’re ready to crisscross our fingers, cluck our tongues and say, “Really, Martha?!” Our judgmentalism is ready to add our own “Martha, Martha,” as if we would have never done such a thing as pay more attention to PHYSICAL PREPARATIONS than to SPIRITUAL OPPORTUNITIES.
Oh yea? Really? You’re that attuned to every word that comes from the mouth of Jesus? Can we all be honest for just a minute so we can get the juice out this text from Luke 10? Let’s admit that each of us is far more like “Distracted Martha” than we are like “Focused Mary!
Remember that Jesus says, in Revelation 3 (vs. 20), “Behold I stand at the door and knock, and if anyone hears my voice I will come in.” The word for “stand” in the Greek is a present participle, most accurately translated as “standing.” Jesus didn’t say, “The other day I stood at your door which you neglected to open.” He is saying to you and me at every moment of our lives, “I’m STANDING here, right now. I’m waiting for you this very moment to welcome me into your daily schedule.” He’s standing and knocking every second of every day, but what are we doing? Oh, perhaps a million other things, either making a living, or puttering in the garden, watching the kids. Checking our cell phones, seeing what friends are doing on Facebook or Instagram.
Receiving and sending texts. Watching TV or re-runs, checking news or the weather report. Meanwhile, Jesus is saying to YOU, “Behold, I’m standing, knocking, inviting and waiting at the door of your heart right now. Make time for me. Invite me into your daily schedule. Read my Word. Talk to me in prayer. Spend quality time with me, Martha, Martha. Bob, Bob, Emily, Emily and Justin, Justin!” //
One of my favorite Psalms hits me squarely between the eyes every time I read it. Psalm 119. It’s the longest Psalm of all 150 and the longest chapter in the whole Bible, longer than many of the books of the Bible themselves. The writer is absolutely passionate about God and He celebrates the covenant instruction in the Word as the perfect guide for one’s life. One of the sentences in it goes like this, “I open my mouth and pant, longing for your commands.”
When I first got serious about studying God’s Word, somewhere in my 20’s, I read that and it hit me squarely between the eyes. I actually shed guilty tears of sorrow when I read it because I realized how terribly far I was from this kind of passion for the Lord or His Word. Here again is what got me from Psalm 119, “I open my mouth and pant, longing for your commands.” “Commands” can also be translated as “instruction.” “I open my mouth and pant, longing for your instruction.” When I think of Mary in this story about Mary and Martha, I think this is what Mary must have been like. She didn’t see a visit from Jesus as a time to impress or physically prepare the house or the meal for her famous guest, but as an opportunity to hear from Him, learn from Him, listen to Him, open her mind and heart to Him, longing for God to fill her up with His Word, His instruction, His wisdom, His Spirit.
Proverbs 23:7 says, (the way I learned it as a child in the King James Version), “As a man thinketh, so he is.” In other words, what you think about, what you concentrate on, what you dwell on, what you meditate about and mull over in your mind is going to SHAPE you and lead you on the path of life. When I was in my 30’s I read the most important book of my life besides the Bible. It was called, “Shaped By the Word” by Mullholland. Up until that point whenever I read the Word of God, the premise in the back of my mind was to ask the Lord,
“What information do you have for me to learn today?” What important facts and stories about Bible people and events do you want me to memorize?
For instance, I used to know the exact places Paul went on his three different missionary journeys. I studied and even memorized the names and physical locations of places he went. I could draw his 3 missionary routes on a map, accurately retracing all the cities he preached in. That’s the kind of thing I thought I was supposed to get out of Bible study. I spent a lot of time memorizing facts and details in the Bible – which was not bad thing in itself, and God has found a way to make these facts useful to me in my life and in my teaching. But the book, “Shaped By the Word” helped me to realize I was approaching the study of God’s Word all wrong. God’s Word is not there just to INFORM me with details and facts. Colossians 3 (:16) says the Word should “dwell in me richly” for wisdom, joyfully leading me into thanksgiving “singing Psalms, hymns and spiritual songs.” God’s Word wants to SHAPE me, not just INFORM me. God’s Word exists not for academic pursuit but to “mold me into the image of God’s one and only Son,” to help me undergo a process of spiritual transformation where my thoughts, actions, and character increasingly resemble Jesus
We sing (sang) the song, “Thy Word is a Lamp unto my Feet and a Light unto my Path.” By the way, this lyric is also a quote from Psalm 119. But more than just lighting a path for our feet, God’s Word moves us to celebrate the sacrifice of God’s Son who died on a cross for our sins, who rose from the dead as a sign of victory. Like Mary, if we sit at His feet, and open our mouths and pant, longing for His instruction, He will shape not only our faith but also our character and conduct. Convinced of His love, we don’t need to impress Him like a Martha with good deeds, because we know He loves us unconditionally, “Just as I am without one plea, but that Thy blood was shed for me.”
If we want to be like Mary then we “fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of faith.” (Heb 12:2) The blessing of getting our priorities straight like Mary is found in Philippians 4 (vs 6-7) “And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” God’s peace no matter what is happening in our world or in our life. And who doesn’t need that!? God’s peace! Amen!
