8 Sunday after Pentecost 07/22/07 Text: Luke 10: 38-42 Title: Mary and Martha
8 Sunday after Pentecost
07/22/07
Text: Luke10: 38-42
Title: Mary and Martha
My dear fellow missionaries, today we are going to look at our Gospel lesson. It is commonly titled, “Martha and Mary”. I am sure you know the story well. Jesus is visiting the home of Martha. Mary instead of helping Martha is sitting at the feet of Jesus while Martha is busy doing whatever it is that she is doing.
Rightfully so, she fusses at Jesus to make her sister Mary help her, for she was not paying any attention to her. I am sure Martha thought that by her telling Jesus to tell her sister to help her she would get her what she wanted, help.
Unfortunately for Martha that did not happen. Instead she gets fussed at by Jesus; of course I am sure he did it in a nice way. Jesus tells her that she is so distracted by what she is doing that she is missing what is important, that is listening to Jesus.
I would say that every time this narrative is read that all those who are more like Mary, you know sort of laid back, not very helpful around the house or office, are going, “You go Jesus, life is not all about doing things. Life is about taking it easy and enjoying oneself.
At the same time, I am sure that all of us type A people are going, wait a minute, someone has to do the work. What would happen if we acted like Mary, the world would grind to a halt. What the Lord needed to do is tell Mary that she can listen to him some other time. She needs to help her hardworking sister, but he does not and we are somewhat offended by his lack of action.
Both the Mary’s and Martha’s of the world have lost the meaning of this narrative for it is a teaching moment as is the entire Bible. What has happened is that we have focused on ourselves and not on Jesus, the focus of not only this narrative, but the entire Bible.
To help get a better understand of our Gospel reading for this morning we need to think back to last week’s Gospel reading, the “Good Samaritan” story. We found in that narrative that the meaning of being a true follower of God was to care for others, especially the less-fortunate. We are to do that because Jesus himself was and still is our Good Samaritan. He found us beaten up by Satan and his henchmen, restored us to life and then placed us in his church where we are to be cared for until his return.
Last week was about action, the doing of good deeds. Jesus wants us to do good deeds. This week’s lesson is just the opposite. It is about not working. It is about sitting at Jesus’ feet, as in reading his Word and attending worship services. Or is it? I think as we look at the text you will see that it is not about working or not working, but about our entire life as we walk with Jesus
This and the Good Samaritan narratives share something even though they appear to be opposites. The Samaritan was hated by the Jews and yet he cared for what more than likely was a Jew. Jesus in telling this story turned the world upside down.
In this story we see a woman owning or at least she is the head of a household, something pretty rare back in those days. We see Mary sitting at the feet of Jesus. Now this was just not done. Women were not allowed to sit at the feet of a teacher. Men only that is just the way it was. Here was Mary not doing women’s work, but man’s work. Jesus once more turned the world upside down with, first with his accepting an invitation from a woman, and second allowing one to sit at his feet as he taught.
So what is this narrative about then? It is about priorities. It is not about not working. And it is not about working. It is about balancing one’s life.
You see all that Martha is doing, as good, as it is, in the long haul has no real worth, that is if it does not include time for God’s Word.
Jesus is really not fussing at her for working. He is fussing at her for being distracted, or as the Greek word says it, being torn away from what she should have been doing, that is taking some time to listen to Jesus. She is not to sandwich him between trips to the kitchen and back. She is to sandwich her chores between listening to Jesus.
What is it that we are to learn from this? We, like Martha are to put Jesus at the top of our priorities, instead of sandwiching him in wherever and whenever we find room. Honestly, where is Jesus in your life? Do you make time for him only when you have some time between all the other things in your life?
I pray that you don’t, but knowing how hard it is for me to keep Jesus front and center in my life, most you probably squeeze him in wherever you can, as long as he doesn’t interfere with the games, sports, or sleeping late, or any of the other things we think that we must do.
Let me ask you a question. Do you think that God wants you to put him in second or third place in your lives? The First Commandment says that he does not. God wants us to have him front and center all the time. He wants our undivided attention for everything he says is of vital importance to our lives now and in the future.
Do you feel like you are being pulled in all directions? Do you feel like there just is not enough time to do everything that needs to be done? Do you feel overwhelmed at times? Do you sometimes just want to run and hide?
If you answered yes to any of those questions, I am going to make a bold statement. You do not have God front and center. You are not sitting at his feet. You are being a Martha, for you have let the things of the World tear you away from Jesus and his teachings.
I know of what I speak. For most of life I have worked at least 10 hours a day six days a week. Many of those years I worked 12 hour days. I know what it is to be busy. And I know what it is like to not have Jesus front and center in my life.
Even today when I feel overwhelmed, if want to be honest with myself all I have to do is look at the time I have spent with Jesus to see why I am feeling overwhelmed.
I know, some of you are thinking, “You’re a pastor. You really don’t understand the pressures of making a living.” And to that I would say hogwash. Pastors have a large percentage of burnout, for it is really hard for a pastor to spend time sitting at the feet of Jesus. Way too many times they get all tied up in how important they are and how much work they have to do.
Pastors are no different than you are, as they try to sandwich in God between all the other commitments in their lives. Studying God’s word as you prepare for a sermon or Bible study is not the same as sitting at Jesus’ feet.
We all have a problem finding time to sit at Jesus’ feet and that is whey we are so stressed out. It is not the long hours at work, or the problems in raising children, or dealing with illness in the family. That is part of living. The problem is that we do not have Jesus front and center in our lives.
That is why I selected this text for today, for I could not think of a better text to make the point that our lives are for the most part a mess. We have gotten our priorities out of whack.
That is why next week I am going to talk to you about the Lord’s Prayer and its importance for our lives.
That is why starting the first Sunday of August, the start of the busy time as people try to cram their vacation time into the last few weeks of summer, the kids start school, and things start to pick up in your life.
By the way, do you realize that there are only 156 days until Christmas? If that put a knot in your stomach you have definitely gotten your priorities mixed up. Instead of getting all uptight there ought to be sense of joy as we get closer to celebrating our Savior’s birth.
I am going to have a sermon series titled, “Help for the hurried life.” For four Sundays we are going to look at Philippians to see how we can get our lives focused on what they should be focused on, Jesus Christ.
I am also going to have Bible study groups studying Philippians once a week for four weeks. I will lead one on Sunday morning in the fellowship hall. There will be one at Sally Hanson’s home on Mondays at 2:30 each week. Mary Gohlke will host a group at her home on Tuesday morning at 10:00 each Tuesday for four sessions. There will be another held in the church on Wednesday evenings at 7pm. If we can find a couple more hosts we will have as many as we need.
There is also a personal devotion series that goes along with the study. For 28 days, I would ask you to commit at least 20 minutes each day to read the devotion and reflect on it.
Can you imagine what it would be like to have our entire congregation and those we invite studying, praying, and doing daily devotions for a month? All I would say is stand back, for God is going to do powerful things in our midst.
If you have never done anything like this before, I urge you to take part in the series, for it will not be the same without you. I have given you fair warning. In two weeks we start. Clear out some time on your calendar to sit at the feet of Jesus and watch how you life changes. Amen.
07/22/07
Text: Luke10: 38-42
Title: Mary and Martha
My dear fellow missionaries, today we are going to look at our Gospel lesson. It is commonly titled, “Martha and Mary”. I am sure you know the story well. Jesus is visiting the home of Martha. Mary instead of helping Martha is sitting at the feet of Jesus while Martha is busy doing whatever it is that she is doing.
Rightfully so, she fusses at Jesus to make her sister Mary help her, for she was not paying any attention to her. I am sure Martha thought that by her telling Jesus to tell her sister to help her she would get her what she wanted, help.
Unfortunately for Martha that did not happen. Instead she gets fussed at by Jesus; of course I am sure he did it in a nice way. Jesus tells her that she is so distracted by what she is doing that she is missing what is important, that is listening to Jesus.
I would say that every time this narrative is read that all those who are more like Mary, you know sort of laid back, not very helpful around the house or office, are going, “You go Jesus, life is not all about doing things. Life is about taking it easy and enjoying oneself.
At the same time, I am sure that all of us type A people are going, wait a minute, someone has to do the work. What would happen if we acted like Mary, the world would grind to a halt. What the Lord needed to do is tell Mary that she can listen to him some other time. She needs to help her hardworking sister, but he does not and we are somewhat offended by his lack of action.
Both the Mary’s and Martha’s of the world have lost the meaning of this narrative for it is a teaching moment as is the entire Bible. What has happened is that we have focused on ourselves and not on Jesus, the focus of not only this narrative, but the entire Bible.
To help get a better understand of our Gospel reading for this morning we need to think back to last week’s Gospel reading, the “Good Samaritan” story. We found in that narrative that the meaning of being a true follower of God was to care for others, especially the less-fortunate. We are to do that because Jesus himself was and still is our Good Samaritan. He found us beaten up by Satan and his henchmen, restored us to life and then placed us in his church where we are to be cared for until his return.
Last week was about action, the doing of good deeds. Jesus wants us to do good deeds. This week’s lesson is just the opposite. It is about not working. It is about sitting at Jesus’ feet, as in reading his Word and attending worship services. Or is it? I think as we look at the text you will see that it is not about working or not working, but about our entire life as we walk with Jesus
This and the Good Samaritan narratives share something even though they appear to be opposites. The Samaritan was hated by the Jews and yet he cared for what more than likely was a Jew. Jesus in telling this story turned the world upside down.
In this story we see a woman owning or at least she is the head of a household, something pretty rare back in those days. We see Mary sitting at the feet of Jesus. Now this was just not done. Women were not allowed to sit at the feet of a teacher. Men only that is just the way it was. Here was Mary not doing women’s work, but man’s work. Jesus once more turned the world upside down with, first with his accepting an invitation from a woman, and second allowing one to sit at his feet as he taught.
So what is this narrative about then? It is about priorities. It is not about not working. And it is not about working. It is about balancing one’s life.
You see all that Martha is doing, as good, as it is, in the long haul has no real worth, that is if it does not include time for God’s Word.
Jesus is really not fussing at her for working. He is fussing at her for being distracted, or as the Greek word says it, being torn away from what she should have been doing, that is taking some time to listen to Jesus. She is not to sandwich him between trips to the kitchen and back. She is to sandwich her chores between listening to Jesus.
What is it that we are to learn from this? We, like Martha are to put Jesus at the top of our priorities, instead of sandwiching him in wherever and whenever we find room. Honestly, where is Jesus in your life? Do you make time for him only when you have some time between all the other things in your life?
I pray that you don’t, but knowing how hard it is for me to keep Jesus front and center in my life, most you probably squeeze him in wherever you can, as long as he doesn’t interfere with the games, sports, or sleeping late, or any of the other things we think that we must do.
Let me ask you a question. Do you think that God wants you to put him in second or third place in your lives? The First Commandment says that he does not. God wants us to have him front and center all the time. He wants our undivided attention for everything he says is of vital importance to our lives now and in the future.
Do you feel like you are being pulled in all directions? Do you feel like there just is not enough time to do everything that needs to be done? Do you feel overwhelmed at times? Do you sometimes just want to run and hide?
If you answered yes to any of those questions, I am going to make a bold statement. You do not have God front and center. You are not sitting at his feet. You are being a Martha, for you have let the things of the World tear you away from Jesus and his teachings.
I know of what I speak. For most of life I have worked at least 10 hours a day six days a week. Many of those years I worked 12 hour days. I know what it is to be busy. And I know what it is like to not have Jesus front and center in my life.
Even today when I feel overwhelmed, if want to be honest with myself all I have to do is look at the time I have spent with Jesus to see why I am feeling overwhelmed.
I know, some of you are thinking, “You’re a pastor. You really don’t understand the pressures of making a living.” And to that I would say hogwash. Pastors have a large percentage of burnout, for it is really hard for a pastor to spend time sitting at the feet of Jesus. Way too many times they get all tied up in how important they are and how much work they have to do.
Pastors are no different than you are, as they try to sandwich in God between all the other commitments in their lives. Studying God’s word as you prepare for a sermon or Bible study is not the same as sitting at Jesus’ feet.
We all have a problem finding time to sit at Jesus’ feet and that is whey we are so stressed out. It is not the long hours at work, or the problems in raising children, or dealing with illness in the family. That is part of living. The problem is that we do not have Jesus front and center in our lives.
That is why I selected this text for today, for I could not think of a better text to make the point that our lives are for the most part a mess. We have gotten our priorities out of whack.
That is why next week I am going to talk to you about the Lord’s Prayer and its importance for our lives.
That is why starting the first Sunday of August, the start of the busy time as people try to cram their vacation time into the last few weeks of summer, the kids start school, and things start to pick up in your life.
By the way, do you realize that there are only 156 days until Christmas? If that put a knot in your stomach you have definitely gotten your priorities mixed up. Instead of getting all uptight there ought to be sense of joy as we get closer to celebrating our Savior’s birth.
I am going to have a sermon series titled, “Help for the hurried life.” For four Sundays we are going to look at Philippians to see how we can get our lives focused on what they should be focused on, Jesus Christ.
I am also going to have Bible study groups studying Philippians once a week for four weeks. I will lead one on Sunday morning in the fellowship hall. There will be one at Sally Hanson’s home on Mondays at 2:30 each week. Mary Gohlke will host a group at her home on Tuesday morning at 10:00 each Tuesday for four sessions. There will be another held in the church on Wednesday evenings at 7pm. If we can find a couple more hosts we will have as many as we need.
There is also a personal devotion series that goes along with the study. For 28 days, I would ask you to commit at least 20 minutes each day to read the devotion and reflect on it.
Can you imagine what it would be like to have our entire congregation and those we invite studying, praying, and doing daily devotions for a month? All I would say is stand back, for God is going to do powerful things in our midst.
If you have never done anything like this before, I urge you to take part in the series, for it will not be the same without you. I have given you fair warning. In two weeks we start. Clear out some time on your calendar to sit at the feet of Jesus and watch how you life changes. Amen.
posted by Pastor Rhoads | 4:33 PM
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