SERMON SYNOPSIS February 14

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SCRIPTURE Luke 10:38–42, p. 946

38 Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. 39 She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying. 40 But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.” 41 But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; 42 there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.”

It’s kind of interesting and I don’t know if Luke intended it this way, but the story of the Good Samaritan and this story tend to counterbalance each other. The Samaritan story lifts up love of God, love of neighbor and love of self, in which Jesus concludes by saying, “Go and do likewise.” He calls for action—“do it.” The Mary-Martha story is the reverse. Jesus criticizes Martha for her “doing it,”—meaning her worry and distraction over material affairs and then commends Mary for doing nothing but sitting listening.
Understanding this dichotomy comes in understanding the appropriateness of the response to the situation—there’s a time for being active and a time for sitting and listening.
In this case, Jesus—Son of God—is only going to be here a little while and therefore, for those desiring spiritual knowledge, it is imperative to hear what He has to say.
I find it interesting that this is referred to as Martha’s home, rather than Lazarus’ home. These are brothers and sisters who live together. Although Lazarus is the brother of Martha and Mary, this story mentions neither him nor the male disciples who accompany Jesus. Because there is no reference to a man as the head of this household, Martha is clearly in charge. This is extremely unusual during this time and in this culture. But, what is even odder is Mary sitting at Jesus’ feet; only disciples sit at the feet of the master—this is a man’s place. Women were not equal.
Mary, Martha and their brother Lazarus seem to be really good friends of Jesus and their home appears to be where He’s able to kick back, throw his feet up on the coffee table, zonk out and get a little respite.
I love the difference in the two sisters…one is spiritually motivated while the other is more practically motivated. Martha is probably one of those persons who sweeps, vacuums and dusts every nook and cranny when she is expecting company—even if it’s someone she’s known all her life and saw just last week.
Mary, on the other hand, probably not—she would be more apt to be a, “come on in anytime—just step over the mess on the floor,” type of person. God needs and wants every personality type. Martha obviously recognizes the magnitude of Jesus’ teachings, but is distracted by cleaning or cooking, or whatever. I’d like to point out that Martha is the hostess and food failure would reflect badly on her, not her sister. And, though it may sound as though Jesus is upset with Martha, I don’t think He is. I think He’s just saying, “Hey, Martha, this is really important stuff…don’t be upset with your sister because she craves what only I teach.”
Because we can all relate to it, this is a great story and is still valid today. We might not want to admit it, but Martha is in most of us. Martha realizes there’s more to life than what she knows and that Jesus is THE teacher—so do we. But she’s too busy to sit down and listen—so are we. She’s too busy and there are so many other important things that need to be tended to.
Today life is hectic, but much of it is of our own doing and our own choosing because we’ve placed our priorities on that which is not of any great importance and neglect those things that are. We need to always remember what Jesus has taught us—“Seek first the Kingdom of Heaven and all these other things will be added to you as well.” Jesus teachings were mostly about living. As I mentioned last week, it’s easier to obey rules and regulations than to follow the will of the Divine. To follow the will of the Divine, we have to know what it is. To know what it is means we have to be still and listen. Even reading the Bible can be a diversion from spiritual living. The Bible can be memorized cover to cover to the point where you can quote scripture and verse, but, if it isn’t expressed in the way you live, you’ve learned nothing. It’s more like studying a map of Virginia. You can memorize every route, every river, every mountain and every nook and every cranny the map reveals and then believing that, because you have the map memorized, you know all about Virginia. The reality is, all you know is the map. You know nothing about Virginia until you go there.
Until you take the stories in the Bible and fit them into your own life, you only know about the map and know nothing about living the life that God intends. Jesus is the way. He’s not the map, He’s the journey.
One of the things the Bible tells us to do is to, “be still and listen,” but we don’t do it. And, it’s so important today. Especially today. Here’s why.
Life is frustrating and most of us are carrying garbage that we’re not aware of. But we get used to carrying it because it’s our life. We know we’re not happy but we can’t put our finger on why. Every little burden gets stacked next to the previous one until it wears us down. This is our perpetual state. What we have is a life that we’ve gotten used to, so we think we’re “OK” when we’re not. We’ve just gotten used to it—to the way we feel, but we’re not OK.
Unlike Mary we can no longer sit at the feet of Jesus and listen. What we can do is take time to be present…that’s all meditation is. Take time to STOP! STILL THE MIND AND GET CLOSE—BE AWARE OF—THE DIVINE CREATOR.
Look at it this way: If there is a God—and there is—then we’re either important to Him, or we’re not. If we’re really important to Him, would He ignore us? No! He is constantly trying to reach out to us. The biblical injunction, “Be still and know that I AM God,” tells us He’s reaching out to us. We don’t hear Him because we’re too busy chasing rainbows; too busy doing things that have no importance. We don’t take the time to get quiet and focus on being HERE.
YOU ARE SO IMPORTANT TO God THAT God IS ALWAYS CALLING AND GUIDING YOU.
Be still. Sit at the feet of the Master. Listen.
If, in all you do you seek Him first, He’ll give you everything you need, including peace.