The Heart Of The Matter Series

The Heart of the Matter, Luke 10:38-42

Introduction

My first staff position in a church was as the Associate Pastor of The Kirk Community Church in Dunedin, Florida. I normally arrived at church early but on this particular morning my wife and I had arrived just a few minutes before the worship service was to begin. As my wife Christina unbuckled the baby from his car seat, I straightened my tie in the mirror and watched something which is really rather commonplace in a rather uncommon way.

I have seen people go in and out of church many times. That morning though, it was as though veil had been removed from things I had never before seen. It was one of those moments when something that has always been right in front finally comes into focus. Were I a painter, I would love to paint this image the way that it appeared to me that day. I paint a portrait of people walking as if unencumbered yet clearly overloaded with piles and piles of clutter on their shoulders.

It was as though God was allowing me to see the burdens that we carry with us every day and bring with us into the doors of the church every Sunday. It was as if He wanted me to know just how heavy and cumbersome those burdens are. As I watched the people filing into the church building from their sedans, trucks, and minivans, it occurred to me that each person carried his own invisible burden.

Some carried the burden of guilt for past sins. These people hoped that by regularly attending church they would convince God to forgive them. Some of them carried the burden of fear, depression, and anxiety. These people came to into the church hoping to find peace – even if only for an hour on Sunday morning. Whatever their burdens were, one thing became clear to me; most of us, all of us, carry burdens that we were not intended to carry alone.

As I sat watching all of these people, many of whom I knew well, making their way into the church that Sunday, I was struck with the sense that so many of us come to church and generally live out our Christian faith out of what is largely a sense of obligation rather than of love. We fill our lives with repetitious, albeit well intentioned, deeds in order to fulfill our obligations rather than living a life which flows from the love of God working in and through us.

Imagine the folly of a man who chooses day in and day out to hoard and heap burdens upon his shoulders which are not his to carry alone. Imagine the woman who works diligently to earn the forgiveness which she has already received.

Dear Saints of God, if we are ever to learn to live lives which are filled with the grace of God, if we are ever to live the grace-filled life, we must let go of obligation and embrace love. We do not do good works to earn God’s favor; we do good works because we have received His favor. Good works, duty, stoic obligation are not what is pleasing to God. While people tend to be mostly concerned with the outward appearance of things, God is concerned with our hearts. (I Samuel 16:7)

Obligation or Love?

In Luke 10:38-42 is recorded the dichotomy between the service of Martha and the worship of Mary. Martha is busy serving Jesus and His disciples while her sister Mary sat at the feet of Jesus with the rest of His disciples. This in itself gives a great deal of insight into the nature of the Kingdom of God. Unlike other rabbis of His day, Jesus not only allowed women to follow Him, but according to Luke’s record in this passage He even allowed them to sit at His feet and receive teaching.

In the ancient near eastern culture it was only the disciples of a teacher, and most notably a disciple who was training to be a teacher himself, who was allowed to sit at the feet of the master. In even allowing Mary to sit at his feet while He taught was a display of the radical nature of the Kingdom of God! While the world maintains a rather ugly status quo of domination, Christ sets captives free. While the world of Jesus time saw women as second class citizens and even as the property of men, Jesus thought Mary worthy to receive and pass on the message of redemption and grace.

The main thrust of this passage is Martha’s anxiety over her having been left alone by Mary to complete all of the duties of cooking and serving Jesus, His disciples, and perhaps others who followed Jesus into their home. In the ancient near eastern culture there was a high premium paid on showing proper hospitality to guests, and Martha had been abandoned by here sister to do all of the work herself.