Come, Sit At Jesus' Feet

COME, SIT AT JESUS’ FEET

August 6, 2006 - PENTECOST 9 - Luke 10:38-42

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In our Savior’s Name, Greetings, Blessings:

Sit back and take a deep breath. Take this precious time to relax this morning. I wanted to come a little earlier to church this morning. Being delayed I am now rushing around. That is not a way to come into God’s house. Sometimes that does happen to us. Rather than rush around needlessly we need to sit back and relax and enjoy God’s message. We also want to pay attention, keep awake and alert for what God has to say to us. What he wants to say to us is to sit back and relax. In our Gospel Lesson Jesus takes his disciples away to a quiet place. Today, we are in that quiet place, in God’s house. It should be a place where we can let everything in the world behind us. Close the doors and here it is cool and comfortable. God speaks to us. He invites us to come to him. God invites us to come to him that we might hear his word and give rest to our weary souls. We know what Jesus says when the disciples were worried and distraught and wondered what was going to happen next and what they would do. Jesus said to them: "But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own" (Matthew 6:33,34). We would all agree that this is true. Easy to hear and understand, but maybe a little bit harder to put into practice because we are caught up in this hectic life of ours. Today, Jesus invites us once again, "Come sit at my feet."

Our theme today – COME, SIT AT JESUS’ FEET

I. Leave behind worldly distractions

II. Look forward to divine attraction

I. LEAVE BEHIND WORLDLY DISTRATION

The setting for our text--Jesus and his disciples traveled around as they worked carrying the Gospel from one city to another. We are told: "As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him." We know about Martha, Mary and their brother Lazarus. They lived in a little town called Bethany, two miles southeast of Jerusalem. It was a good place to stop. If you were going to Jerusalem, you would want to have the next morning’s walk to be short. Two miles is not too bad of a walk in the time of Jesus. On the way to Jerusalem they would go generally on the road that would take them to the Mount of Olives to overlook Jerusalem. This was a beautiful, refreshing walk.

Jesus and the disciples stop at the home of Martha, Mary and Lazarus. Martha welcomes them in. We see what happens next. She has them there, and she realizes she has to get things ready. We are told in verse 40: "But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made." She has guests in her house, and not just guests, but Jesus and also his disciples. This was quite a group of people. Martha did not go to the freezer of fridge to look for leftovers. Everything that they had, day by day was made fresh. It had to be cooked over a fire with no temperature settings. There were no microwaves. Even the water had to be brought into the house from a well at a distance. Everything had to be made from scratch. Martha was quickly distracted by all these preparations.

Not only was she distracted by these meal preparations Martha was also distracted by the fact that Mary wasn’t helping her. With all of these guests, about 15 in all, she didn’t know what to do. "She came to him (Jesus) and asked, ’Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!’" The original world means Martha came "exploding in." She probably was in a different room getting everything ready, maybe was even outside killing the fattened calf. It was an explosive entrance. Her words were about the same, "Lord, don’t you care?" This was chiding Jesus a little bit. So she says to him, "Tell Mary to help me." Too bad that Martha was distracted.

But Jesus understands. He says to her, "’Martha, Martha,’ the Lord answered, ’you are worried and upset about many things.’"

Maybe even already this morning the Lord has said the same thing to us. God used our name and said, "You are worried and upset about many things." Maybe at the end of the day when the heat has taken its toll and we wonder if it will ever rain, the Lord says our name and says, "You are worried and upset about many things." The Lord says to us, too, at the beginning and the end of the day, "Come, sit at my feet. Leave behind the distractions of this world." Sounds easy and is good advice; but to put that into practice and make it a part of our life is a difficult task. It takes work and effort.