Keeping The Main Thing The Main Thing

“KEEPING THE MAIN THING THE MAIN THING”

LUKE 10:38-42

TREY HARRIS

T-Boy and Marie had a farm. Mule died. T-Boy said, “Hitch me up.” Marie got behind the plow. Got to end of the row the man kept going.

Marie yelled, “Stop!”

T-Boy kept going until he was so caught up he couldn’t get out.

“What’s wrong with you?”

“Can’t you say whoa?”

Sometimes we get so caught with getting this thing called life done, that we forget where we are and whom we are and we need to hear God say to us, “Whoa! Let’s get back on track.”

I) THE MARTHA THING (V 40)

But Martha was worrying over the big dinner she was preparing. She came to Jesus and said, “Lord, doesn’t it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me.”

We’ve all done it from time to time. We’ve all been Martha. Just remember back a few months to the Holiday season. Thanksgiving or Christmas, take your pick. It’s your year to hold the family get together; and everyone’s coming, all twenty-three of them.

You know the routine. The house needs to be cleaned, the yard needs to be raked, there’s shopping to be done and food to prepare. As you being to assemble the items required for your holiday meal you think of ten other things that need to be done. As you’re doing those ten things you remember that your favorite casserole dish is still up at the church from the last covered dish supper. And it’s on the way to church to get your casserole dish that you remember you aren’t going to have room for all those people unless you put up card tables and folding chairs.

Once the big day comes you spend all day running between the kitchen and the dining room making sure there are enough dinner rolls and that the water and tea glasses stay full. The whole affair seems to have come off like a charm. The family has been fed, fellowship has taken place and it’s time for dessert. As you clear away the dinner dishes, you notice something. Your spouse has been quietly absent all day. While you worked and slaved for all the relatives, the other half has sat in front of the T.V. and entertained the company. “The nerve,” you think. “What’s the big idea sitting on your duff while I do all the work?”

And then it hits you. You haven’t visited with a single person all day long and now you’re too tired to enjoy their presence.

From the way the Luke records this account, we get the impression that Martha was the head of this household. It was primarily her responsibility to make sure that guests were properly entertained. And on this day, they were having a very special guest indeed. Jesus was coming to dinner. Right in the middle of all Martha’s fussing about she has one of those, “Hey wait a minute” moments and realizes that her sister Mary has done nothing to help all day.

Going straight to the honored guest, Martha pleads her case. Her line translates literally, “Jesus, tell Mary to grab her end of this thing!” In other words, Mary isn’t holding up her end of the responsibility.

Have you felt that way? Have you been in a situation where you fell like you’re the only one doing any work? It happens all the time, even in the church. There’s an old adage that says, “Twenty percent of the people do eighty percent of the work and eighty percent of the people do twenty percent of the work.” I believe that it’s more like ninety and ten and ten and ninety percent. If you’re feeling that way, it might be that you need to take some time to smell the roses.

II) THE MARY THING (V 39)

Her sister, Mary, sat at the Lord’s feet, listening to what he taught.

Have you known people like Mary? You know the type. They always have their heads in the clouds and their feet ten feet off the ground. Never a practical thought in their pea-picking little heads. You know the type.

I knew a girl in seminary like Mary. Her name was Rachel. Rachel was always ten minutes late for class. She dressed very retro and had long, bushy hair. She lived in another world. But Rachel had the sweetest spirit. She was so at peace with herself and the world and she had a precious relationship with Jesus. You could see it in her face. Everywhere she went she spoke kindly to people, she offered to pray for folks, she was just a great Christian girl who loved the Lord.