Mary Vs. Martha: Busy Vs Better Series

INTRODUCTION

• SLIDE #1

• Today as we continue with our Deep Thoughts with Jesus series, we will come upon an interesting situation that most all of us can relate to.

• Have you ever been really busy doing something at home, maybe like cleaning the house, and your spouse and children are sitting on the floor playing games or wrestling while you are SLAVING away saving the world by ridding it of the treacherous, evil DUST BUNNIES!

• Or while this is going on and you are spending quality time with the kids, have you ever incurred the WRATH of an angry spouse because you are just playing with the kids instead of going to battle with your spouse against the EVIL DUST BUNNIES?

• Today’s text takes us to a story of two sisters who have invited Jesus into their home.

• The thing I love about this event is that when we read it, depending on how we are wired. We will relate to either Martha or Mary.

• As you go through the text you will mostly find yourself relating to or rooting for either Mary or Martha.

• In this story, you will either think that Mary is a lazy bum who if she would help her sister, things would get done much faster. Or you will think that Mary is doing the right thing by paying attention to their house guest.

• On the other side of the coin, when you think of Martha, you will think she is a whiner who is so focused on everything being PERFECT, that she cannot possibly enjoy having company and that her real job is to make everyone as miserable as she is.

• OR you when you think of Martha, you will admire her hard work and meticulous attention to every detail of the home along with her commitment to making her home a wonder picture that belongs in Southern Living Magazine!

• The story of Martha and Mary is much deeper than one sister being an uptight workaholic freak and one sister who is a lazy bum.

• The deeper thought that runs through this story of one of balance and attitude.

• LET’S BEGIN BY TURNING TO LUKE 10:38-39

• SLIDE #2

• Luke 10:38–39 (CSB) — 38 While they were traveling, he entered a village, and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. 39 She had a sister named Mary, who also sat at the Lord’s feet and was listening to what he said.

• SLIDE #3

SERMON

I. An opportunity to seize.

• I cannot imagine how great it would have been to actually have Jesus in my house!

• SLIDE #4 MAP

• Jesus and His entourage had been doing a lot of traveling, they were coming from Jerusalem, probably in December as the Feast of Dedication for this short visit with Martha and Mary.

• Bethany was over the Mount of olives, two miles East of Jerusalem.

• Martha sees Jesus and His disciples and invites them into her home.

• Martha has a sister Mary, probably her younger sister, as well as a brother, Lazarus, whom a little later Jesus will raise from the dead.

• Now the fun begins.

• The passage tells us that Mary SAT at the Lord’s feet listening to what He was saying.

• So, here is an opportunity to sit down and learn from Jesus or there is an opportunity to serve Jesus.

• By the way, the CULTURAL norm was for women to serve men.

• When men were in the home, Martha was doing what her culture and society said was right.

• One the other hand, Mary did something that was not culturally acceptable, she sat at the feet of Jesus as a disciple would do. In that society, women DID NOT DO THAT!

• Think about this for a minute, IF you could have Jesus in your home, would you spend your time frantically putting together a meal and making sure the house is impeccably clean or would you spend it sitting that the feet of Jesus learning from Him?

• Be honest, who is SITTING? HANDS!

• WHO IS WORKING?

• This is a hard choice because you want Jesus to see that you are neat because after all, cleanliness is next to godliness according to…

• Oh wait, never mind, that is not in the Bible.

• Anyway, I can see the dilemma, Martha is doing what any good Jewish woman would do by working hard to serve the men in her presence.

• In their culture, women were considered by many to be inferior to men, intellectually, physically, and spiritually.

• I laugh when I hear people talk about how Jesus and Christianity suppress or are anti-woman, or teach that women are inferior to men.