Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, when was the last time you brought home a family-size bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken? I imagine more people will be buying those again since KFC announced they no longer use partially hydrogenated fats for frying. What portion do you usually choose from the bucket? We all have our favorites, and if we all reached for our favorite part, I have a suspicion that there would be some chicken wings left on the bottom of the bucket.
But parents and grandparents have developed certain sacrificial quality. We have learned to reach for the chicken wings first so that other family members would get the better portions. Do you ever do that? And sometimes we do a good job in pretending chicken wings may be our favorite portion.
Years ago, while living in the Islands, a Hawaiian family befriended me and I would visit them quite often. You know that Hawaiians are famous for their hospitality, and I was often treated to Hawaiian delicacies like chicken lau lau and such. They also offered me poi, the grayish-brown paste made from taro root. Knowing that poi was an important part of Hawaiian diet, I gratefully accepted. When they asked me if I liked poi, I politely answered, “Oh yes, it’s delicious,” because I didn’t want to offend them. Poi is not really delicious. Someone said it tastes like a fermented wallpaper paste, but I continued with the act, pretending I enjoyed the experience. About two years later I found out through a mutual friend, that they didn’t care much about poi either but kept buying it because they thought I liked it. We had a good laugh about it.
So, the next time you get stuck with eating chicken wings, remember that it could be worse – you could be eating them with poi!
To paraphrase the line from the movie Forrest Gump, “Life is like a bucket of Kentucky Fried Chicken; you never know what you gonna get.” Sometimes you bite into a juicy drumstick, and sometimes you get stuck with chicken wings.
A woman named Martha found that out one day. Jesus and His disciples came to visit her house and Martha, together with her sister Mary, accepted the sacred obligation of hospitality. They were supposed to prepare a meal for their guests.
You know the story. Martha was slaving in the kitchen while her sister Mary sat at the feet of Jesus listening to His teaching. If I may exploit the Kentucky Fried Chicken analogy again, Mary grabbed the drumstick and left Martha with the chicken wing. Well, this kind of sacrificial eating can only go so far. Martha reached her boiling point and dumped her frustration on Jesus: “Lord! Do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tel her then to help me!”
Well, Jesus was not offended by her abrupt speech. His love and gentleness was evident in His answer: Martha, Martha, you are anxious and distracted by many thing. Only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen the good portion, that will not be taken from her.
This lesson from the 10th chapter of Luke teaches us to find the time to sit at the feet of Jesus in our busy and anxious lives. To come to church, study the Bible, spend time in prayer – to have some balance in our lives so that we would not neglect the spiritual side of it.
I have preached on this text several times already, and I think every time I have defended Martha, because by nature I belong to her camp. If you are a conscientious person, brought up to do the job right the first time, you just have to sympathize with Martha. She tried her best to fulfill her duties and ended up with the fuzzy end of the lollipop, while her sister who neglected her responsibility gets praised for choosing the good portion. Doesn’t seem quite fair, does it?
Well, I don’t think Jesus is really encouraging people to neglect their duties, or abandon their responsibilities. Can you imagine the chaos if everyone suddenly ignored what is expected of them? You couldn’t get served a dinner in a restaurant because the waitresses went to the movies instead. The cooks couldn’t prepare any meals anyway because some one failed to order the food supplies. Airlines could not operate because the pilots did not show up. The police would never come after a 911 call, houses would burn to the ground, the ambulance would never arrive because the EMTs went fishing instead. But that’s not what choosing the good portion is really about.
There is nothing wrong with fulfilling our obligations. There is nothing wrong with trying to do the best job we can. There is nothing wrong with striving for excellence.
But what do we do when we can’t reach the level of excellence? What do we do when things go haywire and there is a stone wall between us and reaching our goals? What will our attitude be when all that’s left in the bucket is chicken wings? This lesson is about the attitude of the heart in times when reaching for the good portion seems impossible.
What was Martha’s attitude in this episode? She was very diligent and conscientious toward her responsibilities. No doubt about that. She wanted to be a good hostess, and if she had enough help, she would have rejoiced over a job well done. But Martha didn’t know how to handle stress. She didn’t have enough help and tried to do everything by herself. Her frustration turned to resentment, resentment turned to anger, and with the looming failure of her effort, she blew her cork. And she blamed Jesus for her troubles! Jesus calmed her down and praised Mary for choosing the good portion.
Do you ever act like Martha? I think we all do sometimes. We create stressful situations for ourselves by taking on too much and spreading ourselves too thin, and when things go haywire and we can’t handle it all by ourselves, we manage to have a coronary or a nervous breakdown and blame God for it. Been there, done that.
Only one thing is needed. Choose the good portion says Jesus to all of us. One thing is needed – faith. This episode happened sometime after Jesus miraculously fed the five thousand. Martha should have remembered. Instead of resentment and anger, she should have turned to Jesus with faith. If He fed five thousand, don’t you think He could have given the command and provide a meal for fifteen?
At our last Council Meeting our congregation’s president reminded us of a quote: “We focus too much on how big our problems are, rather than on how big our God is.” This is the lesson we can learn from the story of Mary and Martha: When doing our best is not enough, let us concentrate on how big our God is and take our problems in that perspective.
It is relatively easy to choose good portions when they abound and everything in life is going well for us. But life is tough sometimes. We do encounter problems. There are serious health problems, relationship problems, problems with our jobs, financial problems. Life can present us with a myriad of challenges. We may not be able to control our circumstances, but we don’t have to let our circumstances control us.
This is about attitude. The way we think determines how we feel. And the way we feel determines how we act. When our attitude is disconnected from faith, we feel helpless, and when we feel helpless, we act out of desperation.
But when our attitude is intertwined with faith, we no longer feel like the weight of the whole world is on our shoulders. We are not alone. We are beloved children of God through faith in Jesus Christ and He promised to be with us always. We take to heart what the Bible teaches in Philippians 4:13, I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me. And when we are assured of His presence by our side, we act not out of desperation but out of faith. And as you read the pages of the Bible or scan your memory of events in your own life, you know that acting out of faith is rewarded with success.
What is your attitude like this morning? Are you a Mary, connected to Christ, enjoying peace and calmness even though the world around you is full of stress? Or are you a Martha, ready to blow your cork because you are trying to handle everything by your own strength? Choose the good portion that will not be taken away from you. Reach for faith and connect with God’s power.
Due to thinking, feeling and acting out like Martha most of my life, I have suffered the physical and emotional consequences for it. But I have finally learned to treat every day as a gift from God and an opportunity to celebrate His presence in my life, instead of freaking out when things don’t go my way. I am finally learning how to choose the good portion.
In life’s many choices, seek those things that are lovely, admirable, and worthy of praise. Enjoy them to the fullest and give thanks to God for each and every one of them. But if life treats you to some chicken wings instead of a plate of breasts, thighs and drumsticks, take it with the right attitude. Even chicken wings taste delicious when you have not eaten in two days. Hunger is the best chef, as they say.
A few years ago I enjoyed visiting one of our older members. Barbara stayed at the assisted living portion of The Gardens. Whenever she was asked How are you? She answered, “Fit as a fiddle!” As she moved around with her walker, you know she was exaggerating some, but her attitude sure was an inspiration. One day she shared with me, “I don’t feel sorry for myself. I look around and see there is always somebody worse off than I am. So, with Jesus by my side, I am fit as a fiddle.”
There was a woman of faith who learned to eat chicken wings with the right attitude.
So, choose the good portion, y’hear? Amen.
