In Jesus Holy Name July 18, 2010
Text: Luke 10:38-39 Redeemer
“Mary, Martha & the Martha Stewart Church”
“Every church needs a Martha. Change that. Every church needs a hundred Marthas. Sleeves rolled up and ready. They keep the pace for the church. Because of Marthas the church budget gets balanced, the church babies get bounced, and the church building gets built. You don’t appreciate Marthas until a Martha is missing, and then all the Mary’s and Lazaruses are scrambling around looking for the keys and the thermostats and the overhead projectors.”
Marthas are energizer bunnies of the church. They keep going and going and going. They store strength like a camel stores water. Since they don’t seek the spotlight, they don’t live off the applause. That’s not to say they don’t need it. They just aren’t addicted to it.
If you’ve never met Martha, allow me to make the introduction. Martha, with her sister Mary and brother Lazarus lived about 2000 years ago, in the small Judean town of Bethany, a few miles from Jerusalem. When Jesus was around Jerusalem, He would often stop and pay the trio a visit. They would ask Him to stay the night, and if He had to keep moving on, at least He and His disciples would have a meal. It was a wonderful arrangement.
Martha, knew a lot had to be done. She began flying around the house putting everything in order for the Lord and his disciples. She didn’t have a micro wave, no ice box….hadn’t been invented yet. A quick run down to the farmer’s market was required. A fire had to be started. House had to be cleaned…. Refreshing drinks had to be prepared.
Martha knew a lot had to be done and she wanted to make sure everything was just right. Naturally, she expected her sister Mary to lend a hand with the preparations. Yes, yes, Martha knew that Mary sat down and was listening to Jesus, that was the polite and proper thing to do. No sense in being rude to your guest. But when Mary didn’t move, when Mary gave every indication of staying put… Martha started to get upset.
If she is like most of us she would have shown her displeasure in some very subtle and secret ways. You husbands know what I’m talking about. It’s that look you get when you have talked too much, picking the cashews out of the bowl of mixed nuts, forgot to wipe mustard off your face. You know the look. I imagine that Martha sent Mary that look. Amazingly, Mary didn’t pay attention. She didn’t lift a finger to help.
Martha simply had no choice. If the look didn’t work, she had to take her protest to the next level. If they would have had cabinet doors, She would have started slamming them. If they had metal pots and pans, Martha would have banged them more than necessary. Did Martha sigh? Did she stomp her feet? Finally, to her self, “this job would be a lot easier if everybody pitched in.”
“Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”
“My, my! All of a sudden Martha has gone from serving Jesus to making demands of Jesus. The room falls silent. The disciples duck their eyes. Mary flushes red. And Jesus speaks:
“Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed…”
In the classic Billy Crystal movie “City Slickers,” three long time friends face middle age. In their middle age crisis they find themselves losing their focus and in danger of losing their families.
To reignite the fire in their lives the guys sign up as “cowboys”, helping a dude ranch move its herd of cattle from the hills down to the lower valley. ‘Curly’, the grizzled old cowboy who leads them, seems to be the toughest, canniest, wisest person they have ever met. Billy Crystal asks the usually tight lipped cowpoke what his secret is. What makes life so strong and centered and sure. Curly smiles, raises his grubby, gloved, index finger and proclaims, “It is just one thing,” then he rides away.
Billy’s character spends the rest of the movie frantically trying to figure out what Curly meant. What IS that “just one thing.”
Psychologist, marriage counselors, relationship grurus of all stripes, warn us not to expect one person to provide for all our emotional, intellectual, and relational needs. We need a variety of relationships, a network of friends, colleagues, basketball buddies, quilting club comrades, elders and peers to meet all our emotional needs.
But what might be true for our human connections does not hold true for our spiritual needs. Our soul needs only “one thing”. No matter what your denomination. No matter if your spiritual temperament is exuberant, reserved, flamboyant, or meditative. Whether your soul craves cathedrals and organs, or guitars, drums and keyboard, it is all the same as long as we have that “one thing.”
That “one thing” is Jesus.
Martha, the mistress of the house, rushes around trying to make sure everything is perfect. Martha is like some first century Martha Stewart. She is focused on the food, the house, the drink, the flowers for the table. Marth is so busy serving she completely forgets whom she truly serves.
We have a lot of well-meaning, well-planned, well-organized Martha Stewart churches. Never content with “one thing”, these churches are constantly in the “Kitchen” cooking up new stratagems, new plots and plans, new programs. These are not bad things. These are not detrimental. But they are not the “one thing”….helping people connect their heart and lives to Jesus and his teaching.
Our “one thing” is always Jesus. That is why we encourage everyone to read more in the bible this year than last…. When that happens, you will have, as Paul writes in Ephesians: “God’s people are to be prepared for works of service, and be built up …. In the faith …and in the knowledge of Jesus, the Son of God, and become spiritually mature.”
Christianity is a religion based on a person, not a propositions or regulations. Christians derive their identity, not from principles or even “values” but from a relationship with Jesus.
Marys have one foot in heaven and the other on a cloud. They are often precious souls with tender hearts. If you know a Mary…ask how you can get on their prayer list.
Every church desperately needs some Marys. We need them to pray for our children, encourage others to listen to the words of Jesus.
Marys need to remember that service is worship.
Marthas need to remember that worship is service.
If God calls you to be a Martha, then serve! If God calls you to be a Mary, then worship and remind the rest of us to not “neglect” the words of Jesus.
Both are needed. Remember. Later when Lazarus, their brother died and when Jesus arrived at the house Jesus said to Martha: “Your brother will rise again.” Martha answered: “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” Jesus said to her. “I am the resurrection and the life, he who believes in me will live even though he dies and who ever lives and believes in me will never die…. Do you believe this?”
Martha answered: “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God who was to come into the world.”
Let me close with a story that was told over 30 years ago by pastors and priests. The story began with a man whose greatest desire was to know what the stock market would do over the next 30 days. Armed with that information, he figured he could invest enough money to be set for the rest of his life.
With that kind of security he would have the freedom to do as he wanted, even to develop an interest in God if such was his desire. According to the story, on November 1 the man found a copy of the New York Times on his door step, a copy of the Times dated December 1. The man ripped into the investment page. With pen and paper, computer and calculator, he finished an exhausting morning.
By one o’clock he had made his choices. He knew what stock he was going to buy and what he would sell. Desiring to keep the paper safe, he gently folded it. As he did, his eyes settled for a second upon the obituary pages. He couldn’t stop himself. He looked. He read. He froze. Do I need to tell you his name was listed there? He had less than 35 days to live. He had it all, except the one Person who is needful. How about you?
Today the Holy Spirit wants you to see the “one thing” needed…. Jesus.
