Reading: Luke chapter 10 verses 38-42.
Ill:
Photographs can be very deceptive,
• Whoever said; “The camera never lies”,
• Never had a studio portrait done of themselves or their family.
Studio portrait are perfect prints:
• Every hair is in place, people are wearing their best clothes,
• Everybody is told to stand or sit in a certain way.
• Even the background is designed to create the perfect picture.
• Yet in reality that family, that home may be the complete opposite of what’s portrayed.
• For the camera and for the public we show one side of ourselves,
• But in our homes we can often reveal another totally different side.
In Luke chapter 10:
• We get a behind the scenes look into a home.
• And a valuable lesson to learn.
Note the context of these verses:
• Verses 1-24: Jesus sends out the seventy-two as his ambassadors.
• They were very busy going from place to place, they were busy in serving Christ.
• Verses 25-37: The story of the Good Samaritan.
• Once again there is an emphasis on doing, lending a helping hand,
• Now in our passage we have the story of somebody busy serving,
• Luke places this story here to teach us something.
• Following Jesus is not all about doing things, being busy serving Christ.
• We all need to learn to enjoy Christ, to take time out and sit at his feet!
(1). The Place (verse 38)::
“As Jesus and his disciples were on their way,
he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him.
Jesus and the twelve disciples were on a journey through Judea:
• Luke doesn’t tell us the name of the village,
• But he does tell us who lived there (John chapter 11 verse1 fills in the details).
• And they come this village called Bethany.
• The village is Bethany which is two miles or 3km from Jerusalem on the road to Jericho;
• The name Bethany means; “The house of the poor one”.
• It first became a settlement, a village in the 6th century B.C.
Three people share the house.
• The home at Bethany belonged to Martha (Luke 10:38).
• Which might indicate that she was a widow.
For Jesus this was a place of rest:
• For about two and a half years, Jesus has been on the road,
• Traveling around as an itinerant preacher teaching and healing in village after village.
• He is a well known public and popular figure.
• Where Jesus goes the crowds are sure to follow.
• Not only do they follow but they make demands,
• They are bringing their relatives to be healed, constant stream of people.
A home not a house:
• For Jesus this was not just a house but a home,
• It was an oasis, a hideaway, somewhere to go and relax!
• Here he can switch off and relax, ‘recharge his batteries’.
• He is able to enjoy the company of his three special friends:
• Friends who won’t demand miracles or ask leading questions.
• But just want to enjoy him and his company.
• It’s a home where He knows He is loved and accepted,
• Where He knows He can rest.
Ill:
• I do not want to sound critical, but as an itinerant preacher,
• You experience a wide variety of hospitality.
• Question: What makes a good place to stay, food? Comforts?
• Answer: The ability to relax and be yourself!
Jesus could relax in this home:
• So much so that on his final visit to Jerusalem.
• Jesus stayed overnight in Bethany, traveling into the city each day.
(2). The People:
• A house is a place;
• A home is more, often it is the people.
• The people who make this a home are Mary, Martha and Lazarus
• Although Lazarus will not appear in the story.
Martha was thought to have been a widow:
• She is named as the house owner, before Lazarus the male.
• Mary was her unmarried sister (spinster/unclaimed treasure).
• Lazarus was the bachelor brother and a very good friend to Jesus.
• Three times in John 11 we are told that Jesus loved Lazarus.
Financially: As a family they seem to be in comfortable:
• Possibly affluent, wealthy.
• That is reflected in their social eminence,
• For many Jews came ‘to console them concerning their brother.’
• John 12 you have the expensive jar of perfume.
The sisters:
• Martha and Mary are always closely linked in the gospels:
• So much so that it is difficult to think of one apart from the other.
They appear together in three graphic and moving situations.
Ill:
• Luke chapter 10:
• Martha dominates this first account, she is the hostess in her own home.
• John chapter 11:
• Here they are fused together in their grief over the death of their brother.
• John chapter 12:
• Mary dominates the narrative by her costly act of devotion.
(a). Martha:
• We would probably describe Martha as energetic, she is so eager to serve.
• The first to roll up her sleeves and pitch in to help.
• She is probably the first one up in the morning,
• Making preparations for the day.
• And probably the last one to bed at night.
• Making sure every dish is cleaned and put away and everything is in its right place.
• You get the impression with Martha;
• The dinner is never overcooked. She is the perfect hostess.
(b). Mary:
• Mary seems to be a more a reflective person,
• We get three glimpses of her in the Gospels,
• And on each occasion, she is in the same place:
• At the feet of Jesus.
Ill:
• Luke chapter 10 verse 39:
• She sat at His feet and listened to His Word.
• John chapter 11 verse 32:
• At the death of her brother Lazarus, she fell at His feet and shared her sorrows.
• John chapter 12 verse 32:
• She knelt at His feet and poured perfume or poured out her worship.
Ill:
• Worth noting that in each of these instances, there is some kind of fragrance:
• In Luke 10, it is food; in John 11, it is death, and in John 12, it is perfume.
We would probably describe Mary as:
• Perceptive. A woman who asks few but thoughtful questions.
• She is a good listener. Sensitive and calm.
Both sisters are delighted to see Jesus.
• But how they express their enthusiasm is very different.
• Two sisters both with different temperaments.
The Disagreement
Verse 39: Luke first of all tells us about Mary.
“9She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said.”
• Mary is focused; she clears her mind of all the incidentals,
• And makes room for the essential, spending time with Jesus.
• She is content to listen to and be in the presence of Jesus.
• She is happy “not doing anything”.
Verse 40 Martha:
But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made.
• ‘Distracted’ here means literally, ‘not knowing which way to turn’,
• We would say rushed off her feet.
Note the two reactions:
• Mary sees Jesus and thinks, “The Lord, I must go and chat!”
• Martha sees Jesus and thinks, “The Lord, I must look after him, i.e. prepare a meal!”
At this point in the narrative, preachers often give Martha a bashing for her response:
• But be honest would we have reacted much differently?
• We all know what unplanned visits are like.
• And if the disciples are with Jesus too,
• She has at least 156 people to cook for, no wonder Martha is flustered.
Ill:
Martha’s room:
• Story told of a visiting preacher who spoke on this passage,
• He really hammered Martha and tore her off a trip.
• Being a visiting preacher,
• He was taken back to his hosts house.
• When they arrived at the house he was shown into the living room and left,
• No-one came in and offered him a cup of tea,
• It was a gloomy, cold winters day,
• No-one put the fire on, not even the light to brighten up the room.
• The preacher sat and waited patiently, he waited and waited and waited,
• No-one came into the room.
He decided he would go and find his hosts and hint at a possible cup of tea:
• As he went into the room next door,
• He noticed the fire on, the light was on.
• People had a hot cake and a biscuit,
• And the whole atmosphere of the room was warm and welcoming.
• “Come on in” said the host,
• “This is Martha’s room!”
I think the preacher got the point:
• We owe a lot to the Martha’s of the world.
• Without them, nothing would ever get done.
The Danger in this passage:
• Is to contrasted Mary and Martha as though each believer must make a choice:
• Be a worker like Martha, or a worshiper like Mary.
• Certainly our personalities and gifts are different,
• But that does not mean that the Christian life is an either/or situation.
Quote: Charles Wesley said it perfectly in one of his hymns:
“Faithful to my Lord’s commands,
I still would choose the better part;
Serve with careful Martha’s hands,
And loving Mary’s heart”.
The key thing for each of us is:
• To imitate Mary in our worship and Martha in our work.
• As someone has said; “Blessed are the balanced!”
• Interesting to note that Jesus did not chide Martha,
• For being of a practical rather than a devotional turn of mind.
• The correction comes because Martha makes,
• Three foolish mistakes.
But Martha makes three important mistakes:
(a) She rebuked the Lord (verse 40);.
• There is more than just the oven heating up in Martha’s kitchen,
• Martha has been slowly coming to the boil, and in verse 40 she explodes!
“Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”
Ill:
• Now use your imagination:
• As she is cooking, imagine the thoughts running through Martha’s head:
• “I can’t believe Mary isn’t in here helping, she thinks”.
• Martha pushes a fist into the dough.
• “She should be in here. Another fist into the dough”.
• We could get this done in half the time. Another fist into the dough.
• “I too, would like to hear what Jesus has to say, but somebody’s got to fix dinner”.
• Another fist into the dough.
• “They could at least come in here while they talk.”
• Another fist into the dough.
• “I can’t believe she has the nerve to just sit there. And why is Jesus letting her do it?”
• Another fist into the dough.
• “Here I am in the kitchen, sweating, working my fingers to the bone, doesn’t Jesus care?”
• Another fist into the dough.
Martha has allowed her emotions to simmer, she is hot and getting hotter:
• Until her anger explodes and she comes boiling out of the kitchen,
• Red-faced and furious.
Verse 40:
“She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”
Notice: She doesn’t even call Mary by name.
• Through clenched teeth, she says, “my sister,” and accuses her of skiving.
• Unthinkingly, she also takes a stab at Jesus, accusing of lacking concern.
• Martha’s rash response illustrates what happens,
• When the peculiarities of our temperament get the best of us.
• Martha’s strengths had become her liabilities.
• And she is completely wrong in focus, attitude and language.
In the next few hours, days, weeks and months:
• How Martha must have regretted those words, “Don’t you care?”
• But she let her undisciplined temperament express itself in unrestrained temper.
• Because of her uncontrolled angry, caused by her sisters actions,
• She took it out, she expresses that anger on the Lord.
Ill:
Too many of us do that
• Somebody annoys or upsets us.
• And we let that anger burn within us that eventually we take it out on someone else.
• Often it is someone we love who then gets the short end of the stick.
• (Aren’t you glad the Bible shows us real people, people just like us)>
(b) She misjudged her sister.
• She interpreted Mary’s devotion to Christ as selfishness, as laziness,
• And she despised her for her impractical dreaminess.
Ill:
• As a visiting preacher to different churches,
• Often there is somebody i.e. elders, your host for the day, member of the congregation.
• Who feels that they ought to ‘fill you in’ about various people.
• More often than not, I think like Martha the information you receive is wrong!
• Experience teaches you to take all things with a pinch of salt.
• Because human judgment is often biased of tainted.
• I am glad that unlike human beings, God looks at the heart.
• He sees our motives where as humans often misread us and our situation.
One reason we misjudge, or get angry with people we know, or misjudge things:
• Is overwork and tiredness.
• We all need to rest!
Quote:
“Jesus said, come aside and rest a while,
if we don’t rest a while, we will just come apart”.
Ill:
• Camp Many problems are resolved by sending someone to bed.
• After a good nights sleep, the problem is not half as great.
Martha’s harsh words:
• Accusing Jesus of not caring.
• Accusing her sister of being lazy and selfish.
• Is because she is over anxious, overworked, overtired and over-worried.
• She was worried inside and busy outside.
(c) She had wrong priorities.
• She placed her own agenda over Christ’s.
• She became so obsessed with preparing a special meal for her guests,
• The priority for Jesus rest, encouragement fellowship.
• An elaborate meal with all the trimmings is Martha’s idea.
• Certainly a meal was in order, but what we do with Christ,
• Is far more important than what we do for Christ.
• She pays too much attention to the things that don’t matter
• And not enough to the things that do.
• From the moment Christ came in the door,
• She has been distracted with the incidentals connected with being the perfect hostess.
• She is busy-too busy.
• And it isn’t long before those incidentals begin grating on her.
The Response (verse 41):
1“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things,
• Jesus tames Martha’s aggressive attitude,
• By lovingly reassuring her, twice he uses her name, “Martha, Martha” .
Of course he cares about her, more than she realizes:
• He understands her temperament and wants to help her;
• And so gently and caringly helps her to see the real issue.
• Jesus would much rather have a simple meal with her company,
• Than have a lavish feast and see very little of her.
Verse 42:
• “Only one thing is needed”
• There are two thoughts on what that phrase means.
(1). Jesus was referring to the single dish:
• Tthat would have provided an adequate meal,
• And yet left her enough time to join Mary at His feet.
• A little economy in food and labour,
• Would have paid handsome spiritual dividends.
(2). “Only one thing is needed”
• Is not referring to food or drink, but to Mary’s example.
• One thing I want from you is to come and sit down!
“…….Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”
• Either interpretation is valid:
• The important thing is spending time in the presence of Jesus.
• Jesus knows moments of quiet like these are few and far between.
• He also knows he has precious little time left on earth,
And Jesus wants Martha to realize that this moment may never come again:
• And she has chosen set the table, to prepare, prepare, prepare, to bake bread,
• Instead of enjoying her Savior.
Final quote: Charles Wesley summed up this story in his hymn “O Love Divine”.
“Oh, that I could for ever sit
With Mary at the Masters feet!
Be this my happy choice.
My only care, delight, and bliss,
My joy, my heaven on earth, be this,
To hear the bridegrooms voice”.
