Introduction: Today’s sermon has been prepared by Pastor Richard, who is currently recovering from Covid.
Opening Prayer: Loving Lord, we thank You that You are constantly talking to us. Help us to have open ears and hearts to hear and receive from You. In Jesus name we pray. Amen
Today we heard a familiar story from Jesus.
The story of Martha and Mary.
As you listen again to the story, I invite you to think about who do you most identify with? Martha, Mary or one of those who are with Jesus.
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. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. 40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. 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!”
41 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”
Now from the beginning I want to clarify a misunderstanding of this story that sometimes occurs.
Sometimes people paint Martha, the active one, as the bad person and Mary, the one sitting with and listening to Jesus, as the good person. But that is not what Jesus is doing here.
For a start, just last week we heard, Jesus, in sharing the parable of the Good Samaritan,
Jesus encourages people to be active, to help people they see in need, regardless of who they are.
And in fact, the parable highlights he is quite critical of those, like the Levite and the Priest, who use their responsibilities as an excuse not to be active in helping people,
And as Jesus says at the end of the parable, “we are to go and do likewise.”
And this idea of doing, being active continues throughout the New Testament.
In Acts 6 we have the story of how the church continues to serve people in need, with the choosing of seven people full of the spirit to serve widows.
And in James 2:14-18 we hear the following:
What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? 15 Suppose a brother or a sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead.
But someone will say, “You have faith; I have deeds.”
Show me your faith without deeds, and I will show you my faith by my deeds.
So, this story is not an attack on Martha and being an active Christian.
Instead, the key to understanding this story is found in verse 42 where Jesus says:
“but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”
But few things are needed – or indeed only one….
What is this one thing?
Well from the Old Testament, Psalm 27:4 we hear
One thing I ask from the LORD,
this only do I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,
to gaze on the beauty of the LORD
and to seek him in his temple.
And from some other interactions Jesus has with people such as in Luke 18:22
22 When Jesus heard this, he said to him, “You still lack one thing. Sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven. Then come, follow me.”
Both of these are pointing to what is often called an eternal life.
The most important thing for our life is our relationship with God who loves us, who was prepared to suffer and die for us, and who gives us a life that will outlast anything on this earth.
And in today’s story, this is what Mary is focussed on….
When we hear Mary sitting at Jesus feet, this is code for Mary is listening to Jesus’ teaching.
She is focussed on Jesus…. not to serve Him, not to prove she is anything great,
But to learn from Him
To be shaped by Him
To be loved by Him
To be guided by Him
To be shown that she is loved and guaranteed life with God forever.
And this is the blessing of listening to Jesus.
So, what about you…. what is most important for you?
Are you focussing first on what you do, what you want, what you expect of others, what your desires are?
Or are you most focussing on and prioritising learning from Jesus, everyday?
The truth is, today’s story has real meaning for us.
We can get caught up in our busyness….
We can be so busy that we make the less important things in life more important and forget about some of the more important things in life.
Many people say they are Christians, in fact over 43% of the Australian population says they are Christian, but how many of us get distracted by the busyness of life and allow other things to be very important in our lives.
We can be consumed by what we are doing personally, what we should be doing as a church and even think the solution to our problems is simply to do more.
We can be become disgruntled because we think others are not pulling their weight.
Now as we know, we live with may people who live by the mantra…. actions speak louder than words, and even earlier in the message we heard from James 2 that faith without works is dead….
So being active is an important aspect of being a Christian.
Serving others, helping others, inviting others into our homes, caring for others, showing love, showing mercy, forgiving others, protecting others…are all actions we are called to live out as Christians….
But there is a problem if our Christian faith is about actions alone…. or action driven.
Some years ago, at a conference, I was listening to a speaker who illustrated this issue. The speaker said something like this:
Being active as a Christian in the world is important, it is part of our calling, it is how the world gets to see a loving God…..however our actions and way of life need to be constantly shaped by Jesus, that is why a daily time with Jesus for me is essential as is a weekly communal time with Jesus by worshipping with others, no matter how busy I get….
I am reminded of the words of Martin Luther, the busier I get the more time I spend in time with Jesus.
Unfortunately, though history is littered with organisations that were begun by Christians with a Christian emphasis, but they become so consumed in what they were doing, they have watered down their listening to Jesus to be at best, a nice few thoughts. So, connecting people to God who gives eternal life is no longer their priority or even on their agenda. And at times their practices are devoid of grace, mercy and love because instead of Jesus being their priority, something or someone else is.
On reflection this also occurs with many individuals…. who call themselves Christians but have allowed their busy lives to override their time with God. Overtime their thoughts, actions and words are reflecting something other than God’s love and grace that gives eternal life.
It is important to remember that our actions as Christians are important, but they are not foundational, instead they are the fruit or the by-product of what is foundational, God’s unconditional love for us that gives us eternal life…. expressed through the actions, life and teachings of Jesus.
And this is why today’s story is so relevant for us….
It is important for us and others to be constantly listening to Jesus
and as we do, we will be reminded of the gift of the eternal loving life God gives us,
But not only this He will shape us to be people,
who are active in the world, in ways that reflect His love, grace and mercy to others
and through our actions people will begin to meet with and connect with a loving God who loves them before they even think about loving Him.
Another way to think about it is this……
In listening to God…we will continue to discover not only that God loves us, but what God’s love is really like
But not only this in listening to God we will have a purpose for our actions that is based and shaped by God’s love for us and the world.
So, every day, regardless of how busy you are, prioritise some time listening to God….
Use our daily reading plan which you can download from our web page or weekly update
And every week prioritise worshipping God with others….
Asking that one question we ask regularly at the end of our services….
“what is God saying to me today?”
Because as we spend time listening to Jesus,
We are made aware of how much God loves us and everyone we know
and He is shaping us, so our actions reveal His love to all we connect with.
As 1 John 4:10-12 reminds us
This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins. Dear friends, since God so loved us, we also ought to love one another. No one has ever seen God; but if we love one another, God lives in us and his love is made complete in us.
Amen
