I have a problem - a problem with serving food. I always want the bigger portion - if I’m pouring drinks for Danielle and me - I’ll take the one that’s a bit more. If I’m plating food, I’ll put a bit more on my plate. Now, I know she eats less than I do - basically everyone in my house eats less - except for Zack, but he’s not around right now - so I could count it as logic. But it’s not, it’s a problem, I just want more. Maybe it stems from my childhood when my brother and I would fight for food. Believe me, there wasn’t a scarcity. I guess in a way, I’m just selfish.
Danielle, Mel, Zoe - please forgive me.
It seems like this is both a problem of selfishness, but also a problem of delayed gratification. I want a portion now and not what might be better later - a thinner waistline, less indigestion, etc.
That may be my attitude with food, but is it my attitude with Jesus? Do I want a big portion of Him? Am a jealous, zealous, selfish for my time with him?
As we see in the passage that we’re considering today, this may be an issue for all of us. There are ways that we can receive glory, accolades, acknowledgement in good things now, but miss the best thing! We’re okay serving Jesus, but spending time with him can be a chore. It’s as though we feel like God would be more pleased with our service than our attention.
Open your Bibles to Luke 10:38-42.
As we look at this passage, we get an opportunity to witness two people in the same family, in the same house, worshiping the same Jesus in two different ways. One gets the good portion, the other creates her own - and ends up resenting the fact that she’s not being helped or recognized. Her portion was about her. Her sister’s portion was about Jesus.
Luke 10:38–42 ESV
Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”
Two weeks ago, we witnessed Jesus interaction with a religious lawyer who asked the question, “what must I do to inherit eternal life?” Then in response Jesus asks him what he reads in the law, the lawyer replied - “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength and your neighbor as yourself.” In that man’s correct response he introduced a two-fold manner of love - loving God and loving others. It seems like Luke is using that encounter to show us some of Jesus’ teaching on love and service.
As we see in today’s passage, our love for Jesus can sometimes be distracted by any number of things, even good things.
First of all, we get to notice…
The lure of distracted serving before sitting
Service is a good thing - ministry happens because we serve - pushing buttons, changing cameras, teaching children, preparing crafts, planning lessons, cooking, cleaning, counting, watching, practicing, studying, mowing, weeding, locking, opening. The work that we all do here is good work, but it can be distracting when it is the focus of our attention.
There is something in us that can be duty-bound to serving. In many ways it’s honorable.
Think about this - each night, there are guys here in the church who willingly come to the church after all of the activities are finished. They turn off lights, adjust the temperatures, check the restrooms, lock doors, and arm the alarm. Very few people notice. It’s a vitally important stewardship. Tom, Buddy, Matt, Carl, Steve - thank you! I don’t know their hearts, but knowing mine, there could be a mixture of delight, duty, and drudgery in their serving. There may even be a measure of self-righteousness. All service can be a joy and a justification for adulation. There is a point when our service can be about us and not about the One we serve.
I do wonder if that’s something that Martha was dealing with in this passage. She did a gracious and wonderful thing in welcoming Jesus to her home. Luke notes that it was “her” home. Maybe she was married. Maybe she was single and just self-sufficient. Maybe she was the oldest sibling of a family whose parents had passed. We don’t hear anywhere in Scripture about a Mr. Martha. All we know is that this was Martha’s home - and she welcomed Jesus into it.
Now, we’ve talked before about the honor of hospitality - especially in their culture. So with that honor comes responsibilities, obligations, even distractions.
Luke notes that Martha was distracted - she was “pulled away.” While she had welcomed Jesus into her home, her focus was not on him, her focus was on the work. Spurgeon imagines that by inviting Jesus in, she invited many more than she had expected. In the very least there is the bakers dozen of Jesus and his apostles. There may have been many more besides.
She was doing something that is encouraged. The Mishna abot 1.4 states that a house is a “gathering place for sages.”
By welcoming Jesus into her home, she was living out the teachings of the Rabbis. She was showing hospitality to the greatest Rabbi. She was being hospitable and honorable - and yet she was distracted.
It’s so easy for us to do. If we’re expecting company, then we know how to plan and prepare. We can vacuum the rooms, make the beds, clean the bathrooms, spruce up the family or living rooms, make a meal.
But when our company is unexpected, as Jesus may have been, that’s when C.H.A.O.S. ensues.
Several years ago, Danielle ran across an author who coined the acronym: C.H.A.O.S. - Can’t Have Anyone Over Syndrome. This the state in which our homes are so messy that we don’t feel like we can host anyone. The laundry, clutter, the dishes, the empty fridge, …. On one hand, CHAOS becomes a matter of laziness - we’re not willing to do the right, good, diligent work to keep neatness as the standard.
On the other hand, CHAOS is a matter of pride. If my house is not Instagram perfect then I can’t invite someone over. If my meals are not the fodder for envy, then no one but my family should eat them.
I obviously don’t know much about Martha, beyond the few verses that we get to see in Scripture. I would guess, she suffered from CHAOS, not because of laziness, but because of pride. She wanted things to be just right.
She broke through the CHAOS to invite someone over, but focused on overcoming the CHAOS rather than on the One she had invited. She was distracted. She was pulled away. She looked more at the serving than the Savior.
When our focus gets off, we put our serving above our Savior. We lose sight of why we are doing what we’re doing.
However, in our day, it’s not just the serving that distracts us - it’s anything. Every week, whether I’m trying to spend time with the Lord in my quiet time or I’m in the office working on a sermon - I can go for just a couple of minutes and then my mind gets distracted with something - an upcoming appointment, an email or text, a game, a chore, a curiosity - I am far too easily distracted.
The challenge that we have to remember is that when we get pulled away or distracted - whether it’s with good things like serving or with silly things like (fill in the blank) - as Spurgeon notes - like Martha we lose our communion with Christ.
And so just as loving God should fuel how we love others, so too, our lives should be marked by something that we can see in Mary…
The life of delighted sitting before serving
In our passage today, we found the hostess Martha serving diligently, but focusing more on her serving than the One she had invited. Her service had become about her.
By contrast, her sister is simply sitting at Jesus feet - listening, learning, loving.
I mentioned earlier that the Mishna encourages people to welcome sages, but then it goes further - “wallow in the dust of their feet and drink their words with gusto.”
Mary was wallowing and drinking while Martha was waiting and delivering.
Mary was seeking while Martha was seething.
Mary was delighted with Jesus while Martha was distracted with justification.
We can look back on their situation and observe, learn, maybe even judge - but I do wonder how much of our looking back is more like looking in a mirror.
Again, it’s not that serving is bad, but that it must come in the right priority.
When we considered the previous passage, we discussed how we are called to love God with AND THEN to love our neighbors as ourselves.
There are times when I wonder if I truly love God.
I spend time in His Word each morning - but is it an act of duty or delight?
I spend time in prayer - for you, for my family, for others, for me - but is it duty or delight?
I spend a lot of time doing…, but is it distraction or delight?
It seems like what Jesus says here is that the good portion, the one necessary thing starts by being WITH Jesus, listening, learning, loving takes priority over other things.
But how…
Choice
I think, first of all it happens by choice. Mary chose to sit at Jesus’ feet, while Martha chose to focus on the hustle of hospitality.
Psalm 16:5 ESV
The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup;
you hold my lot.
I think in our distracted age, this requires that we make choices. If the phone or tablet becomes a distraction, then put it far out of reach. If the book or devotional becomes a check-box, then change things up. If the number of verses or chapters or pages become too cumbersome, then choose to reflect on one or two. But it all begins with a choice. Is Jesus the One we’re choosing or is it Jesus+ something else or maybe even just something else?
Calm
Secondly, I think it happens in calm. When our bodies are calm, our minds are calm, our focus is calm then we can truly just be with Jesus.
Psalm 27:4 ESV
One thing have I asked of the Lord,
that will I seek after:
that I may dwell in the house of the Lord
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord
and to inquire in his temple.
So it seems like it takes a bit of slowing down. Pausing, not out of duty, but out of delight, to just ponder, reflect, meditate, relish - in God’s love for us, in His Word, in His presence.
Re-calibrate
Thirdly, it seems like the Good Portion in Jesus requires that we re-calibrate. Our daily to-do lists and action items can be demanding, but when we let Jesus be our priority and let Him guide our service, then our duty become a delight and our activities become acts of worship.
When we get things out of wack, we end up being anxious. Jesus called Martha anxious. Scripture encourages us:
Philippians 4:6 ESV
do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God.
1 Peter 5:7 ESV
casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you.
When we are anxious, it’s as though we are keeping all of our concerns to ourselves. When we take them to the Lord FIRST, then we get to understand that He hears us, He knows what we need, He cares.
So this sitting takes a choice, calm, and recalibration.
Finally…
Community
I think we can make the most of our delighted sitting before Jesus when we do it in community. Did you notice that one of Martha’s challenges was that she was working “alone”? Even in our own spiritual lives, how often do we do our spiritual development alone?
While Mary had chosen the good portion, she was not alone in doing that. We can assume in the very least that most of the apostles were there, maybe even a few more. This was an opportunity for all of these people to listen together and then as they are eating or serving they are able to process things together. They can talk about truths that they heard from Jesus. They can discuss how they might put into practice the principles that Jesus discussed. They can worship and praise together.
A couple of weeks ago, I was listening to a sermon by Tim Keller while I was mowing the grass. In this sermon, he shared an illustration of community from CS Lewis. Lewis had two other very close friends. When one of them died, he initially thought that he would get more of the other. But instead, what he found is that the loss of the one meant that he also lost the things that the one brought out in the other.
This is one of the reasons that we do community groups the way that we do. Making time together to discuss scripture provides an opportunity for us to share insights in community. It’s also an opportunity for us to share what we’ve been learning and growing in. If we’re doing it correctly, it’s an opportunity for us to confess sin and pray for one another.
Now, I’m speculating a bit here, but I would guess, that if Martha had paused a bit to just be with Jesus (choice, calm, re-calibration), then at the proper time, she would have had all the help (community) she needed to get things done.
Beloved, serving is a wonderful thing. I’m so grateful for the ways that so many of you serve so faithfully. But I do hope that if our service it more about us than our Savior, then we would choose to calm ourselves, re-calibrate our time and priorities in order to delight in Him, both alone and in community.
Friend, if you’re not yet a follower of Christ, I want to encourage you to consider this in your life as well. It can be easy to assume that if we just perform correctly then God will accept us - going to church, reading scripture, serving, helping, striving. While all of those things are good, they are not good enough. The good portion, the sufficient portion comes only in Jesus - his perfect life, his sacrificial and atoning death for your sin, his victorious resurrection providing hope for eternal life, his intercession in heaven for you and me - even now! Choose to respond to His loving call. Calm your frenzied religiosity, re-calibrate your spiritual life, and join the community of faith.
Closing thoughts
It’s been said that one of Spurgeon’s favorite books to preach is the Song of Songs. For some of us, this seems like an odd book. In fact, Rabbi’s used to forbid people from reading it until they were adults. The imagery and language can cause the unsuspecting to blush. But I think for Spurgeon, in addition to seeing it as a poem of love between lovers, he sees it as adoration between Christ and His bride, the church.
Earlier in the service, we read from Song of Solomon 2. As we close, I’d like to read that again. This time, picture yourself as the speaker - the lover and Jesus as our beloved.
Song of Solomon 2:8–17 ESV
The voice of my beloved!
Behold, he comes,
leaping over the mountains,
bounding over the hills.
My beloved is like a gazelle
or a young stag.
Behold, there he stands
behind our wall,
gazing through the windows,
looking through the lattice.
My beloved speaks and says to me:
“Arise, my love, my beautiful one,
and come away,
for behold, the winter is past;
the rain is over and gone.
The flowers appear on the earth,
the time of singing has come,
and the voice of the turtledove
is heard in our land.
The fig tree ripens its figs,
and the vines are in blossom;
they give forth fragrance.
Arise, my love, my beautiful one,
and come away.
O my dove, in the clefts of the rock,
in the crannies of the cliff,
let me see your face,
let me hear your voice,
for your voice is sweet,
and your face is lovely.
Catch the foxes for us,
the little foxes
that spoil the vineyards,
for our vineyards are in blossom.”
My beloved is mine, and I am his;
he grazes among the lilies.
Until the day breathes
and the shadows flee,
turn, my beloved, be like a gazelle
or a young stag on cleft mountains.
Let’s pray
Jesus, help us to delight in you. Keep us from being pulled away by both good and bad distractions. May our service be fueled by our time with you, our Savior. Amen.
Benediction:
1 John 2:28 ESV
And now, little children, abide in him, so that when he appears we may have confidence and not shrink from him in shame at his coming.
Questions for reflection and discussion:
Read: Luke 10:38-42
1. What is your home like shortly before guests arrive?
2. What is involved in clean-up at your house?
3. In the passage, what distinguishes Mary's choice to listen to Jesus from Martha's choice to serve? How does this reflect the priorities each woman has?
4. What does Jesus mean when He tells Martha that Mary has chosen 'what is better'? How does this challenge common understandings of work and service?
5. How does this passage illustrate the concept of rest and renewal in our relationship with God? What does it teach us about the importance of spiritual nourishment?
6. What can we learn from Mary about the significance of prioritizing time with Jesus amidst our busy lives?
7. In what ways can we better incorporate time for listening to God into our daily routines? What practical steps can we take to ensure we prioritize this?
8. How can we find balance between serving others, like Martha, and spending time in quiet reflection, like Mary? What does this look like in your life personally?
9. Does your daily routine show that you agree with Jesus that “only one” thing is truly necessary each day, and what that thing is; or does it suggest that you don’t believe him?
Sources:
Anyabwile, Thabiti. Exalting Jesus in Luke. Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary. Nashville, TN: Holman Reference, 2018.
Bock, Darrell L. Luke 9:51-24:53. Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 1999.
Martin, John A. “Luke.” In The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures, edited by J. F. Walvoord and R. B. Zuck. Wheaton, IL: Victor Books, 1985.
McKinley, Mike. Luke 1–12 for You. Edited by Carl Laferton. God’s Word for You. The Good Book Company, 2016.
Spurgeon, C. H. “Cumbered with Much Serving.” In The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit Sermons, 55:457–68. London: Passmore & Alabaster, 1909.
The NET Bible First Edition; Bible. English. NET Bible.; The NET Bible. Biblical Studies Press, 2005. Print.
Wilcock, Michael. The Savior of the World: The Message of Luke’s Gospel. The Bible Speaks Today. Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1979.
