August 1, 2004 — Ninth Sunday after Pentecost
Christ Lutheran Church, Columbia, MD
Pastor Jeff Samelson
Luke 10:38-42
Will You “Mary” Jesus?
I. Choose Love
II. Sit Down Already and Listen
III. ‘Til Death Do You Join
Grace and peace to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
The Word of God for our study this Sunday is our Gospel, Luke 10:38-42:
As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. 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!”
“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” (NIV)
This is the Gospel of our Lord.
Dear Fellow Servants of Christ and His Gospel:
I don’t know if it’s true today or not, but I’ve been told that at least some Roman Catholic nuns, from the time they take their vows and become nuns, wear wedding rings on their fingers. That may seem a little odd, considering that they’re committing themselves to a life of celibacy and singlehood, but that ring is symbolic: it’s supposed to show that they are married to Christ himself.
Now I’ve always wondered why the Roman church was comfortable making Jesus out to be a polygamist — being married to all those women at once — but it is at least an interesting way for them to express a single-minded to devotion Christ. But sadly, that’s really not at all what Jesus is looking for — not from women or from men. Christ wants our devotion, yes, but the true test of that devotion is not what great services we’re willing to do for him, or how far we’re willing to go to express or prove our love for him. Those would be the attitudes of the busy sister in our Gospel today. Jesus wants us to be like the other sister, who made the better choice about what to do with her time and devotion.
As we consider the story of our Savior and these two sisters today and apply it to our own lives and decisions, a question is put to each of us — what are you going to do? Will you “Martha” Jesus, or will you “Mary” him?
I. It is a real choice, and it’s one you have to make. We’re not talking about the mistaken notion that an unbeliever has to decide to follow Jesus in order to be saved, as though somehow someone dead in his sins and hostile to God possesses the ability to do anything to change that situation. No, the choice we’re talking about here is the one Christians have to make — not just once they become believers, but every week and every day: what do I do with my time, my energy, and my attention?
A farmer hired a man to work for him. He told him his first task would be to paint the barn and he said it should take him about three days to complete. The farmer was quite pleased and surprised when the hired man finished it in just one day. So next the farmer put him to work cutting wood, and told him it would require about 4 days. Lo and behold, the hired man was finished in a day and a half, and the farmer was amazed. The next task was to sort out a large pile of potatoes. He was to arrange them into three piles: seed potatoes, food for the hogs, and potatoes that were good enough to sell. The farmer said it was a small job and shouldn’t take long at all. At the end of the day the farmer came back and found that the hired man had barely started. "What’s going on? What’s the matter here?" the farmer asked.
The hired man looked at him, frustrated, and said, "I can work hard, but I can’t make decisions!"
Ever found yourself in a similar situation — plenty of activity, but no ability to act decisively? Actually, although he didn’t realize it, the hired man in this story had made a decision —with his inaction, he had decided not to sort the potatoes.
Martha probably didn’t realize, either, that she had made the choices she had, because she was just too busy doing what she was doing to notice. But with her activity, she had chosen her self-determined duty over Christ and his love.
But Jesus wants us to be like Mary sitting there, attentively and decisively, at his feet — he wants us to choose him and his love. And that means choosing — every week and every day — to hear his Word, where he comes to us and gives us his love, just as he came that day into Mary and Martha’s house to tell them all about God’s grace and blessings.
This is the one thing that is needed — God’s Word, and the gospel we find there — the glorious and gracious good news of God’s Love. And notice how Jesus makes it so clear that it’s not just one of many important things — which is probably more in line with Martha’s thinking at that point — and he makes it clear that Mary’s choice was not just something better, but the thing that was better. She chose Jesus over herself. She chose love over duty. And in the process she got what was best for her soul — just what she needed.
II. Now it’s true that Jesus never told Martha that what she was doing was bad or wrong — he just told her, in a gentle and indirect rebuke, that Mary had made the better choice about what to do with her time, energy, and attention. This actually illustrates part of the problem you and I have when making our decisions — it is not always a clear choice between what’s good and what’s bad. But choosing to listen to God’s Word — that is always the right choice.
There was a movie that came out a few years ago, starring Dennis Quaid and Jim Caviezel, called “Frequency”. It has an interesting premise — through some strange confluence of solar flares and atmospheric conditions, a young New York police detective is playing around with his Dad’s old ham radio, and actually makes contact with his father. Which is strange, considering that his dad has been dead for thirty years. What’s happened is that their voices are traveling not just through the air, but also through time.
You can imagine what a thrill it was for the young man once he figured out what was going on. That first night he stayed up late talking and talking, and for the next days nothing was more important than getting home and getting on the radio, just to hear his father’s voice and to talk again with the man who loved him and whom he loved.
That’s the attitude Jesus wanted from Martha, and wants also from us — and when you think about it, the fact that he speaks to us and tells us of his love every day in the Bible is an infinitely greater and more wonderful miracle than a father talking to his son over radio waves and thirty years.
Or maybe it would help to think of it in the context of a man speaking to the woman he loves— which is a perfectly biblical image, since the Scriptures refer to the church as the Bride of Christ. You’ve probably seen the scene in any number of movies, books, or TV shows — or maybe you’ve even seen it played out in real life. A man has something important he wants to say to a woman, but although she says she’s ready to listen, all the time he’s trying to talk to her, she’s busy doing other things — housework, cooking, paperwork, whatever — and finally, in frustration, he raises his voice or grabs her by the shoulder and says something like, “Will you sit down already and listen! I’m trying to tell you I love you!”
Will a woman ever tire of hearing that from the man who loves her and whom she loves? No, of course not! She wants to be near him, and not only hear but see and feel his love. And neither will we ever tire of hearing Jesus tell us how he feels about us and what he has done for us. That’s what we hear in the Word — and what we receive in the visible Word of Baptism and the Lord’s Supper — the gospel, the good news that even though every one of us is born in sin, lives in sin, and deserves to suffer and die eternally because of our sin — even though with our repeated breaking of every one of his commandments we’ve given God every reason to hate and to punish us — despite all that, he loved us. Loved us so much that he sent his own one-and-only Son, Jesus, to suffer and die in our place, to pay the price for our sin and to give us his own righteous perfection. Because of Jesus our sins are forgiven and we have a place reserved for us in heaven. That’s how much God loves us, and Christians — the church, the Bride of Christ — we never tire of hearing this.
But sometimes, like Martha, we make the wrong choices, don’t we? We choose something else when we should be sitting at Jesus’ feet and hearing or reading his Word. Thank God that when we sin that way — and it is sin anytime we don’t do what we should be doing — thank God that he forgives us this, just as he has forgiven every other sin we’ve ever committed and will commit.
But precisely because we are forgiven, precisely because we thank God, we don’t want to keep making wrong choices, do we? We want to be like the sister Jesus affirmed, not the one he rebuked. And this is very much a rubber-meets-the-road part of the Christian life — it’s taking your devotion and commitment to Christ and putting it into practice.
So I’ll ask you this morning — challenge you — to make some lists. You can make them in your head, or find room on your bulletin somewhere. First, make a list of all the “Mary” activities that allow you, as a baptized and thankful believer in Christ, to sit at his feet and be strengthened and nourished by his Word. (pause) I’ll give you some of the obvious ones: coming here to church at every opportunity to hear the gospel read, preached, and sung; having regular personal or family devotions; simply reading your Bible; choosing to spend time discussing the truths of God’s Word with other believers in Sunday School or Bible study, or even over a cup of coffee. (pause)
Now — and this will probably be longer — make a list of all the “Martha” activities that you do instead of sitting at Jesus’ feet whenever you have the opportunity — and don’t worry at first about “right” or “wrong” — just list them. This will be a very personal list. Be honest. Search your mind and heart — and your schedule. (pause) Maybe in your case it’s watching TV — after all, you need to relax your mind after working it so hard. Perhaps it’s catching up on sleep — that’s certainly healthy. Maybe it’s something sports-related — God wants us to keep our bodies strong, right? Perhaps it’s that you’ve determined that at this time of your life church or Bible study just isn’t as important as … you fill in the blank. Maybe it’s even that you’re so involved with and distracted by making a living, or caring for your family, or even church work — doing whatever God has called you to do — that you … well, you know. What are your “Martha” activities and distractions? (pause)
OK. Now take that list and throw out everything that you already know — clearly and absolutely — is a bad choice, like watching mindless reruns on TV instead of reading your Bible. What you’re left with are the things that sound more like valid reasons for not sitting at Jesus’ feet. But all of Martha’s preparations and busy-ness sounded like valid reasons, too, didn’t they? And what did Jesus say about them? He didn’t say they weren’t good, but he did say that they weren’t the good choices. Any activity we do, any service we perform which bypasses the Word of God or leaves the Gospel behind — are those things worth doing?
So take a look at those lists. What will Jesus say about your choices? Think about them this week. That’s my challenge to you — and me, too. Look at what the Scriptures say about them. Pray about it. And don’t expect choosing what is better to come easily, because your sinful nature, Satan, and the world around you are all, always, pushing you into busy-ness and distraction that will keep you away from the One you love and his life-giving Word. What feels right or seems reasonable is often not “what is better”. That’s why we need to pray about it, why we need the Lord’s wisdom, and why we need the Gospel to give us strength.
III. Which is exactly what God has promised he will give us through his Word. As our Verse of the Day today reminded us, God says, “My Word will not return to me empty, but will accomplish what I desire and achieve the purpose for which I sent it” (Isaiah 55:11). And those of you who have gone through confirmation will be familiar with what Paul told Timothy,
…The holy Scriptures … are able to make you wise for salvation through faith in Christ Jesus. All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work. (2 Timothy 3:15-17)
You see, the Word of God really is the one thing that is needed. It gives us everything we need for living our lives as Christians here on earth. It gives us the law of God, which constantly convicts us of our sins and brings us to daily confession and repentance. More importantly, the Word gives us the Gospel of Jesus Christ — the life-changing message of forgiveness and love which not only saves us and puts us on the road to heaven, but also strengthens and empowers us for life in the here and now, and feeds our faith so we can grow to maturity in knowledge and in service. The Scriptures also guide us, showing us how we, in love and thanks to God for all he’s done, can best serve and please him. And that’s not all, of course — the Bible is a treasure chest of precious comfort and encouragement, wisdom and grace, strength and nourishment. God’s Word is everything we need until death or Judgment Day, when we are joined forever with our loving Bridegroom in heaven. This “will not be taken away” from us.
One of the consequences of meditating on just four or five verses of Scripture for a sermon is that sometimes we lose sight of the context those verses are found in. Our text today is from the tenth chapter of the book of Luke. If I were to have just started reading Luke from the beginning at 10:00, by the time we got here to the end of chapter 10 you would see how wonderfully this lesson sums up Jesus’ message and ministry. Throughout the preceding chapters you would have seen the importance and centrality of Christ’s mission of preaching, teaching, and telling — doing the work of a prophet, speaking God’s Word. And in chapter 9 you would have heard the Father’s words spoken about Jesus at his Transfiguration: “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!”
That’s what Mary did. That’s what we’re doing right now, and every Sunday here in our worship, and every time we read or hear God’s Word. We are listening to Jesus, and hearing the wonderful news of his love for us.
And that means that every week and every day you — we — have a real choice to make: Will you “Martha”, or will you “Mary” Jesus? Amen.
And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
