Title: The Better Part of Prayer
Text: Luke 10:38-42 (Mary & Martha)
FCF: Christ is most interested in how we spend tine with him (i.e. prayer)
SO: Answer the question, “Is prayer (i.e. talking to Christ) a distraction from your life, or life a distraction from prayer?”
Intro:
If I had to lay odds on the most common complaint of a Christian, it would be this. They say, “I’m not so good at prayer.”
Now, usually this is the response to the question, “Would you please lead us in prayer?” What they mean is, ‘I’m not so good at public speaking with everybody’s eyes closed and head bowed.’ But, that’s not really the issue. You see, I’ve led this congregation in enough public prayers to where I can do the speaking bit. The really hard part is actually making sure I pray. And that, my friends is the hard part of prayer. It’s not coming up with the words, it’s actually praying.
Between now and Thanksgiving, I want to spend time looking into the Word to see how we can “pray better.” But this morning, I want to focus on what truly is the better part of prayer. To do that, I want to take you to a portion of scripture you already know, but I want to show it to you in what is perhaps a different light than you’ve seen it before.
You know the story of Mary & Martha. Let me remind you of it:
" Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.”" (Luke 10:38-42, NRSV)
The Position of the Story
I’m curious, does anybody know the context in which this story is set? If you can’t remember, don’t feel bad – before I started preparing this sermon, I couldn’t have told you. But, when I found out where it sits, I realized that this has a lot to do with prayer.
Let me tell you that this story is in Luke 10, and that means chronologically, it’s out of place. We know from John that Mary & Martha lived in Bethany – that means lived in the closest suburbs of Jerusalem. Luke, on the other hand, has positioned this story just as Jesus is heading out for Jerusalem, so we know he must have put it here for a reason.
Let me tell you what comes right before this story – the action picks up with Jesus answering a lawyer that the entire law was summed up in two phrases – Love the Lord your God with all your heart, and love your neighbor as yourself. So, the lawyer asks, “Who’s my neighbor?” And that’s how you get the Good Samaritan.
Being a pretty good preacher, however, Luke then puts in this story. You could call, it “Love the Lord your God.” Couldn’t you?
And you know what comes right after this? A disciple says, “Jesus, how do you pray?” Jesus answers with something we know as the Lord’s Prayer. So see the context here. Before you delve into the story, see what Luke & Jesus are saying? Love your Neighbor. Love God. And here’s how – Pray.
This story doesn’t use the word “pray,” but I’d suggest to you that the context has prayer written all over it. I think it holds an answer for us this morning to the problem I started with – I don’t how to pray. If that’s a complaint you can identify with, let me show you what Jesus is saying about prayer in this passage.
Focus & Distraction
So then, what is the fundamental point of this passage? If I had to choose one word, it would be this – focus.
Let’s look back for a second at the passage. Too often we have this caricature of Martha doing nothing but the dishes in the kitchen and Mary doing absolutely nothing. The truth is, I’m sure, that Martha had spent some time with Jesus, and Mary had spent some time in the kitchen. The problem was that with Martha, she was focused on the preparations, and Mary was focused on the person of Christ. That’s why Jesus was able to say that Mary has chosen the better part.
Look at what Jesus says to Martha. “Martha, Martha” – that doubling means he’s talking to her as a good, dear friend. “Martha, you are distracted by many things.”
What is distraction anyway? Distraction is when your attention is diverted away from anything but the main thing.
Reading the newspaper isn’t a bad thing – but at work, it’s a distraction from the task at hand.
Men, I think you can relate to me when I say that in a marriage, walking down the street, seeing an advertisement with Cindy Crawford in a bathing suit – that’s a distraction. It’s anything that moves our attention from where it should be.
In our Christian lives, anything that takes our focus off of Jesus is a distraction. Doing the work of the Gospel is a good thing – but what if we do it the exclusion of talking to our Savior? That’s a distraction. And that’s the point of the story here. Nothing, absolutely nothing is to take precedence over spending time – focusing on Jesus.
And how do we spend time with Jesus? That’s prayer.
We all say that prayer is supposed to be two-way communication. We instinctively know that prayer is supposed to be as much about listening as it is about talking.
A Real Prayer. (This section can & should be skipped if time is short)
You know, if I could digress for a moment – even the world instinctively knows this connection between relationship and prayer.
I was watching Jon Stewart the other day. He’s one of those people who, if you want to know what the world is thinking, you watch. I say that in the full knowledge that the world is generally wrong, but if you want to know what they’re thinking, he’s a good one to watch. People think he’s funny because he pretends to be the one honest man in a political world of crooks.
Anyways, right after the hurricanes, President Bush declared a national day of prayer. That is normal after a tragedy – it’s a tradition that goes back to the Revolution and the Civil War. After major battles, Abraham Lincoln was quick to remind the nation that we needed to be right before God. You probably remember his famous line – “I have no doubt that God’s side will prevail. I only pray that we are on God’s side.” Lincoln understood the reason for prayer in the midst of tragedy. We needed to reflect on how we can get right with God.
But Jon Stewart thought this was something to be mocked. He asked, “A day of prayer? Isn’t a hurricane an act of God? If that’s the case, doesn’t it call for a national day of … I don’t know … shunning?” He got his laugh from the audience, but I had to stop the old Tivo and think about that one for a few minutes.
Whether Jon Stewart would have admitted it or not, he was in some way acknowledging that God could has the power to make a hurricane, and he’s acknowledging that God has the power to spare the city. When he cries out for a “shunning,” look what he’s saying – he’s saying, God, why did you do this? If he had been serious, he’d have been acknowledging a lack of relationship and a desire to be on God’s good side. But the sheer mockery of what he said proved to me how fake he really was.
If he had cried out and blamed God, that could have been a prayer. When Jesus cried out, “Father, why have you forsaken me?,” that was a prayer. When Job cried out, “It would have been better that I was never born!” that was an honest prayer.
But, instead he just went for the cheap shot as if to say, “There is no God.” That’s how the world works. That’s how the world thinks. Blame God or Ignore him. But don’t try getting to know him. Don’t try reading his word. Just try to dismiss him, but you can’t.
But what his outburst seem so shallow? Because at the heart of his mocking, you could tell he simply called the whole thing absurd. It was as if he thought this hurricane proved that God clearly didn’t exist. We only live in a world at the mercy of chance. Well, I don’t know about you – but I know better.
I know that God cares. I’ve seen him at work. I know that God doesn’t want to run over our free will. I know that God waits for our permission to intervene. It’s not that he can’t, it’s that he chooses not to override our own desires to focus on what we would choose.
We can choose to be in charge, or leave it to someone we love.
The Better Part of Prayer
Again, I direct you to Mary. As I said, I think simply based on its position – right here before the Lord’s Prayer – that this is supposed to tell us something about how to pray. Well, if the model of what we’re supposed to be is Mary, then what was she doing? Look back at verse 39. It says she was sitting at Jesus feet and listening.
Sitting as his feet is a pretty obvious thing. It means she was in his presence, and she was humble. You can’t sit at somebody’s feet and ignore them. You can’t be sitting at someone’s feet and tower over them.
It’s a position of humility and presence, and that my friends is the secret of how to pray.
If prayer is a relationship, then the secret to be “good at prayer” means being good at focusing on Christ, realizing that it is in Him that we live and breathe and have our being. Being good at prayer has nothing to do with how eloquent we are, or how creatively we can use frameworks of prayer.
Being good at prayer is simply this: How well can I focus on Christ? How easily will I let my life be a distraction. The chief problem of prayer is the answer to the question, how will I spend my time with Him?
I can be like Martha and be distracted by the things of this world. Or, I could be willing to set aside time for prayer.
But if I’m just doing all the talking, is that really focus on Christ, or on myself?
And, if I’m just barking out a shopping list of things that God’s supposed to fix, who am I saying is in charge?
Yes, the Son of Man came to serve, and not to be served, but if our focus is on him, aren’t we supposed to act like him?
What you do with Prayer
Loosely paraphrasing John Kennedy, perhaps we should “Ask not what God can do for us, but what we can do for God.”
This story is always problematic for some people, because they think, “Oh well all I need to do is pray.” There are people who think that if you just “name it and claim it,” you’ve done your part. But like I said, listening is every bit as important a part of prayer as talking.
But, what good would it do you to listen if you didn’t act on what you heard?
You know that Cardinal Ratzinger, when he became Pope, took the name “Benedict.” That name has a very long history. It refers to a monk – Saint Benedict of Nursia – who loved about 1500 years ago.
You see, when monasticism first started, it was primarily a hermit-type thing. People would go off to the deserts to try to find God. And once they found him, they didn’t want to leave. Well, eventually this meant that monks were nothing but a drain on society. They’d beg for food and then go back to “listen” more to God. But the problem with always listening and never doing was that even their prayers became hollow, and monks became nothing more than beggars.
When we “just” pray – by which I mean we talk and tell God, bust never listen or do, what does that make us? Spritual Beggars. Do-Nothings. When we just listen and fail to act, we eventually lose even the capacity to listen.
How often did Pharaoh hear the word of the Lord but then not follow through? Do you wonder why his heart became hardended?
So, this Benedict guy decided that he was going to make a place for these monks, and make a place where listening to God was not something you did in isolation. When he founded a monastery in the countryside north of Rome, he was intent on giving these people who were supposedly “listening” to God a purpose. He said, if God tells you something, then you need to do it. And in doing that, he showed them again how important prayer was.
Benedict eventually came up with a motto – Ora Labora. Prayer is Work, Work is Prayer. There isn’t really a distinction.
In our story, I said I told you that it wasn’t that Mary hadn’t done any work. As a woman in those days, there is no question that she would have done work in preparing for Jesus’ arrival. It’s just that Mary understood her work was for the purpose of admiring Jesus. And when he came, sitting at his feet was just a natural progression of what she had already been about.
For Martha, Jesus had become a distraction from her work. For Mary, the work was simply a distraction from Jesus. It’s that second attitude that is the essence of prayer – finding a way to focus on Christ, and let his words come into us.
In a few minutes, we’re going to try to pray. I’m going to say some words, but it is my hope that these words would focus us on Christ. He may be saying something to you that you need to hear. I truly hope that if he is speaking to you, that you will listen and act on what he says. Please, please don’t let my speaking be a distraction.
Would you turn with me to God? Would you turn your eyes to him? Let us pray.
Good link for the responsive reading…
32 I want you to be free from anxieties. The unmarried man is anxious about the affairs of the Lord, how to please the Lord; 33 but the married man is anxious about the affairs of the world, how to please his wife, 34 and his interests are divided. And the unmarried woman and the virgin are anxious about the affairs of the Lord, so that they may be holy in body and spirit; but the married woman is anxious about the affairs of the world, how to please her husband. 35 I say this for your own benefit, not to put any restraint upon you, but to promote good order and unhindered devotion to the Lord.
I find it fascinating that this is what links the Good Samaritan (a parable about the supremacy of love) and instruction on prayer. I figure Luke is making a point here – If it’s all about love, then how are you going to “do” love? How else but by talking to your Daddy.
What makes you listen (38–42)? Here is the basis for all ministry, taking time to sit at the feet of Jesus and hear His Word. It is important to serve the Lord and serve others, but it is even more important to delight your Lord by spending time with Him. Are you so busy serving Him that you have no time to love Him and listen to Him?
From these links it follows that, in the initial horizon of the story, hospitality to the preacher cannot be separated from “hospitality” to the message. As well as the link to earlier texts, it is probably right to find a link between the receiving of Jesus here and that reported in 19:1–10 (Brutscheck, Maria-Marta-Erzählung, 103, identifies no less than ten links [not all equally convincing]).
Long Branch Baptist Church
Halfway, Virginia; est. 1786
Sunday, October 16, 2005
Enter to Worship
Prelude David Witt
Invocation Michael Hollinger
*Opening Hymn #379
“I Need Thee Every Hour”
Welcome & Announcements
Morning Prayer
*Responsive Reading [See Right]
*Offertory Hymn #481
“Just a Closer Walk with Thee”
Offertory Mr. Witt
*Doxology
Scripture Luke 10:38-42
Sermon
“The Better Part of Prayer”
Invitation Hymn #198
“Turn Your Eyes Upon Jesus”
Benediction
Congregational Response
May the grace of Christ of Savior / And the Father’s boundless love
With the Holy Spirit’s favor / Rest upon us from above. Amen.
* Congregation, please stand.
Depart To Serve
(Sat) 10/22 – Manassas Baptist Church, NorthStar Network Gen. Meeting, 9am. 4 Messengers.
(Sun) 10/30 – Business Meeting after Church
RESPONSIVE READING
I have loved you, says the LORD.
But you say, “How have you loved us?
The creation waits with eager longing for the revealing of the children of God;
for the creation was subjected to futility,
Not of its own will, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be set free from its bondage to decay and will obtain the freedom of the glory of the children of God.
We know that the whole creation has been groaning in labor pains until now;
and not only the creation, but we ourselves, who have the first fruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly while we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies. For in hope we were saved.
Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who hopes for what is seen?
But if we hope for what we do not see, we wait for it with patience.
The Spirit helps us in our weakness;
for we do not know how to pray as we ought,
but that very Spirit intercedes with sighs too deep for words.
And God, who searches the heart, knows what is the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints according to the will of God.
We know that all things work together for good for those who love God,
who are called according to his purpose.
For those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son,
in order that he might be the firstborn within a large family.
And those whom he predestined he also called;
and those whom he called he also justified;
and those whom he justified he also glorified.
What then are we to say about these things?
If God is for us, who could be against us?
- Malachi 1:2; Romans 8:19-31.
