Luke 10:38-42 “The
One Thing”
I don’t know about your
house, but in my house,
Mary and Martha are household
names. Dave and I joke around about
this.
Dave is -- Mary -- and guess
who I am. Martha.
My suspicion is that a lot of
people can relate strongly
to one or the other of these
sisters,
so just to test that theory
we’re going to do a little experiment.
You have a piece of blank
paper in your bulletin.
Take it out, and using a pen
or pencil write down in big letters
which of these two women you
can relate to most:
Martha -- bustling about the
house making sure everything gets done;
or Mary -- sitting peacefully
at the feet of Jesus, the Master Teacher.
(HOLD THESE UP)
There is something about the
tale of these two sisters that draws us into the story. Maybe it’s the sibling
rivalry.
Maybe the seed of resentment
we hear in Martha’s conversation with Jesus.
And even though we don’t hear
anything from Mary,
we can just imagine her self-satisfied
expression,
sitting there all comfortable
at the feet of Jesus. And Jesus’
comment!
What are we supposed to make
of that? Whose side is he on
anyway?
Even if you can’t relate to
Martha,
surely you can sympathize
with the predicament she’s in.
Let’s just imagine taking a
look into Martha’s kitchen.
You can see her in the mode
of
barely finishing one task before being interrupted by
another.
(1st interruption
- cell phone)
She’s invited her good
friend, Jesus, into her home,
probably along with 12 or so
of his friends.
From the reading, it appears
that Martha was the head of the household --
probably a wealthy widow, one
of a number of such women
who were critical to the
support of the early church in Luke and Acts.
As the head of such a
household, she surely has servants,
but she also has all the
responsibility.
Her hospitality was legend in
this town
and that’s what made staying
there such a pleasure.
But there’s dinner to be
made, straightening and picking up to do,
feet to be washed, wine to be
tasted.
(2nd interruption
- sound from the kitchen).
There are beds and pallets to
be made up --
where are all these guys
going to sleep anyway?
A last minute run to the
market for extra figs --
there was plenty in the
pantry yesterday -- what happened to all those figs?
Martha was the original mult-tasker before that word was even invented.
This story, which takes
places in an old setting has a very modern ring to it.
The fast-pace of our modern
world sometimes
makes us all into
multi-tasking Marthas whether we like it or not.
Here’s a typical scene from
my office,
and my office is not too much
different from many of yours.
I am working away on my
computer, getting a report ready for the board meeting.
(3rd interruption
- announcement from Rod that there is a board meeting).
So I’m working away on my
computer and my laptop is also set up
because I have another
project there that I’m working on.
The phone rings and while I’m
on the office phone, my cell phone rings.
I answer the second phone,
and it’s James who tells me he’s going to a friend’s house.
I go back to the first caller
and notice
all the post it notes all
over my desk with things to do.
Update website. Order curriculum. Call new leaders. Write notes to visitors.
Talk to outreach team about
Disciples Mission Fund.
(4th interruption
- Jenny Miller making an announcement about the Gwinnett Children’s Shelter)
We live in a busy world. We live in a driven world.
It may be safe to say we live in a frenzied
world where interruptions are the norm
and multi-tasking is how we
get through the day.
Some of us relate to mellow Mary.
But many of us relate to multi-tasking Martha.
Yet in this story, Jesus
encourages Martha to choose the one
thing.
To choose being over
doing.
To choose being in
relationship with God over a frenzied focus on the endless to-do list.
To stay centered in Christ amidst the distractions and
interruptions of daily living.
We’ve already looked into
Martha’s kitchen and imagined what was going on there. Let’s also imagine what was happening out in
the living room
as Mary sat at the feet of
Jesus. She is listening, with open ears
and open heart.
She is probably sitting with
the disciples, as Jesus assumes the position of teacher.
This was an unusual place for
a woman -- but Luke’s gospel and the book of Acts, which was written by Luke,
includes many women in such roles.
It would have been much more
acceptable for Mary
to have been helping out her
sister in the kitchen.
Yet when Martha complains to
Jesus, he responds to her --
and we get the sense that
it’s a gentle reminder, not a rebuke --
he responds “There is need of
only one thing.”
Jesus was not responding to what Martha was
doing but how she was doing it.
There are some key words to
notice in this passage to understand his response.
In v. 40, we’re told that
Martha was distracted by her many tasks.
The word distracted has this
sense of being pulled about or dragged in different directions. This is not just some neurotic state she is
in; the Greek literally means she was overwhelmed by too much serving.[1] She’s got
to multi-task to get it all done. She
is in an agitated state.
Jesus sees this and states
the obvious -- you are worried,
and troubled by the
distractions of many things.
There is only one thing that
grounds all other things.
Love the Lord your God with
all your heart, and with all your soul,
and with all your strength,
and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself.
Wait just a minute! Jesus didn’t say that in this story!
Which is why when we read the
Bible
we must always read behind
and beyond the story.
Jesus actually did say this in the same
chapter -- chapter 10:27,
just a few verses earlier.
After saying this, he tells
the classic parable of the good Samaritan
who stops to help his unknown
neighbor who has been robbed and beaten.
This story teaches the lesson
“love your neighbor as yourself.”
Immediately the story of the
good Samaritan, Jesus goes on his way to Martha’s home, where we hear the story
of these two sisters.
The way these stories are all
layered together reminds us
that it’s not just love
God or just love your neighbor.
It’s not either/or. It’s
both/and. Love God and Love our neighbors.
But loving God is the one thing that is the foundation of
loving our neighbors.
Another key word to notice in
this passage is chosen.
Mary was making a
choice.
Mary chooses to take the time
to sit at the feet of Jesus.
She considers this
relationship a priority,
and doesn’t let interruptions
distract her from this relationship.
But it’s not the
interruptions so much as what we do with them.
There is a saying “ministry
happens in the interruptions.”
We can choose how to respond
even to interruptions.
There is a story that’s told
that illustrates this.
It takes place on Christmas
Eve in
Two businessmen are rushing
to catch the
On the train platform, a boy
is at a small stand,
selling papers and other
items he can pick up at a bargain and resell to the commuters. The first man
emerges on the platform, in a hurry, and runs into the boy,
knocking him and his stand
over.
Hurling a few choice curse
words at the boy, the man continues on to catch his train.
A few seconds later, the
second man emerges on the platform.
He sees the boy and his stand
knocked down.
He immediately helps the boy
up and tries to gather up some of the goods.
Then the man reaches into his
wallet and pulls out a 5-dollar bill - a fortune then.
He gives it to the boy,
saying he hopes it will help cover his losses.
Wishing the boy a Merry
Christmas, he turns to catch his train.
The boy yells after him,
“Say, Mister, are you Jesus Christ?”
Red-faced and embarrassed by
the question, the man answers,
“No, but I try to be like
him.”[2]
Sitting at the feet of Jesus
is sometimes nothing more and nothing less
than trying to be like Jesus
in our daily interactions with other people.
This is often the best
witness we can make about
what difference it makes to
be a Christian.
What kinds of choices can we
make that can keep us focused on the one thing?
This doesn’t have to be an
overwhelming spiritual change.
You know - read through the
whole Bible next week,
or sell everything you have
and give it to the poor,
or join a monastery.
Sitting at the feet of Jesus,
responding to his teaching,
choosing the one thing,
can start with a small action
each day.
One thing I started to do
this year, to help me stay focused on
The One Thing is something
that takes 5 minutes at the end of the day.
It’s a way of praying through
your day.
You begin by sitting quietly,
and asking for God’s spirit to guide you.
Remembering your day, you
recall one moment that brought joy.
Sit in the moment, allow it
to give you life again, and thank God for that moment.
Next you review the day for a
moment you wish you could change.
Ask yourself why it was
difficult.
Then sit with that moment and
allow God’s love in.
Offer that moment to God for
healing.
Close by giving thanks for
all the ways God is with you throughout the day.
There are other small things
to do that keep us centered in Christ throughout our day. What about praying while waiting at stop
lights?
If you tend to be like Martha
with a full schedule,
can you carry around a little
devotional book
and take five minutes during
lunch to read it through?
What if you started your day
each morning
reading one chapter from the
Bible instead of reading your email first?
Can you talk to God
periodically throughout the day
“Lord, I know you’re always
with me.
Especially keep me aware of
your presence as I go into this meeting.
As I drive my child to
school. As I cook dinner. As I go and talk to my boss.
As I answer this child’s
questions.”
Or if you tend to be like
Mary, maybe the one thing you need to do
is to look out for the Marthas in your life and lend a hand where you can.
Those are just some
ideas. But I’m betting you have some of
your own.
Today, what I want to invite
you to do is to take out that piece of paper again --
you know, the piece where you
wrote down the sister you related to most --
multi-tasking Martha or
mellow Mary.
It doesn’t matter which name
you wrote down.
Because we are all invited to
love God with all our heart, soul, strength, and mind. That’s The One Thing. First write down Love God. That’s The One Thing.
Now we’re going to take a
minute to write down one more thing.
What is the one thing you can
do to help you stay focused on The One Thing?
What is the one thing you can do to deepen your
relationship with God
amidst the distractions and interruptions of daily
living?
What one thing can you do to love
God? Be specific.
Don’t just write down pray or
read the bible.
Write down when you are going
to do that in your busy, distracted day.
We’ll have a bit of silence
here to reflect on that,
give you a chance to write it
down, and then we’ll close in prayer.
Loving God, loving you is the
one thing you invite us to do.
Yet we are often distracted
from this one thing in our lives, so full of interruptions and
multi-tasking. Let us this day commit to
prioritizing you in our lives,
beginning with the smallest
idea for one thing that will keep us connected to you. Reveal yourself to us in this one thing in
the coming days and weeks. Amen.