Scripture Readings: Colossians 1:15-29

Luke 10:38-42

Sermon Title: "Taking Time to Hear What God Has Done For Us as the Children of God"

Sermon Text: Luke 10:41-42: 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."

In the midst of all the busyness of life that many of us experience today it is not hard for many of us to sympathize with Martha in the story we have just heard. We do not know whether Jesus and his disciples had been in touch with Martha and Mary beforehand and had made arrangements to stay in their home. But even if they had, to entertain thirteen guests is a task that many people would feel was pretty formidable. We can imagine that given the culture of the day Martha would know that she could not count on her brother Lazarus to help with any of the entertaining. These were not the days when men could at least be expected to help out by doing some grilling on the backyard grill. All Lazarus would expect to do was to sit with the other men and for the women to wait on them. No doubt, though, Martha had felt sure that she could count on her sister, Mary, to help with all of the domestic chores associated with the task of entertaining such a crowd. It is certainly not hard then to see why Martha may well have gotten upset when even Mary chooses to sit at the feet of Jesus rather than to help her in the kitchen. The fact that even Jesus would seem to encourage her apparent laziness is more than Martha can stand.

While the tasks in which we are involved may be different, as we recognize all of the busyness of our own lives I am sure it is not hard for many of us to identify with Martha in the frustration and the resentment that she expresses as she bursts in from her chores in the kitchen and says to Jesus, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself. Tell her then to help me." I wonder how often she had made similar appeals in the past to her parents or to some other people whom she felt had some authority over her sister. Like many people who have had a hard time getting some cooperation from a sibling Martha seems to feel that an appeal to an outside authority should get the response she desires.

As we find ourselves so often in the shoes of Martha how easy do we find it to hear the response of Jesus when he says, "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."? His words sound harsh and unsympathetic. There is not even a word of appreciation for all that she is doing. They are words of judgment and of condemnation rather than of affirmation. These are not easy words for most of us to hear as we find ourselves worried and distracted by many things, and looking for help with all we feel we need to do. Why would Jesus speak to Martha in this way?

There is first of all here an affirmation which still today many cultures of our world would have a hard time accepting. In not sending Mary back to the kitchen and to doing the things that as a woman she was expected to do in that society Jesus was affirming that what she was doing in his eyes was good and proper. In sitting at his feet she was taking the role of a disciple, a learner, a follower. In that culture and at that time this was a role reserved for men. While there may have been some women that followed him, Jesus himself in choosing his disciples chose 12 men. To have named any women amongst that group would have meant that his words and actions would have been seen as even more radical and scandalous than they already were by so many of the leaders of the society of his day. In affirming Mary’s sitting at his feet Jesus is affirming the whole relationship of women as the children of God. No longer did they need to see themselves as second class citizens who were to learn about the faith simply through their husbands or their brothers or other males in society. They should see themselves as just as acceptable in God’s sight as any men, and invited by God to enjoy a loving, intimate relationship with their Creator as much as any man. The role of women in the life of the church has been dramatically influenced over the years by the words of Paul. We can only imagine what would have happened if Jesus had sent Mary back to the kitchen on this occasion. How many people would be quoting his words to say that this was the only place women belonged and that they had no place sitting in a Sunday School class or maybe even attending a worship service where they might run the risk of learning first hand some of the truth about God’s love for them that was reserved for male ears alone. As women across our world still struggle for acceptance and for their rights both in the church and in the larger community they can be grateful that Jesus did not send Mary back to the kitchen in response to the plea of Martha. All women who know a personal loving relationship with God can be grateful for the way in which Jesus affirmed Mary’s sitting at his feet learning from him just like any male disciple.

A second reason that Jesus may have responded to Martha in the way he did was simply because of the way in which Mary was showing her love for him. For those of you who have read Gary Chapman’s book on the "The Five Love Languages," or attended one of the workshops on this topic that Rachel and I led last year I am sure that it is not difficult to see that both Martha and Mary were in their own different ways expressing their love for Jesus. Martha does this very obviously as she engages in her acts of service as she seeks to be the gracious hostess. Mary shows her love for Jesus as she gives him quality time and attention as she sits at his feet. We do not know enough about Martha to know whether acts of service was her love language so that as people helped her she felt loved and appreciated herself for what she was doing. Certainly if that was the case we can see why she may have become so resentful of Mary who by sitting at the feet of Jesus was refusing to do any acts of service that might help her sister. We also do not know whether receiving quality time and attention from other people may have been the way in which Mary felt loved and appreciated. We have to wonder, though, whether the reaction of Jesus comes because Mary was expressing her love for Jesus in a way that touched on his greatest need at that moment. He was on his way to Jerusalem. He probably more than anyone-else knew what faced him there, and how he soon would be rejected and abandoned, even by those who were closest to him. As she sits at his feet and gives him that gift of quality time Mary is affirming that despite the way in which others may reject what he had to say and ridicule his actions she was one who appreciated who he was, what he was saying and all that he was doing. This was her gift to him of which he says it "will never be taken away from her." Despite how others may treat him in the future and how they may reject his words he could always remember the way in which Mary believed in him and hung on his every word.

Mary’s actions prompt us to look at our own lives and to ask whether we are sensitive enough to the needs of other people that we can express our love to them in ways that they will appreciate even if on times showing such love goes against all of the expectations of other people and of the culture and society around us? To move out of our comfort zone, or our expected roles as males or females, as an employee or an employer, as a parent or a child, as a brother or sister, in order to show love for other people in ways that they will appreciate and that will make them feel loved is indeed a gift. A gift indeed Jesus says to Mary which is both appreciated and will not be taken away from her.

In his apparently harsh words to Martha Jesus affirms the new place of women as children of God and the way in which Mary was expressing her love for him in a way that he truly appreciated. The third thing that we see in his words, of course, highlights the radical nature of the good news he came to proclaim by his words and his deeds. Martha is striving by her good works to make herself pleasing to Jesus. Mary sits at his feet listening to him recognizing that she is pleasing to him only as she allows him to tell her so. This says Jesus is "the better part, which will not be taken away from her." In a world which praises still so much the attitude and the hard work of Martha and in which so many people struggle by their own busyness to make themselves pleasing to other people, and even to God, the whole message of the Gospel is not an easy one to hear. The words in bold and underlined on the front of our bulletin this morning are ones that St. Therese of Lisieux would pray for each one of us, "May you be content knowing you are a child of God." How can we reach such a level of contentment? The words of Jesus to Martha remind again that it is not by our own efforts and by all of our busyness, but as we are ready to take the time like Mary to sit at the feet of Jesus and to hear what God has done for us as the children of God. We can live in the assurance and the contentment that we are the children of God not by our own striving but as we stop and listen and hear and remember all that God has done for us to assure us that we are the children of God. The words of our anthem based on the words of psalmist have assured us of the confidence that is ours as we take the time to hear what God has done for us. The words of Paul to the Christians in the church in Colossae as they speak to us of who Jesus is remind us of why indeed we would want to stop and to hear all that he has to say to us.

In the midst of a busy world where the Marthas seem to get all of the accolades and the Marys seem so often to be seen as lazy it takes a deliberate choice to take the time in prayer, in worship, in reading and reflecting on the Bible on our own, and in the company of fellow-Christians in Sunday School classes, in circle meetings or other study groups to hear what God has done for us to assure us that we are indeed the children of God. But it is only as we stop and hear and listen that we can hope to live in the contentment of knowing that we are the children of God. Our faith as Christian men and women centers not on what we have done but on what God in love and in grace and in mercy has done for us. By this alone can we have the assurance and the contentment of knowing we are indeed the children of God. This is the life anew that God wants to breathe into us as we pray that God’s spirit may breathe upon us. Let us join with Christians who down through the centuries have affirmed their faith in all that God has done for them and for us as we hear and remember and accept again all that God has done for us as we join with them in affirming our faith using the familiar words of the Apostles’ Creed. Let us stand and affirm our faith together…