Grace and Peace to you from God our
Father and the Lord Jesus Christ and may our Lord and Savior sanctify you in
the truth; for His word is truth. Amen
The Eighth
Sunday after Pentecost (2010)
Do You Serve
God or Self?
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. [39] And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at
the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching. [40] 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." [41]
But the Lord answered her, "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled
about many things, [42] but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good
portion, which will not be taken away from her."
What a marvelous and
exciting event it was for Martha and Mary when Jesus came to be a guest in
their home. How their hearts must have raced as each, in their own way, showed
their excitement for His visit. Mary, wanting to be as near to our Lord as she
could get; sat at His feet listening to His every Word. She was eager to hear
Him speak and eager to learn, for she believed that the Word of Jesus was the very
Word of Life. Martha, on the other hand, showed her excitement by choosing to
prepare a meal befitting this special occasion; a meal befitting our Lord’s
stature as the King of Kings.
However, in Martha’s zeal to
prepare such an extraordinary meal, it didn’t take long before the preparations
of the meal became too elaborate and too much for Martha to tackle on her own.
St. Luke tells us that Martha, “was distracted with much serving” (v. 40). Being
convinced of the importance of her preparations, this meal just had to be
finished and it just had to be right, she became irritated with Mary, who at
the moment seemed unaware of the necessity of preparing a meal. In her
frustration, Martha turns to our Lord Jesus and asks, “Lord, do you not care that my sister
has left me to serve alone?” (v. 40). Concern for her plight took
persistence and led her to become angry with her sister.
Is this not what we have
seen more than once in our lifetime, sibling rivalry raising its ugly head,
causing friction, anger, even assault? Martha is mad because her lazy sister
isn’t helping her in the kitchen. Instead, she is lounging in the parlor with their
honored guest. However, our Lord shows Martha a better way and gently rebukes
her anger, saying, “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” (vv. 41-42).
Martha was anxious and
troubled about many things—many things which were at the moment not too important.
She was preparing an elaborate meal with many dishes when perhaps a few or only
one would have been enough. The important thing about Jesus’ visit was not an
opportunity to feed Him, but rather to be fed by Him; to be fed by His Word.
Martha overlooked this vitally important truth because she was more interested
in serving Jesus with her talents in the kitchen, possibly earning His favor
because of her work rather than being blessed by Him through His service to her
in the parlor. Thus, she allowed herself to be distracted with serving. This
distraction is a common malady today among many who claim the title “Christian”
and it begs the question, “Do You Serve
God or Self?”
Martha was really wasting
valuable time. First of all, she missed the vital importance of the moment. She
wanted to serve bread when at that very moment the “Bread of Life” was sitting
in her parlor. In fact, by being absent from the Lord’s presence and His Word
of Life, she was starving her soul. She was neglecting the, “one thing necessary”. Mary, on the other hand, had truly chosen the “one thing necessary”; she chose to sit
at the feet of Jesus and “listen to his
teaching.”
St. Luke’s record of our Lord’s
visit to Martha and Mary illustrates for us these two important truths. First,
one can lose their soul even while engaged in a program of very useful
activity; and secondly, our labors must always be closely connected with our
sitting at the Lord’s feet, listening to His Word if they are to be helpful and
meaningful at all.
Being distracted and missing
the “one
thing necessary” is a common problem for humanity. Think of the many
things by which our world today is distracted; power, wealth, honor, prestige,
military might, security, warfare—these and other things occupy the world’s
time and make it anxious and troubled. In its distraction for material bread,
the world passes by the Bread of Life. Our Savior, the Lord of the earth, goes
unheeded.
Our own nation is fighting
against time in its efforts to resolve our economic crisis, protect our borders
from smugglers, conduct a foreign war against terrorists, and resolve a myriad
of other issues vital to our national life. Focusing on “much serving”, politicians sit around listening to experts in
military strategy, political strategy, and economic strategy trying to resolve
our nations problems and the problems of the world, but seldom do they listen
to the greatest strategist the world has ever known; our Lord, Jesus Christ. If
they would but sit at His feet as did Mary, the world would be a much better
place in which to live.
Even in church we find
distraction over “much serving.” Many
congregations find themselves so busy with social activities that they lose
sight of their real mission; proclaiming the Gospel in all its truth and
purity. Suddenly, meetings, dinners, bake sales, rummage sales, camping trips,
youth activities, and whatever else people can think of to entertain themselves
take on lives of their own, becoming the focus of parish life. In and by
themselves, these activities are not inherently wrong. Each of them, if
organized with a true Gospel ministry in mind, are probably worth while and
serve a need. However, the point is that it is too easy for congregations to
become distracted by its many activities and fail to gather around Word and
Sacrament. It is easy to become distracted by the mission to serve people the
bread of entertainment while missing the importance of serving the “Bread of
Life.”
The same can said for many
of our homes. Are we, like Martha, too busy, too anxious, and too concerned
about making a living, or entertaining ourselves, or improving our homes? Are
we too engrossed in our hobbies, or wrapped up in our work; “distracted
with much serving” from the, “one thing necessary,” listening to
the voice of our Lord Jesus? The seeming importance and urgency of the details
of living give us the wrong perspective. We are really great at making elaborate
provisions for the physical aspects of our lives, but rarely give sufficient
time to the satisfaction of our spiritual needs.
Why is it that we so often
do not take the time for family devotions or private prayers? Why do we spend
some sixty hours a week sleeping and eating to refresh our bodies and then find
it difficult to spend more than an hour a week in worship and Bible study to
refresh our souls? We are in truth like Martha, busy with many things
relatively unimportant when compared with our soul’s welfare.
With great effort we strive
to become as rich as possible in material goods, yet we remain spiritually
poor. We spend an exorbitant amount of time in improving and growing in our job
or profession, yet we remain novices in religious matters. Those distracted
from the really important Word of Life by being busy with many things of lesser
importance become spiritual midgets. It’s sad, but many souls are starving because
they are troubled with “much serving” (v. 40). They are
troubled with serving themselves and not
God.
Like Martha, our work loses
significance and meaning when it is separated from our sitting at the feet of Jesus.
Not only are we busy and distracted, but there is no eternal meaning for what
we do. Most people see in their work only a means to an end, a means of making
a living wage. Service to our fellow man is largely viewed in terms of
enlightened self-interest. Therefore, we grow weary of the same old grind; we
tire of the routines of the farm or office, becoming dissatisfied and irritable
on the job and in the home, all because we have lost the meaning of the
significance of our labors and we begin to serve
ourselves rather than the Lord.
However, when we sit at the
feet of Jesus, we hear again and again those comforting promises of forgiveness
and pardon through His blood. Sitting at His feet we recall that through the
sin-cleansing waters of Baptism we became children of the heavenly Father,
heirs of eternal life. Then, from this perspective, as disciples of Jesus who
are constantly in touch with Him through worship and study of His Word; our
work and our service to man, assumes new meaning. We work first to God’s glory
as His servants; and, secondly, because of the Holy Spirit who has taken up
residence in our hearts, we become instruments through which the Spirit works
on behalf of our neighbor. Sitting at the feet of Jesus, listening to His
teaching and following His Word everything we do becomes meaningful as a
service to our fellow man. Filled with the Spirit and emboldened by the Word of
our Lord Jesus, we become instruments through which God answers prayer, spreads
His Word, and makes history. As our Lord served Mary in the parlor and desired
to serve Martha as well, He accomplishes His service to others through us as we
sit at the feet of Jesus, listening to His teaching.
Everyday, like Mary, we should
ignore the distractions of the world and sit at the feet of our Lord Jesus
taking our place beneath the Altar of the Cross to hear His Word; His Word of redemption,
His Word of forgiveness and promise, and His Word of life eternal. When we find
that the distractions of the world have drawn us away from the Savior’s feet so
we no longer hear His Word, we should pray that the Holy Spirit will turn us
from this distraction and return us to the Throne of Grace, in deep humility
and repentance, seeking His grace and pardon. For we know that He who did not
disdain the busyness of Martha will also not reject our plea but He will fill
our hearts with the assurance of His forgiveness and grant us His Holy Spirit
to fill us with an ever greater love for His Word.
Moreover, sitting at the feet
of Jesus listening to His Word as it sustains our immortal soul; feeding us the
very “Bread of Life,” makes us aware that our service to Him, which may make us
feel good, is not as important as receiving His service to us. His Word tells
us plainly, “I desire mercy, and not sacrifice” (Matthew 9:13 ESV) and
again, “the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve” (Matthew 20:28
ESV). Therefore, our Lord is telling us, “Do not be busy serving Me,
but be busy being served by Me.” Amen.
May the Peace of God which
passes all understanding keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.