Priorities Luke 10:38-42
Again, thank you for coming today. It’s great to be here after our trip to Utah. Spending time with our son and his girlfriend in Salt Lake City is a priority for us, and as we get older it will become more so. As I sat down to work on today’s message this thought kept playing over in my head.
Today’s reading talks to us about priorities. We have two sisters; Mary and Martha, and they each respond to the same visitation by Jesus in entirely different ways.
Jesus comes to their home for dinner, and since it scripture says Jesus is teaching I imagine there are more people in attendance than just him. More than likely there are the twelve disciples and probably at least some others who have been following him and listening to him.
So here we have a dinner party. Jen and I hosted several dinner parties and I tell you, I can be Martha. I get so wrapped up in making sure things are just so; things put in their proper place, floors vacuumed, furniture dusted. And sometimes I get wrapped up in preparing for company that I’m exhausted by the time they arrive.
I give you this example from my life because it amazes me that 2000 years ago Jesus was using a dinner party to teach us a lesson. In fact, most of Jesus lessons are taught through things that people in his day could relate to, and people throughout the millennia could relate to. Today it’s a dinner, but throughout the Gospels he uses a wedding, a banquet, a farmer and the leavening of bread.
I have a job at a local hospital, my work here, a home and family to care for; I can get very busy. Sometimes the list of things I have to do seem to keep getting longer. I’m not looking for sympathy; the fact is most people live busy lives. It seems our society thinks we’re lazy and unmotivated if we’re not running around. Even our children; school, homework, jobs, friends, sports, music. We basically all live in hyper-drive; we hyper-live.
Going back to our reading, hyper-living is a good way to describe Martha’s world. Martha’s life is one that is busy with planning, organizing, perfecting and trying to control everything. She doesn’t have time to “smell the roses.” In our reading Martha is running around taking care of everything, and what did all her cleaning and cooking and fretting get her? The reality is; everything she does is transient, the food will be eaten, the dishes will be washed, the guests will leave. Matthew 11:28 says, “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy burdened, and I will give you rest.” When I run around trying to get everything perfect, I miss the enjoyment of the company. Martha, in all her running around is missing what Jesus is saying.
In the Commandments God instructs all men to “Remember the Sabbath…Six days you shall labor, but the seventh day is the Sabbath to the Lord…For in six days the Lord made heaven and the earth and the sea and all that are in them and rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day…” God did not create us to work constantly. We were not created struggle with responsibilities 24:7. When we do God slips farther and farther into the background.
Our loving God worked into his great design for us, time to cherish and cultivate our relationship with him. But he is a good God who also wants us to enjoy our lives and the blessings he has put in them. Genesis tells us, “And God saw everything that he made and…it was good.” God looked out, he saw and enjoyed his work and his creation. The Sabbath is meant for us to have time to interact with God, but it is also to remind us to “smell the roses.” It is time set apart for us to see, to touch, to enjoy our lives and to experience all of God’s creation.
As you know when I look at scripture I try to see the earthly meaning and the spiritual meaning. Martha, as we can see, teaches us about the earthly meaning of this passage. Now we will look at the spiritual meaning through Mary.
God doesn’t want us to live like Martha; to her Jesus visit will fade into memory. God wants us to live like Mary. Mary is paying attention to the teachings of Jesus. She is learning how to live. She is learning about redemption and salvation. Her faith is becoming deeper and she will be blessed by it.
It is thought that this Mary is the Mary who anoints Jesus head and feet with precious and expensive oil just days before his death. This Mary is one of the few who is with Jesus as he is crucified on the cross. Martha’s entire running around gained her nothing spiritually. Mary, by listening to Jesus has made her faith the very core of her. She becomes one of only a few believers to actually witness Christ’s sacrifice. I know it’s not recorded but I can imagine Mary as one of the very few to actually touch Jesus blood as it dripped from the cross; and perhaps she even reached lovingly and gently to touch Jesus leg as he suffered. Through her faith, Mary is truly blessed by God to witness the very event we trust in for our salvation.
Here is the spiritual lesson. Think of Martha, her actions show she wanted to do things for Jesus; she wanted to show him how perfect she could be. Mary wanted Jesus to do things for her; to teach her and to bless her. Which of these two are we? Do we work to prove to God we are being good Christians?
Salvation by God’s work is unique to Christianity. Some religions teach the good you do needs to outweigh the bad for you to get to heaven. One teaches you need to evangelize to enough people to earn heaven. Another says you gain heaven by being better than someone else. I can’t imagine spending my life always trying to be good enough and always wondering if I am.
Matthew 22, “You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” I go back to this often because I believe it is central to a Christian life. None of Martha’s work affected her salvation, none of ours will either. Romans 4:16, “…the promise comes by faith,” We do not work for our fellow men to gain God’s favor, we love and work for our fellow men because we have God’s favor.
Throughout our lives our priorities change. When I was younger my priority was to work as much as I could, later home and family were my priority, now service to men and God are. Our lives are always moving our priorities around as life changes. Our reading tells us that our priorities are fine, they’re part of life, but to always keep Christ as a priority.
Our reading shows us God doesn’t want our lives to be all work and over burdened. Remember, right from creation God built into our lives a time set aside to enrich our relationship with him and a time to enjoy our lives and his creation. This is our earthly lesson.
Our readings spiritual lessen is; we do not have to prove our worth to Christ; Christ proved his worth to us. The work we do for our fellow man in God’s name must flow from our faith, it must stream from the knowledge of what Jesus did for us at the cross.
God bless you.