Luke 10:38-42

 

MARTHA WAS DISTRACTED BY HER MANY TASKS -- What tasks? What was Martha distracted from? What or whom kept her from doing a Mary kind of thing--sitting on the living room floor and listening to what Jesus had to say? What made Martha so domestically uptight? Could be that having an extra guest invited into the home might trigger the adrenalin flow; but what if that guest invites twelve other guests with him? So now we've got thirteen hungry guys on your doorstep. But wait what's that long line behind him? The seventy too? They’ve just returned; maybe they’ve come with Jesus! So let's tally this up: one leader + twelve disciples + seventy other disciples = 83 Sunday dinner guests who knock at Martha's door on this fine afternoon. Just passing by thought they would just drop in and enjoy lunch and hearty conversation.

THE MARTHA/MARY PARADIGM -- We must set the score straight. The Bible commends industriousness and hard work; laziness is condemned and work praised. Martha is not chided for her hard work in the kitchen, but rather for a slight mix-up in the priorities department; hard work should never be a substitute for relationship; for conversation with God. Make sure you know why you're busy; not to drown out relationship and prayer. A church built on Martha alone will lack depth and vital relationship; a church built on Mary alone will lack effective outreach that sees beyond its own needs. We need both.

SALVIFIC WORK - Mary chooses the one good thing because relationship with God will not stop across the street with a monument over us and some flowers placed before us every year. Relationship is an eternal quality that began in the past, has the potential of continuing in the present, and will walk with us into the future--unknown as it is.

 

Which person are more apt to be like? I'm a Martha kind of person, the minister who'll go down in history as the only minister to flunk his own class on stress management. But what about you? Is your life balanced between listening and talking? Between being and doing? Between social networking and solitude?

ILLUSTRATION:

On occasional Friday nights I am wont to fix a special candlelight dinner for Dixie, my spouse and me. I go through through cookbooks until I come upon some exotic four-course meal; then I write all the ingredients down and go off in search and buy mission for the great white pepper. That takes me quite awhile. But once I finally accumulate just the right kind of spices and vinegars, I return to prepare the meal. I have discovered that in order to have everything done by the time Dixie returns from work I have to multi-task-another way of saying do a juggling act. So several entrées are baking, cooking, broiling, or boiling at once as I set the table. As the minutes tick by I begin to sweat; can I make it in time? So I rush to get the table set, appetizers out, food cooked, wine glasses chilled, dessert cooled, and the kitchen tidied up.

By the time we finally sit down for supper I am completely spent. Not much of a conversationalist at all. I'm sweltering. I’m not listening to my spouse because I'm still taking stock of the table, wondering where the asparagus wandered off to. What was a great Mary-idea has slowly turned into a Martha-event. I get carried away with how the table looks, the food tastes, and how the carrots line up like wheel spokes from the cucumber center than I am about serious conversation.

"Tom, Tom, you're troubled about many things . . ." To which I might add, "You got that right; next time I’m making dinner reservations at Denny’s."

 

"Martha was distracted by her many tasks."

 

•       A Poem for Martha and Marys in our pulpits and congregations[1]

 

Sometimes that cup of cold water ,

turns out to be a cup of hot coffee,

and what we're asked to do is to pour it

. . . and to listen.

Sometimes we Christians in our enthusiasm

think we were asked

to save the world,

when what we were asked to do is to go into it

and tell God's story

to people in need of some good news.

 

Anxious activists forget

that just listening is an act of compassion.

Driven disciples forget

that just listening is an act of faithfulness.

Guilty givers forget

that just listening is an act of stewardship.

Since we church people

have a tendency to be driven and anxious and guilt-ridden,

perhaps we should read

the directions again.

and pour a cup of hot coffee

      and listen in His name. [1]

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[1] Ann Weems, “Cold Water, Hot Coffee” in Searching For Shalom, page 40.