Luke's Gospel

Hey, Luke 10 verse 38. As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the lord's feet listening to what he said, but Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, laws, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me.

Martha, Martha, the lord answered. You are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed, or indeed only 1. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her. Right. Well, good evening from me.

Hello? Why are I? Okay. Let me pray as we begin. Father, we we thank you, so much for your word.

And, we pray father that we do not take it for granted. But actually that we would want to hear from you and that we want to see you. And so father we pray that you will help us now as we come to this passage, to understand, to listen, and to be transformed as a result of tonight. And so we pray this in Jesus name. Oh, man.

Oh. Now, I'm I imagine that a lot of us who, who have seen this passage have have heard this passage preached maybe or heard this passage I've spoken about. I remember, hearing this story in in Sunday school. There was nice pictures and, you know, there was picture of Mary, there's picture of Martha and picture. Well, I can't remember if I speak for Jesus, but often, I think that this passage is misunderstood.

And, I think people misunderstand this passage because they think it's about different personalities, different personality types, when it's not. Or they think that it's about quietism versus activism, the the quiet nature of Mary versus the activity of Martha. And, or and it's actually not about that either. Or they think it's about b, I must be a a Mary, or I must be a a Martha, and which type of what person should I be for the church? And it's not about that either.

Okay? They that's not what this passage is about. And if you think that is the case, well, hopefully we'll find out what it is tonight. Okay? And I can hopefully prove you wrong.

Now, actually, this is a story about priorities. This is a story about priorities. Now we've got that that, phrase. You must get your priorities straight. You must get them right.

And and we see that in a load of places, you see that in school, with a with a with a naughty child, usually someone who keeps on misbehaving. They need to get their priorities straight. They need to stop fooling around in class. They need to stop clowning around. They need to stop trying to make everybody laugh, and they need to start buckling down and do some work.

They need to get their priorities right. Or maybe in the university, the the student in university, they need to get their priorities straight. Probably something that I would have I should have listened to. Stop socialize and stop going out, stop meeting with friends, stop talking to people on your way to your lectures and not getting to your lectures, get your priorities straight and go and do some work. Or maybe it's in the family and and, a parent, and the parent is just doing things and doing things and they're trying to get more and more money so that they can feed the family.

But actually, the priority, get your priorities straight and spend time with your kids and your wife. Get your priorities straight. It's important that we get our priorities right. And it's important that you get the most important priority sorted. So let me ask you, what are you prioritizing?

And are you prioritizing the right thing? Since, as we come to this story, you might ask What is it that would cause a woman to have a shouting match about her sister? And the answer I mean, there could be a lot of different answers, but the answer here is about priorities. They have different priorities. They have different agendas, these 2 sisters.

And so we need to make sure that as we read this story, that we too get our priorities right. So we've just left a conversation with, this expert in the law, and Jesus, it starts in verse 38, is on his way again. Now where is he on his way to? Well, if you remember chapter 9 verse 51, it says as the time approached for him to be taken up to heaven, Jesus Jesus resolutely set out for Jerusalem. Jesus is resolutely going towards Jerusalem where he knows he will die.

That's where he's going. So he's on his way there. But as he's on his way, on route, he comes to a very familiar place to him. That is the place of Bethany. Now if you read the gospel accounts, you'll see the time and time again.

He comes to Bethany. And it's in Bethany that you'll notice that Martha opens up her home to Jesus. She goes, come in Jesus, come into my home. You can stay with us. And I I I don't know if you know anything about Martha and Mary, but if you've read this passage, and if you read other passages in in scripture about these, this family of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus.

I maybe he was here today. I don't know. And and Jesus, it is very, very obvious that he loves this family. He feels comfortable with this family. He he he he has a real connection with them, and they love him.

And so into the home he goes, now often, when you invite people around, I think maybe this is true of most homes in Britain. If you invite someone to your house, usually you have someone who does the preparation and someone who does the entertaining. Right? So as as always, in my house, I go and do the preparation. I do the cooking.

And Jerusalem entertains. Okay? Because I'm the chef, and she's the entertainer. Just some juggling. I don't know.

No. It's usually the way around to be fair. But you have 1 to do the, preparation. They're doing all the cooking. They're doing the Again, all nice spices.

They're, you know, putting it all into the the nice meat that you're making. They're making a lovely sausage casserole and, the other person has gone into the room and they're entertaining the guests. Now the reason you want to entertain the guests because you don't just want that guest sitting on their own, feeling a little bit uncomfortable that they've been left without anyone to talk to, and they're kind of whistling absent mindedly. And and so you don't want them to feel uncomfortable. And if if you've got a bit of a, if you're not very you know, ready when you invite someone over.

You don't want them drawing attention to the things that are all wrong with your living room. So, yeah, the the the entertainment will sit on the the armchair with huge holes in the upholstery. So if you come around my my house, you'll see that, or the fact that you've just quickly shoved a load of things underneath the art that the so far. Okay? And so Martha is probably the 1 responsible for the prep.

Mary, maybe she's there to entertain the guests. We don't actually know, but it it seems that that could could be the case. But as we look at this scene, I want us to see both Martha and Mary and what their priorities are and how Jesus deals with each individual. So firstly, look with me at Martha. So it seems like Martha is the 1 who's invited Jesus.

If you you saw in verse 38, a woman named Martha opened her home to him So possibly she's the older 1. She's this 1 with sort of maternal instincts so that she's the 1 that that gets people in and wants to look after them. She's got a real, helpful, nature about it. She's not she's not a bad person, Martha. Is she?

It's quite a quite a lovely lady. She's someone who's hospitable. She's serving Jesus. In fact, this is a godly thing to do. She's She's being hospitable.

She's meeting Jesus' needs. In fact, if you look at, passages like Romans chapter 12 and verse 13, it says, share with those who are in need, share with the laws, people who are in need be hospitable. And in in, 1 Peter chapter 4 and verse 10, It's it's use your gift to serve other people, and that's what she's doing. She and she's good at this. She knows what it's like to serve.

She knows how to, prepare a lovely meal and and have a nice guest room set up. She's good at this. The thing is It's often our strengths that are also our weaknesses. It's the things that we're really good at that can often lead to our downfall. And so as you read this story, it's clear, as she's getting the various elements ready And she's, you know, as she's doing the the, I don't know, the turkey, maybe it's a Christmas dinner, and she's doing all the trimmings, and she's doing, the various things that needs to be done.

The stress levels are increasing. See that in verse 40? But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be that had to be made. The these stress levels are are getting higher and higher and, and, actually, actually, I've gotta, I've gotta do this, and I've gotta wash up here, and I've gotta put that bed out there, and I've gotta, you know, make sure that we've got the the starter in the main, and, okay, so I'm doing all that. And and as she's doing that, she looks across and says, she sees Mary.

And what's Mary doing? Sitting. Sit in. Just on a lazy backside, listening. And she think I would love to be there, listen to Jesus as well, or what I wouldn't have do to listen to Jesus, but look, I've gotta do all this stuff.

See that she was distracted by the preparations. That word distracted. It it's pulling her away. It's pulling her away. It's as if she yes.

I wanna be with Jesus, but my all the stuff that I want to do is pulling her away from Jesus. The thing is the problem with Martha, it's actually not that this task is too big. The task is it's not that it's too big. It's actually that she's making too much of the task. She thinks she needs to put on the finest spread for Jesus.

She thinks she needs to make up the the 4 what they called. I can't remember the 4 well, I can't remember drawn quartered, drawn quartered 4 poster bed. Thank you. That came from somewhere. She has to have it all ready.

And so you can see it. She's she's She's getting louder and louder. Now look's coming. She's banging things down. She's scrubbed.

You get this with spouses. Not not me personally. But, you know, you know, you what you're in the kitchen at 1 point and everything was fine. It was lovely. We had a laugh.

We made joke. And then you went out and you entertain the guests, you came back in, and something has changed. And they're and there they are now banging things down, banging it down, there and and then and then they've got the scrubbing the dish. It's too hard to remove that tiny little bit of a stain that clearly went a long time ago. And you say, what's what's wrong darling?

I'm fine. Oh, okay? You sure? I'm fine. And then to prove that they're fine, they sing a song that's clearly aggressive.

There she is. She's banging things down. She's shooting looks at Mary more and more trying to make sure Mary Caesar if looks could kill, they would. And she down even louder and louder and louder and louder, and then she explodes in verse 40. He says, Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself?

Tell her to help me. Now, Mary's a, a very straight. It Martha's a very straight individual. Right? She says how she feels.

She doesn't hide it. But it's interesting that she explodes, not she doesn't just explode and as angry with Mary. But she's also angry with Jesus. She's not directing this, although she is directing it to Mary, but she does she speaks to Jesus. She's angry at the 1.

She was so keen to serve. And she asks, Jesus, The lords, don't you care? Don't you care? Jesus, don't you care? It's an amazing question, really.

I thought if you remember the disciples in Mark, when the storm is raging, And they say to Jesus, don't you care? That we're gonna drown? It was a bad question then. It's just as bad now. Jesus, don't you care?

And not only that, but she orders him. She orders the lord of the universe to order Mary See, the problem is that Martha in doing and serving and wanting to do all these things has an empty heart for Jesus. And the result is anger. See, the service becomes about her. The service becomes about what she thinks Jesus needs.

Well, I think that Jesus needs this, this, and this. He needs the food. He needs the dream. He needs the bed. He needs all the best stuff.

And actually, she makes too big of the tasks we said. And it's such a big thing now that as I as I do all these things, people should be helping me. It's not about Jesus anymore, is it? Tell her to help me. And, Jesus, you're encouraging Mary and her laziness as you let us sit there.

Tell her to help me. Look at how Jesus responds though. Now, it it's just so tender and loving. There's no 1 like Jesus's sister. Imagine imagine if, Jesus treated us like we treated him.

But he's he's he's so good that he doesn't. Imagine that. Tell her to help me. Well, you need to stop your wine and martha banging stuff around noise is dim or not, and I'm trying to teach here. Why don't you go off and, you know, bury your head in Jerusalem?

Take your chill pill. Can you imagine that? Take a hike. But it doesn't do that. Look at verse 41.

Martha Martha, the lord answered. You are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed, or indeed only 1. Mary has chosen what is better and it will not be taken away from her. Martha. Martha.

That's so lovely. Soft, pleasing tones of Jesus. So sensitive and so tender is he? See, Martha, you're fussing. You're being distracted.

You're being pulled away from me by stuff. It's just stuff, Martha. It's just stuff. It's just food and drink. It's not the most important thing in the world.

Now Mary's chosen the most important thing, and I will not bow down to you, Martha. And I will not take this away from Mary. See, Martha, I would much prefer it if you 2 came and listened to me and spent time with me I don't need what you think I need. I don't need you to do lots of things for me right now. No.

I want your company, not your service. I'm going to Jerusalem to die. I want your company. I wanna spend time with you. So come, listen, relate with me.

The stuff. Leave the stuff. It doesn't matter. Just make some cheese and toast. A bit of ketchup underneath.

Beautiful. And then come and listen to me. I don't need everything that you wanna put on for me. See, Jesus doesn't want us to be about achieving and doing and doing and serving first and foremost. He wants us.

He just wants us to come, to listen to him, to hear his words, to find out about him. So that's Martha. Secondly, we've got Mary. And I don't think you could get a a different person if you compare the 2. And look firstly at the position.

Look how she sits. She sits at his feet. That's what we heard this morning. And she's listening to what he said. Do you see that in verse 39?

She had a sister called Mary who sat at the lord's feet listening to what he had said. If you remember last week in verse 25, how was the expert of the law? What was he like with Jesus? Not the same. Was he?

He stood up to test Jesus. A proud man, a man trying to prove himself to be right But Mary sits in submission to Jesus. She's like the child. I wanna hear from you Jesus. I'm not important.

Teach me. I wanna hear you. I wanna be with you. I wanna know you Jesus. And so she listens with rapt attention.

I mean, teachers and I guess, and pre love these types of students. It's very rare that you get them. Usually, as, I may have referred to in previous sermons, you get the the the the students that, are very soulless looking. That's the sort of vacant look in in in shoes face or they fall asleep totally, which is always depressing when you've, you know, you're teaching them as a child at the back sleeping. When a child sleeps at my classes, I make them stand up, and, they have to stand up for the rest rest of the lesson.

We should employ that in church. Wouldn't we? Stand up if you're sleeping, and that's what you gotta do. And listen. Anyway, but this is a woman that has come and she's fixed on Jesus.

Now, rabbis, interestingly in those days, would never ever allow a woman to sit at their feet and teach them. They would never teach a woman. They wouldn't do that. In in fact, they said, you'd rather burn the Torah than teacher, teach a woman. And that that that's 1 of the things I love about Jesus.

I love about Christianity because people think that that Christianity and Jesus is not for women. And he's absolutely 4 women. Because Jesus not only allows Mary to sit at his feet. He commens her for it. Did you see that verse 41 and 42 again?

Martha, Martha, Martha, the lord answered, you are worried and upset about many things But few things are needed or indeed only 1. Mary has chosen what is better. And it will not be taken away. That word better actually translates as the the good portion the good portion. If you read the old testament, what is the good portion?

Well, if you listen to, Psalm chapter 16 and verse 7, it says, I will praise the lord who counsels me even at night. My heart instructs me. That's not the 1 I wanted to say. Sorry verse 5 lord you alone on my portion and my cup, you make my lot secure. And then if you listen to 27 verse 4, it says, 1 thing I ask from the lord, this only do I seek that I may dwell in the house of the lord all the days of my life to gaze on the beauty of the lord and to seek him in his temple.

I wanna be with the lord. I wanna fix my eyes on him. I wanna know him. I wanna see him. I wanna be with him.

Chapter 73 verse 26. Of Psalms says this. My flesh and my heart may fail, But god is the strength of my heart and my portion forever. He's the 1 that I wanna be for forever. And be with forever.

See, Mary's understood. Mary's got her priorities right, hasn't she? The most important command, and the most important thing for eternal life in verse 27, was to love the lord your god with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind. Well, if you wanna love god like that, if you wanna love the lord like that, then you need to spend time with the lover. You wanna spend time with the life giver.

You wanna spend time with Jesus, the lord. And in fact, really, Mary could have reversed Martha's question, couldn't she? Martha says, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me. Mary could have said, listen.

My sister has left you lord to do the work. Tell her to come and listen to you. See, If you wanna love god, then you must listen to him. You must spend time with him. And then you can be like him.

And when you do that, then you can do the second half of that command and love your neighbor. See, Mary's chosen the right thing. She's chosen the good portion. There is absolutely nothing more important than for me and for you, to spend time with Christ, to spend time with the lover of our souls. To listen to him to be with him.

But we mustn't fall into the trap here of just saying, well, Mary is just a listener then. So if Mary's just a listener, that means I can just be a listener, and I don't have to do anything. That would be a gross misreading of scripture. That is not the point of this passage. And actually, We know that Mary still serves Jesus because she loves him and she's committed to him.

If you flick over to John chapter 12, Averse 1 to 1 to wait. That's on page 1 0 7 9, I think I might be wrong. It'll be around there somewhere though. John chapter 12 1 verse 8, 1 2 8. Sorry.

This is what it says. 6 days before the passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. Here a dinner was given in Jesus' honor. Martha served as she always does. She's she's very good at it, while lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him.

Then Mary, talk about half a liter of pure nard, an expensive perfume she poured it on Jesus' feet and wiped his feet with her hair, and the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But 1 of his disciples due to the scary who was later to betray him objected. Why wasn't this perfume sold in the money given to the poor? It was worth a year's wages. He did not say this because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief as a keeper of, the money bag.

He used to help himself to what was put into it. Leave her alone. Jesus replied. It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.

What a beautiful, beautiful picture of service to Jesus? This this is an extremely expensive bottle of perfume. And she so understands and loves and gets Jesus that she serves him in this way and prepares him for his burial. This is the point though. Before you serve, you must know who you're serving.

It's interesting this morning. We talked about Jesus washing the the disciples' fee Well, before the disciples were ordered to go out to wash people's feet, Jesus washed their feet. Show you who I am. Then you can live like me. So Mary's got her priority spot on.

She's chosen to spend time with the lord of the universe. The king, the lover, the life giver. And Martha, it will not, and it will never be taken away from her. See, Mary's choice bears eternal consequences. Jesus says, wherever my words preach it will not come back empty.

This is the word that transforms lives. This is the word that makes people more like the lord Jesus. This is the word that when we get to the new creation, we will be with the 1 who speaks that word forever. And we will live under that word. We will be with Jesus, and we will listen to him.

So, lastly, how about you? How about you? How are you doing with this? Are you making time for Jesus and his word a priority? Are you sitting under his word?

Well, if you aren't, then sit under it. Come to Jesus and listen to his word spend time with him. Stop trying to do, spend time with him. Imagine imagine in a marriage. Imagine me with Jerusalem.

And all I all I did was just do things. Like, I, I mean, I'm not very practical. But maybe I just put up shelves all the time. And, I just did I did the dishes, and I did work and all that. And I came home and said, listen, listen, Tricia.

I've done all that work there. I've done that there. Brilliant. I hope that helps helps you. And I just walked off and said, if you wanna get in contact, then, I'll be in the study.

Email me if you want me. That's not how marriage works. I mean, she would be very she would be over the moon if I'd built stuff for her. But I think it's more important that I spend time with her and listen to her. And laugh with her and love her.

Or the parent with the with the child would start with this, but If I'm just there making stuff and giving them gifts and and doing things and doing things for them, yes, they might be appreciated, but I'm pretty sure a child wants spend time with their mom or dad. Stop trying to do and to serve. Stop trying to think that if you don't do things and it can't be done, that if I don't do it, then then no 1 will do it or fall apart. Well, it won't fall apart. It will be done.

Someone else will do it. Maybe in your ministry, well, if I don't if I don't serve the tea and coffee, then it will all collapse, and then no 1 will have tea and coffee, and everyone will be standing because Rory's made them stand because they were falling asleep. If I don't do the creche, then then who's gonna settle that baby who causes absolute mayhem. I'm the only 1 who can do it. You're not.

Someone else can do it. Oh, well, if I don't evangelize, who will? Someone will evangelize. If I am the if I die, then the church will stop. No.

It won't stop. It will carry on. Stop thinking, oh, well, no one's helping or doing everything or serving alongside me, and I'm doing it all myself. Stop. Because as you live like that, and as you think like that, and as you do those things, it becomes about you and not about Jesus.

And the danger is that as you fill your life up with just serving and doing things for the lord Jesus, it actually is not about him, it's about you, and your heart is totally empty, and there's no love for Jesus there. But before you do anything, listen, spend time with a lover. Bring yourself to his feet, sit in submission and weakness and humility, and fix your eyes upon him and listen to what he has to say. Come to his words that shows us so clearly the the beauty of the law, Jesus, even in this story, Martha, Martha, what a tender and lovely and wonderful Jesus in this words. Sit under his words.

It's it's 1 of the requirements of our youth leaders that If you miss a a service in the morning by doing the youth, then you make sure you come to the evening service and listening to the word of god. There's reasons for that. Jesus doesn't want busy people who are about achieving. Jesus wants committed people. Who love him, who have the right attitude.

And are you really listening? Now you may be someone who thinks, oh, well, I'm always at church, and I'm always listening. And I've, you know, there I am with my coffee cup. I brought it myself. Saving the environment, and here I am listening to the word of god.

Are you really listening? Yes. I do my 4 chapters a day. Brilliant. Yep.

I'm listening. Well, the test to whether you're listening is are you serving? Because if you're listening to the word of god that reveals the lord Jesus, you will see how great and glorious and beautiful he is, and we wanna live and love our neighbor. So are you listening? And maybe you're here, and you've never come to the feet of Jesus before.

Well, can I encourage you that if you've never listened or all investigated or seeing Jesus and know what he's about, then come to his feet? Come to his words. Come and see how glorious he is, how wonderful he is. His words are words of life and our satisfaction. His deeds are glorious.

He's the 1 who gives life. He will give life to you. He's the 1 that will truly love you. So Christians, Make sure you get your priorities right. Get them straight.

Make sure that you listen, that you spend time with Christ and his words, that we learn more about him. And then when you've listened, and then when you've seen how great he is, and then when you've experienced that relationship, then you go and do, So Cornerstone, will we recommit to this? Well, we make sure that we have our priorities right. This is a church that does a lot, and many of you serve a great deal. But check your heart.

Are you listening to god's words? Are you meeting with Jesus? Jesus to Martha says, few things are needed, or indeed only 1. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her. Choose what's better.

Choose what will never be taken away from you. Choose Jesus. And then live for him. Let me pray. Father, we we thank you for this wonderful story We thank you for what a, an amazing Jesus we follow who is so tender and merciful, but is so clear on the truth.

And we we pray father that that you will forgive us for the times that we have ceased to ignore your words and ignore you in favor of trying to serve you as we want. And so we pray father that you will bring us back to you. Let you be the center of our lives. Let us listen to your words let us be transformed by it. Let us meet with you.

Let us understand you more. And then help us to live for you as a result. We pray this in Jesus' name, amen.