We live in an age of multi-tasking. Driving a car and
talking on the cell phone. Watching TV and doing a crossword
puzzle. Talking on the phone and reading email. Exercising
while listening to an ipod. Listening to a sermon and text
messaging. (No, you wouldn’t do that.)

 We often find ourselves with so many things we want or
need to do—with so little time in which to do them. Martha
was a multi-tasker par excellance!

 One day, Jesus was visiting his good friends, Mary and
Martha in the little village of Bethany. Mary was sitting at
Jesus feet…carefully listening, and taking in his every word.

(In the Middle East, to sit at the feet of someone
symbolized discipleship. It was a posture assumed by the
student in order to learn and receive from the teacher.)

 Mary was sitting attentively at Jesus’ feet. Martha on
the other hand was busy, very busy. She was the “hostess
with the mostest”! Setting the table, cooking the meal,
baking the bread, serving her guests. Meanwhile, Mary is
there, just sitting—absorbing Jesus’ teaching.

(Just an aside here:)

 Luke’s gospel consistently shows Jesus pushing the
boundaries of his society—this is another example. It would
have been considered highly inappropriate for a woman to sit
in the sameroom with men who were in a discussion.

 But Mary sits—while Martha is in perpetual motion!

 Finally, Martha has had enough. You can picture her,
bursting through the kitchen door, with her hands on her
hips. She says: “For crying outloud! Lord, would you please
tell my sister to come into this kitchen and help me with all
this work.”

 Jesus responds very calmly, “Martha, Martha don’t be
so upset. You are busy and distracted with many things.
Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken
away from her.”

 Was what Martha was doing really so wrong? After all,
she was trying to show Jesus and her other guests
hospitality—which was an extremely important thing in Jesus’
time.

 Just last week we heard the story of the Good
Samaritan. In which Jesus was critical of the Priest and the
Levite who ignored the wounded traveler, so that they could
meet their religious obligations.

 How are we to make sense of Jesus’ words of caution to

Martha? “Martha, you are busy and distracted.” The Greek
word that is translated as “distracted” literally means “to be
pulled from all directions.”

 In other words, Martha is being pulled in so many
directions—she is so pre-occupied with her “to do” list, that
she is missing out on something important.

 It reminds me of the story of a woman who had just
died and now stood before the throne of God. Quite boldly
she said: “Well, Lord, here I am!”

 And the Lord asked: “Who are you?” She was a bit
disturbed by this and so she said: “Lord, don’t you know who
I am? It’s me! Don’t you remember? Monday nights I was
in the sewing group sewing clothes for the poor; every
Tuesday I went to visit the sick in the hospital; every
Wednesday I sang in the choir; every Thursday I prepared
food for the poor; and on Friday’s I volunteered in the
Church office; and on Saturdays I cleaned the church.
Surely you remember me! Surely I didn’t do all this for
nothing!

 And the Lord replied: “Woman, so often I came to
visit you, but I never found you at home!”

 In our gospel, Jesus is not telling Martha that working
hard or serving others is wrong or that it is not a good thing.
He is simply reminding her (and us) that we need balance in
our lives.

 Jesus is encouraging us, along with Martha, to take the
time to develop and nourish our faith. To put aside our
“multi-tasking”, our many distractions, and focus on our
relationship with him.

 Just in case, Martha doesn’t quite get it, Jesus says:

“Martha, there is need of only ONE THING. Mary has
chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from
her.”

 I love the way Eugene Peterson puts it in The Message.
He puts it this way: Jesus says: “Martha, dear Martha,
you’re fussing far too much and getting yourself worked up
over nothing. One thing is essential, and Mary has chosen
it—it’s the main course, and won’t be taken from her.

 Mary has chosen the main course, the better part. In
other words, there should be only one TOP PRIORITY IN our
lives—and that is Jesus.

 You see, God created us, (first and foremost) to live in
relationship with Him. In his book, Experiencing God,
Henry Blackaby writes: “God is far more interested in a love
relationship with you, than He is in what you can do for Him.”

 It seems to me that like Martha, we are often more
interested in “doing” for God. We keep busy with church
activities, with serving others. Some of us are always busy
“DOING” for God, and we neglect the path of simply “BEING”
with God.

 So often we are like the story of the Sunday School
teacher who was telling her class of first graders the story
of Jesus visiting Martha and Mary. She carefully explained
how Martha had hurried to clean the house and cooked a
special meal.

 Then she paused and asked: “What would you do if
Jesus was going to visit your house today?” One little girl
quickly responded, “I’d quick run and put the Bible out on the
table!”

Jesus said: “One thing only is essential, and Mary has
chosen it—it’s the main course, and won’t be taken from her.”

 More than anything else, he wants our heart…not just
our hands, our work. Mary could bake Jesus bread, but He
could offer to her the bread of life. She could set the
beverages on the table, but he could treat her to the living
water. She could make sure he felt at home, but he could
offer her an eternal home.

 We have the opportunity to partake of the main course—
the better part, each time we gather together with God’s
people to worship.

 Or each time we listen to him through reading his word
or engaging in a daily devotional time. Or when we gather
together in a small group with other believers.

 Any time we leave a quiet space and place in our lives
we open our hearts to listen to Him.

 Mary and Martha both had a wonderful opportunity to
kneel at Jesus’ feet…to listen, to spend time with their Lord,
and focus on what is really important. Mary saw the oppor-
tunity and seized it.

 Martha, on the other hand, almost missed it. She was
so busy with “doing” that she almost missed the opportunity
of a lifetime.

 Our gospel is a tale of two sisters.

 Pastor David Leininger shares the story of another set
of sisters from one of the congregations he served.

 The two sisters were very close in many ways. They
had many of the same interests, many of the same
experiences. Both had been raised in the church, and both
drifted away as they become young adults.

 Both sisters married good men, neither had children.
But as the years went along, one came back to church and
became very involved—very faithful, but the other just never
managed.

 The sister who came back to church suddenly and
unexpectedly lost her husband. The pastor rushed over to
her house, she met him at the door. She was in tears, to
be sure, but she said, “Pastor, this is very hard. But I feel
as if I have been preparing for this moment for most of my
life.”

 She was right. She had sat through countless Sundays,
heard dozens of sermons that involved dealing with the
crisis that we all experience from time to time. It was as if
she had been in training for just such a moment as this.

 A few months later, the husband of the other sister
died suddenly as well. She had no connection with the
church—no faith life—so that was a resource that she could
not draw upon.

 She became more and more distressed and depressed,
and finally needed to be institutionalized so she could get
professional care.

 Her sister commented, after visiting her in the
hospital: “Poor thing. When it came time for her to let
down her bucket deep into the well-- she found out that she
had no water in the well.”

 The truth is there are moments in life when we need
to “let down our bucket”—to return to the wellsprings of
healing and hope.

 Our gospel today is an invitation to us from Jesus:
Jesus says: “Sit down at my feet and listen. You need what
I want to give you!”

 The fact is that the more time we spend at Jesus’
feet, the more equipped we are to serve him and to
face the challenges of life.

 That’s really what discipleship is all about—sitting at the
feet of Jesus to receive and learn…to soak it all in—filling up
our wells with the living water.

Jesus said to Martha; “One thing only is essential,
and Mary has chosen it—it’s the main course, and it won’t
be taken from her.”

 Jesus speaks to us today and says:

 “Come to me and fill up… It’s all you can eat!” Amen.

Pr. Brent’s Sermon, July 18, 2010
“The Lesson of Two Sisters”, Luke 10:38-42