Luke 10:38–42

9th Sunday after Pentecost

³⁸As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. ³⁹She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. ⁴⁰But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!" ⁴¹"Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, ⁴²but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."

Frankly, I don’t see what Martha did wrong. Here was a home opening their doors to a traveler and offering their hospitality to Jesus. If we go back a little to the time Jesus sent out 72 disciples, he told them that when they arrived at a village they were to find a home that would receive them and they were to stay there. They were not to jump around from house to house looking for the one with the best food or most comfortable beds. They were to stay in the first home that offered them hospitality.

Now we have Jesus being received into the home of Mary and Martha. They were good hosts and received him according to all the traditional rules of hospitality. Martha was simply doing what she would do when any guest arrived. She had to straighten up things around the house. She had to prepare a bed for him to sleep in and most important she had to prepare a meal and set the table. You always received a guest with a meal; just as Abraham killed a fatted calf to receive the Lord 2000 years earlier. Martha was just being hospitable. She was doing what anyone would have done. She was following the customs of the culture. She was a conscientious and gracious hostess.

Now, Mary, on the other hand, seems a little lazy and self-centered. She didn’t offer a hand to be hospitable to Jesus. She just sat in the living room visiting with him as if she too were just another guest, not a hostess.

This irritated Martha as it would have irritated us. She had so much to do. She was so busy. It was a lot of work to receive a guest and the other members of the household were doing nothing. She was getting frustrated and irked by Mary’s rude behavior.

She finally couldn’t take it any longer. She spoke out, but not directly to Mary. Rather she voiced her complaint to Jesus. Mary would be more likely to pay attention to what he said than to her sister…. So, for all practical purposes, it seems like Martha was doing the right thing. She was being a good hostess.

But Jesus’ answer turned things completely around from what we would expect. In fact, it seems like Jesus made a habit of turning our human customs upside down and dropping them right on their head. This text engages the question of what is the correct way to show hospitality to Jesus? Mary and Martha each had a different approach to their roles as hostesses.

Martha was preparing the meal and getting the table set. One would expect that Martha was being the proper hostess, but Jesus favored Mary’s hospitality. Why? What do we learn from this?

The tension here is between our human activity and the activity of Jesus. Martha was concerned with human activity. She focused on what she had to do in order to serve Jesus. She was worried about cleaning the house, getting everything in order, setting the table and preparing the meal. However, the gospel of Jesus Christ is not about what we do to serve him, but what he has done and still does to serve us. Hospitality to Jesus is about what he does for us. It is about what he gives us through his word. True hospitality to Jesus is receiving his service by sitting at his feet and learning from his word as Mary did.

How are we to understand the difference between Mary and Martha? The key to this parable comes to us in another parable: the parable of the sower. Jesus explained that the seed that fell among thorns stands for those who hear, but they are choked by life’s worries, riches and pleasures and they do not mature. This was Martha. She neglected listening to the word of Jesus because of life’s worries, riches and pleasures. But the seed that falls on good soil stands for those with a noble and good heart; those who hear the word, retain it, and produce harvest. This was Mary.

Our problem today is that we are too often like Martha. We are worried about the cares and concerns of this life. We have an inner anxiety over our possessions and how we are going to make it through tomorrow. All we see are the problems that life gives us, our difficulties and sufferings. We worry about what we are going to eat, about what clothes we are going to wear, about where to go on vacation, about how to enjoy ourselves. We worry about money, about our kids, about our family, about our jobs, and even about how to spend our leisure time.

We, like Mary, get caught up in the things we do, our own actions. Like Mary when we think of serving God, we think about what we are going to do to please Him. We focus on our works and deeds. So we get busy serving God in church, on committees and boards, on projects and activities. We even get so occupied in serving Jesus in the church that sometimes we don’t have time to hear and studying the Word of God. We get so busy in our lives and so caught up in life’s cares and concerns that we sometimes even neglect regular attendance at worship or don’t have time to join in a Bible class or receive instruction in God’s word. We become haphazard about coming to worship and Bible classes. All-in-all we become Marthas and Jesus says to us: “You are worried about many things, but Mary has chosen what is better.”

What is the better thing she chose? Jesus! Jesus is the better thing because He is sufficient for us. He is able to take care of all our needs. Instead of worrying about this life, how we are going to feed and cloth ourselves, we take our requests to God by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, and the peace of God which passes all understanding guards our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. He is the Shepherd who leads us to green pastures and still waters. It is he who opens his hands in due season and satisfies the desires of every living thing.

Jesus’ purpose is to serve us with the grace of God. That is why he came in the first place. That is why the Son of God became man; in order to live under that law and fulfill it for us. For that reason He suffered and died and poured out his blood on a cross; all in order to give us God’s grace. He makes us the children of God and exalts us to his throne and makes us heirs of God’s kingdom. He is our shepherd who seeks the lost and protects us from the enemy. By his death on the cross he won forgiveness of sins for us and gives us eternal life. He forgives us for all the times we become worried and preoccupied with the cares of this world. He forgives us for the times that we have neglected to sit and listen to his word in worship and Bible study. By Christ’s word our sins are forgiven. The sin of relying on our own actions and trying to serve him with our intellect, strength and work. Our self-reliance is forgiven and he turns us to trust in him.

His mercy covers us and clothes us with his own righteousness so that we are as pure and spotless as the Lamb of God himself. He came not to be served, but to serve.

Jesus his here present today in our worship in his word and Sacraments. Are we giving Jesus true hospitality? The only way to be a true host to him is by hearing, studying and learning his Word. For this reason Mary sat at his feet receiving instruction in his Word, allowing Jesus to serve her; receiving God’s gifts to her. Instead of being busy serving Jesus, she was busy being served by him. Instead of worrying about the food and clothing and house and accommodations, she sat at his feet and learned from him. This is true hospitality to Jesus.

Sitting with Mary at the feet of Jesus to receive the gifts of God is the true worship of Jesus; the true liturgy. Worship is not doing something for him, like Martha, it is to receive from him through his word and sacrament. It is through his word and sacrament that Jesus offers us the forgiveness of sins, salvation and eternal life. It is through his word that Jesus supplies all our needs for this life. It is in his word that we find the kingdom of God and his righteousness and that all things necessary for this life will be added to us. Christ told Paul, “My grace is sufficient for you.” His grace comes by his word.

By his word he teaches us to rely on him for all our needs instead of losing sleep because of so many worries. He forgives our weakness of faith and teaches us to trust boldly in him and his provision for us. As we huddle around his word; sitting at his feet to learn from him, he turns us from our sin and gives us faith in him. In his word we are given faith that he is sufficient for us in all things. When we make his Word the center of our life, through worship and Bible class, then we can stop our worry and anxiety and rest in his peace and forgiveness. We can take everything to him in prayer and he will supply all our needs. When we sit at the feet of Jesus and learn from his Word only then will we be equipped to serve him in our daily lives through our vocations. Only then will true praise and thanksgiving be in our hearts. Only then, are we equipped to serve him in the church on boards and committees.

Mary understood that we must first receive from God before we are fitted to serve him. First we must sit at Jesus’ feet. Only then can we serve him through our praises and thanksgiving, through our gifts and offerings, and through serving others in our daily life.

And when we as a congregation make our worship and Bible classes the center of our existence, only then are we are equipped for mission and evangelism. When the life of the church is centered around Word and Sacrament and all of us feed on it regularly and drink from it deeply, then we will resound with praise and proclaim the gospel to all people. Only then will we abound in stewardship and only then can we bring our offerings to the altar to support the work of spreading the gospel. Only then will we be able to engage in service to our neighbor. Only then will we have true fellowship and communion with one another. Our first priority as the church of Christ is to hear and learn his word; to sit at his feet like Mary and listen to him.

As Jesus teaches Martha, our service, our offerings, our evangelism, our stewardship come only after and as a result of being deeply grounded in the word of Christ. One thing is needful, and Martha has found it, and it shall not be taken away from her: Christ’s living and eternal word.

Amen.