Preached on July 21, 2013 at First Congregational Church of Tallmadge, Ohio, UCC.
Scripture: Luke
10:38-42
Now as they went on their way, he entered a
certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She
had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was
saying. But Martha was
distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, “Lord, do you not
care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to
help me.” But the Lord answered
her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there
is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be
taken away from her.”
Sermon
In the gospel according to
John, Jesus says to his disciples “you will know the truth, and the truth will
set you free.”
I wonder if there is a
truth embedded in today’s passage from Luke that we need to hear, a truth that
has the power to set us free. It is the truth Jesus tells to Martha: “You are
worried and distracted by many things.” Is that true of us? And might the
telling of that truth set us free?
Jesus is welcomed into the
home of two sisters, Mary and Martha, and Martha goes to work doing…well, doing
who knows what: preparing food to share with their guest, making the home more
presentable for company. The text doesn’t say, so maybe she’s returning calls
from the office or catching up on email. At any rate, she’s distracted by many
tasks, probably to do with hospitality because she thinks her sister should be
helping. So there’s Martha, making preparations, banging things around louder
than necessary to get Mary’s attention.
But Mary is sitting at the
feet of Jesus, listening to his words. And let’s take a little side trip here
to notice that Mary has taken the position of a disciple, a reminder to us that
Jesus taught men and women, and didn’t care much for customs or traditions that
excluded some people in favor of others. He approves of Mary adopting the role
of a disciple. We do well to remember this.
Martha can’t stand it
anymore. She has waited for Mary to get up and help, and she has finally become
convinced that Jesus, at least, should not tolerate the obvious unfairness.
“Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by
myself?”
And Jesus says “Martha,
Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things.”
Is that a truth that is needed by our
culture today?
Is that a truth that we need to
hear?
