Luke 10:38-42 - The Home of Martha and Mary

This morning. We are continuing on and our sermon series in the Gospel of Luke.

This sermon is the 50th sermon in the series little over halfway done. So as predicted is going to be around a hundred sermons and has Rob mentioned a couple weeks ago the Lord willing Easter of 2021. We will be finishing up the Gospel of Luke. I want to draw your attention by way of introduction this morning to what we've been through in the 10th chapter and it's important that we do that so that we can understand this morning's passage. So if you were call a couple weeks ago Rob preached the sending out of the 72 and which we heard about the mission of God in this world through Jesus and his disciples. Jesus said to his disciples of harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few therefore pray earnestly to the lord of the Harvest to send out laborers into his Harvest go your way behold. I am sending you as land in the midst of wolves. From this discussion at moved into talking about salvation verse 20 never the last do not rejoice in this that the spirits are subject to you. But Rejoice that your names are written in heaven then turning to his disciples. He said privately blessed are the eyes that see what you see and what is really talking about is himself in the work that he would do. What we move from the air to the lawyer who asked a question about inheriting eternal life a question about salvation teacher what shall I do to inherit eternal life. Jesus had just earlier described to his disciples. What eternal life is what it salvation was that they were blessed to be seeing it and then the lawyer asked this question and that moves into an exposition of what loving your neighbor looks like. Remember the answer the question of how do I pair it eternal life was to love the Lord your God with all your heart and mind and soul and strength and love your neighbor as yourself and then Jesus gives a parable that explains what the love of neighbor looks like. I don't think that's important understand because as we move into the story of the home and of Martha and Mary, we now get an exposition of what loving the Lord looks like one loving the Lord looks like so saying that to inherit eternal life when he to love the Lord and love our neighbor Jesus then describes through the parable what loving our neighbor is like and now the story conveys describes what loving the Lord looks like in the New Covenant the main idea for this passage. I'm going to suggest you is this loving God is sitting at the feet of Jesus and devouring his teaching loving God is sitting at the feet of Jesus and devouring his teaching. Let's read the passage this morning Luke chapter 10 verses thirty-eight through 42. You can open your Bibles or turn on your device. And of course on the back of the insert inside. The bulletin is the scripture passage you can read Delong there Luke chapter 10 verses 38 through 42 Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house and she had a sister called Mary who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching but Martha was distracted with much serving and she went up to him and said Lord do you not care that my sister has left me to serve a loan tell her then to help me but the Lord answered her Martha Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her. Let's pray.

Father God we praise you this morning.

And we worship and wonder. At the beauty and the glory of your son Jesus Christ and all that you have done through him. We recognize that we only understand and only see with the eyes of our hearts a portion. of his greatness of his worthiness of his gloriousness We pray father God that you would help us to see more.

Father we confess this morning that we look on many things in this world and see them as desirable and see them as beautiful.

When compared to our glorious savior, they are nothing we confess that we often admire these things.

at the expense of admiring Christ when we pray that when we do that you would help us to see things otherwise Forgive us for that father God. Help us this morning as we consider these thoughts that are conveyed to us in this passage. Help us by your spirit. Thunder standing with her mind to embrace them with our heart. We know father God that as your spirit helps us in those ways that it will change how we live. We know we can't do that by ourselves. And so we, as needy people as your creatures to our creator. Asking you for help this morning.

Help us to see and understand. the one thing that matters this morning I pray father God you would help me by your spirit to convey your truth and away that's faithful and thereby helpful. Pray this in Jesus name Amen to walk through these vs. This morning and finish off with two longer applications of them. I think really the the teaching the lesson of this passages is simple it's fairly straightforward and so we can get to a quickly but the application there. I will of course cause us some difficulty. Let's start with the setting. Let's start with the setting vs. 38 through 39 a we're giving a setting to the story. Jesus is traveling remember towards Jerusalem. He has set his face towards Jerusalem. He is going to end up in Jerusalem to fill fulfill all that God has called in to do it. So he is still traveling with his disciples and we're told that he answers of village and he does so we're introduced to these two sisters Martha and Mary now, perhaps as you heard that you assumed what I assume that these are the same sisters that are mentioned in John's gospel. The ones who are siblings of Lazarus. I think they are although that's not clarified here. This is the the Martha and the Mary who witness the death of their brother and then his coming back from the dead of the command of Jesus. So this is likely them if it's not it's another pair of sisters doesn't really impact the story necessarily or perhaps it could be those sisters and they have a home other than the one that's in Bethany. You see the commentators make clear. This this can't be the homeless in Bethany because that would be too close to Jerusalem for the traveling that Jesus has to do so, perhaps they have another home perhaps I don't even taking this to it matters. I think they're the same sisters of Lazarus. We're not that's not clarified here. Either way. The Holy Spirit has inspired Lou to put this story here. It's interesting. I think this is Martha and Mary the siblings of Lazarus and I think Luke has inserted this story here not chronologically, but see matically to address the idea of what it means to love God. And so either way we work through this we had a just previous to this see the episode of the Good Samaritan the parable in which we see a lawyer questions Jesus and hopefully learns from Jesus's response and I just Jesus responds with the parable. We understand that the Good Samaritan was the lesson it was the answer to the question. Well here we have another episode that involve someone questioning Jesus. And the question are in hopefully the learner is Martha, and I think if we were to read that section in John's gospel, she got the message.

But her sister Mary who we don't hear directly from in this story is the lesson Mary is the lesson for us this morning. So that's the setting a village Jesus on the way to Jerusalem two sisters, Martha and Mary.

Next we see and in 39 be in 42 contrasting pictures. Sitting or serving sitting or serving Mary were told is sitting at Jesus's feet listening to him teach. Now again, it's helpful to get in your mind the context of what's going on here. The the parable of the Good Samaritan would have been a surprise to those who heard it. What a Samaritan was the one that helped the Jew who had been victimized by robbers. That would have been a surprise to them. Jesus uses the story to get their attention to open their eyes. Will this is a surprise as well. This would be a surprise to the people in the day that there would be a woman sitting at Jesus feet the place of a disciple. Jesus being the rabbi the expectation would be his disciples would be mad and yet here. We have Jesus with Mary at his feet learning as a disciple. It's it continues on the practice of Luther wrote his gospel to bring to light those who were ostracize are downtrodden or ignored and bring them in to view for the disciples and how Jesus interacted with them. That's so this surprising picture. This real story helps us to understand. What we should be doing. How is should be reacting. We see that in Mary Sitting. But that's not always seeing this picture. We also see serving where Mary sits and learns at Jesus's feet. Martha is serving. It's important to note here that the grammar in regards to this story indicates the merry took initiative to sit at Jesus feet. She wasn't commanded to do so, right. She took the initiative and as Jesus was in her home, whatever went through her mind. She said I'm going to be at his feet and I'm going to be listening to what he's teaching. But Martha Martha is serving in contrast to the Serene setting of Mary Sitting Feast peacefully at Jesus's feed learning from him. We not have this picture of of Mars slaving away in the kitchen scurrying to and fro performing the duties of a Hostess and just like that lawyer from the earlier passage who stood up in front of Jesus to bring a question to him. We see Martha doing the same thing Martha stands before Jesus to present a question of her own and to make a request of him. And it's really three elements to this question into the ensuing request all of which reveal something about Martha. First of all, there is the suggestion by Martha that Jesus is being insensitive. Lord do you not care? That's how she starts out her question. Do you not care? There's a suggestion there that Jesus is not being sensitive to her to her needs into this situation. There is also the suggestion that marry her sister is being insensitive. So she hints at Jesus made it be insensitive to her needs but explicitly indicates. Mary is not being insensitive. My sister has left me alone to serve and the third I spent the request is really a disgruntled demand that Martha be instructed to give her some help. And these three things indicate Martha's attitude in regards to what she is doing is not right. She improperly questions. Jesus is care for her. She improperly cast aspersion on her sister and she makes a demand that Jesus clearly sees as misguided.

Marry, her attitude isn't right and Luke goes on to say explicitly that she is distracted in her serving a word that means she is being pulled away from something. That's not just that she's busy. It's that what she's doing is pulling away from something important. She is doing something good. She's serving. In fact, she's loving her neighbor. We just learned is is crucial to the life of a disciple. But she's agitated and she's angry. And she's frustrated and Jesus indicates just as much so we had the setting we had sitting or serving and now we have the summary given by Jesus we get the Divine commentary on what's going on here directly from the mouth of the Lord weary, but the Lord answered her Martha Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her. This repetition of Martha's name Martha Martha is an indication of emotion in the response of Jesus. Whenever you see that you're double name said twice in a row that indicates that is very emotional. We saw it in Luke chapter 8 when the disciples were at Jesus on the boat and he's sleeping and a waves, They say master master. We are perishing there's great emotion in this since Jesus wasn't just giving an off-handed comment. His heart was pulled in regards to the question that Martha had in the actions that she was taking. He says Martha Martha and then he confirms Luke's description of Martha's misguided attitude by pointing out that she is anxious and that she's troubled inferring that. She ought not to be that way. Jesus doesn't in fact speak against her actions in terms of serving people and being a host us, but he definitely has an issue with her improper attitude and he has an issue with her being busy with those things when something more important was at hand.

Martha's anxiety and Martha's worrying her frustration and anger about these things that we're going on are clearly at the expense of one thing of one thing that uses matters. What is the one thing that matters? It is a good portion that Mary has chosen that fries good portion means the right meal. I'm sitting at the feed and devouring Jesus's teaching he saying she is feeding on the right meal. She has a good portion and it's not going to be taking away from her. What is that? That is his teaching in sitting at his feet. The one thing that matters is loving God. This is an exposition and what it means to love God and Luke by inserting this story here equates loving God to sitting at Jesus feet and to learning from him to receive his teaching. We are to sit at Jesus feet with a posture of the admiring disciple feeding on his teaching. Just as the parable of the Good Samaritan was an illustration of what it meant to love your neighbor. We now have an illustration of what it means to love God with all our heart our mind our soul and our strength How do we do that? What does it look like? It looks like following Jesus being a disciple of Jesus adoring him and relishing what we learn of him and what we learn from him. That's what loving God with all your heart and soul and mine is strength looks like in the New Covenant. That's so that's the lesson Jesus wanted to convey. There's one thing that matters. Me that's what Jesus was saying. There's one thing that matters me. That's what the whole Gospel of Luke is remember right from the very beginning y'all plus I want to explain to you about the salvation. The Jesus Christ has brought and here he is again saying, you know what the one thing that matters is me. Being my disciple learning my teaching and obeying it. Turn the girls to that. I want to consider to longer applications. Two applications one in regards to Martha and Mary and one in regards to the one thing that matters of which Jesus spoke. Let's talk about Martha and Mary. J C Ryle and his expository thoughts on the Gospel of Luke author in a book that I have quoted numerous times throughout this series in the Gospel of Luke right sis. Let us observe for one thing how different the characters and personalities of true Christians, maybe the two sisters of whom we read In this passage were faithful disciples. Both had believe both have been converted both it honored Christ when few gave him on or both love Jesus and Jesus love both of them. Did they were evidently women of very different Turn of Mind Martha was active stirring and impulsive feeling strongly and speaking out all she felt Mary was quiet and still in contempt of feeling deeply but saying less than she felt Martha when Jesus came to her house Rejoice to see him and busied herself with repairing a suitable Refreshments Mary also Rejoice to see him but her first thought was to sit at his feet and hear his word. Grace rain in both hearts with each show the effects of Grace at different times and in different ways. He says we shall find it very useful to ourselves to remember this lesson. We must not expect all believers in Christ to be exactly like one another we must not sit down others as having no Grace because their experience does not entirely tally with our own the sheep in the Lord's flock of each their own peculiarities the trees in the Lord's Garden are not all precisely a like all true Servants of God agree in the principal things of religion all are led by one spirit all feel their sin and Trust in Christ. I'll repent all believe in all our holy but in minor matters the often differ widely, let not one despise another on this account. There will be Martha's and there will be married in the church until the Lord comes again. We need to understand this as we live and serve Christ in a body together and communion. There are different people with different temperaments and different personalities a different preferences and different abilities and we are not to look down and those who are not like us. In this example, we are supposed to see Mary is the one to follow to be people who sit at Jesus feet and hear his teaching and a contemplate that but don't forget what we just heard about the Good Samaritan. The true disciple of Christ is someone who sees people in need it does something tangibly to help them. We need to recognize that we're different and there's a spectrum there and it's interesting as you consider this and think about people, you know, there are people who you would generalize and say all their their Martha's their doors. And our people you would say no other those people more like marry their contemplatively. And a temptation is for one personality or one type of person to look at the other and think that they're better than them these two stories put together. Indicate that that's not the way we're to look at it. If you're a door like Martha, you're called to be vigilant and carving of time to study and to learn and to meditate and to be quiet. That's what you're called to. Carvel. Time the Men's breakfast yesterday morning and let me commend that to all men. If you couldn't make it was a wonderful time great food and fellowship and teaching but Graham Graham's a guy I would consider a door. Grams always concerned about what can we do with Christianity with our faith? How can we apply that to our lives? I've told you before that there seems to be for whatever reason an increase in our community of of homeless people in poor people and I'm sitting in my office there and I look out the window and I see him coming in the front door and I am not be honest with you think of myself God I do not want to deal with this right now.

Can I pick out my door that goes to the for you and grams already there grams already speaking of that person to grams. Type of person but he shared yesterday that he has found a great peace and great enjoyment in first thing in the morning carving out time to spend it in God's word and a spend some time studying and contemplating. He's made an effort though. It may not come as natural to him as some others to carve out that time and he's found great. Joy and great fellowship with God. Is there a MRSA be vigilant find time to be contemplatively to study God's word to meditate on it? Similarly, if you're more of a contemplative like Mary, you need to be vigilant and looking for ways in which you can live out the true that you study. Let me use myself as an example here. I understand where a big church and I don't know if you know me. Well, you may have this idea that because I'm up here and I'm speaking in front of you all that. I'm an extrovert that couldn't be farther from the truth. I would love to not leave my office to just sit there and study and read God's word and read books and think about things.

But God has called me not to just be about those things. So as I started the apprenticeship here Pastor Mike is he allowed me to preach he said when you're finished you should go to the back of the church and shake hands and I said do I have to

and he says yes, it's important that you do because when I'm done preaching, I'll be honest with you. The first thing I want to do is go into my office and shut the door and think about it. But Pastor Mike said know you're you need to shake hands with the Sheep as they leave. It might be the only FaceTime they get with you. And so I've done that and it's been richly rewarding some of the best times of my Sundays have been kind and encouraging words that are people have said to me on their way out might be a sentence. I thought I bombed a sermon and they share that I needed to hear that today. Little things and I seen how that has worked out in my life. So if you're someone who likes to study and likes to be alone and likes to be in your books understand that you need to carve out ways and be vigilant and doing so for you to live out those trues and get your hands dirty because that's what God has called us to do.

second application in regards to one thing that matters as I was thinking about this idea of one thing that matters a book that I had read came to mine singleness of heart. It's called by author Clifford Williams. And I've got a pretty long quote. I want to read to you this morning from that book because I think this offer does a great job of bringing together all these ideas together these ideas of the one thing that matters but are struggling life to being torn by other things and Desiring other things in that struggle. We all go through so I would ask that you just sit back and listen as I read this prolong quote focus on the words of the author and as it resonates with you consider that one thing that Jesus talks about

Underneath the business and drudgery of everyday living we sense that there is something more to life than the unthinking performance of our daily tasks. We are vaguely aware of a nagging restlessness and its self-reflective moods. We feel empty. How can we do not know the source of this empty feeling we are uncomfortable with the way things are but do not know what would satisfy us. Perhaps some new adventure or some kind of excitement would but these seem to Halo from a larger perspective and we wonder what it would take to Quail or uneasiness sometimes however, we do know what would satisfy us. We may feel lonely and recognize that we have friends that don't we have friends. We want deeper intimacy with them. We may come to realize that we have never exercised compassion and want to find some way of doing so we may reflect on the inner turmoil. We have experienced anxiety insecurity and want inner Serenity. We may have an acute sense of guilt and crave forgiveness or feel rejected in urine for acceptance. We may notice that we rarely experience the light or wondering want to escape the dull torpor. We feel trapped in we may wonder whether our lives of any point whether there is anything that makes them worthwhile and want to know that we have lived. Well, we might become aware that we have never love without reserve and long to give ourselves away. We may sense that we could love God more and desire to find out how These feelings indicate both a dissatisfaction with our current state and a desire for something more. They are expressions of a certain wistfulness that Faraway look in her eyes as we sit quietly thinking about life they spring from our craving for eternity. Sometimes we are conscious of our craving for eternity during such times. We have a keen sense of our desire to be loved we become exhilarated at Prospect of possessing intimacy and inner contentment these times may not last long. In fact there fleeting moments of puncture are referees and flit in and out of everyday humdrum at other times our sense of Eternity dims shoved aside by distractions Innovations duties, which squeeze out of our delight and love we pursue alien Pleasures, which number desire to be aware of God. We deliberately squash the longing for Grace. We once were conscious of during these times. We are scarcely a way that life contains anything more than what we can hold in our hands during still a lot of times. We find herself pulled in opposite directions. Sometimes alternate Lee and sometimes simultaneously we are open to God's grace, but we continually try to justify ourselves by our good qualities in our successes. We humbly help What I thought of gain for doing so but secretly think of ourselves as Heroes we drive comfort from realizing that God knows our struggles and troubles but are afraid of his knowing the secrets. We keep hidden even from ourselves. We usually grasp the point of the story of the Pharisee and the tax collector, but immediately pointer finger at the Pharisee we Delight in the successes of our acquaintances, but resentment sending undermines that the light we belong for heart-to-heart talks with God but like John Donne or distracted in our prayers by the noise of a fly there x 2 when I when we seek Eternity for self regarding motives, we show compassion to The Compassion to the destitute hoping to receive their appreciation. We smile warmly add friends to convince them that are spiritual life is without defect we read Christian books pray and help neighbor so that we can feel good about our goodness in these cases we act as if we possess eternity when in fact, we do not some of the time then we possess and untarnished What's a paternity some of the time we do not possess any sense of it, and some of the time we are divided powerful description. This author gives us of what has been addressed in this chapter of Luke's gospel and more specifically in the story of Martha and Mary we are pulled in many directions. There are many pressures there are many worries. There are many desires we have pulling us different way, but we were reminded by the story that there is one thing that matters. There is one decision. We will all have to make there is one meal that will satisfy her desire for eternity points away. Brothers and sisters this morning. Our desire is found only as what we love God with all of our being and was uninterrupted immediacy love our neighbor as ourselves and this can only be found in only fulfilled in one thing. The one thing that Jesus points to in the story of Mary and Martha, it can only be found in and through lovingly following Jesus and devouring his teaching. This is Jesus's point. This is the whole point of Luke's gospel. Jesus is salvation. Believe him and believe in him. It's the one thing that matters. Visitors newcomers unbelievers understand this morning that all of your desires all of your strivings all of the tensions you feel and live in all of your pain all of your questions all of everything that you are truly looking for in life. They're all found in one thing a loving relationship with God through Jesus Christ. The one thing that matters is a loving relationship with God the Father through Jesus the son which works itself out and loving our neighbors. This is salvation. This is eternal life and it only comes through faith in Jesus Christ through his work of reconciliation. Where he reconciles us to God the Father no sin has been strained since trained us from God Jesus's death and Resurrection reconciles us to him. If we turn from our sin and Trust in the savior. This morning whether you're a Believer and a member of this church, and it's handy of this church or whether you're a visitor or whether you're someone who is never trusted in Christ. Let me encourage you this morning lay hold of the one thing that matters Jesus Christ. Let's pray.

precious father We thank you for your word this morning. We thank you for this story in the Gospel of Luke which reminds us or maybe informs us for the first time this morning that there is one thing that matters.

And that's a loving relationship with you through Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ is in fact, the one thing that matters is how we love God with all of our heart and mind and soul and strength out of which we love our neighbor as ourselves. I pray this morning Father God that you by your spirit. word for every person here this morning

convince them and help them to understand what it means to lay. Hold of the one thing that matters Jesus Christ only you can do that. I'm praying Jesus name.