NOW IT CAME TO PASS, AS THEY JOURNEYED, THAT HE ENTERED INTO A CERTAIN VILLAGE: AND A CERTAIN WOMAN NAMED MARTHA RECEIVED HIM INTO HER HOUSE. AND SHE HAD A SISTER CALLED MARY, WHO ALSO SAT AT THE LORD'S FEET, HEARING HIS WORD.
      BUT MARTHA WAS DISTRACTED BY MUCH SERVING, AND CONFRONTED HIM, AND SAID, "LORD, DON'T YOU CARE THAT MY SISTER HAS LEFT ME TO SERVE ALONE? TELL HER TO PITCH IN WITH ME AND DO HER PART!" AND JESUS ANSWERED AND SAID TO HER, "MARTHA,MARTHA, YOU ARE WORRYING AND TROUBLED ABOUT MANY THINGS: ONE THING IS NEEDFUL : AND MARY HAS CHOSEN THE BETTER PART, WHICH SHALL NOT BE TAKEN AWAY FROM HER."
This is the Word of the Lord.

If at the end of this text we say, "Don't be a Martha, be a Mary," we completely miss the point. And I'd even say "Poor Martha," except that she's in Paradise. But she does get a bad rap not so much because people read her wrong, but they read Jesus wrong. So before we "Proud Marys" rush to judgment, there's a few things about this Martha gal that we might like to imitate, and as a matter of fact I know a whole bunch of you that already do. NOW IT CAME TO PASS, AS THEY JOURNEYED, THAT HE ENTERED INTO A CERTAIN VILLAGE: AND A CERTAIN WOMAN NAMED MARTHA RECEIVED HIM INTO HER HOUSE For one thing, she was devoted to Jesus. Just another example of a woman with guts. Women are brave, especially when they're protecting someone they love. They forget themselves. When I think back to all the people that have tried to hurt me I feel sorry for them that they had to finally face my wife. "See ya, wouldn't wanna be ya." There were mostly women gathered at the Cross of Jesus while most of His ordained ministers were still in hiding. Martha invited Jesus over when it wasn't politically correct and even dangerous: they were already looking for a way to kill Him. A car bomb would have been handy at the time, ( they're very popular in the region now) Martha and her family would have been collateral damage. Did that stop her? Martha's having Jesus over: end of story.

In Luke's gospel, do you know what the main sign is that you receive the Kingdom of God in Jesus? A theological confession? Nope. Hospitality. Taking people in. How secular! O contraire! Hospitality is a Christian virtue, a required virtue for pastors. I would have prepared a little lesson on hospitality for you guys but with all the dinner invites we've had there just wasn't time. But let me brag about you and Martha a little.

Martha not only received the kingdom, but served, housed and fed the Kingdom. She is the host-ess with the most-ess. Her labor of love is translated "MUCH SERVING" from the same word that we get "deaconess."?The movers and the shakers. Not a lot of talk, but they walk into a room and things start to happen. Suddenly, it seems, the church is clean, a meal is delivered. Bills get paid. I know a Sem. student who has his bills paid by left hands that don't know what their right hands are doing (you know who you are). Something real is going on. Things get built. Things get fixed. People get fixed! Because their love has arms and their devotion has sweat. Those good things that most people just imagine themselves doing, people like Martha actually live. Martha's MUCH SERVING was a good thing:

...until it got to be too much for Martha. SHE WAS DISTRACTED BY MUCH SERVING. The verb actually means "BEING DRAGGED AROUND ." She was devoted to Jesus. Nothing was good enough for Him. Nothing was big enough for Him. But it was taking its toll. She was getting cranky. She wasn't a "mover and shaker" anymore. Something was moving and shaking her. All her bravery and devotion and work was for Jesus, yet she was being dragged away from Jesus! How could this happen? I think you know. You want to do something that in and of itself is good. But you suffer in the process. I don't mean sacrifice. That's an offering. What suffers is your joy. You get bitter. You punch in. You look around at everyone else who doesn't do as much for Jesus as you. You get steamed. You judge. You sin. MARTHA CONFRONTED HIM, You have to picture this! The Ancient of Days, the God of Sabbaoth is in her living room, speaking, and she stomps up when He's in the middle of a sentence - can you see her apron and her exasperated sigh? AND SHE SAID, LORD, DON'T YOU CARE THAT MY SISTER HAS LEFT ME TO SERVE ALONE? TELL HER TO PITCH IN WITH ME AND DO HER PART! Interrupting, confronting and ordering the Lord? How did things ever go this far? It's not like Martha had no faith. I know the movies depict her at the tomb of her brother Lazarus as "disappointed in Jesus," while Mary made that great confession of faith: BUT I KNOW THAT EVEN NOW GOD WILL GIVE YOU WHATEVER YOU ASK...I BELIEVE THAT YOU ARE THE CHRIST, THE SON OF GOD, WHO WAS TO COME INTO THE WORLD." But that was MARTHA! MARTHA said those beautiful things! This was no Pharisee who just invited Jesus in to look Him over and size Him up. She knew Him! She never planned to make such a bad trade-off, and neither do you, but you know I always get stressed out at Christmas. You see yourself going down, but you don't want to face the fact that you're being had. And the devil sees you going down and he says, "So you lose your joy. So you miss the whole point. It's a price you're going to have to pay because what you're doing is NEEDFUL." Go on now, 'back your oar, #41,' crash and burn, there'll be plenty of time for joy in Heaven" But Jesus wasn't willing to trade Martha for a meal! "MARTHA.. MARTHA YOU ARE WORRYING AND TROUBLED ABOUT MANY THINGS...BUT ONE THING IS NEEDFUL. AND MARY HAS CHOSEN THE BETTER PART, WHICH SHALL NOT BE TAKEN AWAY FROM HER.

What's Jesus talking about? What's the "BETTER PART?" MARY SAT AT THE LORD'S FEET, HEARING HIS WORD." So is this about "bag the feast and let's have church?" So we spend all our time and energy on Bible study, and let the dishes pile up, let the muffler fall clean off the car? Is this the teaching? Some of you who deem yourselves "Martha's" might say, "I know people who read the Bible more than I do, memorize more scripture than I do, go to more Bible studies than I do, and I don't see what's so great about them!" We've all heard the example of the housewife that can justify going to endless Bible studies while her husband comes home from another day of working for her to an empty house and another TV dinner? How can she read Jesus so wrong? One could say she is so heavenly minded she's no earthly good. And one would be dead wrong. If she were really 'heavenly minded' she would show that husband of her's what heaven was like when he got home. It's not that Mary was into spiritual stuff and Martha was into secular stuff. Is God more impressed with our secret hearts then with our pies? The Bible says our pies have better stuff in them. Martha would have been just as out of the loop if she had been dragged around ticked and crabby, gathering up prayer requests. Jesus is not saying, " If you are going to be busy and frantic, get busy and frantic doing the things that are really spiritual." This is not a lesson on how to play host to Jesus. Because you can't.

When Jesus ate at Levi's house, who was the real host? When Jesus ate at the Pharisee's house, who was the real host? When Jesus ate at Zachaeus' house, who was the real host? It's hard for a guest to stay "just a guest" when the guest IS LARGER THAN LIFE. It's always that way with Jesus. Remember when you thought you were inviting Him into your life, welcoming Him, choosing Him...only to be overwhelmed when you learned the truth that it was HE that welcomed you, HE that invited you, HE that chose you? Every time we examined the Scripture, it turned out that the Scripture was examining us! The Guest in Martha's house was LARGER THAN LIFE and Mary knew who the real host was, so SHE WAS AT HIS FEET HEARING THE WORD OF THE LORD. Why is it so important to know who the host is? Because the host always serves.

".. ONE THING IS NEEDFUL" Martha, HEAR THE LORD'S WORD. "MARTHA, ..MARTHA." I won't let you crash and burn, not Mary, and not you. I love the way you give to me. There isn't one second of your service to me that I don't notice. BUT ONE THING IS NEEDFUL. You have to take from Me. "I AM AMONG YOU AS ONE WHO SERVES." You have to let me serve you. Mine the table, you the guest. I am the Host and the only one who is going to crash and burn at this feast is Me. I won't watch you be dragged around: let them drag Me around, I'll be dragged to hill of dry bones and stripped naked before I let you be dragged away from Me! They can nail me to a wooden beam and drag it up a high public mast before I'll sit here and watch you be dragged. ONE THING IS NEEDFUL. I must be crucified. You must live forever. ONE THING IS NEEDFUL. I must be cursed on a tree. You must be declared righteous." ONE THING IS NEEDFUL. Listen closely, precious love-slave of Christ: It's wonderful to bring all your work to Jesus and say, "For you." BUT ONE THING IS NEEDFUL. You have to see His work on the Cross and say, "For me." Hear the Word of the LORD: " IF I DON'T CRASH AND THE BURN FOR YOU, YOU HAVE NO PART IN ME. Mine the table you the guest. Mine the table you the guest. Always! Go ahead and love, pray, work, pay bills, fix what's broken, and make those pies. BUT ONE THING IS NEEDFUL, says Jesus: "BE MY GUEST."
This is the Gospel of THE LORD.                  Amen.