Luke 10:38-42

Have you ever had the occasion to have a special guest come to your home? Maybe it was a relative you hadn't seen for a while or maybe a member of your family who is in the military and has come home for a brief visit. Often in these situations we find the Mom of the house or the wife busy preparing something to serve the guest and one or maybe several of the rest of the family sitting in the living room listening intently to something the guest is talking about. Does that sound familiar. In our Gospel lesson for today, which we heard read just a few moments ago, we find a guest, and not just any guest but Jesus, God's Son, in the home of Martha and Mary. We see Jesus sitting down teaching Mary, who is right at His feet, focused on Him and listening to His every word. Martha, on the other hand, is bustling around the house as she is preparing to serve something for their guest, Jesus. Have you got the picture?

At some point, Martha gets a little upset that she is busy preparing something to serve the guest and her sister Mary isn't helping her. And, when she says something to Jesus about it, He corrects her. "Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed."

The first question that comes to mind is, "Hey, why is Martha being corrected, all she is trying to do is be a good hostess and serve her guest. What is that all about? Well, let's take a look at what is really going on here.

Martha is certainly busy, but she is distracted from her guest and is concerned about many things in trying to serve her guest. Her guest is not pleased by her just putting out a great effort and sacrifice. Perhaps her effort is made because human beings often measure a person's dedication by how busy a person is. But God isn't looking for merely busy people. Martha is certainly serving the Lord, but she is troubled in her service because her service was the focus and her focus was not on the one important thing - hearing the Word of God.

Mary, on the other hand, had chosen the more important thing. She is sitting at the Lord's feet. Her attention is undivided and not focused on anything else except what the Lord is giving her. She is eager to appropriate what Christ had to "serve" to her in the one "food" - His Word, that will not be taken away. The food Martha is preparing will go away. Christ tells us in the gospel of John: "Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you." (John 6:27)

All too often you and I are like Martha. Take today for instance. We are here in church and as happens to all of us at one time or another, we are thinking about what it is we are doing to serve the Lord. Maybe it's thinking about having to prepare and serve Sunday dinner, or thinking about going to see the parents or grandparents this afternoon. Some of us are possibly thinking about the Sunday School lesson we are going to be leading shortly after the worship service. Some of us are serving the Lord by being on the altar guild and have responsibilities after the service that you are thinking about. The list could go on - ushers, organist, day-school teachers, secretary, Pastor, yes, even the Pastor may be thinking about things that need to be done during or after the worship service. Serving the Lord in all these capacities is not wrong. The Lord wants us to serve Him by serving others. But because of sin we often get wrapped up in thinking about how we are serving the Lord that we forget about why we are here in this place, in God's house. He is here to serve us.

This is true also of when we are in our own homes during the rest of the week. We are serving the Lord by being parents, children, students, workers. In today's society there are plenty of distractions that come with our serving the Lord. We get worried and upset and lose sight of the one thing that is needed - the Lord serving us. We run around getting ready for work, going to work, shuttling children to school, sports practices and games, music lessons or school related activities. Children go through the same busy day with getting ready for school, going to school, practice, homework and hanging out with friends. In all these things we can indeed serve the Lord. But, in this service to the Lord we too can hear the Lord tell us, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed." Of course, He's not going to call us Martha, but calls us each by our own name.

During the course of any given day, how many of us eat at least one meal? Why do we eat at least one meal? Well, in order for our bodies to function it needs fuel for energy, which comes in the form of food and vitamins. So, in order for our bodies to be able to breath or walk or our brains to think we need to serve our bodies food. And each of us serves our bodies food every day. This is how we keep our lives going. We make time each and every day, and normally several times a day to serve up this food for our bodies. Yet, we usually fail to be served the one food that is more important than food for the body. We fail to take time each day to sit at the feet of our Lord with undivided attention, reading or hearing His Word, eager to appropriate what Christ has to serve to us - the one food, His teaching that will not be taken away. In the original Greek text, Jesus uses a play on words where He tells Martha in verse 42 that Mary has chosen what is better. The Greek can also be translated, "Mary has chosen the good part or portion", as in a portion of food. Jesus is that food. He is The Word. Jesus tell us in John Chapter 6 verse 35: "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty."

You and I need to be like Mary and sit at the Lord's feet. We need to set aside all other distractions, worries and fears and give our undivided attention to what Christ has to serve to us. And Oh how He served us! He humbled himself, coming to earth to become a man! He willingly went to the cross, suffered and died for us! He served Himself, the sacrifice for the punishment we deserved! Today, here at church He serves us Himself in the reading of the Scriptures, in the singing of the hymns, throughout the liturgy and He serves us His very body and blood in Holy Communion. Throughout this service to us He is serving us the very thing that He earned on the cross for us, and the very thing that we need to be able to truly serve Him- He gives us forgiveness of sins. While we are away from church He serves us forgiveness of sins through His Word - The Bible. He serves us the forgiveness of sins so that we can be able to truly serve Him. To put it another way:

In our text, Jesus doesn't yell at Martha. He gently calls her name twice, Martha, Martha. In doing it this way He voices love in an intense way. He gently points out to her that she is worried and upset about many things, but is missing the one thing that is needed. She needs to be served by the Lord. Once this has been done she will be able to serve the Lord in true service. Jesus gently comes to us when we are busy, worried and upset about many things to let us know about the one thing we need to be able to serve the Lord in true service.

Both Mary and Martha stand under Jesus' judgment and grace at the cross. Both Mary and Martha in each of us plays her part by faith. But the better part is the listening part, being served by Christ through His Word and Sacraments. Without our Lord's Spirit we can do no good thing; without listening to His Word we cannot know what is good. But, in His Word we are equipped for service; in His Word we have what we need for service.

Will you please pray with me. Holy Father, forgive us for so often focusing on the immediate tasks at hand and overlooking daily opportunities to grow in Your grace and knowledge in Jesus Christ. Amen