Sitting together in Bible Study, or here in the worship space, that takes one level of concentration and discipline—an expected level. There is an unspoken understanding of how, and what, we are to be focusing upon in these moments.
Paying attention in the moment. For some people it is harder than the words imply for we are a culture that prides itself on multitasking and being in two places at once. If you don’t believe me, then answer for me, and I don’t want anyone to do it out loud (please don’t): what are your plans for lunch today?
I suspect that as soon as I asked the question a fully formed image, and a plan, and even perhaps, a smell came crystalizing into place. Whether you are at home watching the service, or here with us, we do many things at once. You knew exactly what the next steps look like and when and where you needed to be even if your attention should on God’s word here—and don’t worry my mind would do the same thing.
Currently my Apple Watch is tracking my heart rate and respiration levels, and I will check that data later today to see. But also, my iPad has been updating me in real time if anyone comes too close to the manse. Our Ring doorbell will alert me, even in church when I should be thinking only about what God’s word says to my heart and soul, but then the I get alerted and my focus drifts away. . . And don’t worry no one has come close to the house.
My point is that our focus moves back and forth from what one thing to another often without us even knowing it or without us choosing to allow it. And that second phrase: choose to allow it, is the most important part for our reflection today on this Bible passage. But this story asks us to dwell in this moment, in this story, in these words only and not get distracted.
Jesus has just finished teaching us the parable of the Good Samaritan. And as I said last week, I believe that He is the Good Samaritan. I believe we are the ones in the ditch who need Him to pick us up out of that ditch and to care for us.
Perhaps the only way that we will be fully able to take this lesson into ourselves is if we resist the urge to be distracted by what is happening all around us—a very real temptation for most of us. A temptation that manifests itself in our next story.
I want to continue asking us to look at these familiar stories. Today I wonder, what matters most?
Move 1- the context
From teaching the parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus will next travel to the home of Mary and Martha—which is a safe place for him. But overall, Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem for the final time. So, his mind is on his final destination and work to be done once he reaches that place. There is a heaviness that lives behind this story.
We know much about the shape of evening at the sister’s home. Mary does one thing… Martha the other. Then Jesus, as he often does, offers a commentary that is designed to bring them both together under God.
Neither is condemned or rebuffed for their choice.
For starters, Martha is the host of the evening. As the host her role is set. She is responsible for Jesus’ care and everything that happens that night. From the conversation to the food, to the overall atmosphere while everyone is with her, Martha’s watchful eye is on each detail. And we can infer that she takes this responsibility seriously.
Then we have Mary, who in contrast, seems to sit passively by Jesus’ knee. But the wording used here by Luke is anything by passive. Instead, Mary’s choice is spiritually mandated. She is listening to Jesus as a form of preparation. Hearing to heed.
And so, it seems that Luke sets up a choice for the reader: Mary or Martha. Luke seems to ask the reader to look at their own life and wonder which character they identify with more: Martha the host, or Mary the listener?
And then, as we begin to feel ourselves drawn to one or the other, as our internal traits draw us to either the host or the listener, Jesus enters the story again. And as Jesus enters the story, he tells Martha that only one thing is necessary (or needed). And while he then says that Mary has chosen it, he does not fully say what that thing is. We are left to infer it while not judging Martha for seeming to have missed it or lost it.
Move 2- the choice.
And so, I wonder: What is the better choice?
Now we always say that the better choice is to be Mary. To sit at Jesus’ knee. To be the disciple who listens and absorbs the teachings of Jesus. I will tell you that is where my mind and spirit naturally gravitate when I first read this account.
Yet someone must make sure that the evening is running smoothly. Someone must make sure the church is functioning properly. There are guests in the home; guests who are hungry, guests who need to experience and receive hospitality and the warmth of Christian love. Someone must do this work too. For it is important and it cannot be left to someone else.
Not everyone can sit and let someone else do the necessary work.
But make no mistake, Jesus tells Martha that in her work, Martha has become distracted. . . frantic. . . she has taken a misstep.
The challenge is that in Martha’s distracted state she has become so frantic; so, pulled apart by what she is witnessing on this night. And while there is some justification for her state, and some, like myself, would say she is justified at times for it, her choice risks damaging the potential for discipleship that is necessary and essential for the church to flourish and function—an important distinction.
As Cynthia Jarvis said: “A church [or a person like Martha] that has been led to be “worried and distracted by many things” (verse 41) inevitably will be a community that dwells in the shallows of frantic potlucks, of anxious stewardship campaigns, and events designed to perpetuate the institution. Decisions will be made in meetings without a hint of God’s reign. Food and drink will appear at table without Christ being recognized in the breaking of bread. . . [Then she concludes by saying] This often leads to a congregation getting downright ornery.”[1]
But Mary can also be no different from her distracted sister. For she too could just sit there and not realize that the call to hear the Savior, and hear His teaching, must lead her to further her discipleship. It must lead her to examine the very things that distract Martha. Jesus’ teaching must lead Mary to stand up from Jesus’ knee and ‘do’ something. For Mary, and we, cannot just sit here and hope that it will all be okay because we came to church today.
Because the church cannot function in this community, or in its day-to-day work, if we are not asking “Who is God calling us to be? And what is that meaningful thing, the meaningful work, that we should be focusing upon because of what we are hearing from the mouth, and the word of the Lord?”
Be it stewardship. Be it evangelism. Be it service.
The choice sits before us to pay attention to the voice of the Lord and act accordingly to how God is speaking to us for if we are rushing around too much, or if we are just passively sitting here waiting for someone else to fix things, then we could miss what the Good Samaritan might be doing in our midst and how the Lord calls each of us to focus on what is necessary and what is vital as we hear from God.
Move 3- what is the choice?
The better choice than is simply to focus on Jesus. And while that sounds simplistic and not revolutionary.
If Martha focused only on Jesus, she might find that place where the preparations stopped and the joyfulness of church functioning returned. The place where personal stewardship returned and she use her gifts to their fullest while not overdoing it and not burning out. She would not be frantic. She would not be distracted. But would serve God fully and completely in a way that makes use of her gifts to glorify the Lord.
And if Mary focused on Jesus’ words and what they called her to do, she too would stand and carry the message of the cross with her to others. Now with Mary it is likely that she would do this. But the temptation is there for us to just sit here and let our focus drift away idly.
No, we must take the word of the Lord with us. We must remain focused while functioning as the church in service, in faith, in evangelism, and stewardly as we use what God has given us to care for the church and see that Bethesda continues to flourish as the church God calls us to be.
For we can be distracted, and we can become frantic, and we can become passive and wait for the world to figure out that Jesus is Lord.
Conclusion
I hope that as you leave church today, you will take Mary and Martha with you into each encounter that you have. And as you take then with you, you will use their lessons to help show others the value of noticing and paying attention to how Jesus is with them.
Dm
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