Host or Guest?
Rev Dr Mark Porizky
7/22/07
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.’
I’ve
got good news for you! You can
have it all!
That’s right. You can work
harder, play harder, and multi-task your way to squeezing 31 hours of activity
into a 24-hour day. That's the finding of a study conducted by the American
Management Association.
The study concluded that people can add almost 50 percent more activity
to a typical day of 16 waking hours. Similarly, according to U.S. Labor
Department figures, the average yearly increase in
But, at what price? Through technology, people are accomplishing more in
less time, but they are feeling overwhelmed by the multiplicity of their lives,
according to Ed Reilly, CEO of the AMA. "There's a sense of fatigue that
comes from multitasking," he says. "You can force yourself to keep
doing things, but you may not be as effective, and you probably aren’t
enjoying what you are doing."
There
is an ancient Scottish legend that tells the story of a shepherd boy tending a
few straggling sheep on the side of a mountain. One day as he cared for his
sheep he saw at his feet a beautiful flower -- one that was more beautiful than
any he had ever seen in his life. He knelt down upon his knees and scooped the
flower in his hands and held it close to his eyes, drinking in its beauty.
As he held the flower close to his face, suddenly he heard a noise and
looked up before him. There he saw a great stone mountain opening up right
before his eyes. And as the sun began to shine on the inside of the mountain, he
saw the sprinkling of the beautiful gems and precious metals that it contained.
With the flower in his hands, he walked inside. Laying the flower down, he began to gather all the gold and silver and precious gems in his arms. Finally with all that his arms could carry, he turned and began to walk out of that great cavern, and suddenly a voice said to him, "Don't forget the best."
Thinking that perhaps he had overlooked some choice piece of treasure, he
turned around again and picked up additional pieces of priceless treasure. And
with his arms literally overflowing with wealth, he turned to walk back out of
the great mountainous vault. And again the voice said, "Don't forget the
best."
But
by this time his arms were filled and he walked on outside, and all of a sudden,
the precious metals and stones turned to dust. And he looked around in time to
see the great stone mountain closing its doors again. A third time he heard the
voice, and this time the voice said, "You forgot the best. For the
beautiful flower is the key to the vault of the mountain."
In our Scripture passage we have someone who also forgot the best. Her
name was Martha.
It seems that one day Martha suddenly had 13 guests drop in for dinner.
Jesus and His disciples had been traveling in the area and unexpectedly dropped
in.
What would you do if you suddenly had 13 guests drop in for dinner?
Perhaps you would decide to order out for Pizza or Chinese. Or, you would go to
a fast food restaurant: Mickey D’s, or Taco Bell. Or, you would dig some
hamburgers out of your freezer. Maybe North End Deli or Paul’s Pasta if you
could afford it.
But none of these were options for Martha. She could not order out for
fast food or go out to a restaurant. There were no freezers to keep ready-made
foods. Martha probably had to grind up flour and bake bread. She probably had to
kill and cook a chicken or two, maybe even a goat. She probably had to milk the
cow. She probably had to go to the city well for fresh water. Maybe she even had
to do some house-cleaning.
You get the picture: Martha was busy!
Verse 40 says it all: "Martha was distracted by all the preparations
that had to be made." The Greek word translated as "distracted"
literally means "to be pulled, dragged away." Can you picture a team
of work-horses pulling a big tree stump out of a field? In the same way,
Martha's service pulled or dragged away her attention from Jesus.
Martha
wanted to listen to Jesus but she only heard bits and pieces of the
conversation. Being the good hostess that she was, she was constantly jumping up
and down, doing all the work of feeding 13 unexpected guests. She wanted to
listen but was distracted by the pressure of being a good hostess.
In direct contrast to Martha was Mary, her sister. Verse 39 tells us that
Mary "sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said." It was
customary in the
Martha, it seems, did not appreciate this. While running back and forth
she noticed that Mary was sitting down with Jesus. Here she was so busy with 13
unexpected guests for dinner and her sister was sitting down. So Martha went to
Jesus and said, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the
work by myself? Tell her to help me!" (v 40).
Notice what Martha said. According
to Martha, she says that, "my sister has left me to do the work by
myself." In other words, Mary had been helping but now she thought it more
important to sit down and listen to Jesus. She had been working; but now she
said "Enough!" threw down her apron, and sat at Jesus' feet.
Too many times when we look at this story we view Martha as being bad and
Mary as being good. But we need to notice that Jesus did not condemn Martha for
her serving, for being such a good hostess. It is obvious that both Martha and
Mary deeply loved Jesus. Both of them expressed their love and their faith in
their service of Jesus. Both of them expressed their love and their faith by
being hosts of Jesus.
We
all should know that the Christian life is a life of faith expressed in works.
This means that all Christians, like Mary and Martha, should show their love and
their faith in their service. Like Mary and Martha, all Christians should be
hosts. We are called to minister to the physical needs of others in the name of
Christ.
But despite our call to serve, the primary call of a Christian is to sit.
Let me repeat. We are first
and foremost called to sit, not serve. It
is not as important for us to be Jesus’ host as it is important for us to be
Jesus’ guest.
As I said before, Jesus did not condemn Martha for serving. But He did
admonish her for being so distracted with serving that she neglected "what
is better." Jesus said, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset
about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better
..."
What does Jesus mean here?
Martha's emphasis was on being a host of Jesus. Mary's emphasis was on
being a guest of Jesus. Both are necessary.
But service can kill a person. Being busy with this or that can kill a
person. Putting all one's emphasis on being a host can be deadly. That happens
when a person, like Martha, is too busy to listen to Jesus. So Jesus says,
"Martha, Martha ... only one thing is needed." What is this one thing?
It is being Jesus' guest.
Remember the movie City Slickers?
In City Slickers Curley gave Mitch this well-worn piece of
advice:
Curley: You city folks. -- You spend 50 weeks a year getting knots in
your rope and you think two weeks here will work them all out. You just don't
get it. All that's important in life is that one thing.
Mitch: What thing?
Curley: That's what you have to figure out.
We still have to figure it out. Well,
Mary had that one thing figured out. She knew she had to spend time with the
Lord. She knew she had to be His guest.
Friends, nothing, absolutely nothing, is more important than being Jesus' guest. Absolutely nothing else is as important as this. A booming business, a new car, a fulfilling job, an immaculate house, happy guests, a relaxing vacation, invigorating exercise, a winning baseball team, a handsome boyfriend or beautiful girlfriend, high grades – all of these are very important in life but they are unimportant next to Jesus Himself.
Remember what Jesus said? "What good will it be for a man if he
gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul?" (Mt 16:26).
"Only one thing is needed." Knowing Jesus, listening to Him,
being His guest, is the only really important thing in life; everything else is,
or should be, secondary.
Mary knew what she wanted – she chose to be Jesus' host and Jesus'
guest. Martha, on the other hand, chose to busy herself with all the work and
preparations involved in looking after Jesus and His disciples.
Individuals too can so easily get the Martha syndrome. There is always so
much work to do: at our place of employment, at home with the kids or in the
yard, at church and school, at the various groups we or our children are a part
of. There is always so many activities to be involved in. But let's not be like
Martha who got distracted with too much serving. Rather, let us take time out
every day to listen to Jesus, to get to know Jesus better, to be His guest.
Many years ago, Dr. Robert Schuller, the renowned pastor of the Crystal
Cathedral, Dr. Schuller was on a whirlwind book promotion tour, visiting eight
cities in four days. It was an exhausting schedule plus he had the normal duties
Dr. Schuller had on his shoulders as pastor of a large church.
As he was going over his schedule with his secretary for his return home,
she reminded him that he was scheduled to have lunch with the winner of a
charity raffle. Schuller was suddenly sobered when he found out the winner of
the raffle, for he happened to know that the $500 the person bid to have lunch
with him represented that person's entire life savings.
How did he know that? The person was his own teenage daughter.
Schuller said that that lunch forever approached his way of doing
ministry. It was Schuller who said
that we are human BE-ings, not human DO-ings.
Guest or host? It’s not
that one is bad. But, there are
times when sitting is better than serving.
Will you pray with me now?
St.
Andrew Presbyterian Church, Groton
,
Web Site: WWW.SAPC-CT.ORG
Office Email: OFFICE@SAPC-CT.ORG
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