Sermon - Tarrytown United Methodist Church

Simply Taking Life and Rest

Robert E. Hall
Tarrytown United Methodist Church

July 22, 2007

Text: Luke 10: 38 - 42

There are times when we must go and do----and times when we must sit and listen. We will be wise when we know which is called for.

“Don’t just stand there, do something.” This is the admonition which is foremost in our minds most of the time----a muscular Christianity. We remember John Wesley’s command to do all the good we can by all the means we can, for as long as ever we can. We are prone to forget Wesley’s rule to pray and fast and worship. Wesley was wise enough to know that there are times when we should be saying to ourselves, “Don’t just do something, stand there.”

In the story, Mary is sitting and listening to what Jesus has to say. Her sister, Martha, is busy doing all the customary things to entertain an honored guest---which we may presume entailed preparing a meal for Jesus (and perhaps for others traveling with him.) It is Martha’s home, we are told. They are both hostesses. They are showing hospitality in the finest traditions of the time---which would have looked, as I picture it, similar to the Sunday dinners served in my first, rural churches: at least two meat dishes, a half dozen vegetables, green and Jell-O salads, cantaloupe or fruit salad, always mashed potatoes, and two or three desserts topped with whipped cream!

So, when Martha asks Jesus to tell Mary to help with the work, why does Jesus tell Martha to let Mary stay where she is, and gently chide her for being distracted by so many things? Was Martha doing anything wrong? After all, she was showing her love for Jesus, too.

(I wish the apostles had remembered Martha’s response to Jesus chiding. Was she amused, humbled, angered? I like to think she was amused and humbled; maybe she decided that a simple meal was enough, given the occasion.)

Sometimes our actions are not wrong, merely inappropriate, unfitting for the occasion.

Here was Jesus, the one whose teachings transfixed crowds of people, the one who seemed to have power to heal people of life-long terrible illnesses; the one who dared to pronounce forgiveness of sins, and whose fellowship extended to the least (children) and the lost (tax collectors); here he was in their home as a guest. Imagine the moment available to Mary and Martha: to listen to Jesus and ask him questions. Carpe diem: seize the day! Don’t let this opportunity pass you by!

The words Jesus uses to describe Martha’s state of mind are “worried and distracted by many things.” We have all experienced and witnessed this: We are in worship and notice that the altar cloth is not quite square with the table and our mind becomes so occupied with it that we miss the stunning anthem by the choir. We drive through the countryside, rushing to get to our destination, and we do not even see the beautiful wildflowers. We are not doing anything wrong: but we are not taking advantage of the gifts of the moment.

For some of us, much of the time, we are not really where we are: we are in a half-dozen places at once. We can become “frantic bundle(s) of hollow energy,” as Richard Foster has written. I am reminded of the old Sesame Street song, “Inchworm, inchworm, measuring the marigold, seems to me you’d stop and see how beautiful they are.”

Mary is not to be seen as virtuous and Martha as bad. Mary has “chosen the better part,” that is, she sees that the highest priority at the moment is listening to what Jesus has to say. She focuses her attention on what matters most

Women were not supposed to do what Mary did---- listen to a rabbi expound on the things of God. There was a saying in first century Jewish culture: “Better to burn the torah than to teach it to women.” But this is a new day, when the Spirit of God is being poured out on all flesh, men and women, to hear and pass on the story of God’s salvation. Jesus does not send her away.

The story features two women, of course, but the meaning of the story is for all disciples, men and women, boys and girls.

We are certainly called to serve others, fulfilling the commandment to love our neighbor as ourselves. And we are called to love God by being attentive to God’s spirit. There is a rhythm to the practice of the Christian life. “Work without contemplation is bitter and blind, but contemplation without work is callow and empty.” (Douglas Steere, quoted at Sermonwriter.com)

More than just being quiet in retreat is called for. My friend Wally Chappell said that a counselor-friend of his advised a patient to spend one hour a day by himself, alone, doing nothing but resting. No reading, no listening to music. The patient protested, saying that he could not stand to be alone with himself that long. The counselor replied: “Now you know what your family and friends have had to put up with all these years.”

As those who love our Lord, it is “listening” to Jesus that is called for, not simply some “transcendent experience.” As one has written, Christian spirituality “is the embrace of Jesus, who, united to God, restores our union with God that we lost because of sin.” (Robert Webber, quoted in Christianity Today, July, 2007)

Since we cannot have the pleasure of Jesus’ company as Mary did, how can we listen to Jesus today?

There are so many resources for contemplation, scripture study and pray available now. Many of you have discovered these, and have found you spiritual lives enriched by certain practices. The daily reading of a psalm and a gospel text, the discipline of thinking about the meanings of the texts, prayers that are prompted by the texts, and a time of silent listening for the “still small voice:” this basic pattern keeps me focused, when I don’t let the “many things” of my life distract me. Somewhere I picked up this saying: “Engage the text, hold it close, pass it on.”

I believe that it is the specifics of Jesus’ teachings and actions which keep us honest. The gospels, faith portraits that they are of our Lord----coupled with our imaginations---can be like sitting at Jesus’ feet again. All of these gathered-up stories, parables and narratives, lovingly preserved by the earliest believers, are our historical grounding for who Jesus was. And, by faith in the risen Lord and through the work of the Holy Spirit, we can experience God’s presence for our lives, here and now.

I have read that Buddhists say that the finger that points to the moon is not the moon. But by faith we have come to believe that Jesus not only points to God: Jesus is one with God, for “in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.” (Colossians) (See “Eyes of Faith” by Edward Oakes, in Christian Century, June 26, 2007)

Loving our neighbors may be clearer to us than loving God. It may be that Mary understood something about Jesus that we overlook. Christ is our friend who desires our company. Showing love for him requires spending time with God in the ways given to us.

Whatever else is required, loving God motivates us to give loving attention on a regular basis to our friend, our rabbi, our Savior who is “the way, the truth and the life.” When Jesus visits, his teaching is always the best part. You and I do not want to be so distracted and worried over lesser things that we miss the conversation.