Roger's Postings

Saturday, July 17, 2010

Luke 10:38-42. Not too busy to listen to Jesus!! 18/7/10

(38) As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. {39} She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. {40} But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!" {41} "Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, {42} but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."

Busy, busy, busy – life is so busy today! Many of us I am sure have this kind of feeling about our lives; and there would even be times when we feel as though, ‘if only we could stop the train and get off.’

Now in most communities these days there is the unwritten demand that we be involved in so much of what is going on. There is the need for us to do this, if we want many of the things we have in our community and if they are to function well. It is all a necessity. But at times, I am sure we wonder, at what price. Our lives have become so busy and full, and we often are looking for ways that we can cut back. But then many of these organisations suffer when we do. So what are we to do? What are the right things for us to be involved in and what are not? Do we have our priorities in the right order?

Now the story goes of one man who was in just such a position. He was involved in most things that were going on in his community. As well, he ran his own business and had his family commitments; not to mention his church affiliation. Now he got to the point where he too was in a position where he was seemingly like a cat chasing his own tail; even though for a long time he did not fully realize it. But the people on the committees and the groups he was involved in, seemed far less friendly and cooperative. Little things at work seemed to be constantly going wrong. The wife and family were constantly being difficult. Even his church was no longer the same. Nothing was going quite right, and everything was becoming a chore; but he had to keep on going; he had to keep up the image.

Finally, at the insistence of his nagging wife and a good friend he came to the conclusion that he was just involved in too much and it was all getting to him. So he decided to cut back, and at least give a bit more time to his family and business.

So to give more time to the family, he decided to go places and do things; which mostly occurred on weekends and in particular on Sundays. After all, there was no real problem in cutting back there, as ‘it is only a Sunday here and there’ and he still believed anyway. Of course, the same thing happened with his work. It was easier to cut back on his church and community work than his sporting and social involvements; and he could pick up on those things later on again anyway.

So with relative ease he found ways to cut back on his busy life. This wasn’t too bad after all. But the problem was that instead of things getting better, they seemed to be getting worse and worse. He still seemed to be just as busy and still getting nowhere fast. People where just as unfriendly and uncooperative. At work, business was going backwards: And the family was becoming even more disconnected.

Now it was not that those things had necessarily got any worse. It was just that his attitude, instead of improving the situation, made things worse. He had become more selfish and self-centred. His worship attendance had almost dropped right off altogether; and his faith became a matter of no great importance; even though he would deny this when questioned. So more and more his work, sport and family involvement became an area where he struggled to maintain his ego; and he constantly faced feelings of failure, loneliness and fear.

In fact, sadly, he went on to lose everything he had: business, family fiends and possessions; even his own life. Sadly, it all related back to his failure to get his priorities right way back in the early stages. By ignoring and letting go of the one important aspect to his life, he ended up losing everything.

Now this illustrates very well the point coming out of our reading today. Martha as well intentioned as she was, allowed herself to be distracted by her busyness. So here, Jesus has to remind her that only one thing is truly needful in life. That is to listen to Jesus, and to know of the salvation that is available in him. To ignore that is to invite disaster.

So the message here is about getting our priorities right. Now by nature or choice we are either active people or people who like to sit and reflect on things. One Christian notices things that need to be done around the place: the lawns and gardens that need tending, or the cleanliness of the place, or the people that need visiting or helped. Another Christian however likes to read and study, go to seminars and discuss the issues at hand.

Here we need to remember that a Christian needs to do both; to read, listen and ponder on the Word of God; as well as act out the Christian life. Those who only want to be involved in the thought aspect of Christianity and ignore the needs of people, should listen carefully to the parable of the good Samaritan that we had last week. While those who are so busy with the chores of life and do not constantly rely on our Lord and what he has to say, need to ponder here this story of Mary and Martha.

Both women in this case knew how special Jesus was. Both were overjoyed that he was staying at there place. Both were doing worthwhile things; Mary listening and Martha being hospitable. The difference however, is that one has her priorities right, while the other doesn’t. Martha had allowed herself to become frustrated and annoyed in her busyness and desire to take care of the everyday aspect of their lives and in order to put on a ‘good spread’ for Jesus. In fact, she even gets cross with Jesus because he is allowing Mary to just sit around and listen instead of doing what she should be doing. So Jesus has to have a little, gentle talk with Martha. "Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed.

Being active, even active Christians, should not take the place of spending time with Jesus, and listening and thinking on the Word of God. Yet it is just here that we so often start getting off on the wrong track. We allow the pressures and demands of our doing things, to take precedence. We place greater emphasis on what we do and our activity than on Jesus and being with him and listening and receiving from him.

As a result, it is so easy to become just busy people doing things in order to satisfy ourselves rather than the Lord being the centre of everything. In the process we then become either, proud and critical, or burdened, stressed and down-heartened.

In our busyness, we need to remember and not let slip that which is of ultimate importance. That is to sit and listen with Mary at the feet of Jesus so that we constantly hear about and learn to understand the extent of God’s love and forgiveness that he has extended to us, and the eternal life in heaven with himself that is now ours. The more we hear and meditate on that message the better we and our society will be; and the more the love and forgiveness of God will then be a major factor in life, rather than selfish, greed, loneliness and pain.

Most importantly, as we gather together week by week at Jesus’ feet, we will receive that which he wants us to have, so that we then can go forward with confidence in our daily lives. There we will then be able to discern what is good and beneficial for us to be involved in and what is not; and we will be enabled to not become burdened by our activities. Because we know that we are loved, forgiven and assured of eternal life, we can then go forward and do what is best for others rather than simply what we want. Having chosen the one thing needful in life there is no need to worry and become perturbed about the many other things of life. Now we can get on with life, yes first of all sitting at Jesus feet, but then doing what is necessary as we live out our life day by day. We then can put our faith into action with deeds of love and service.

So go from here, free from the hassles and stresses of your busy lives, having your priorities now set firmly in place on that one thing needful. Yes determined not to walk in the way of so many others, that is leading them further and further into difficulty. But with eyes set firstly and firmly on our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; allowing him to give hope, meaning and purpose to everything else, so that you can be free in your busyness. You too, choose what is better and it will not be taken away from you. God’s blessings be with you all in this regard. AMEN.

Pastor Roger Atze
Glandore/Underdale Lutheran Parish

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