“Chill Out”

Luke 10:38-42

          In my humble opinion, the passage we are going to look at today is the most humorous passage in the entire New Testament. Perhaps I find it amusing because I grew up with five siblings or maybe because I raised two children of my own. It could have something to do with the nine sets of aunts and uncles and 31 first cousins that I lived near and grew up with. Or maybe it was the 14 nieces and nephews I watched grow up. Whatever the reason is that this passage is so funny to me; the fact remains, that siblings are an odd bunch. 

          We stick our noses into each others business the whole time we are growing up. Sometimes we do it to protect our brother or sister; sometimes we do it to protect ourselves. We can do it out of revenge or we can do it out of jealousy. As we grow older we sometimes forget to stop doing it which can cause all kinds of problems. It seems that siblings are either willing to die for each other or wanting to kill each other, there is no happy medium. 

          Of course there is nothing new when it comes to sibling rivalry; the Old Testament is full of examples. The very first murder just happened to be a sibling slaying caused by a dispute over how two brothers worshipped God. Instead of Cain following his brother’s lead and worshiping God properly, he felt it was easier to just get rid of the competition and he killed Abel instead. Not a good decision I’m afraid. That one cost him and his descendents dearly. They were separated from God for; let’s see… oh yah, ever.  

          Then there were the “brothers twelve” who were perhaps the epitome of sibling rivalry. You may recall a young man by the name of Joseph, the youngest of the twelve, and how the eleven took care of this “Daddy’s boy” by selling him off to some slave traders. Well at least they didn’t kill him and in the end Joseph saved the whole lot of them from starvation. It’s a great story if you haven’t read it and it takes up the last 13 chapters of Genesis if anyone is interested.  

          And how can we forget the older brother of the prodigal son. Talk about resentment! He couldn’t handle the fact that dad still had feelings for the bum who wasted his inheritance; “The nerve, giving a homecoming party to the likes of him!” I wander what ever happened to those guys?

          Anyway, I promise that the story we are going to look at today will have a much happier ending and having said that, I need to put the passage in context before we can study it. For the past several weeks we have looked at Jesus’ training of His disciples. We’ve looked at what it would cost them, who they could trust, and not trust, what kind of power they would have to carry out their mission and who their authority would come from. As Jesus continued the training, He shared a story with the disciples that we know as the “Parable of the Good Samaritan” or as some call it, the “Parable of the Good Neighbor”.  

          We all know this story and the teaching that comes from it. This story was a commentary, if you will, on the second great commandment, “love thy neighbor as thyself”. In other words it spoke to the relationship that disciples of Jesus are suppose to have with each other as human beings and how we are to treat outsiders. The second part of this three part lesson is what we will look at today. It has to do with our relationship with Jesus and how we are to respond to Him and His teachings. Let’s look at Luke 10:38-42 as we continue:

            Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me." But the Lord answered her, "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her."              

          Let’s look at some history before we get into the lesson. Lazarus, Martha and Mary were three siblings that were very close friends of Jesus. They lived in Bethany which was a little less than two miles from Jerusalem. I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that Jesus was now on his final journey to Jerusalem and you may be asking yourself, how in the world did He get to Bethany so fast when last week He was still in Galilee? The answer to the question is found not in the content of Luke’s Gospel but in the style in which he writes. 

          St. Luke is always more concerned about bringing the message of Jesus out rather than things being in chronological order. Why did he put this story here? Because it fits perfectly between the other lessons Jesus is teaching. That’s all, no more, no less, that’s just the way it is.  

          Let’s go back to the house shall we. Is everyone in the house with me now? Jesus and His entourage have arrived at the home of his beloved friend Martha. Her younger sister Mary is also there and we are not sure where their brother Lazarus is. Jesus is sitting in the living room with all the disciples. He is once again sharing His wisdom with them as He relaxes after a long day. Martha, being the fantastic hostess that she is, is busily preparing a meal for the group. As she scurries around she notices that something is missing. That something is help. “Where is her younger sister?” she wonders.  

          Looking around she sees Mary sitting with the rest of the disciples in the living room with Jesus. “What in the world is she doing there? Can’t she see there’s a ton of things to do? She hasn’t even set the table yet! What is she thinking? In fact, what is Jesus thinking? I suppose it is OK for her to be sitting and listening to him teach but can’t He see that she has work to do? If she isn’t in here helping me in 5 minutes I’m going to give both of them a peace of my mind.”

          Now I know that no one here has ever felt that way about someone before; especially a sibling that was always goofing off when they were expected to be helping. Or just maybe you were the younger brother or sister that couldn’t be found when there was work to be done? No; that can’t be! Anyway, Martha finally had had enough and it was time for her to put her foot down.  "Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me."  

          Now the first thing that comes to my mind is; “Who does she think she’s talking to?” The first thing that probably came to her mind was; “I can’t believe I just said that.” And Mary was no doubt thinking; “Oh, oh, I did it this time.”  

          To quote another one of my favorite theologians; “I don’t care what anybody says, that there is funny.”

          But the Lord answered her, "Martha, Martha, chill out, do you want some cheese to go with that whine?” Fortunately for Martha our Lord has a lot more couth and compassion than I have and answered her with these words; "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her."  

            Let’s take a step back for a minute and look at this answer Jesus gave Martha. “….you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her."  

            When I looked at this answer the first thing realized was that Jesus was giving a very spiritual answer to a very physical concern. As I studied the commentaries I was surprised at some of the interpretations of this answer. Apparently many early commentators believed that the “one thing necessary” Jesus was talking about was referring to a simple meal. In other words He was telling Martha to cut out the salads and hors d’oeuvres and stick to the main course so that she wouldn’t be so overwhelmed. Much time has been spent and tons of paper used up refuting that teaching when other answers seem to make much more sense. 

          Still others used this passage to justify spending their lives sitting around meditating on God’s word while making others do all the work. John Calvin didn’t have much use for that sort at all; “When some men were driven by ambition to withdraw from the ordinary intercourse of life, or when peevish (grumpy) men gave themselves up to solitude and indolence (laziness), the resolution to adopt that course was followed by such pride, that they imagined themselves to be like angels, because they did nothing; for they entertained as great a contempt for active life, as if it had kept them back from heaven.”  

          I have however saved the best for last, and it is a modern scholar that gets the award for the least likely interpretation of this passage. For the same reason I read Time and Newsweek magazines, I also read more liberal commentators; to see where they are coming from. As I was reading through Tom Wright’s commentary I found myself sitting back in my chair saying, out loud I might add, “where in the world is he going with this?” Are you ready? This passage, according to Mr. Wright, is a proof text that women should be ordained. That’s right, because Mary sat and listened to Jesus teach, women should be ordained into the priesthood.  

          “…to sit at the feet of a rabbi was what you did if you wanted to be a rabbi yourself. There is no thought here of learning for learning’s sake. Mary has quietly taken her place as a would-be teacher and preacher of the kingdom of God…. Jesus affirms her right to do so.” 

          Really! I’m sorry, that one must have slipped by me somehow. There is something to be said about being a simple country pastor and I think that that is what I will remain. By the way, I read 16 commentaries on this passage and Wright was the only one to come up with this interpretation. Way to go Tom, I’m glad I never thought of that. 

          OK, let’s get back to the lesson. "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her."  The first thing we hear in this response is the love that Jesus has for this woman. When Jesus said, “Martha, Martha” it was a reply that carried with it much love, affection and pity. Martha needed correcting, but it needed to be done properly. She thought she was doing the right thing by running around getting dinner ready, the trouble was that she didn’t have her priorities straight. She needed to “chill out” so to speak.  

          “….you are anxious and troubled about many things” Jesus told her. That was probably a bit of an understatement; after all she had just accused Him of not caring, blamed the Son of God for her lack of help in the kitchen and ordered Him to release one of his listeners to help her fix dinner. I’d say there was some stress in poor Martha’s life that needed to be dealt with.  

          “…but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion...” Jesus didn’t tell Martha what that “one thing” was but he did give her a hint. Her sister Mary had chosen it and it was good. What had Mary chosen? She had chosen to listen to the Word of God. She had chosen to be a recipient of God’s grace. She made a conscious decision to “chill out” and listen to what God was saying to her. The true disciple of Jesus Christ will make sure that nothing takes priority over God’s word. Not the cares of the world. Not the joy’s of the world. Not work, not play, not friends, not anything. 

          I mentioned earlier that the “Parable of the Good Neighbor” was a commentary on the second great commandment, well, Mary’s actions and Christ’s endorsement of them was a commentary on the greatest commandment, “Love the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul and with all thy mind.” How can you believe that commandment is true if God is number 8 on your priority list? How about if He is number 5? Or maybe even number 2? That’s pretty good isn’t it, number 2? 

          Tell that to Jesus when you stand before Him someday, “You weren’t number one but you were right up there. I was pulling for you” What do you think His answer will be? “Hey that’s alright; I know how busy things were down there. I was just glad you thought about me once in a while.” A more likely response will be, “I never knew you.” Matt. 7:23 

          Jesus ends this lesson with words of encouragement for all those who decide to listen to and follow His teachings, telling Martha that the portion Mary chose “will not be taken away from her.”  In the immediate setting, Jesus was letting Martha know that Mary wasn’t going anywhere. She was going to sit right where she was until He was finished with her.  Under the circumstances, it would have been wise for Martha to do the same thing, and I have a feeling she did exactly that. There was a good chance that dinner was a little late that night, but I’m sure everyone got their fill. 

           Deut. 8:3 says, “…man does not live by bread alone, but man lives by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord.” Mary knew that and every disciple of Christ should live as if they believe it. We cannot take what we have been given for granted. Let us all be reminded daily that Jesus Christ suffered and died so that we can call ourselves Christian. Our relationship with Him has to be the number 1 priority in our lives or we will be left with nothing. 

          If “you are anxious and troubled about many things”; it may be that Jesus wants you to “chill out” also. Perhaps Jesus has slipped from the number 1 position, or maybe He has never been number 1. We all have to take inventory once in a while to make sure we are where we need to be. Don’t let the small stuff get in the way of the one and only thing you really need. Time spent learning at the feet of Jesus is not wasted, and in the end it will be rewarded. Do not allow earthly accessories to overcome spiritual necessities.  

          I’m going to let Bishop Ryle close things out for us; “If we love life, we must hold the things of this world with a very loose hand, and beware of allowing anything to have the first place in our hearts, excepting God.”                 

Amen….