Keep the Main Thing the Main Thing

Scripture Reading

Luke 10:38–42 “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 few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.””

Mary and Martha lived in Bethany, as we find out from other gospels.

Luke probably kept the name out of the story because he inserted it out of chronological order.

Bethany was near Jerusalem.

Jesus probably visited it right before he entered Jerusalem on Palm Sunday.

This is a classic story, we are all familiar with it.

We can usually place ourselves into the shoes of one sister or the other, Martha or Mary.

To the Martha’s

Who in here considers themselves a Martha?

Me too. I am a task-oriented person, I live by my to-do list.

Martha’s get a bad wrap from this passage, but the fact is, life has to-do’s!

Now, imagine this:

Martha & Mary hear that Jesus is in town.

They are curious, they want to hear from this man.

They decide to open their home to them.

So now, at least 13 hungry, tired, sweaty, dusty men enter into their home.

Someone has to feed them!

Someone has to get them water so they can wash their feet!

And of course it’s Martha! She’s the older sister, she always has to do everything!

Just because her eyes see ALL THE THINGS, she feels burdened by the need to do them.

How many of us are that person in our households?

We see all the mess, all the unwashed dishes, all the dust, all the laundry.

Most of the time we are ok with it.

But every now and then, we get irritated, we get annoyed, and we get bitter.

Why is it always us?

I can sympathize with Martha in that way. Maybe you can too.

But, here’s where Martha messes up:

The passage says that Martha was distracted by all the preparations.

We don’t know if these were just things she decided in her mind had to be done.

Probably.

A lot of times our to-do lists are of our own making.

She was so busy worrying about the list, that she neglected the guests.

All this was FOR them!

But she was focused on herself. Focused on what she wanted to get done.

Next, she tries to blameJesus!

Jesus, don’t you care? What about me?!

My sister has left me to do everything!

Jesus, focus on me! Give me the attention I want!

Her pretense is helping and hosting.

But, Her motivation is self.

Finally, she doesn’t even ask Mary to help!

She goes right over her sister, straight to Jesus!

Jesus, tell her to help me!

It’s like she is tattling on Mary!

Jesus does not participate.

He does not make Mary get up to help.

But, he is kind to Martha.

He points out how distracted and worried she is.

He doesn’t berate her for being selfish.

When he says only one thing is needed, he is referring to one plate or item of food.

Jesus tells Martha that Mary has chosen the better thing over the good thing.

It is ok to be a host!

To the Mary’s

Who identifies as a Mary?

We are not given a lot of detail about what else might have been happening that day.

But we do know that Mary wasted no time in going to sit at Jesus’ feet.

Sitting at someone’s feet was the usual posture of a student.

Now, in ancient Jewish culture, women were not allowed to learn from rabbis.

Note that Jesus does not tell Mary to get into the kitchen with Martha.

He allows her to sit at his feet, listening like a student or pupil would.

Now, I’m imagining that Mary is rolling her eyes when Martha comes in telling Jesus to make her sister help her!

They know each other well; Mary would probably normally be in the kitchen with Martha.

But Mary just could not pass up this amazing opportunity to sit and listen at the feet of this great prophet.

She is so curious and drawn to him, that she doesn’t consider culture, or propriety.

She just wants Jesus - whatever it takes!

Tell story of kite flying at the park in Midland.

My obsession with the kite is very much like Mary with Jesus.

She doesn’t know why exactly, but she needs to be with Jesus!

She will forget everything around her, neglect all the rules, if only she can be with him.

Now what Jesus says next is fascinating:

Luke 10:42 “but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.””

Jesus acknowledges Mary’s choice and affirms it!

He tells Martha that Mary actually got it right.

This is not what Martha was expecting at all.

She is convinced she is in the right, and she’s just waiting for Jesus to agree with her.

But he doesn’t.

He tells Martha that what Mary has chosen is better than what Martha wants her to do.

Then he goes further to say, you will NOT take her choice away from her.

I will NOT make her get up and get in the kitchen.

She has rightly chosen to be with me.

So What Does This Passage Mean for Us?

This passage is not about studying the Bible vs. serving God.

This passage is not about getting out of housework by reading the Bible or praying.

This passage is about prioritization and selfishness.

Prioritizing

Yes, we should spend time with Jesus before we do anything else.

We should prioritize time alone with God before we start our to-do list.

Martha was so determined that HER list, HER priorities get done.

Were they good things? Yes.

Were they in the service of the Son of God? Yes.

But was she really focused on Jesus at all? No.

She was focused on being a hostess!

Jesus is our priority! We cannot put him at the bottom of the list, because then we will never get to it!

Big Rocks!

There is a system of productivity that uses the analogy of big rocks.

The “big rocks” are your most important tasks.

You should do them first!

If you do all the small tasks first, then you will not be able to fit the big tasks into your schedule.

There is a video of this, and Stephen Covey uses a jar to symbolize your time.

He has a volunteer put all the little rocks and sand into the jar.

Then he asks her to put the big rocks in. They don’t fit!

If you put all the small rocks and sand into the jar first, you will not have room in the jar for the “big rocks.”

In the video, the volunteer then puts the big rocks in first.

Even after the big rocks, there is plenty of room in the jar to fit the small rocks and sand!

This is keeping the main thing, the main thing!

Jesus is the main thing!

This passage is also about self

Martha was focused on herself.

She had a large list of to-do’s that SHE had come up with!

This passage reminds us that it is not our job to make the to-do list at all!

We should allow our days to be guided by the Holy Spirit, not a list!

Martha also insisted on her own way.

This passage is shows us that sitting at the feet of Jesus is the better choice than doing what we think is best.

Are we also focused on ourselves? Even if what we are doing is FOR God?

Can ministry distract us from making the best choice?

It certainly can.

It can if we are so driven by our own to-do’s and ignore the Savior sitting in the same room with us!

Martha had the very son of God in her midst and she ignored him in favor of less-important tasks!

Like Mary, we must be so infatuated, so drawn to Jesus that the only thing we want to do is to sit at his feet, letting everything else take second place.

Let us allow nothing, nothing to get in the way of being with Jesus, learning from Jesus, sitting at his feet, and soaking him in!

We must keep the main thing the main thing. And the main thing is Jesus and HIS priorities! Not our own.