Luke 10:38-42

Introduction

Banana bread

if we overwork the dough it gets gross

We have to stop and let it sit.

It’s easy for us to “overwork” the dough spiritually. We work and work and work. But we never stop to behold!

But listen! We can try as hard as we want to justify ourselves but we HAVE to trust God! We can try so hard to create an identity for ourselves, but we have to rely on God!

Think about the example of Ezekiel in Ezekiel 4. He’s a priest. By his own admittance he’s never eaten any unclean food. He seems pulled together, he’s taken with an early group of exiles away from Jerusalem because HES INFLUENTIAL! He’s got a platform!

And God crashes all that identity down! But in exchange, Ezekiel BEHOLDS GOD IN A WHOLE NEW WAY!

Main Point: We need to find our identity in Jesus, not in our human accomplishments.

(Martha’s biggest issue is that she fears that she’s not enough. MARTHA DOES EVERYTHING RIGHT IN THE EYES OF THE WORLD BUT SHE STILL MISSES THE MARK! THE WORLD DOESN’T DETERMINE HOW WE LIVE, GOD DOES!)

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Body

As we wrap up our short series looking at Luke 8-10, we see Jesus go to someone’s house. Jesus has been traveling- and is traveling even as he speaks to the lawyer in Luke 10:25-37.

In the next verse, we read:

Luke 10:38 CSB

38 While they were traveling, he entered a village, and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home.

Jesus enters a village and is welcomed into the home of Martha.

This village is named Bethany. Jesus is also in Bethany in John 11 and 12. Bethany is a suburb of Jerusalem. It’s a smaller suburb, but it’s closely tied to Jerusalem.

Although Luke doesn’t emphasize it, we know throughout the other gospels that Jesus has a relationship with Martha, Mary, and their brother Lazarus.

They are an interesting family- they are rarely mentioned with any details by the three synoptic gospels- Matthew, Mark, and Luke, probably because those were written first and the family still lived just about 2 miles outside of Jerusalem!

These people were special to Jesus and the early church. We could honestly say that they are friends of Jesus.

Here’s an important truth that we need to understand- Jesus had friends!

We say often that Jesus is fully God and fully man.

We say that Jesus understands what it is to be a human and that Jesus understands temptation. We say that Jesus came to earth and lived on earth with us.

But sometimes we forget that Jesus had friends! Jesus experienced daily living.

As he travels- seemingly towards Jerusalem, Jesus goes to see His friends.

I know that this may sound reductionist, but Jesus understands having friends AND Jesus understands what it is to be away from friends!

When we think about Jesus coming to earth, don’t forget that Jesus understands normal human experiences!

So before we go any further, let me give you a takeaway about Jesus:

JESUS IS FULLY GOD AND FULLY MAN!

A great first question when studying scripture is, “What does this passage teach us about Jesus?”

THIS IS SOMETHING THAT LUKE 10:38-42 teaches us about Jesus!

JESUS REALLY HAD FRIENDS AND A FAMILY!

THIS IS REAL!

I want to encourage you- let this truth guide you into a deeper relationship with Jesus!

When we say that Jesus can sympathize, we aren’t just saying it; we mean it!

WE REALLY CAN CAST ALL OF OUR CARES ON JESUS BECAUSE HE CARES FOR US AND HE UNDERSTANDS!

Luke 10:39–40 CSB

39 She had a sister named Mary, who also sat at the Lord’s feet and was listening to what he said. 40 But Martha was distracted by her many tasks, and she came up and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to serve alone? So tell her to give me a hand.”

Martha had a sister named Mary- we just mentioned her. Have you ever noticed how sometimes siblings are kind of opposites?

That’s Mary and Martha in this situation.

They respond to this very differently.

Mary sits by Jesus’ feet- and listen, it’s no accident that He’s called LORD here- this passage is a key reminder for us that JESUS IS MAN AND GOD!

Mary is soaking everything that Jesus says in!

She wants to hear it all!

On the other hand, Martha is busy.

Martha is DISTRACTED- that’s the biblical term- by what she’s doing.

She’s frustrated with Mary for not doing anything.

She’s trying to get stuff ready for company, get stuff ready for Jesus and MARY IS NOT HELPING HER!

Martha is upset. As far as she can tell, Mary doesn’t care at all.

As much as we see Martha’s frustration- and that’s usually what we talk about- and for good reason; we see something else about Martha.

Martha is BOLD!

Martha goes to Jesus in the middle of HIM TEACHING EVERYONE AND CALLS OUT MARY!

She’s frustrated and she goes to Jesus to get His help.

Listen- for Martha, this is a big day!

JESUS HAS COME BY- seemingly unannounced- and Martha has to get the house ready!

That’s understandable.

Imagine if today your closest friend came by and said, “I’m here with my 12 followers and we’re going to stay here tonight!”

You’d start doing things also! You’d say, “I have to get the bed made, I need to go to Aldi, I need to get ready for this!”

I bring this up because it’s so easy to look at this passage and just beat up Martha. We tee off on everything that she does wrong without acknowledging a reality- that on our own we are JUST LIKE HER!

We do the same thing!

Before we look at Martha and say, “WOW! HOW COULD SHE?”

Understand- we do the same thing every day.

It’s not only when we have people coming over. Instead, think about the reasons that we may not spend some time with God each day!

Here’s some of the most common ones:

Lack of time

Don’t want to

Too much going on

I forgot

According to a 2026 Lifeway study, less than 31% of American church members read the Bible every day! That means that almost 70% of Christians are not taking the time to BEHOLD JESUS EACH DAY!

Here’s the hard reality- like Martha, we let other things take our attention off of God and we choose to spend our TIME on something else!

Really, what happens is that we misplace discipleship. We misvalue it! But listen- it’s not hopeless!

Listen to what Grant Osborne said about Martha’s actions in his commentary on Luke- “Taking care of others is not wrong; after all, hospitality is a spiritual gift. But this must be submitted to discipleship (which at Cornerstone we define as actively following Jesus) and the truths of God.”

If we want to address it, then we need to understand WHY this is a response that we take.

That’s our second takeaway today.

Misplacing our Identity leads us to misdirect our actions.

I want to propose to you today that this BUSYNESS that Martha turns to and that we turn to also is less about actually being busy and is more about insecurity.

Martha sees her value and her identity not in God, not in how God made her, but instead in what she can accomplish!

Her identity is found in what she does, not who she is!

When we find our identity in our actions or a title rather than in what God says, we need to be VERY CAREFUL!

There’s two great biblical examples of this.

The first is a king of Israel that we read about in 2 Chronicles 33 named Manasseh.

King Manasseh was just 12 years old when he became king. Immediately he walked opposite of how God called him to walk.

2 Chronicles 33:5–6 CSB

5 He built altars to all the stars in the sky in both courtyards of the Lord’s temple. 6 He passed his sons through the fire in Ben Hinnom Valley. He practiced witchcraft, divination, and sorcery, and consulted mediums and spiritists. He did a huge amount of evil in the Lord’s sight, angering him.

Did you hear that phrase? He did “a huge amount of evil.”

And God righteously punishes him. God warns him, Manasseh doesn’t repent, and there’s a consequence. 2 Chronicles 33:10-13

2 Chronicles 33:10–13 CSB

10 The Lord spoke to Manasseh and his people, but they didn’t listen. 11 So he brought against them the military commanders of the king of Assyria. They captured Manasseh with hooks, bound him with bronze shackles, and took him to Babylon. 12 When he was in distress, he sought the favor of the Lord his God and earnestly humbled himself before the God of his ancestors. 13 He prayed to him, and the Lord was receptive to his prayer. He granted his request and brought him back to Jerusalem, to his kingdom. So Manasseh came to know that the Lord is God.

Manasseh LOSES THE THING THAT HE IDENTIFIES AS, BUT IN DOING THAT, HE GAINS A RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD!

HIS ISSUE REALLY WAS WHERE HIS IDENTITY WAS! HE IDENTIFIED AS KING, ALMOST AS a god. But when he humbled himself and REFOUND HIS IDENTITY AS A WORSHIPER OF GOD, HE NO LONGER HAD TO BE PERFECT! HE COULD ADMIT HIS ISSUES AND HIS FAILINGS AND HE WALKED WITH GOD!

HIS ENTIRE WORLD WAS CHANGED AND HIS LASTING LEGACY WAS CHANGED!

IDENTITY REALLY MATTERS!

Here’s a second example. We see it in the book of Acts.

In Acts 7, we are introduced to a man who holds the coats of men stoning Stephen; one of the original deacons.

This man NODS IN APPROVAL and is held in high esteem. His identity is in what HE BRINGS TO THE TABLE AS A WORSIHPER OF GOD! HE BUILT HIS WORLD ON WHAT HE BROUGHT TO GOD! To make more of himself he was very busy! He was busy persecuting the church!

But that changes in Acts 9! In Acts 9, God miraculously SAVES him.

There’s a lot more to Paul’s story, but let me shorten it and just make 3 observations about how his life changes when his identity changes.

1. His new identity changed his purpose (from persecuting to planting)

2. His new identity changed his personality (from anger to humility and love- Acts 14- going to preach to the people who had tried to kill him)

3. His new identity changed his plans (his goals and also how he determined those changed. An overlooked part of Paul’s ministry is how PRAYERFUL HE WAS! THAT’S WHY Acts 16:6 happens!)

Acts 16:6 CSB

6 They went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia; they had been forbidden by the Holy Spirit to speak the word in Asia.

So what about for us?

Well, I want to challenge us that changing our identity changes our purpose, our personality, and our plans!

Knowing GOD TRANSFORMS US ENTIRELY!

Here’s why (GOSPEL!)

Truly we are called to live in SURRENDER!

Purpose (NEW PURPOSE! NOT JUST CALLED TO LIVE; WE ARE CALLED TO LIVE DIFFERENTLY! WE ARE CALLED TO LIVE KINGDOM LIVES!)

Personality (Martha didn’t need to be anxious! We don’t need to be either- same with anger, etc. Now, as humans in a broken world we’ll battle these. But knowing where our identity actually lies gives us the freedom to LIVE DIFFERENTLY!)

Plans (WHAT WE PLAN FOR OURSELVES TO DO IS DIFFERENT!)

So let me give you two practical steps today. One thing that can change your identity.

KNOW GOD

RESPOND TO THE GOSPEL!

FIND THE BOOK!

(2 Kings 22- Josiah)

LET GOD’S WORD TRANSFORM YOUR LIFE!

Now, as Martha is struggling with her identity, let’s look at how Jesus responds. Martha shows us the importance of understanding who we are. Jesus is going to show us the IMPORTANCE of understanding WHOSE we are!

Luke 10:41–42 CSB

41 The Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but one thing is necessary. Mary has made the right choice, and it will not be taken away from her.”

Jesus speaks to Martha and he does three things.

First, Jesus calms Martha.

Jesus knows Martha and he speaks words of comfort and peace to her.

I know that at least for me we can read verse 41 as almost like a pitying tone. Think, “Oh Martha, Martha, foolish Martha.”

But Jesus uses something called the VOCATIVE case here to address Martha.

This was only used to address people directly and there’s an emotionality behind it; not a sarcasm; an emotion of caring.

Jesus cares about Martha. This entire scene shows that! Osborne in his commentary comments that Jesus, “Jesus has broken social conventions, this time in allowing Mary to act as a disciple rather than as a housemaid.” Jesus breaks social convention AGAIN in addressing Martha!

Jesus does something else that’s really important.

Jesus acknowledges Martha. He acknowledges that Martha is carrying burdens and worries.

She’s not just a home cleaning robot. She has fears, stresses, etv.

And that’s us and our world! We carry stresses, fears, anxieties and more! The people around us are also!

So take note of what Jesus does- he CALMS her in a loving and comforting way.

Second, Jesus teaches Martha.

Jesus takes this opportunity to TEACH Martha that it’s ok to slow down.

Jesus is saying, “Hey, it’s ok to just soak in time with me. That’s ok!”

In fact, Jesus says that it is the RIGHT CHOICE!

Third, Jesus transforms Martha’s Perspective.

Jesus HELPS MARTHA UNDERSTAND WHY HE’S NOT SCOLDING MARY!

Jesus acknowledges that Mary made a choice. It was the better choice. Listen- the things that Martha was doing needed to be done!

BUT, DID THEY HAVE TO BE DONE RIGHT THEN WITH THAT HEART POSTURE?

NO! Instead, in that moment, the best thing that Martha could have done was to go and be with Jesus!

This is such a big stumbling block in our world.

We fill up our time with so many things that aren’t evil, but also aren’t necessary.

We put distractions all around ourselves and even in our time with God (like doing it on our phone) when we don’t need that!

Instead, we can stop and FOCUS ON GOD AND THAT TIME WITH GOD!

WE CAN CHANGE THE WAY THAT WE ORDER THINGS!

This is my challenge for us as we start a new season in champaign- whether you’re a student or not, the semester starting marks a new season of life in Champaign.

Let’s change how we do things in this season!

Listen to what Thabiti Anywabile says about this- “Far too often I tragically miss out on sitting at his feet, pushing back on the busyness of the world, to savor the love of the Lord…Let us go to Christ with the comforting promise, “It will not be taken away from us.”

Behold Jesus and help others do the same.

DO WE SAVOR TIME WITH JESUS OR DO WE GET SO FOCUSED ON SERVING THAT WE MISS THE MARK?

Two aspects of this

First, we have to BEHOLD JESUS!

Behold carries a meaning of STOPPING AND TAKING IN JESUS! OF EVERYTHING ELSE BEING IGNORED IN THE FACE OF WHAT WE BEHOLD!

And the truth is that we are all beholding something every day. Even in this passage, Mary and Martha both behold something.

But they behold different things.

Mary BEHOLDS JESUS.

Martha beholds a man-made identity and the idea that she could be enough!

Friends, we have to make a choice every day. What are we going to behold?

Jesus or something else?

Practical steps to beholding:

SLOW DOWN!

BUILD IT INTO YOUR DAY INTENTIONALLY!

BRING OTHERS INTO IT!

Not only do we need to behold Jesus, we need to help others do the same!

At Cornerstone, we are calling 2026 the YEAR OF THE NEIGHBOR!

This is because God has called us to bring the GOOD NEWS OF JESUS TO OUR NEIGHBORS!

Here’s a way that we can do that:

(15 second testimony- we’ve shared this tool a few weeks now, but I want to share it again)

“There was a time in my life where I felt/ struggled with _________”

But then I met Jesus.

“Now I feel ____________.”

“Do you have a story like that?”

(FOLLOW IT UP BY SHARING THE GOSPEL)

Call for a response

Let’s Pray