Oh, the Places You'll Go...
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Illustrations for Biblical Preaching Hospitality and Entertaining
Hospitality and Entertaining
The following differentiation between “hospitality” and “entertaining” was made by Karen Mains in Open Heart, Open Home (Elgin, Ill.: Cook, 1976):
Entertaining says, “I want to impress you with my home, my clever decorating, my cooking.” Hospitality, seeking to minister, says, “This home is a gift from my Master. I use it as He desires.” Hospitality aims to serve.
Entertaining puts things before people. “As soon as I get the house finished, the living room decorated, my housecleaning done—then I will start inviting people. Hospitality puts people first. “No furniture—we’ll eat on the floor.” “The decorating may never get done—you come anyway.” “The house is a mess—but you are friends—come home with us.”
Entertaining subtly declares, “This home is mine, an expression of my personality. Look, please, and admire.” Hospitality whispers, “What is mine is yours.”
Blessed Lord, You have caused all Holy Scriptures to be written for our learning. Grant that we may so hear them, read, mark, learn, and take them to heart that, by the patience and comfort of Your holy Word, we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life. … through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
A Spirit-led person and a Spirit-led church are both marked by the willingness to be led into situations and activities that are possibly outside of the expected patterns when the Holy Spirit moves them. This is an element of “having the mind of Christ” (). Today’s lesson looks at Mary and Martha, and, as we continue looking at our individual and communal lives in the light of God’s promise concerning the Holy Spirit, we will glean some things from these two women of God.
rt that, by the patience and comfort of Your holy Word, we may embrace and ever hold fast the blessed hope of everlasting life. … through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.
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.
Who are these two women, and why did Jesus stop there? Well, from recent readings, we know that Jesus was heading to Jerusalem, and there are two possibilities: either these women are the same ones whom we meet in and 12, or it is completely coincidental that they share the same names. I think that it is not only easier to view them as being the same, but certain characteristics of Mary and Martha are evident in both this passage and the passages in John support the idea that the same women are involved in both passages .
From these two passages we see that Martha seems to be the family member who took charge of things. She was the one who made decisions. She is active, engaged. Mary seems to be the younger sister. Based upon this text, some would be inclined to say that she is the more “spiritual” of the two women. Lazarus? has anyone noticed that Lazarus never says anything? Is he the baby brother, the oldest, the middle child? We know nothing about him as a person! In fact, he doesn’t even get mentioned in this passage. Another clue about these two women lies in their names. the Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament, agrees with other reference sources, such as Thayer’s Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament in stating that “The fem. personal name Μάρθα is a transliteration of Aram. māreṯā’, “lady, mistress”.” Thayer’s reports that Μαριάμ is from מִרְיָם ‘obstinacy,’ ‘rebelliousness’.
Joseph Henry Thayer, A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Being Grimm’s Wilke's Clavis Novi Testamenti (New York: Harper & Brothers., 1889), 389.
Horst Robert Balz and Gerhard Schneider, Exegetical Dictionary of the New Testament (Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1990–), 386.
It seems that Martha acts completely within the qualities of her naming each time that we meet her in the New Testament. Mary, in this passage, acts contrary to her named qualities, but expresses them when confronting Jesus regarding Lazarus’ death in . Since we only have 15 minutes, I guess you’ll have to buy my book whenever I get around to writing it.
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.”
In this passage, Martha lives up to her name, so much so that she is “distracted with much serving” while Jesus was teaching in her house. Imagine one of this nation’s most famous Bible teachers visiting your home, but you are so busy entertaining and preparing a welcoming meal that you just can’t stop to listen.
In this passage, Martha lives up to her name, so much so that she is “distracted with much serving” while Jesus was teaching in her house. Imagine one of this nation’s most famous Bible teachers visiting your home, but you are so busy entertaining and fixing lunch that you just can’t stop to listen.
Meanwhile, your sister sits enthralled as she enjoys this esteemed guest. The seeming injustice of this situation practically screams at the reader. It certainly did not escape Martha’s notice. Martha is a person who organizes things, she sets things (and people) in order. The way God created her, the personality that He gave her, expressed itself in service (see also ). Mary is a person who feels deeply and expresses herself, even to the point where some take it the wrong way. Later on, Mary will emotionally confront Jesus about His failure to heal Lazarus (), and still later will show her personal devotion by anointing Jesus’ feet with a pound of ointment made from pure nard ().
Was Martha wrong to focus on being a good hostess? Is that why Jesus gently corrects her in ?
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.”
It certainly sounds that way, and it can easily be read that way, but I see something different, based on understanding that God made us each with individual qualities. In , Paul exhorts us to present our bodies, on the basis of Christ’s redemption, “as a living sacrifice,… transformed by the renewing of your mind.” This does not mean that God the Holy Spirit overrules who we were created to be by God the Father, as much as it means in most cases that those creative gifts are sanctified, enhanced, and empowered by the Spirit for God’s glory.
For by the grace given to me I say to everyone among you not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think, but to think with sober judgment, each according to the measure of faith that God has assigned. For as in one body we have many members, and the members do not all have the same function, so we, though many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. Having gifts that differ according to the grace given to us, let us use them: if prophecy, in proportion to our faith; if service, in our serving; the one who teaches, in his teaching; the one who exhorts, in his exhortation; the one who contributes, in generosity; the one who leads, with zeal; the one who does acts of mercy, with cheerfulness.
When we talk about Spiritual Gifts, we tend to focus on those gifts that are more “ecstatic,” like “speaking in tongues,” prophecy, or gifts of healings. These gifts appear to operate without any regard to the personality and abilities of the person displaying them. By contrast, gifts like “contributing,” “leading,” or “acts of mercy” don’t get the same sort of celebrity status since we recognize that one can chose to give, lead, or show mercy without any sort of sense of being overwhelmed by the Holy Spirit. That attitude, while understandable, is biblically incorrect, since the same Spirit that energizes the ecstatic gifts also energizes the other, seemingly more accessible ones.
Jesus didn’t tell Martha to “stop serving.” He told her to allow Mary to continue to listen without hindrance. Mary needed to sit at Jesus’ feet and listen. Martha didn’t. Mary was drawn by the Spirit to sit and listen, just as Martha was drawn, first to invite Jesus into her home, and then to show hospitality to Him. Martha acknowledged the Lordship of Christ, Martha recognized Him as the Messiah, and even confessed Him as such after her brother Lazarus’ death. Mary needed to hear words of life from Jesus, Mary would need to learn what Martha already knew, that Jesus is “the Resurrection and the Life.” Martha needed to learn to see things from beyond her own perspective.
We can also learn to be gracious with one another, to seek to understand as much as to be understood. We believe that salvation is God’s work, not ours, and that He uses the Gospel to bring people to salvation, not the Law. Therefore, the goal, as tempting as it is to think otherwise, is not conformity to a particular cultural norm, but as Paul wrote, it is that you be “transformed by the renewal of your mind” as God “works in you both to will and to do according to His good pleasure.”
We needed God to bring us into existence. We needed God to save us from our sins. We need God to sanctify us and make us to be spiritually fruitful. So God the Father created us, God the Son died for our sins and was raised for our justification, and God the Holy Spirit makes all of us sinful humans into one holy universal assembly - the “holy Catholic/Christian Church.” The Holy Spirit will bring you gifts, and will awaken energies and desires, and will open doors that will enable you “both to will and to do according to His good pleasure.” He only asks you to hear the Good News, ask to be filled with the Holy Spirit, and believe that God has actually worked a “new birth” in you through the power of His Word and by the power of His Spirit.
Imagine all the places you’ll go, all the things that will be transformed, and the lives that will be changed...
And let the peace of God, that passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus our Lord, Amen.