Luke 10:38-42<\/p>\n\n\n\n
July 18, 2004\u2014New 9:30 Worship<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sermon preached by Rev. Donald Ng at the First Chinese Baptist Church in San Francisco.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Pastors make home visits. But sometimes when we arrive at a house, we hesitate to knock on the front door. \u201cNo Junk Mail!\u201d or \u201cBeware of Dog!\u201d signs meet us. And we want to scurry back into our cars before anything happens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last week when I was on vacation in Boston, we visited the \u201cCheers\u201d bar in Beacon Hill. There was this period hardware store that sold door knockers so I bought one for our front door in Sausalito. It dawned on me that in Boston, many homes have door knockers. So I wanted one too. Now if you were to visit me in Sausalito, you will see a large dragonfly door knocker for you to knock. We want you to feel welcome at our house.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Last week, I know that Rev. Jim Lindgren from the Seafarers Ministry preached about the Good Samaritan which is the Scripture right before our text for today. The story about Mary and Martha immediately following the Good Samaritan is found only in Luke. There\u2019s a connection between these two texts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Do you remember what prompted Jesus to tell the parable of the Good Samaritan? Jesus had been questioned regarding what was required in order \u201cto inherit eternal life\u201d (Lk 10:25). Rather than answering directly, Jesus turned to his inquisitor by asking what was required by the commandments of the Jewish religious tradition. His interrogator responded that the commandments required love of God and love of one\u2019s neighbor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jesus confirmed the answer but then was pressed to define the identity of one\u2019s \u201cneighbor.\u201d He responded by telling the story of a \u201ccertain man\u201d who was not helped by a \u201ccertain priest\u201d but was assisted by a \u201ccertain Samaritan.\u201d Yet once again Jesus put it to his inquisitor to supply the answer to his own question: Which\u2026was a neighbor to the man who fell into the hands of the robbers?\u201d When the questioner identified \u201cthe one who showed him mercy,\u201d Jesus directed him to \u201cGo and do likewise.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Jesus Needs Hospitality<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Right after the Good Samaritan parable, we see that it is now Jesus who is traveling to a \u201ccertain village\u201d and though not beaten by highway bandits nevertheless finds himself in need of hospitality. Like the Samaritan who had taken the beaten man to a local inn, knocked on the door and found a room for the man, a \u201ccertain woman named Martha welcome him into her house.\u201d Jesus found the door knocker of Martha\u2019s house and he was welcomed in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n It was almost like as if she had just heard Jesus tells the parable of the Good Samaritan. Martha immediately sets herself to the task of meeting Jesus\u2019 needs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n She is determined to show herself as one who fulfills the commandments of Jesus\u2019 own requirement to love her neighbor as herself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n While Martha was busy trying to fulfill her many tasks, her actions stand in stark contrast to another character in this story, her sister Mary. Mary chooses to do nothing to help in meeting Jesus\u2019 needs and in a sense places her needs ahead of that of the guest. She sat at Jesus\u2019 feet, listening to what he was saying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n One might expect that she would have household chores to assist Martha. Martha apparently became so upset with Mary\u2019s unwillingness to lend a helping hand that Martha became distracted. Martha got mad that she couldn\u2019t even focus on her own chores! So distracted that Martha assaulted Jesus with the question, \u201cLord, do you not care? Tell her to help me.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Jesus gently calls her name twice and recognizing her distractedness, taught Martha that Mary has chosen a higher priority and it will not be taken away from her. But being responsible people as we are, we can identify with Martha. We would have been angry and distracted too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Worship and Work <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Some preachers have incorrectly interpreted this story to pit one sister against another. Others have said that women should be more like Mary who is a model of feminine docility and subservience. Some have tried to say that what Mary did was more important than the hard work that Martha performed to welcome Jesus into her house. None of these are correct.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The important lessons to be drawn from this story are about balance <\/strong>and setting appropriate priorities.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n First of all, the primary place where we should be sitting is at the feet of Jesus listening to his word. Two things happen to Mary. Mary recognizes that one has to encounter Jesus if you want to have a spiritual life. There is no generalized relationship with God but a personal one. Rather, it is with Jesus that Mary has to relate to. Jesus is the one who is the Teacher and Lord, who must be followed and obeyed, who alone brings persons into a right relationship with God. Mary recognized Jesus\u2019 claim upon her highest affiliation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We want to be like Mary to have a personal relationship<\/strong> with Christ. Let\u2019s look at another woman in the Bible who had a personal encounter with Jesus in John 4:25-26<\/strong>, the woman from Samaria.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Secondly, Mary doesn\u2019t just sit at Jesus\u2019 feet. She listens<\/strong> to his word, to his teaching. The primary spiritual activity is hearing. Unless the Lord speaks, God is not known. Unless the Spirit opens the ear of the would-be disciple, the word of the Lord is not heard. Here is what the psalmist said about opening up our ears to hear God\u2014Psalm. 40:6<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Everything revolves around who it is who does the speaking and the believer\u2019s task is placing himself or herself before that speech.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Next we have Martha who is filled with good intentions. There is work to be done to the glory of God, and she is left as the one to do it. When we read the story about Mary and Martha, we tend to assume that while Mary was sitting at Jesus\u2019 feet, Martha was hurrying to fix dinner for the guests. When we look at the text more closely, we don\u2019t really know what time of the day it was. We just assumed that Martha was making dinner for them. When Martha saw that Mary wasn\u2019t helping out, Martha became so distracted over the situation that if she was trying to get dinner ready she couldn\u2019t do it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But actually, the Greek word \u201cdiakonia\u201d\u2014the word often translated as \u201cfixing dinner\u201d is where we get the English word, \u201cdeacon.\u201d Martha wasn\u2019t fixing a meal as we might assume\u2014in fact, she was running around distracted by the tasks of ministry and mission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Martha was working<\/strong> for Jesus. Paul in Galatians calls each of us to share in the work load\u2014Galatians 6:2-5.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Martha isn\u2019t doing anything wrong but she is missing the fact that the Master is sitting right in front of her. It\u2019s kind of comical for Martha to be complaining to Jesus, \u201cCan\u2019t you see all of this hard work I\u2019m doing to further your mission? I\u2019m leading Bible study tomorrow, I have this meeting on Thursday, and I\u2019m doing the sermon next Sunday!\u201d Martha is so busy with ministry\u2014a good idea\u2014that she has forgotten to come and connect with her Lord and Savior\u2014an even better idea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The church is full of willing and faithful \u201cMarthas.\u201d Sometimes, under the pressure of work and the lack of willing hands, the \u201cMarthas\u201d can get very angry. Did you know that according to David Allen in his book, Getting Things Done<\/em>, that people have about three or four major projects at any given time and that they have fifty or sixty unfinished projects sitting behind these major ones? Left alone to do all of the work by ourselves, we can become \u201cdistracted\u201d from seeing and hearing God.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We can see that this is an understandable human response to such a situation. There is ground for complaining. There may even be a little self-righteousness and justified indignation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the teaching of this passage is not simply that Mary\u2019s worship has higher virtue than Martha\u2019s works. This passage is not saying that contemplation has more virtue over action or that the passive life has something over the active life. Rather, the passage is about balance and setting priorities<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Unless and until we sit at the feet of Jesus, becoming rooted in a mature relationship with him through his word, our attempts at Christian activism will become baseless. And until we are actively bearing witness for Jesus in the life of the world as his disciples then our worship will only lead to self-congratulation. It is not a question of one over another, but of the proper relationship between spending time with Jesus and working for Jesus. Work without worship will lead to burnout; worship without work only leads to quietism.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n People have interpreted this passage as trying to not be so much like Martha who ends up exhausted and disillusioned over her efforts and for us to be more like Mary as the ideal disciple since Jesus declared Martha as distracted and that Mary has chosen the better part.<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the point we need to remember is why we are asked to listen to Jesus\u2019 word in the first place; why we are invited to sit at his feet to listen in the first place. In welcoming Jesus into her life, Mary receives his teaching and learns the way to live. Jesus doesn\u2019t expect Mary to stay seated at his feet. He doesn\u2019t expect her to simply listen. Jesus expects Mary to be obedient to his word in order to fulfill God\u2019s purposes in the world. Devotion is never for its own sake. It is for the sake of following Jesus in obedience to God\u2019s purposes in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We need both Mary and Martha styles of life. What keeps us from crashing and burning out as over-extended Marthas is the refreshment of devotion. What keeps us from avoiding the challenge of service as preoccupied Marys is the call of Jesus to join him in mission.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Christian Hospitality<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n I want to get back to the connection between the parable of the Good Samaritan and Jesus\u2019 visit with Mary and Martha. The Samaritan teaches us that contrary to cultural norms and expectations, we need to go out of our way to welcome those who are hurt, suffering, the outcast, the stranger into our midst.<\/p>\n\n\n\n To follow Jesus\u2019 commandments, we are to love the Lord our God with all our heart, and with all our soul, and with all our strength, and with all our mind, and our neighbor as ourselves. When Mary sat in front of Jesus soaking in all of his teachings, she was fulfilling the first part of the commandment. And when Martha was busy doing ministry and mission, she was fulfilling the second part.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Imagine if Jesus and his disciples were not friends of Mary and Martha and their brother, Lazarus, do you think they would have readily opened their door when Jesus came by? I don\u2019t think so. But since they were friends, my guess is that once Jesus knocked on their door, they welcomed him in with open arms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The story of Mary and Martha reminds us that there is more than a little risk in hospitality. Hospitality requires exposure, the opening of the door of the inner sanctum of the home.<\/strong> Maybe that\u2019s why so few of us entertain or invite people into our homes, and then, only with our closet friends, because hospitality involves welcoming the stranger into our home and into our lives.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n As a new worship service, we must overcome the fear of the other, the stranger or the one who is beaten on the road with no one willing to stop to help out. Hospitality is one of the major ways that we make room for God, that we grow in our faith, that we enlarge our notion of family. Maybe that\u2019s why Jesus, at the end of Matthew\u2019s gospel, says that the greatest test of our love is not our knowledge of the Bible, or our ability to recite our Baptist convictions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The major test is: \u201cI was hungry and you gave me food. I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger and you welcomed me. I was naked and you gave me clothing. I was sick and you took care of me. I was in prison and you visited me. (Mt. 25:35-36)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n There was a student working as a volunteer during the summer at a Christian mission for the poor in the center of our nation\u2019s most blighted cities. They worked all day, every day, handing out food, ministering to human need as best as they could. One particularly difficult, long day was drawing to a close. He and the old pastor finally took care of the last person in need and were pushing the big oak door closed for the night when they looked out and saw yet one more forlorn soul shuffling his way up the sidewalk toward the center. The student looked at the man shuffling toward them, thought of how tired he was and muttered, \u201cJesus Christ\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The old pastor said, \u201cCould be, could be. We had better open the door.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Remember Hebrews 13:1, \u201cLet mutual love continue. Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n God is Knocking at the Door<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Now, what about you? You\u2019ve come to church this morning to meet God, to be with Jesus. Most of the time, that\u2019s the way we think about the Christian life: We come to church, we come to Jesus, in prayer. We beat on God\u2019s door saying, \u201cOpen up! Is there anybody home? Jesus, will you receive us?\u201d We think about the passage that Jesus taught us, \u201cAsk, and it will be given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for you. (Mt. 7:7) You can even use my new door knocker to knock on God\u2019s door!<\/p>\n\n\n\n But the Bible usually tells the story the other way around. The door that needs opening is not that of Jesus. It is the door into our lives, the door of our hearts that we have locked shut. In Bethany, it was Jesus who came knocking at the door of Mary and Martha not the other way around.<\/p>\n\n\n\n On Sunday, in worship, we are not knocking on God\u2019s door as much as God is knocking on our door. Will you receive Jesus?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Henri Nouwen in his book, Here and Now<\/em> said, \u201cWe will always be\u2026busy with many urgent demands, but when there is a time and place set apart to return to our God who offers us eternal life, we can come to realize that the many things we have to do, to say, or to think no longer distract us.\u201d Today is as good as any time and place to return to God. God is knocking at the door of your life asking you like Jesus did to Martha to set aside those distractions of busyness and to receive eternal life.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Will you receive Jesus?<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n In Revelations 3:20, Christ says to us: \u201cListen! I am standing at the door, knocking; if you hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to you and eat with you, and you with me.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Let us pray.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We thank you, God for welcoming us when we came to church today. Some of us came as already friends and others have come as strangers and newcomers. We pray that we would extend your hospitality to all your children. Make us all brothers and sisters in Christ. Continue to teach us to worship you with devoted hearts like Mary and to work in your name to advance your kingdom like Martha. Thank you, Lord for persistently knocking on the door of our hearts and inviting us to let you into our lives. In the power of the Holy Spirit and the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, we pray. Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Luke 10:38-42 July 18, 2004\u2014New 9:30 Worship Sermon preached by Rev. Donald Ng at the First Chinese Baptist Church in San Francisco. Pastors make home visits. But sometimes when we