Serving Together: Practical and Spiritual (Luke 10.38-42)

Introduction

So we’re continuing our series of talks about what our vision as a church is going to mean for us going forward; praying always, serving together, sharing Jesus’ love in our communities.

Praying always means learning to pray with faith, with perseverance and in unity. The Lord is our only hope, and only praying churches are ever growing churches.

Serving together means we serve, like Jesus did, different people side by side; young and old, black and white, male and female, clergy and lay, richer and poorer, introvert and extravert…

Because we are all different, we all have different ways to serve. Some are more drawn to practical things. If there are chairs to be put out, floors to vacuum, meals to cook, lawns to mow and bins to empty there are people I know I can count on who will be there.

Others are naturally drawn to more spiritual ways to serve; if there are intercessory prayers to lead, children to teach, prayer breakfasts to attend, small groups to facilitate, or if there is sung worship to lead, again, I know I can rely on quality people to do an excellent job.

Full-Time Christian Service

But, before I say anything else, I’d like to start by asking you to raise a hand please if you are in full-time Christian service… Thank you.

I would guess that most sermons preached in churches are about how to be a Christian in your spare time. What we hear about in church is things like how to pray, how to read the Bible, how to witness, and how to serve in the church.

Those are all good things to do, but that approach tends to give people the impression that they can only really serve the Lord out of working hours. I have met people who are desperate to leave their jobs and get into some kind of church ministry because they don’t see how they can possibly serve the Lord in their secular work.

But the New Testament vision is that all Christians are in full-time service for the Lord. All of us. The way we work, the way we study, and the way we spend our retirement are opportunities to express our discipleship.

The Apostle Paul said to work hard with integrity and honesty, not just when the boss is looking but at all times, with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not just for human managers.

There was a road sweeper in Leeds (I think) who, every morning, used to go into his local church, kneel down at the communion rail with his broom by his side and offer his day’s work to God. “Lord, by your grace and with your help, I will make every littered street immaculate to your praise and glory today. This is my service of worship to you.” That is no less pleasing an offering to God than his vicar sitting down to prepare a Sunday service.

Whether you’re a full-time mum, or a part-time teacher, or an occasional volunteer, or a full-time accountant, or a part-time cleaner, or are full-time retired often looking after grandchildren… if you do all you do for the glory of God, you are in full-time Christian service.

Now. How many of you are in full-time Christian service...?

Practical or Spiritual?

I say this because people often think that practical service is somehow, in itself, unspiritual. And our Gospel reading is one of the passages in the Bible sometimes used to justify that view. Martha was practical, Mary was spiritual. Jesus said Mary chose best, so practical work, they say, is of no interest to God - QED.

That is not what the passage means as we’ll see.

I think the best way to say what I want to say is to share with you a story I once heard about a group of computer salesmen from Milwaukee who were travelling to a trade convention in Chicago.

They promise their families that they will be home in time for dinner. But the event runs over time, and they have to dash back to the train station.

They have their tickets ready and are running through the station to catch their train when one of them accidentally kicks over a table with a display of fruit for sale as he runs.

But they just run on without stopping, and just make it to their train - except that one of them, a colleague of the man who knocked the table over, doesn’t feel right. As the train is pulling out, he jumps off and walks back. It means he will not be back home in time for dinner but he is so glad he made that decision.

Because there is this young man standing beside the fruit stand, and the guy notices that he is very upset and completely blind. So he stoops down and helps gather up the fruit. He notices that the apples are all bruised. Some of the plums and bananas have got squashed and dirty. A few oranges have rolled off onto the railway track.

He picks up all the fruit, arranges it nicely on the display, then pulls out his wallet and presses twenty dollars into the young man’s hand. “Here,” he says. “Please take this for the damage we did. I'm sorry, and I hope we didn’t spoil your day."

And as he starts to walk away, so the story goes, one puzzled young man calls out after him, "Hey mister, are you Jesus?”

Question – is what that salesman did for that blind fruit seller practical or spiritual?

You see, it’s not clear-cut. Jesus said, “As much as you visit, feed, water, clothe, shelter and look after the least, you do it to me.” Doing something beautiful for Jesus in person - is that practical or spiritual service?

He said, “If you give a cup of cold water to a prophet you get a prophet’s reward.” In other words, if you do something practical backstage and low-key for the Lord it’s just as important to him as when you do something spiritual that is upfront and high-profile.

Martha and Mary’s World

So what is the Martha and Mary story all about? Some say it’s about two different temperaments – the activist and the contemplative. That’s not what it’s about.

It’s about three things. And we need to get inside the culture a bit to understand what it means. So welcome to the world of Martha and Mary; two sisters who invite Jesus to their home.

The first thing is that Martha is the elder sister. If you’ve got an older sibling, as I have, you know how they often like to take charge. My elder sister always called the shots. That was the pecking order when I was growing up. It was ever thus. If you’re a younger sibling, I sympathise with you. If you’re an older sibling, just remember Jesus said that the first will be last! But you see, Martha is used to being in control and having things her way. So there’s that going on.

The second thing is that Mary is behaving in a way that was considered unbecoming to her gender. Instead of running round the men, as was expected of the women, she sits at Jesus’ feet and learns from him. The rabbis largely excluded women from the study of the Torah. Rabbi Eliezer said for example that “anyone who teaches his daughter Torah, it is though he has taught her lechery.”

But here she is, Mary of Bethany, adopting the traditional pose of a disciple, sitting at the rabbi’s feet. Martha’s complaint is partly that Mary doesn’t know her place. And Jesus says, “Oh, yes she does.” So let’s have none of this “women can’t” stuff. Yes they can, and if you don’t like it, you can take it up with Jesus.

The third thing is that, in their culture, hospitality was not an option; it was an obligation, a social requirement – and in the Middle East it still is. Martha gets that totally. She does everything she can to please, she puts herself out, and takes charge of the kitchen.

Even in 21^st Century Britain, if you’ve got someone coming round, you’re not going to serve up a tired old sandwich and an out-of-date yoghurt are you? But in their world it was a great disgrace to be seen as inhospitable. That’s why in Jesus’ story people would rather bang repeatedly on their neighbour’s door at 3am to borrow some bread, than suffer the shame and disgrace of not giving their visitor something to eat.

On this particular occasion, Martha seems to be behind schedule with the dinner. My guess is that she’s been preoccupied with getting the rest of the house sorted.

·         Put the dog out the back so it doesn’t salivate enthusiastically over the guest of honour

·         Tidy away all the junk

·         Move out of view that basket of ironing that Mary still hasn’t done

·         Make sure there’s toilet paper in the loo

·         Ooh – while we’re at it, a bit of Febreze in there

·         Brush the dog hairs off the sofa

·         Put a little background music on

·         Light a scented candle for a bit of ambiance

·         Don’t forget the bowl of nibbles

Now she’s dashing round the kitchen:

·         Flipping through the cookery book

·         Washing and peeling vegetables

·         Mixing up a sauce

·         Cutting up and grilling the meat

·         Making sure the dessert is setting nicely

·         Laying the table

·         Polishing the glasses

She is like a bumble bee frantically buzzing round your garden; bzzzzzzz.

But maybe Jesus comes to the door a bit early and she’s not finished. She’s barely half-way through. He comes in and makes himself at home. Mary, the younger one, sits with him. She is calmness personified, hanging on Jesus’ every word. She drinks in the presence of the Lord like a freshly watered garden flower.

Finally, in v40, just as the spuds boil over, it all gets too much, and Martha snaps. "Hey,” she says, “Tell her to peel the carrots! Doesn’t it bother you that my sister has left me to do all the work on my own? Tell her to pull her weight!”

Oooh, it’s a bit awkward, it’s heavy, but who cannot understand Martha’s frustration and annoyance? She’s got a point hasn’t she? When you’re busting a gut to get things done, and everyone can see it, and no one lifts a finger to help, it is very, very irritating.

The thing is that Martha and Mary both love Jesus. They both want to serve him. But they’re not serving together. Martha thinks that Mary’s way of serving Jesus is inferior to hers. She’s so busy winning MasterChef that she doesn’t see that, in her desire to serve, she is actually neglecting her guest.

So Jesus says gently that it’s Mary who has made the right choice.

Here is what it feels like from Jesus’ point of view: imagine that a friend comes to visit you. You have not seen her in months. She made a long journey to be with you. She’s worn out from the travel. Now she is all alone in the living room and you are ignoring her in the kitchen. Is that why she has come so far?

That is why Mary is content to sit at the feet of the Lord. Notice that Jesus did not rebuke Martha for her service. He doesn’t say, "Why are you spending all that time in the kitchen!" He tells her that she is simply attaching too much importance to it.

Let me ask you a question; do you ever get so busy doing things for Jesus that you neglect to spend time with Jesus?

You see, I wonder if you noticed that Luke placed this story immediately after the Parable of the Good Samaritan, a story about doing good and loving your neighbour. This little story balances that teaching. You can be so busy doing good and loving your neighbour that you lose focus and forget to love the Lord.

So I want to say this loud and clear. Our vision is to pray always and serve together. We will serve our communities together with all our heart, but never as a substitute to serving the Lord together first.

Yes, we are committed to loving our communities and serving them with all our heart. But when your Christian life gets out of balance, when your practical service starts to replace your spiritual worship, you can become resentful of other people and even end up rebuking to the Lord himself. That’s where Martha ended up.

Jesus calls a time out. “Martha, Mar…, Martha” he says – it sounds a bit like he’s trying to get a word in edgeways, while Martha pours out a stream of complaints. “Martha… you are worried and upset about many things.”

She is. In particular, she’s worried and upset about:

·         laying the table

·         serving the aperitif

·         preparing the starter

·         pouring the drinks

·         baking the main course

·         fixing the dessert

·         setting out the cheeseboard

·         making the coffee

·         and finding the After Eights

“But few things are needed, indeed only one” says Jesus. He hasn’t come for a 6 course banquet. If Martha had thought to ask him, she might have found that he wasn’t that hungry and a microwaved omelette would have been fine.

What he came for was some quality time to share his heart with his with friends. He didn’t want all that fussing about and stress. He certainly didn’t go out of his way for a night out of domestic tension and sibling conflict.

As it happened, Jesus seemed to stay regularly at Martha and Mary’s whenever he journeyed south to Jerusalem. They lived just a couple of miles out of town.

Several months before he died he was there. It was then, staying at Martha and Mary’s, that he must have booked the Upper Room for Passover. It was then that he must have found a man with a colt and made arrangements to hire it on Palm Sunday. Someone will take your donkey away the Sunday before the Passover. When you ask why, the password will be “The Lord needs it.”

And as his death approached, Jesus’, heart began to grow heavy. He was burdened. He wanted to unload. I am sure he must have shared his heart with friends like Mary. He knew she would hear him and understand him.

That is why she anointed him for his burial before he even died. She would never have thought of doing that if she hadn’t sat at his feet and learnt from him that he would die, and be buried hastily, and that no one would have time to embalm his body afterwards. So she did it beforehand.

Jesus said that Mary had chosen what is better – better for her but also better for him.

There’s a reason why we call these Sunday worship meetings “services.” It says that our most important work is to come before the Lord, first thing, on the first day of the week, to give him our worship and undivided attention.

Ending

Let me ask you a direct question. You coming here today, has it become just a duty (like being with Jesus was for Martha) or is it a more a question of devotion (like it was for Mary)?

David said, "One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord." (Psalm 27.4)

One thing he asked. Jesus said in our passage, "There is only one thing that is really necessary."

People sometimes say “Well, it’s all very well this gazing on the beauty of the Lord but look, there’s work to be done. Someone’s got to clean the toilets!” Of course, but Mary knew a secret; that practical service is spiritually more influential and impactful and effective when we are first replenished in the presence of the Lord.  Spiritual and practical is not a question of either/or. It’s a question of first/second.

Jesus looked at Peter and said, three times, “Look after and feed my sheep.” Three times he said it. But each time, not until he had got an answer to the question that really counts. “Do you love me?”

For all us activists, fussing and stressing about getting everything done, Psalm 46 says; "Stop! Be still! Know that I am God." That’s the one thing needed.

Let’s stand to pray…