Staying Focused! Luke 10:38-42

Luke 10:38-42 records an event in the life and ministry of Jesus that is not reported in any other Gospel.  In fact if it was not for the other events that have been recorded about Martha and Mary and their brother Lazarus we would have no reason to even take much note of it.  Through our reading of the other Gospel accounts we come to know the name of the village where Martha and Mary live and we come to understand that there is a special relationship between the family and Jesus.  But here is this singular event recorded by Luke.

Something else that is interesting is where it is placed.  It comes after Jesus’ teaching on the need to show compassion and mercy to anyone regardless of who they might be ethnically or linguistically or socially and it comes before Jesus’ instruction to the disciples on the subject of prayer.

Now there are a number of things that are not made clear by Luke.  He chooses not to identify the village where Martha and Mary live and there is no mention of a brother being present.  Second there appears to be no intention on the part of Jesus to actually stop in the village until Martha comes out and welcomes him in.

If we remember the record of the mission of the seventy, we will recall that Jesus sent them out two by two to visit the villages in the area in an attempt to discover which were open to the teaching of Jesus. Upon their return they reported to Jesus with great delight the number of places where they had been welcomed and where their blessing of peace was returned.

It is quite possible that the village that Jesus entered on this day was one of those villages and it is quite possible that Martha and Mary’s house was the one in that village that had welcomed the missionaries with a blessing of peace and had witnessed the healing of the sick in that place.

For Martha and Mary this would have been a tremendous honour and privilege to now meet the person whom the missionaries had represented.  For them this was a sign that the kingdom of God was not only near but that its greatest teacher – the One sent by God – was now present with them.

Having provided the missionaries with food and lodging during their initial visit, Martha wanted nothing more than to do the same for Jesus and the 12 disciples who were with him.  Martha invites Jesus into her home.  Providing hospitality to people was Martha’s gift and she was obviously good at it. She wanted to do everything possible to make Jesus’ time with them a pleasant and refreshing time.  Her focus was on the many tasks that needed to be done in order to ensure that this would happen. But there is an interesting line in the story that is often overlooked. Martha wants to be like Mary and sit and listen to Jesus but she can’t bring herself to do this because she needs to make ready a meal and everything that is part of that.

She is distracted says Luke.  She is distracted by the many tasks she knows needs to be done and her sense of obligation to serve the people she has welcomed into her home causes her to become frustrated and worried.  She knows that Mary will not listen to her calls for help but perhaps the one that she is listening to may be able to get her to do so.  And so Martha appeals to Jesus.  She questions whether or not he cares that she is so busy with all the tasks that are involved in hosting a large group of people and begs him – almost demands – that he get Mary to help her.

His response was unexpected.  “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing.  Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10:41-42

Martha has been given the opportunity for a one-on-one visit with the teacher, with the Messiah, with the One sent by God to proclaim the kingdom of God, who brought healing to the sick and relief to the possessed.  There will always be time to eat and to drink.  There will always be time to prepare for the needs of the body but this is a unique opportunity to listen and learn.

Martha wanted to listen and learn as much as Mary but she couldn’t put aside the need she felt to offer the hospitality that the situation she had created demanded. The rules of her culture were so ingrained in her that she could not bring herself to set them aside and see that she had been granted an opportunity that few others would ever have.

Did Martha ever stop her preparations and tasks and come and sit and listen to Jesus?  Luke doesn’t say.  Hopefully she did but I believe that the point Luke is trying to make is that when we are granted a unique opportunity in life we should not ignore it for the sake of tradition or expectations that have been drilled into us over the years.

I titled this message staying focused because I could not think of anything better to describe what Jesus was trying to say to Martha.  We can so easily become distracted in our daily lives by the myriad of tasks that we believe are necessary to complete.  Oftentimes we create lists of things to do, things to accomplish.  And while we can have deadlines for things and things we really need to complete, often the things we think are so important to us are not what really should be the focus of our living.

Recognizing and celebrating the relationships we have with family and friends, taking the time to listen and visit.  Making time for someone whom we don’t see often.  Jesus ministry and mission had things to accomplish but they never took priority over his desire to see, hear and spend time with people.

We are here today to remember members of our community, our church family and our own families who have left this life.  We are here to remember them and to reflect on the times we spent with them.

May our memories be filled with the times we sat and listened, with the times we took to be focused on them as people who were important to us.

Martha so much wanted to be Mary but her cultural sense of duty and responsibility would not allow her.  Conventions, cultural expectations are wonderful things enabling us to lead stable lives but we need to never forget that there will be times when such conventions and expectations will distract us from what is really needed in our lives.

May we live this life with as few regrets as possible embracing what is most important in this life as we prepare for the coming of the kingdom of God!

AMEN