Disturbed by Distraction - Luke 10:38-42

The word of the Lord says, 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.

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.

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.

Let's pray.

Precious Heavenly Father, we thank you, Lord, for all that you've done for us.

Father, we thank you for this day, Lord.

We thank you for your word, Lord, that you've given to us, Lord, so that we could know who you are.

We ask that you would help us to see it.

We ask that you would uh open our eyes to it, give us the ears for it, give us the hearts to just be open to it.

Uh Father, bless me, your servant, as I exposite your word, that I might do so faithfully, Lord.

Uh we bless you, we honor you, Father.

We come here to worship your holy name and to lift you up, Lord.

So we give you thanks.

Uh and uh in Jesus' name we pray.

Amen.

So um this is an interesting passage.

Uh it's very well known, uh, the story of Mary and Martha.

And I think people see it a certain way.

And today I hope to bring to you uh maybe a little bit of a different way of looking at it uh as we go through it.

But before we do that, I want to tell you uh the story of Carl and Ellie.

Uh they met as kids, they were explorers, they had dreams of visiting a special place in South America called Paradise Falls.

They grew up, they got married, they lived through ups and downs and disappointments, and then Ellie passed away and left Carl a widower.

Carl's disposition as this widower was grumpy.

He was a lonely, grumpy old man who missed his wife.

And one day he decided to honor her memory and make the trip to Paradise Falls.

He attached thousands of helium balloons to his house, lifting it into the air towards Paradise Falls.

What he didn't realize is that he had a stowaway named Russell, an eight-year-old wilderness explorer that was, and that was Carl's first distraction.

When they reached South America, they met a dog named Doug, who was fitted with a translator on his collar for the purposes of communication.

It was through the translator that it was discovered that uh dogs can quickly be distracted.

Every time we heard Doug say, Squirrel, in the end, Carl had a bunch of distractions that ultimately led him to go to let go of the past and look forward to something new.

He was distracted from his mission of making it to Paradise Falls with everything new in his life.

And so Carl was able to let go of the past and see something new.

If you haven't figured it out yet, I'm I'm talking about the movie up.

Um Carl's disposition changed by the end of the movie.

He wasn't that grumpy old man anymore.

He had something new in his life.

Um, so distractions can serve a good purpose as well.

And distractions are everywhere these days.

Uh, you probably got one in your pocket right now.

In God's divine mercy, he distracts us sometimes from the road that we're on and changes our disposition and our position.

But still, we tend to be distracted from the path that he set us on in the same way when I take my dogs for a walk.

They get distracted from the mission of walking.

My mission is to walk with my dogs, but they see squirrels.

And they're a lot like Doug when they see a squirrel or a cat or whatever, and they tug at me and they pull me this way and they pull me that way.

We're also a lot like Doug, prone to wander.

Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love.

So today I titled today's sermon, Disturbed by Distractions, and I want to take us through this passage and point out three things we can glean from the passage.

These three things are distraction, discipleship, and devotion.

And before we start on the first point, let's get into context.

I think it's always important for us to where are we coming from, where are we going to.

It's important for us to know uh how we got here.

Uh it's always vital to the passages.

I always tell people when you read your Bible, don't read just that one verse out of context and lift it out.

Read around it.

You got to read through it and see where we're at.

So uh let's take a look at the passage, verse 38.

Now, as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village, and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house.

Who are they?

And where are they coming from?

So when we began this chapter, which is quite a bit ago, uh, Jesus sent out 72 disciples.

But this doesn't necessarily mean that all 72 disciples came into the village or or stayed at at Martha's home.

That's I have a difficult time with 72 people coming and staying in my living room.

So it would be difficult to believe that 72 disciples are there.

Um I didn't find any commentaries that could tell us, well, how many people were it was it?

Uh who was in the in the home.

What we do know is that Jesus traveled with his disciples.

And we can conclude that some of them were with him in Martha's home.

Um we also know that they would ultimately, this is kind of the beginning of him traveling to Jerusalem, and that's important.

Uh we're about to enter several chapters, and I'm still talking about context here, several chapters with parables and teachings that Jesus gave his disciples.

And in many ways, we can consider what we're about to see today as a preface to the fact that Jesus will be teaching us many things in the chapters to come.

So, what village did Jesus enter?

We know if we go to the book of John.

Remember, the Bible is a book that's connected in so many different ways, and you can go find out different things here and there.

John chapter 11 tells us that it's Bethany.

John 11 · chapter mention

This is this is this is the village that he's entering.

That's the village that Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead in John chapter 11.

John 11 · chapter mention

Uh, and it's only a few miles away from Jerusalem.

Who's Martha?

From the verse, we understand that she was the mistress of the home where Jesus was welcomed.

The name Martha from the Aramaic Martha actually means mistress or lady.

Uh we don't know Martha's marital status or how she be she came to be the head of the household, but it's apparent that she is.

She welcomed him into her home.

So she is the head of this house.

She is also the sister of Mary, and both her sisters to Lazarus, whom we know Jesus raised from the dead.

Here's another important point.

We know that Martha was a believer.

You can turn there if you want to.

John chapter 11, verses 25 to 27.

John 11:25–27

We find this.

I'll give you a second if you want to get there.

John 11, verses 25 to 27 say this.

John 11:25–27

Jesus said to her, I am the resurrection and the life.

Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live.

And everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die.

Do you believe this?

This is Martha speaking, verse 27.

She said to him, Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.

We know that Martha was a believer.

This is important for us to consider as we move through the passage today and see kind of what transpired in this particular scene.

Martha is also hospitable.

She's a hostess.

She's generous.

She trusts Jesus implicitly.

She also wants the house to be just right.

When he comes to visit, she wants it to be perfect.

She feels the pressure of this moment.

More important than all the traits that we can gather about Martha would be to take note that she was loved by Jesus.

Again, John chapter 11, verse 5 says this.

John 11:5

Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.

So it's in the backdrop of this context that I want to start breaking down these three points that I've given us.

Let's take a look at the first uh at the next few verses, verses 39 and 40, and uh we'll we'll talk about distraction.

The first point.

Verse 39.

And she's and she had a sister called Mary who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching.

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.

It's quite clear from the passage that Martha was distracted.

And the Greek word that is translated distracted in our verse is perispeo, which actually means in the Greek, to be drawn away from.

And I think a lot of us can say, you know, we that happens to us a lot.

You know, I get to my desk in the morning at work a lot of times and I'll ask God, help me to focus today.

Because man, I can get distracted and I don't get my tasks done.

It's an easy thing for me to be drawn away from the work that I that is vital to me by someone just dropping by and asking me a question.

We would be remiss if we didn't mention that in the culture at that time, it would have been odd that Mary wasn't doing her part in the house to ensure that the needs of the disciples had been met.

But she isn't.

Perhaps she too has been drawn away from the duties she would normally be entitled to do.

She's sitting at Jesus' feet.

That drawing away might be a positive drawing away, but we can get into that in a little bit in another point.

We can read this passage with the idea that Martha was being petty, as if she was being done wrong, or as if she was in error bringing the uh the complaint to Jesus.

So I confess that there have been plenty of times I've read this passage and thought Martha was being a little jealous, or a little bit of a tattletale.

I'm sure none of your children have ever balked at a chore that they've had and looked at their siblings.

Growing up, I never I never looked at my mom and said to her, Why isn't Thelma doing anything?

I'm the one washing the dishes over here.

Tell her to do something.

So we have a lens we look through because of our experience.

But when we read a text like this, we really need to look closely at what's being said.

First century Jewish culture placed a high expectation on hospitality.

Hospitality was considered a sacred duty.

Preparing a meal and caring for guests would have been expected normal of the expected normal service for the women in the house.

So when we see Mary not helping with these preparations, we can surmise that she's been drawn away from what her normal duties were.

And we can understand Martha's frustration.

Mary was distracted because Jesus is in the house.

Not only is he in the house, he's also teaching.

Again, we're going to get into Mary's choice here in a few minutes, but let's focus on Martha's distraction.

What is she distracted by?

And the text is clear.

She's distracted with much serving.

Is this a wrong thing?

So we know it's not a bad thing.

In fact, it's an expected thing.

The culture expects hospitality, the culture expects the women to be preparing.

In that time, and in our time even, service is expected.

None of what happens during church, our service, happens without preparation and service.

The juice doesn't make it into the cup without service.

The bread isn't baked without service.

The chairs aren't in these rows without service.

Worship isn't as spontaneous as it might appear.

There's practice involved.

There's things that are happening behind the scenes.

Our coming together as a congregation and lifting up our voices isn't just a spontaneous thing.

There's preparation.

There's service.

It matters.

While that's all true, when the preparations are done, there's always that moment.

Pastor Chris calls it that moment of silence to prepare your hearts for worship.

Everything we do culminates in this moment where we just get silent and we're preparing ourselves for worship.

All is prepared, the table is set.

Now let's feast.

So then why is Martha so distracted?

Why is she so disturbed by this distraction?

So much so that she complains to Jesus.

So while the text tells us that it's much serving, there's something underneath that we don't quite get, right?

Is the food delayed?

Were the utensils not ready?

Was everyone sitting where they should be?

Was everything in place?

We don't know what's going on.

These are questions we don't know the answer to.

But I want to give us a little insight from Calvin's commentary that I found interesting.

This is what Calvin says about this scene.

And it's a little bit of a long quote, but uh bear with me.

Though the hospitality of Martha deserved commendation and is commended, yet there are there were two faults in it which are pointed out by Christ.

The first is that Martha carried her activity beyond proper bounds.

For Christ would have rather chosen to be entertained in a frugal manner and at moderate expense, than that the holy woman would have submitted to so much toil.

The second fault was that Martha, by distracting her attention and undertaking more labor than was necessary, deprived herself of the advantage of Christ's visit.

The excess is pointed out by Luke when he speaks of much serving, for Christ was satisfied with little.

It was just as if one were to give a magnificent reception to a prophet and yet not to care about hearing him.

But on the contrary, to make so great and unnecessary preparations as to bury all the instruction.

But the true way of receiving prophets is to accept the advantage which God presents and offers to us through their agency.

Still Calvin here.

We now see that the kind attention of Martha, though it deserved praise, was not without its blemishes.

There was this additional evil, that Martha was so delighted with her own bustling operations as to despise her sister's pious eagerness to receive instruction.

This example warns us that in doing what is right, we must take care not to think more highly of ourselves than of others.

I don't know that I've ever read this passage and thought to myself, Martha thinks a lot of what she's doing.

But man, after reading Calvin's commentary, I was like, wow, I never I never really saw that before.

What Calvin's endeavoring to explain to us is that somewhere in here, Martha wanted to be noticed.

Look at what I'm doing.

Look at what I'm doing for you, Jesus.

Look at me.

And I'm thinking some of us can relate.

I I think I can relate.

I think there are times in my life that I've said, look at me, Jesus, look what I'm doing for you.

What does it produce in us?

Would be a good question.

What did it produce in Martha?

She saw her sister, and she addresses Jesus, Jesus, I'm sorry, she addresses Jesus in a manner that I don't think we comprehend fully.

Look at the last two sentences there in verse 40.

It says, 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.

So R.

C.

Sprohl on this particular passage, this is what he emphasized.

This is what he said.

Martha's distraction becomes so severe that she effectively rebukes Jesus.

Lord, do not care.

Her service had produced frustration rather than worship.

Man, this world is full of distractions.

A lot of those distractions come from the phone you have in your pocket or your purse.

That's the easiest spot.

But whatever the distraction might be, even if it's a good one, like the service Martha was providing, if it draws you away from Christ, if you're distracted during worship, what is it that needs to be laid down?

Is it the service itself or the attitude that our service is that important that we can question Jesus Himself?

That we can put it on Jesus Himself.

Martha is our example of a heart that had that very attitude.

But what about Mary?

Examining Mary in these passages takes us to the next point: discipleship.

Verse 39, once again.

I know it feels like I'm going like back to 39, but this is the way this passage rolled out to me.

It says, And she had a sister called Mary who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching.

So let's get a little background on Mary.

Who is Mary?

Um, in just a few verses, uh, I'll give it to you this way.

John 11, 32, it says this.

Now when Mary came to where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet, saying to him, Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.

Here we see Mary falling at the feet of Jesus after suffering the loss of her loved brother.

John 12, 3.

Mary therefore took a pound of expensive ointment made from pure nard and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped his feet with her hair.

The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

I wanted that house that was filled with the fragrance of her perfume because you know our worship reaches his nostrils.

He loves the smell of our worship.

And this is this is this is that that thing that's happening as she's wiping his feet, doing the ointment on his feet.

Here we see Mary anointing the feet of Jesus, wiping his feet with her hair, and a beautiful display of adoration and worship.

It's interesting.

We have this threefold picture of Mary at the feet of Jesus.

One while suffering, one while worshiping, and from our passage, one fall, one while learning.

This is what it meant to be in the first century.

What was it meant in the first century to sit at a teacher's feet?

Commentary after commentary that I was reading on this mentioned the apostle Paul.

Because there is a particular passage where this is explained.

Acts uh 22, 3, it says this, I am a Jew, this is Paul speaking.

I am a Jew born in Tarsus in Cilicia, but brought up in this city, educated at the feet of Gamaliel.

I don't know if I'm saying that right.

Gamaliel.

Gamaliel.

But according to this strict manner of the law of our fathers, being zealous for God as all of you are this day, educated at the feet of this man.

I read that passage for you so that we can all understand what's happening.

Mary is being educated.

She's learning at the feet of Jesus.

She's savoring his words and she's growing from it.

She's being discipled.

This is almost scandalous in their time.

Most everyone there would have found it odd that a woman is being discipled at the feet of Jesus in this way.

It's an unusual thing, and yet Mary shows us what it means to be a disciple.

She's teachable, she's hungry for the truth, and she's willing to set aside the expectations of society for that place.

To sit and hear Jesus speak.

I have a few shirts, I have two shirts actually that say Semper Refermanda on them.

I like to wear them when somebody asks me what that means.

It's a Latin phrase that simply means always be reforming.

We are called to the renewing of our minds in our walk with Christ.

We are to be open to what he tells us from his word.

We need to change according to what scripture tells us.

I don't fit scripture to my whims and my opinions.

Scripture changes me and what I think.

We are called to the renewing of our minds in our walk with Christ.

We're called to be diligent to study God's word, to be that workman that is approved by God, rightly dividing the word of truth.

And what that entails is actually hearing his word, reading the book, learning from God.

Discipleship is more than just an hour and a half on a Sunday morning, it's immersion in this gift that He has left for us.

He's given us His word.

We need to be in it.

In the evangelical landscape we live here in here in America, we see the expectation of what a Christian is supposed to be in society.

Society sees us a certain way.

They have a skewed view sometimes of what that looks like.

Some look at us and believe that we're supposed to be docile and timid and to keep our opinions to ourselves.

They would contend that if we really love people, we would allow them to do whatever they desire, for anything else would violate the world's top moral commandment, thou shalt not judge.

They say this in spite of the fact that we truly can't force anyone to adhere to the words of Jesus.

That's the Holy Spirit's work.

We don't do that.

The world does what the world does because they are worldly.

But they expect us to learn Jesus in a certain way, the way they want us to learn Jesus.

And I take us down this path because what we learn from Mary in this passage is that discipleship is open to anyone who would come and sit at the feet of Jesus to learn from him, to know him, to love him, to be freed by him.

In John 8, verse 31, we read this.

John 8:31

So Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in him, If you abide in my word, you are truly my disciples, and you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.

Mary wasn't supposed to be sitting at the feet of Jesus as one of his disciples because she was a woman in a culture that said this wasn't a woman's place, and yet she took that place.

And she sat at Jesus' feet because this is where she desired to be.

And what did Jesus do in response to that?

Did he tell her, Woman, your place is in the kitchen with your sister?

Did he tell her that only men can sit at my feet and learn from me?

He did none of those things.

She was a disciple, and she would make other disciples in her life as the Lord calls us all to do.

Go and make disciples of all men.

And by the way, as a side note, Jesus' affirmation of Mary's discipleship would have been seen as scandalous at that time.

People would have looked at what Jesus said next and said, that's upside down.

What's going on right now?

It plays into this scene as something those that read this in the first century, when they were reading Luke in the first century in that time, they would have said, That's dramatic.

That's like a scene from a soap opera.

That's not the way this is supposed to go.

The Lord calls us to be disciples and to take the message of the gospel to the ends of the earth to make more disciples.

To make more disciples.

So let's talk about what or how Jesus really responded here.

Let's look at the next few verses.

Let's read verses 41 and 42.

It says this, 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.

So this brings me to this final point, devotion.

Now I want to bring this to you from two different perspectives.

Jesus' devotion to us and our devotion to him.

When Jesus calls Martha by name in response and repeats her name, Martha, Martha, this tells us that he is lovingly talking to her.

He isn't shaming her for the error she is in or for the rebuke she's just given him.

He lovingly addresses her and tells her that he understands what she's going through.

There are many examples in scripture where a person is addressed by a name repeated: Moses, Moses, Abraham, Abraham, Saul, Saul.

Why have you persecuted me so?

This is a loving thing in the commentaries that I read.

This this shows affection and concern.

Jesus is being affectionate to Martha.

He's showing concern for her well-being.

He tells her, I can see that you're anxious and troubled about many things.

Are you anxious and troubled about many things?

Are you encumbered with service that keeps you from true worship?

Are there things going on in your life that keep us from just basking in the presence of the Lord?

You know He has done all that was necessary to dwell with us, right?

In the desert as they wandered, he gave them all the instructions they would need to build a tabernacle where he would dwell with them, where he would meet with them.

He loves his people and he dwells with us in a temple today that is made without hands.

He indwells his people.

He is with you through all that you go through, and he knows you probably better than you know yourself.

I believe this passage here shows us that Martha didn't even see herself as encumbered, anxious, worried about many things until Jesus says, Martha, Martha, you're anxious and you're worried.

But I've been here this whole time.

You were worried about feeding this group with food that perishes, which is a good thing, but it's not an eternal thing.

You were worried about bread that feeds the body when the bread of life that feeds the soul is sitting in your living room and freely giving of that bread.

And I tell you, my friends, that Jesus knows your every weakness.

Jesus knows what you're worried about right now.

He knows you, He sees you, He hasn't left you.

There are times that it might feel like He's not there.

Maybe Martha felt alone in the service and was worried about that.

Maybe she felt like no one was acknowledging the effort she was putting in.

But Jesus says this, but one thing is necessary.

When Jesus continues, he gives us an answer we might not have been expecting.

We are so works-based to our core that even though we are justified by faith, we easily move back into a works-based mindset.

I have to do this or I have to do that to keep in step with what Jesus expects from me.

I need to be a part of a ministry, this ministry or that ministry.

I need to be accepted.

But one thing is necessary.

What is that one thing?

It's what Mary has chosen.

Mary has chosen the true manna from heaven, the word incarnate.

She has chosen to sit at the feet of Jesus and learn from him.

This is where each and every one of us will find our peace.

In Hebrews 11, we we find a list of what we are told is a great cloud of witnesses.

And throughout the Bible, we'll find those examples of even those that aren't on the list.

But I don't think it would be wrong to look at Mary and Martha and see witnesses that can teach us something.

This passage shows us something that we all need to take to heart.

In Hebrews 12, beginning in the first verse, this is what it says.

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.

I'm talking about letting go of those things.

They got you worried, they got you anxious, even if it's a good thing like service and looking forward to Jesus, looking towards him.

Because that's why we come here.

That's why we show up in these, in this, in this place, to lift up our voices to the one that freed us from the bondage that we were in.

We come here to worship Jesus.

At the beginning of the sermon, I I told you that little cute story of Carl and Ellie.

And I know a lot of times when I go with like movie things that Pastor Chris is looking at me side-eye because it's not his thing like culturally to give that kind of thing or that kind of reference.

We aren't the type of church that does a summer movie series and uh exegete a movie.

We don't do that.

But I often tell people that the culture doesn't really even know.

They have no original stories.

If we look deep enough, we can find the gospel in the strangest of places.

Carl needed to lay aside that weight and he needed to look forward.

He was encumbered with loneliness and sadness.

But when he looked forward, he had been given something new.

We have something new in Christ.

The old man is dead.

There's a new life to live.

There's something to look forward to.

We leave that behind so we can look forward.

Martha was looking for what else she could do.

Mary was looking to Jesus.

Martha was looking back.

Mary was looking forward.

Again, Martha was a believer, but she lost sight of what this one thing was.

She was distracted by what she believed she needed to be doing when the whole time living bread was being served.

Let's look at devotion from another perspective, from Mary's perspective.

She has chosen in this passage to sit and learn from the master.

She has chosen to ignore the world's expectations and to simply sit and be with Jesus.

This is her devotion.

And Jesus is clear.

This won't be taken from her.

It's interesting that Luke places this scene in between the story of the Good Samaritan, which teaches us how we should love our neighbor, and the upcoming instructions on how to pray.

Mary loved Jesus.

Martha did too, but Mary shows us a devotion to Jesus, and Luke's gospel teaches us how to respond to Jesus' devotion to us.

Jesus was so devoted to us that not long after this scene, he set his face to go to Jerusalem.

And laid down his life for his people.

It is his covenantal love and devotion to his people that the I will be their God and they will be my people, covenantal kind of love and devotion that brought him ultimately to Calvary.

You are worried, too worried about this and about that.

If you have joined us for first Sunday prayer, you know my petition, my all the time petition.

Lord, save my children.

And I know he hears me.

And I know he hears us, and we don't need to be encumbered by this worry.

That's why we bring it to him.

That's why we tell him, This is my worry.

This is my thing.

I want my children to know you.

I'm praying that you would see it.

He teaches us in this passage that what the one thing is that's necessary, and it's his words.

But in the next chapter, he teaches us how to pray.

Sounds like what should be our devotion.

And it's what we call it anyway, right?

In our devotional time, you get up in the morning.

If you have a devotional time, is if you do this, right?

You'll you'll open your Bible, you'll hear from him, and then you'll pray so he can hear from you.

What does that look like for you?

Do you set aside time daily to sit at the feet of Jesus?

Coffee in one hand, Bible in the other?

That's me.

Gotta have my coffee when I'm doing my devotions.

Devoted to the teaching, willing and open to the formation and the renewing of your mind.

And then do you pray?

Are you voicing what's going on in your life to the master who already knows these things but calls you to pray anyway?

This is your devotion.

The story of Mary and Martha reminds us that God's devotion to his people means he sees our distractions, he knows our anxieties, he lovingly corrects us, he calls us back to what is necessary.

He will not let his people be ultimately robbed of that good portion.

In his devotion to us, he distracts us from the world.

The question Martha asked was, Lord, do you not care?

The answer from the whole Bible is this.

Yes, he cares.

So much that he pursues, he teaches, he corrects, he intercedes, and ultimately dies for his people.

Even in a small living room in Bethany, the devotion of Christ shines brightly.

My prayer for us as a church is that we would not be like all the other evangelical entertainment houses that spend an hour each Sunday putting on a show to tickle those that would show up there.

But that our devotion to Jesus would have us eagerly waiting for that word, for God to expose this word to us, that we would sit at the feet of Jesus and be nourished by the true bread of life, and that we would be stronger for it, trusting in Him all the more.

Join me as we pray.