21 Jan

7/29/18   LUKE 10:38-42    “THE BEST WILL GIVE YOU THE REST”

I have found that as I get older, there are more young people who come to me for advice.  Part of this may be that I’m older than many people now.  It may also stem from being a retired pastor but whatever the reason, people ask me.  Now I don’t mind this at all but I have noticed one thing.  I don’t feel any wiser than I was 20 years ago.  I feel that I might be better with some spiritual advice but not for anything else.  However as we get older we do have more and more experiences that younger people haven’t had yet.  Anyway, we need to be careful who we ask and to whom we listen.  For instance, don’t ask a politician anything if you want an answer that doesn’t last for an hour and even then you won’t understand it if it’s even answered.  Instead when you need answers go to someone who has a little wisdom.  Today we are going to look at a famous passage about Mary and Martha.  Who is doing the right thing?  Let’s look a little closer to this and see if maybe both might be right to a certain degree.  Then let’s try to fit ourselves into the right model.

This comes from Louis Pentelis.  There were two old geezers living in the backwoods of the Ozarks: Rufus and Clarence.  They lived on opposite sides of the river and they hated each other. Every morning, just after sunup, Rufus and Clarence would go down to their respective sides of the river and yell at each other.

“Rufus!” Clarence would shout, “You better thank your lucky stars that I can’t swim, er I’d swim this river and whup you!”  “Clarence!” Rufus would holler back, “You better thank YOUR lucky stars that I can’t swim, er I’d swim this river and whup YOU!”  This went on every morning, every day for 20 years!

One day the Army Corps of Engineers came along and built a bridge. But the insults went on every morning, every day for another five years.  Finally, Rufus’ wife had had enough. “Rufus!” she squallered one day, “I can’t take no more! Every day for 25 years you’ve been threatenin’ to whup Clarence. Well, thar’s the bridge! Have at it!”  Rufus thought for a moment. Chewed his bottom lip for another moment.  “Woman!” he declared, snapping his suspenders into place. “I’m gonna whup Clarence!”

He walked out the door, down to the river, along the river bank, came to the bridge, stepped up onto the bridge, walked about halfway over the bridge, then turned tail and ran screaming back to the house, slammed the door, bolted the windows, grabbed the shotgun and dove under the bed.  “Rufus!” cried the missus. “I thought you was gonna whup Clarence!”  “I was, woman, I was!” he whispered.  “What in tarnation is the matter?”  “Well,” whispered the terror-stricken Rufus, “I walked halfway over the bridge and saw a sign that said, “’Clearance, 13 feet, 6 inches.’ He ain’t never looked that big from the other side of the river!”  This poor fellow was obviously getting bad information and we have to watch out for this also.

And that is kind of what this passage is all about.  First of all we have the Jesus and the disciples traveling the countryside and they come to Bethany.  The first mistake that we make here is to think that the disciples are just one person and their houses would be big like ours.  There had to be at a minimum of 12 men traveling with Jesus.  There could have been many more.  So they come to Bethany and Martha opens her home to them.  This is something that was automatic in their culture.  When travelers came you opened your house to them.

I don’t think that Mary and Martha were particularly rich people so they probably had an average house.  By our standards today, this house would be quite, quite small.  I think that it would have been common to have standing room only when you invited large groups like this into your home.  So before we start I want you to realize just what is happening.  It might be something like a graduation party today when 100-150 people show up at the same time when it’s raining and you all have to be in the garage at the same time.  Now you realize that we have all these people so what are you going to do with them?  What I’m trying to do here is drum up a little sympathy for Martha.  After all, someone has to feed and take care of all these people!  The graduation party or wedding party will be a flop unless someone takes charge of the food and hospitality.  If there are some people who have hospitality as a gift, you might be feeling a little anxious now or in a minute.

So the first thing that happens to Martha is that she thinks that Jesus doesn’t care.  In those days, it was no easy task to feed people.  There would have to butcher an animal.  They would have to take the flour and prepare bread loaves.  Then they would have to bake them.  I would also guess that they would have to have wine and water available for them to drink.  I doubt if they had any servants so this would have fallen on both Martha and Mary.  So Martha asks if Jesus even cares.

I think that this happens a lot as we have our focus on ourselves.  I remember having a house party one time and there was supposed to be someone to help me.  At the last minute, this person backed out and I was left serving about 25 guests all by myself.  For me it was just about too much.  This has also happened to me at church where I have signed up to serve something along with others and no one else shows up.  I was left wondering what God was up to by doing this.

These are just 2 examples of things that happen in this world and similar things have probably happened to many of you.  In our ‘it’s all about me world,’ it’s easy to get lost here.  Maybe I should have just let it go in the first case and enjoyed the party as it was a farewell to someone.  The second case I lost sight of the big picture as we were trying to raise some money for the youth.  You see, good things were happening in both cases.

We are so fortunate that God can see infinitely more than we can.  He sees the farewell and the youth.  He sees how someone in a town 100 miles away is going to interact with us when we don’t even know who that person is.  They are a stranger to us but not to God.  I remember when I was in high school we lived on a farm about 1½ miles from the Canadian border.  This was about 65 miles from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.  One night in the spring, 3 young people stumbled into our yard.  This is spring time in the north and the temperatures were below freezing.  It was obvious that they had crossed the border illegally which wasn’t a big deal then.  However, they were pretty cold and nearly frozen.  My dad found them and invited them into the house which I’m not real sure that my mom agreed but that is another story.  Anyway they warmed up and stayed the night.  In the morning Dad had called the Border Patrol and they picked them up.  Apparently they were runaways from Winnipeg.  How they got that far we will never know.

However, if God hadn’t steered them to my dad, they would have frozen to death.  God knew what He was doing by sending them to us and God knows what He is doing when you think He doesn’t.  Just because you don’t agree with Him at times doesn’t mean you are right.  I don’t know how many times I have preached this.  If you are in conflict with God, then you are wrong.  We like to equate ourselves to God and it never works.  This is God’s world made for us and He is always right.  Remember this when you hear about conflict in the church.  God is right so go back and read your Bibles so you always know.

Then look what happens next.  When you start to question whether God cares or not is when you start to blame others or find fault in others.  The first thing that Martha does is try to blame Mary for not helping and insinuating that Mary might be lazy.  Personally I think it would be hard to be lazy in those days because if you were you probably wouldn’t survive.

I think I have talked many times about the blame game in our modern world.  I really don’t think that there is much of anything bad that happens today that isn’t blamed on something.  I think that this is part of our heredity.  If you remember in the Garden of Eden, Adam blamed Eve and Eve blamed the serpent.  However, just because it’s part of our history from the beginning doesn’t mean that this is good.  We should be trying every way we can to shoulder responsibility ourselves.

The last thing that happens here before Jesus takes over is that Martha plays the ‘poor me’ card.  She has been left to do all this work all by herself.  Now I would guess, as I have said, that it was a lot of work in those days to take care of a group like this.  She thinks God doesn’t care, Mary is to blame, and now don’t you feel sorry for me.  I really think she has a small point here.  All these things are true.  We can’t deny them like they don’t exist.  They do.  But we have to grow up a bit and take responsibility.  However, we will find another way to deal with this in a moment.

This is another problem that riddles our society.  I would almost refer to it as everyone thinking they are privileged to various things, like anything they want.  We have people who won’t work to make a living because they are entitled to welfare.  They are entitled to unemployment payments.  Did you know that at one point in the last few years over 46% of Americans were eligible for food stamps?  That is an atrocious statistic that blows my mind!  There are people who are truly needy of these things but not even close to 46%!  And the rationale behind all this is ‘poor me.’  I could go on and on here but the bottom line is that we aren’t entitled to anything.  If and when the bottom drops out of our economy, we will find that we won’t have much and there won’t be much help.  My dad talked about the great depression in the 1930’s where people lined up at the railway station in a small town around here, looking for work so that they could eat.  No one was entitled.

Anyway those are the problems that Jesus faces in these 5 verses.  First of all notice that Jesus doesn’t get upset here.  He knows that this is a teaching moment for all who are gathered.  He starts by saying “Martha, Martha.”  I think He says this is a very loving way.  This is one of the places in the Bible where I think that you can put your name.  “John, John.”  Whatever your name, Jesus says it in a soothing and loving way.

This is what we forget.  Jesus doesn’t get mad at you.  He loves you in a way that you cannot understand.   He calls to you in a voice that is so loving that you just want to melt in a very good way.  I want you to notice what Jesus says here.  He tells her she is worried and upset by many things.  The day isn’t going well for Martha.  She has food to get ready, drinks to serve, and still play the part of hostess.  Jesus acknowledges all these things and more.  He realizes that they have to be done and that Martha is in charge.

You have many things to do in your life that are very important.  Often times it comes down to if you don’t do it, it won’t get done.  Jesus realizes all of this and more.  He tells me that it’s ok to have so many things to do.  But, don’t forget about Jesus because He’s the most important part of your life and all that you do.  I know many people who need this passage.  I know of Christians who work and work and work.  They take a little time off for Jesus but not much.  Do you pray every day?  Do you read your Bible every day?  Do you worship Jesus at least once a week?  But the most important thing is do you know Jesus?  If you don’t then confess your sins to Him today, and invite Him to live in your heart.  Then you will be on the way to becoming a Mary in a Martha’s world.  Jesus is the best thing that will ever happen to you.

There is a Scottish legend in which a poor boy who was tending some sheep on a mountain side. The boy saw a beautiful flower at his feet so he picked it. As he picked it he heard a great sound. Looking up he saw in the side of the mountain before him – a cave. Within the cave were precious gems and minerals. He walked into the cave – laid down the flower down and began to gather up gold, silver, and precious gems. He held them in his arms. When his arms were full he heard a voice speaking to him and it said, “Don’t forget the best.” So the boy turned again and gathered even more stuff into his arms getting a larger load than last time. As he was about to leave the cave he heard the voice again and it said, “Don’t forget the best.” This time the boy laid everything down and filled his pockets and hooked things on to his belt and reached out and gathered everything he could possibly carry. Having a full load the boy left the cave and at that instant the cave closed behind him locking him out. In the wink of an eye – all that boy carried turned to dust and was gone, and the voice said, “You forgot the best. The flower that you left behind is the key to the treasure. It opened the door for you. Always select the best and you can have the rest.”

People, Jesus Christ is the best and with Him you can have all the rest.  You will never be fulfilled or satisfied without Jesus.  The riches you will receive from Jesus are far greater than what the boy saw in the cave.  Jesus loves you so much that He will give you all He has.  Go to Him today and go to Him often.  You will never, never regret it.  Thank you Jesus for first loving us.  Let’s pray.