This sermon was preached at St. John's Lutheran Church, Karoonda (9 am).
I attended University with a good guy who identified himself as the laziest man on earth. He loved to be lazy. If you love being lazy enough to throw a parade in
celebration of laziness, then you don't really love laziness. If you
do love laziness, you may say that Jesus gives Mary permission to sit
around instead of helping around the house. If Mary was just being
lazy, surely Jesus would've said, “Go do something. Doesn't matter
what, just do something.” So maybe this isn't about laziness (and
it's easy enough to figure out that lazy isn't good anyways).
But
you can't accuse Martha of being lazy. When Martha receives Jesus
into her home, she gets distracted. The text says, “But
Martha was distracted with much serving.
” That's more than
staring-at-shiny-things distracted, so it needs to be defined – how
was she distracted? That's the helpful question. It's an active
distraction. She was distracted in receiving Jesus in hospitality.
And that's very surprising, because hospitality is a good thing.
Earlier in Luke chapter 10, Jesus described the good thing of when
people would receive the peace of the 72 whom he sent by welcoming
them into their homes. And what do we have here? Martha welcomes
Jesus into her home. This is also surprising, and rare for the
culture, that a woman receives a teacher of God's Word, in this case Jesus, into her home.
It isn't rare in that culture for a woman to know God's Word very
well or attend the divine service, just to be a host, because
hospitality was very serious business with all sorts of things that
were 'the done thing'. Even way back in Genesis 18 when God appears
in person to visit Abraham, it's Abraham who does his duty as the
host, and Sarah only overhears God's promise of a son. Point being,
Jesus honors Martha in going to her house, and Martha honors Jesus by
receiving him.
And
even though this reading is only 5 verses, that still isn't the end
of the story, because she was 'distracted with
much service'. This is
also a surprise because service is a good thing, it's an important
word for the Church in the New Testament. But in her service, she
was distracted, which is a word that means pulled to and fro, or
pulled away from something. Now, those of you who are used to having
a list as long as your arm of things to do would have no idea what
that's like, I'm sure. But what was she pulled away from? The very
thing Mary was hearing – Jesus' word. Mary “sat
at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching (literally “word”).
” But what does
Martha say? “Lord,
do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her
then to help me.”
For Martha's own distraction, not only Mary gets judged, but also
Jesus. Think about it – her works are on the one side, and Jesus
is on the other. That can't possibly be right, can't possibly be
good for her.
And again, hospitality is a good thing, so what's the problem here?
Martha's heart, and the gods that heart clung to at that moment.
This is the same idolatry, the same false worship that lives in your
heart. Hospitality is good, but it is also a good work, and any good
work can be turned into a distraction, worse yet a sin that passes
judgment on God. Idolatry doesn't have to be showy like a heist
movie with car chases and explosions but can be as ordinary as
yelling from one room of the house to another.
This is the idolatry that happens when Jesus' word gets in the way
of your good works. Martin Luther knew a thing or two about that.
Early in his life he had become a monk, because he wanted to do good
works, which is good. But he believed, as he was taught, that he
could do better works as a monk than the ten commandments, better
works than if he was in a “worldly” vocation. That right there
is putting his works over above God's Word.
And
does this have anything in common with multiplying church programs or
attending the divine service as a way to prove your love to God?
When they are done according to God's pure Word, they are a good
thing. But when they are done just so that you're “doing
something”? Let me tell you about a congregation that was very
“active”. Did you know Johann Sebastian Bach for much of his
career was a humble church musician, composing cantatas for the
Sunday divine service? But from the records, we know that, though
the church was often full, the young noble classes who sat in the
front were flirting with each other all service, and the masses of
people in the back brought their KFC in and were generally carrying
on. And in the same service with music from one of the most
beautiful composers of all time! And flirting and having a yarn are
good things (it's fellowship right?), and being in church is a good
thing. But are they the best thing? That's the important question
to ask.
Jesus
isn't here to give you distractions, but to take them and to give you
a very necessary miraculous feed.
Jesus
is here to take distractions out of your hands and sit you down for a
necessary and miraculous “hospitality” where he hosts you.
Because what does Jesus say to Martha? “Martha,
Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, 42
but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which
will not be taken away from her.”
The one thing necessary is the good portion. It is Jesus' Word and
Sacraments for you. They are Jesus' hospitality for you. They are
good above all other good things. To receive that is to fulfill the
first commandment in all things.
Sin, death, and the devil distract you, pull you away from Jesus'
Word and Sacraments (and in ordinary seeming ways – “Oh, I need
to go do this, or that”), but Christ himself draws you to his Word
and Sacraments by his Word and Sacraments! This is the good portion!
Even
Bach himself would say that the best thing going on, even at the
services where his cantatas were performed, wasn't the performance –
it was, and always is Jesus and his Word! Maybe this quote from one
of those cantatas will make it clear: “The
world is a vast wilderness: heaven becomes bronze, earth iron, when
Christians understand through faith that Christ’s word should be
their greatest riches; the goodness of food seems almost to flee away
from them. The Lord will embrace the poor with mercy here and there;
He sends them, out of compassion, the highest treasure, the Word of Life. (Cantata for the 7th
Sunday after Trinity)”
Jesus' hospitality is really good, and he's here to host and teach
you. He's here with his Gospel. This Gospel is the cross that even
the best of good works can't equal or earn. It is the cross that is
his death in your place, his death for your life. Growth in good
works isn't as good as the Word of this cross, isn't as good as
believing all the Scriptures as true and saving for you. If it was,
Jesus would have praised Martha and not Mary.
This Gospel puts you in good company with people like Mary, not
because she's sitting down, but because she's sitting down at Jesus'
feet. He's the host and the teacher – but what he teaches is what
his word says. Your hospitality is faithfully receiving the Word of
God. And boy is that a surprise. [It also puts you in the company
of Martha. When her brother Lazarus died, she listened to Jesus
then, for sure, and in faith as he went to go raise him from the
dead. But every word of Jesus in Scripture is just as serious as the
grave, as serious as raising you from your grave.]
Faith is busy, but not for the sake of keeping busy. And again good
ain't bad, but the divine service isn't busy-work to keep your hands
and mouths occupied, but to keep your mouths and ears filled with
good things. It's being sat down like a dopey kid who needs to be
sat down at the table (by being shown your need in the confession of
sins), being fed (in Word and Sacrament – specifically the Supper),
and sitting at Jesus' feet (which is faith which is the highest
worship, specifically also being set down in Baptism, because Baptism
is so more than that. It's being brought to life by this water,
which is not plain water).
In feeding you, this Gospel of Jesus doesn't put you into a food
coma, but into your daily callings (which are also really ordinary).
You do get to feed and host people, not in an idolatrous way, but by
faith.
Conclusion: In between laziness and distractions is Jesus' Word –
always has been for the Church. So Jesus doesn't want to just give
you distractions or have you ignore your vocations, but to sit at his
feet, be hosted and fed by him. That's neither laziness nor
distraction. And it happens in the preaching of his Word, and in a
very special water (the one joined to his word) and in a very special
meal (the one joined to his word for your forgiveness). That's the
best portion for you. Amen.
No comments:
Post a Comment