Luke 10:38-42

The Sixth Sunday after Pentecost | 7/17/2022 | Sermon on Luke 10:38-42 | by Paul Bieber |

Luke 10:38-42 Revised Standard Version

³⁸ As Jesus and his disciples went on their way, Jesus entered a village; and a woman named Martha received him into her house. ³⁹ And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. ⁴⁰ But Martha was distracted with much serving; and she went to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone?  Tell her then to help me.” ⁴¹ But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things; ⁴² one thing is needful. Mary has chosen the good portion, which shall not be taken away from her.”

 also

Genesis 18:1-10a

Psalm 15

Colossians 1.15-28

 The Better Portion

Grace, peace, and much joy to you, people of God.

It is no accident, as they say, that the story of Mary and Martha immediately follows the parable of the Good Samaritan, which we heard in last Sunday’s Gospel. That Gospel began with the lawyer’s question, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” Then followed his juxtaposition of Deuteronomy 6 and Leviticus 19 as the summary of the Law of Moses: Love God with all that you are and your neighbor as yourself. “Do this,” Jesus said, “and you will live.” And after the parable he says, “Go and do likewise.” So that beloved parable is all about doing something for your neighbor out of love.

Today, in the very next scene of St. Luke’s Gospel, we hear about the hospitality of Martha. In the First Reading we hear of the hospitality of Abraham. And since this hospitality is extended to the Lord Jesus at Martha’s house, and, at Abraham’s tent, to the three mysterious visitors who seem, together, to be the Lord, these acts of loving hospitality seem to fulfill both parts of the summary of the Law, loving God and neighbor, doing something.

But the Christian life is not all about doing something. Before actively loving your neighbor as yourself comes loving God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind. And that is not as much active as it is receptive. Mary’s listening to the Word of God spoken by Jesus takes precedence over Martha’s busy hospitality. To Mary and to Abraham, as they listen, is given the word of promise, given to those who are open to receive it.

This is not to minimize the importance of loving service. Jesus is, after all, the one who says, “I am among you as one who serves.” Martha is not rebuked for serving, but for being distracted, anxious, and troubled about many things. Being preoccupied with doing things can bring cares like thorns into our lives to choke the Word. For all her hospitality and welcoming, Martha is just too busy—as the priest and the Levite were too busy to help the man who fell among thieves—too busy with her own priorities to pay impractical attention to someone who’s not giving her the help she thinks she needs, and not telling her sister to help her, either.

Mary sits at Jesus’ feet like a disciple. To renew and deepen our discipleship, we must stop and listen. The Word is the one thing needful. Implanted in us, growing, and springing forth, it will bear fruit in loving action. The story of Mary and Martha is not an elevation of contemplation over action. Mary acts at the last banquet in Bethany when she anoints Jesus in anticipation of his burial. Jesus defends her action there as he defends her listening here.

True disciples of Jesus are called to love and serve their neighbors with generosity beyond the law’s requirements. But the Lord must be loved first and always. Being in his presence and listening to his guidance is essential. What Martha is doing in serving, showing hospitality, is good, but what Mary chooses is actually better. Love of neighbor is subsequent to and dependent upon a love of the Lord that sits at his feet like Mary, like the sinful woman who anointed Jesus’ feet, like the man from whom Jesus cast out a legion of demons.

Loving service, showing hospitality even to the Lord himself—serving the Lord in the least of these whom he calls his brothers and sisters—as crucially important as that is, is not the better portion. Are we first to serve the Lord or first to be served by him? He is among us as the one who serves. And he is among us as the firstborn of all creation, the firstborn of the dead, the one in whom the fullness of God is pleased to dwell. How could we presume to serve him first, when he has reconciled us to God and made peace by the blood of his cross.

Just as his serving comes first, then ours, so also his suffering comes first, then ours. The life of discipleship begins in receptive listening to the word, but then the implanted word bears fruit in our lives. “Christ in you” is not only the hope of glory; it is taking up our cross and joining what we suffer through to his sufferings, joining our sacrifice to his sacrifice as members of his body, the Church.

As we hear on Christmas Day from St. John 1 and Hebrews 1, so we hear again today from Colossians. He is before all things, and in him all things hold together. In him our lives hold together: what we suffer, what we hope for, what we contemplate, what we do. When we receive the word of promise he graciously offers we find, like Abraham and Sarah, Mary and Martha, that all the hospitality we offer is patterned on the hospitality we are offered at the Lord’s table. The better portion is the gift that Jesus serves—himself. And, receiving him, we are freed to respond, to express our faith, to act in love.

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

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The Rev. Dr. Paul Bieber

San Diego, California, USA

E-Mail: paul.bieber@sbcglobal.net