DISTRACTED

A sermon by George R. Pasley

Colossians 1:15-28; Luke 10: 38-42

I saw a bumper sticker the other day- JESUS IS COMING, LOOK BUSY

Well, he came to Martha’s house, and she WAS busy. But he said to her, your sister has chosen the better part.

I DON’T GET IT

Is doing nothing better than doing what needs to be done?

Do you know there are thousands of people who never have to go out of the house to go to a meeting after they get home from work?

Are they better than me, or any of you, who have several meetings a month?

I DON’T GET IT

Do you know there are millions of men that never do any housework?

Are they better than their wives, or girlfriends, who do it all?

I DON’T GET IT

How would the world keep spinning around- how would society hold together- if we all did nothing?

I DON’T GET IT

Last week we read about a man beaten, robbed, and left to die beside the road. Two men saw him and kept on going. Another man stopped, and cleaned him and bandaged him and brought him back to health. Are the two men who saw him and kept on going BETTER than the one who stopped an helped?

No.

What did our story say about Martha?

She WELCOMED Jesus and the disciples into her home- that was a good thing.

She had many tasks to do- well, duh!

After all, there were 13 men in her house.

That’s the way it is sometimes. If we want to do the right thing, then tasks become necessary.

BUT I DON’T GET IT

Why did Martha have to do it all?

I suppose that’s what Martha was asking. But here’s the rub- the story says one more thing about Martha. It says she was distracted.

Here’s what I know about Martha: the vision we are given of her in John’s gospel portrays her as the most astute of all the disciples.

She had absolute faith in what he could do.

She understood who he was.

She alone, of all the people that followed Jesus, seemed to get it.

But today, she is distracted.

Well, I know what that’s like. I get it.

Sometimes I forget who God is,

But more often I forget who I am-

A child of God, deeply loved, blessed with a purpose in God’s plan.

Sometimes I forget to share all of that- why?

Because I get distracted.

Sometimes I’m distracted by to much to do- but no often.

More often, I’m distracted by what I want other people to do.

More often, I’m distracted by what I want.

More often, I’m distracted by feeling sorry for myself.

I get it. But what I get most of all is that those distractions prevent me from enjoying the presence of God in my life.

There was Martha, doing the good thing, and hating every minute of it.

But what was Mary doing?

Mary was sitting at Jesus’ feet, and listening.

That’s the first sign of discipleship.

But here’s something about LISTENING that we miss out on in Greek and in English. The Hebrew version of that word LISTEN is more like TO HEAR AND TO HEED. In other words, listening leads to doing.

How many times have you told your kids they weren’t listening, even though they heard what you said?

Martha was doing, and she was distracted.

Mary was listening.

Both were good, but Mary’s was the better part. I don’t always get that.

Let’s compare lessons, from last week and this week:

The lesson fomr the Good Samaritan is that listening without doing is mockery

I get that. Some weeks the kids at the detention center listen to me, but they’re not with me. It’s frustrating. It’s hard. It’s discouraging.

The lesson about Martha and Mary is that doing without listening descends into busyness.

I’m not sure I get that- not quite. What was Mary HEARING that was so good?

This is one of those many times when I wish the bible gave us more information on what Jesus was saying at a particular time and place- but here’s my guess:

I’m guessing that what he said is not as critical for us as is the IMPACT of what he said.

Whatever he said, it helped root her life in him, and not herself.

Whatever he said, it nurtured her faith

Whatever he said, it bolstered he hope.

Here’s why that’s important:

There are times when being busy will be frustrating and hard and discouraging, even when we are doing the right thing.

But if we are rooted in him, we can take a breath in him, hold firm to our hope, and be ready for tomorrow.

To do that, we need to listen.

One day I was eating breakfast at Cape Fox, and I was served by my favorite server. Except that day, she had a shadow. The shadow was another server, a new hire, experiencing her first day on the job. Her job that day was just to watch, and listen, and to ask a question now and then. Later on she would be busier, with more responsibilities, and tables of her own. But that day, she was to watch, and listen- to be a shadow to someone who had already experienced all the intricacies of serving tables.

I suppose every restaurant has their own method for training new employees- though there are probably some places that don’t bother to train! But after reading this story about Mary and Martha and Jesus, I got it.

The purpose of listening- of being a shadow- for that new employee was NOT so she could become more busy.

Busy will come, soon enough. I get that.

But here’s what I NEED TO GET: the purpose of shadowing- of listening, watching, asking questions- of sitting at the feet and absorbing all you can, every chance you get- is to be more gracious, to be more filled with the love of God.

Because busy WILL come- Jesus gets that. After all, he WAS and IS a busy guy.

But here’s what he wants us to get: we need him, in us, WAY more than he needs us.

In the name of the Father, Son and Holy Ghost. Amen.