Today’s sermon title is Sisters—It’s a very short Gospel passage from Luke, five verses “ Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things’ there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.”

At least a few people this week have asked me to put in a good word for Martha. Sometimes people feel that Martha gets a bad rap. Martha loves Jesus. Martha is a believer, sister to Mary, sister to Lazarus. This world would be in a world of hurt without Martha and all the Marthas of the world, and by the way, most of us are way more like Martha than we ever are like Mary. It’s great to know that being in the Kingdom is not dependent on our personality type or tendencies. There is forgiveness of sins in Jesus’ name and He helps us with so many things. But, this is an important story given to us. A very short one.

We are told that Martha is the one that welcomes Jesus into her home. She is probably the older sister. We don’t know if Martha has to consult with Mary and Lazarus to invite Jesus over. I would think that Mary would consult with Martha before she would do it. But, nevertheless, Martha is the one who welcomes Jesus in and sets about the business of having company for dinner. She takes on a lot of work in the kitchen and really wants to show her love for Jesus in this way. It’s a wonderful thing, so far... But then, different things start to happen with Martha in her serving God and her serving Jesus as a Rabbi. She starts being preoccupied with what her sister is doing and not doing. She is also feeling a little ill-used. I don’t know if that’s happened to anybody in this church, that you would ever feel a little ill-used at home or church. You feel that a few other people could start doing some things too? Martha has love for Jesus, but now it’s starting to mingle with this distraction about what her sister is doing.

What is her sister doing? She is sitting at the feet of Jesus and taking in his Word. This story speaks to many different things. One thing it speaks to is Jesus’ attitude toward women. That’s not the primary lesson in this story, but it is a significant one. Most rabbis would not teach women from the Word of God. Some famous rabbis were quoted as saying, “Better to burn the scriptures than teach them to a woman.” Even part of the prayer a Jewish man would offer would be to thank God he wasn’t born a woman. Jesus reflects a different attitude toward women. Paul, later on, when he wants to establish his own authority says, “I sat at the feet of Gamaliel, Acts 22:3, which meant that he was one of the rabbi’s students. He was accepted as one of the students. When he spoke he spoke not only on his own authority, but on the authority of the teacher. It’s how he establishes credibility in the church world.

Mary sits at the feet of Jesus and is taking in His word. Martha is not sure whether that’s appropriate. “Excuse me Lord, but shouldn’t she be in the kitchen helping me?” Jesus says, “Martha, you are worried and distracted by much, but Mary is making a good choice here. She is choosing the more important thing.” He tells Martha that he doesn’t care if he eats at her house or not. You know it is going to be a good meal. Jesus knew that if he was going to Martha’s house, he was going to eat well. What Jesus is saying is that he doesn’t always care what he eats. He cares that they connect in the things of God, that we grow into who God wants us to be. That what Mary cares most about, also. Mary is not a lazy person, but she knows that she will not have many times in her life to sit at the feet of Jesus, alone in her own home. Not many. She wants to make sure that she doesn’t miss it. Jesus says she has chosen the better part and nobody will take it from her. Not you, not the scribes, not the Pharisees. It’s part of the fulfillment. In one sense we are all living in the last days. It says, “In the last days I will pour out my spirit on all flesh and your sons and your daughters will prophesy. They will speak the Word of God to other people The great things that have to be done are being done. Mary is the beginning of that fulfillment, that the scriptures are going to be taught and understood and poured out on all flesh—men and women alike.

Women understood that Jesus understood them and they rejoiced. He was a different kind of rabbi. There were many different teachings that pointed to this. He didn’t see everything the way others did. Even the story with the woman at the well—he sent the disciples to buy groceries and he told this woman about the great things of the kingdom. She went off as the first evangelist and the guys are coming back with bags of groceries. They thought, “What is Jesus doing?” That’s a good question. Peter, you ask him. No, I asked him last time, you ask him. We don’t know what he’s doing, but we don’t want to ask him. They ask him if wants to eat something and he replies, “I have a food to eat that you don’t know anything about. My food is to do the will of Him who sent me. That is my meat and my drink! I sent you to buy something that you didn’t work for, meaning the groceries. It didn’t come from the store. Someone else sowed the crops that ends up in the store. I sent you to get something that you didn’t make. Don’t tell me that the harvest isn’t ripe now! Don’t tell me that something is going to happen in four months. I’m telling you now, that the fields are ripe now! People are hungry for God. Men and women—and we are going to break out the kingdom to everybody. People sensed this. What Jesus would say to a religious crowd, “If you are to lust after a woman, that’s an adulterous problem that you have in your heart.” The women were grateful because the common religious belief was that the woman was a temptation through no fault of her own. Jesus says, “No. Treat people with respect. Treat people as created in the image of the Living God. Share the Word of God with one another. Show honor to one another. The women sensed a difference in Jesus and rejoiced. He had that amazing gift to love women without having there be any hint of inappropriate sexuality. You knew that with as many enemies as Jesus had, if they could make up a lie that was believable, they would, but they couldn’t. Jesus showed woment respect and honor, accepting them as worthy to be disciples! He freely, gladly and openly taught them the Word of God. This is a secondary, but quite significant lesson in this story.

The primary thing is this—sitting at the feet of Jesus. It is so hard for you and I to let everything else go and sit at the feet of Jesus. We may be more willing to do work at church than to sit at Jesus’ feet, to pray daily, to read His Word daily. The disciples said, “Lord, teach us to pray.” One of things that strikes me about that though I’m not a Hebrew, Greek, or Aramaic scholar, they didn’t say, “Teach us how to pray.” They said, “Teach us to pray.” I think everyone in this room knows how to pray, but I don’t know if you are a praying person. Knowing how to pray is of no advantage if you don’t pray. The disciples would see Jesus go off alone tired and weary and spend time with His father. He would cry out with loud cries and tears when he prayed. Sometimes we need to pour it out to God. You have to be angry and show your fear. You have to be heard. The Jewish people had the Mezuzah on their door. It contained the Great Shema, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul and strength.” They would touch it everytime they left the house and everytime they returned, they would remember what they were leaving the house to do. They were leaving the house to love the Lord with all their heart, soul and strength. We are supposed to be heart and soul people. We are not supposed be so overly careful, that we continue religious traditions without having a relationship with God. We can arrange the gifts on the altar, but if there is no fire on the altar what do we have?

Mary is going to sit at the feet of Jesus first. We all get distracted by the things we have. Yesterday, I saw a homeless man with all of his possessions in a grocery cart. I was stunned to realize that he was happy. I remembered what my mother used to say, “The more things you have, the more things you have to take care of.” If all the things we have to take care of are keeping us from being at the feet of Jesus, then are they a blessing or are they a curse? Paul says, “We gave you not only the gospel, but our lives, also because you were dear to us.”

Each of us need a certain amount of structure, a certain amount of discipline, but what a tragedy if we are the people of God and quiet time with God is foreign to us. Is time in His Word, to be shaped by His Word part of our day to day experience? Prayer is so much more than our requests. Our requests are important, but prayer is so much more than that. If your prayer life consists mostly of requests, I know that you won’t pray much because you will feel like you are wearing a bowling ball necklace. All the time you are going to be focusing on the need. It’s heavy when we are only focused on our need. Prayer is adoration, confession, thanksgiving and supplication. Is Jesus worth adoring? That’s more important than having dinner on time! It’s more important than our list of things getting done—and we all have a list. What a shame if we are Christians and we don’t know Jesus in the quiet place. How are we supposed to do well if we don’t do that? America is an image culture. Everything is what you look like and quiet time with God is not encouraged. You and I need to have as much going on where people can’t see as what people can see. If we don’t, we will fall over sometime and it could be permanently. We will not do well in a storm. We will not endure. We will break instead of bend.

This is not just one more obligation. This is not a burden. Quiet time with Jesus is your burden lifter. The enemy of our souls will make it into an undesirable obligation. Jesus asks, “Am I a burden to you?” Let His Word Abide in you. I’ll never forget being present when a friend of mine was teaching the Bible for the first time. He was teaching from John 15. Somebody asked him what abide means. He said, “Abide is the verb of the noun abode. Your abode is your home. So Jesus is saying, “Make yourself at home in me and let me make myself at home in you.” If you are having company for dinner and it’s someone you don’t know well, you may have to put all the newspapers away and make sure everything is neat. But, if it’s someone you are at home with, then you know that if it’s good enough for you, it’s good enough for them. The point of the whole thing is getting together. Jesus is saying, “Can’t we have that kind of relationship? Can’t we get past all the Thee and Thou and everything and can’t you come as you are and know that I love you as you are? Can’t you just tell me about it? Can’t you tell me about the kind of music you like and help me understand it?” Sometimes we think the only thing God is interested in is church and the Bible. He’s not just the pastor of the world, He’s the creator of the world. If it’s not sinful, He’s interested in it. If you like engineering, He’s an engineer, have you noticed? He’s a musician, too. If there are things that you like, talk to Him about it and tell Him why you like it and be prepared for Him to tell you why He may not or why He may. He might say to you, “I like rap. I just don’t like words that insult women or talk about hurting people or making fun of people. If you want to glorify God and speak to the goodness of life, then I can get into that.” Says God. Right or wrong is not a matter of taste. Everything that isn’t sinful is from God and He invites us to come to Him. Come often. His door is not locked. Come. Mary heard that word. She left her sister in the kitchen. She is immortalized for that. She is honored for that. We are being invited. If you have come this far, to church, make sure to go the rest of the way and really get into the presence of God. Do this above all else, and let’s remember as men and women who are becoming children of God to always show each other honor and respect. Amen.