A sermon preached at Kowloon Union Church on Sixth Sunday After Pentecost 17 July 2022, by Justine Wong. The scripture readings that day were Colossians 1:15-28 and Luke 10:38-42.
Good morning sisters and brothers. It is such a joy and honor to share God's words with my KUC family.
For those who may not know me, my name is Justine Wong, and I was the seminary intern at KUC a few years ago! I was present among you all for about a year, a year full of blessings and learning. May we continue to grow and learn from each another through the word of God.
Let's us pray. Dear God, thank you for the words and messages you have given us. May we have opening hearts to listen, to ponder and to response. May the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart be pleasing to you. In Jesus name we pray, Amen.
Today we will focus on the gospel reading, which talks about Jesus
visiting Martha and Mary.
Luke 10:38-42 -
- 38 Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village where a woman
named Martha welcomed him.
- 39 She had a sister named Mary, who sat at Jesus’s feet and listened to what he was
saying.
- 40 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.”
- 41 But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by
many things,
- 42 but few things are needed—indeed only one. Mary has chosen the better part,
which will not be taken away from her.”
I think this story is not new to us. Who do you think is the main
character of this story? Jesus, Martha, or Mary? In my opinion, Martha is the main character, as she was introduced and got the most descriptions in the story.
1
Every story has some kind of conflict or problem that the main character faced, what is the problem of Martha? The scripture tells us that:
Firstly, Martha was distracted by her many tasks. While she was so busy, her sister Mary was not helping! So Martha seek help from Jesus, but the Lord said that Martha was worried and distracted.
The scripture did not record what the reaction and response of Martha was. If you were Martha, how would you feel? I think I would be quite upset and angry. I was doing my best to serve the guests, and it was indeed more appropriate for women to stay in the kitchen than to sit with the guests in that culture. I was trying to remind Mary of her role, why would Jesus said I was worried and distracted? It does not make sense!
Personally, I feel pity for Martha. She was always used as a bad example of worrying too much or too busy with her life. When we hear this story, that’s always the conclusion. As we live in Hong Kong, I think we can relate to Martha more than Mary. We seldom have time to go for a retreat, leaving all our tasks behind and just listen to the Lord. This is luxury, we can’t always get away and just spend time with God. In reality, we are all like Martha, busy with our lives. So what can we learn from this story?
Martha’s intention was very good, she opened her home and welcomed Jesus. She has a loving and serving heart. However, she was using her own judgement and method to serve the Lord, making herself busy, occupied and distracted, and this is not what Jesus really want.
2
The story before this passage is the parable of the Good Samaritan, which tries to answer the question, “who is my neighbor?" While the priest and Levite may have reasons to ignore the injured traveler, the Samaritan is the only one who showed mercy to the injured, acting as a real neighbor. Jesus valued this kind of wholehearted serving, the real presence with the needy, and the genuine care for the hurt. Serving is about meeting the needs of others, not just performing out of one’s agenda.
I recently moved into a new apartment in June, and I have hosted a few housewarming gatherings, so I understand there are lots of preparations beforehand. You need to clean up and prepare food etc. Most of the time I just have hot drinks at home, but in weather like this, I would prepare cool drinks for my guests. I won’t force my guests to follow my habits.
And when the guests arrived, the most important thing is no longer the preparations! When the guests arrive your home, you start to receive them, show them around and talk to them! I won’t sweep the floor when my guests are here! When they are present, you need to be present too!
If we look up "present" as an adjective in the dictionary, it means "fully focused on or involved in what one is doing or experiencing." This is the kind of quality time we would like to spend with others. Was Martha “present” with Jesus? She served the Lord and even talked to Him, but she wasn’t really present.
Just like when you have lunch or dinner with someone, but that person is always looking at their phone. Does this sound familiar to you? You two maybe eating together, but that’s not real present.
3
This leads to another meaning of the word “present”. If we understand "present" as a verb, it means “formally introduce (someone) to someone else.” How did Martha “present” herself? Martha present herself as a responsible host, so she did whatever she can to display hospitality. She acted as a good host to welcome Jesus.
But what did Jesus want? Did Jesus want her to be a good host, or a good friend? Or even a good student? Most of us indeed like Martha. We tried to do a lot of things to please others, and also to please God. We present ourselves as a certain role, using our own ways. Do we really know what God want from us?
“Present”, if we see it as a noun, it means “the period of time now occurring.” Present is now. Do we know what we supposed to do now? There are important things and urgent things in our lives, but sometimes we mix up our priorities. We tend to fix all the urgent things first, but neglecting the important things. Did Martha choose to do the right thing at the right time?
We always think that we can do this and that LATER, maybe when we are less busy, when we are retired, or after our kids grow up. Important thing like body check or dentist appointment always got pushed back. We always have excuses to delay our agenda, and eventually we forgot what we supposed to do. If we fail to live at the present moment, we may regret our decisions in the future. The story of Martha remind us to think through our priorities, and choose to do what is important at the moment.
4
Finally, another meaning of “present” as a noun is “a thing given to someone as a gift.” Do we see spending time with one another as a “present”? I think we experience this more during the pandemic, when we can’t take worshipping together or eating together for granted. We need to treasure our time together. Do we treasure our time with Jesus as well? Do we always feel His presence?
This leads to our New Testament reading today.
Colossians 1:15-20 –
15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation,
17 He himself is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
20 and through him God was pleased to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, by making peace through the blood of his cross.
Jesus is a great present for us. Not only He is the image of the invisible God, we can only reconcile with God through Him, thus enjoying God’s presence, peace and provision.
I have this magnet in my office which display the story we just read today. Take a moment to look at it, which character do you relate most?
While Jesus was teaching, Mary sat at His feet and listened to what he was saying. She was engaging and enjoying the presence of Jesus. Her mind and heart were focused, and Jesus said she has chosen the better part.
On the other hand, when you look at Martha, her body and her hands were not facing Jesus ---although she tried to look at Jesus. She was worried and distracted by her many tasks.
5
In verse 42 Jesus said, ”but few things are needed—indeed only one.” This story is not about honoring listening and underrating action or service, it’s a story about many and one.
While Mary was focused on doing one important thing, Martha was distracted by her many tasks and many things. She was not present. She has excessive anxiety and worries, because she wants excessive control. Things should happened according to what Martha thinks. Her will is stronger than God’s will, even when Jesus was present. That’s where the problem lies, and that’s where priorities go wrong.
Let me conclude with a quote from A.W. Tozer.
“The reason why many are still troubled,
still seeking, still making little forward progress
is because they haven't yet come to the end of themselves. We're still trying to give orders,
and interfering with God's work within us. ”
