Grace and peace to you from our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. The text on which this morning's message is based comes from our Gospel lesson (Luke 10: 38-42) read earlier.
"Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things." I've already been told by my wife to be careful in this sermon. She does not want too many or too vivid of illustrations coming at her expense. Suffice it to say that a Bible verse fragment that I frequently quote, perhaps too often, is here in our text: "Martha, Martha." Now, be sure, Jesus loved Martha. We're explicitly told so in the Gospel of John, chapter 11, the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. In that story, both Martha and Mary are shown to be women who trust Jesus, who even believe that He is the One sent from God who has the power over life and death. And in our Gospel text here in Luke, Martha has opened her home to Him. Martha's a good and faithful woman, doing the appropriate Jewish custom of welcoming travelers into her home. And she is wanting to serve him; this too is very good. Any of us, if Jesus were to physically visit our homes, any of us would want to serve Him well, to be a wonderful host. But Martha is distracted by all the preparations. She is worried and upset, anxious and distracted from listening to Jesus.
Did you notice that Jesus never tells Martha she is wrong? It is never "wrong" to devote ourselves to our earthly duties. It is never wrong to clean our homes, serve delicious meals to our friends and family, to devote ourselves to our business and professional lives. In fact it is God-pleasing. Paul speaks out against laziness in 2 Thessalonians 3. It is God-pleasing to put effort into our work. For those of you who are returning to school in a few weeks, it is never wrong for you to study hard, to learn much. In fact, it is God-pleasing to study hard and wrong to be lazy. But whenever our devotion to our earthly duties and pleasures begin to outweigh our devotion to God and His Word, that is when Jesus comes to each of us, male and female, and says: "Martha, Martha," "you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but only one thing is needed. Jesus is not harsh with his much-loved friend. He simply, gently reorients her compass to point the right direction. "Martha, Martha, only one thing is needed." Whenever you start thinking that your business and professional life is so important that you're feeling anxious, worried, and distracted, let Jesus gentle words reorient your compass as well: Martha, Martha, only one thing is needed. For you students, when your school and extracurricular activities become the center of your personal universe, remember Jesus' gentle words: Martha, Martha, only one thing is needed. For any of us, whenever our social and family situations become so demanding and frustrating, hear again Jesus' gentle words: "Martha, Martha, only one thing is needed." Only one thing is needed. Mary had found it. She was sitting at the feet of the Lord, listening to what He said. We get no indication here that Mary was idle or lazy. Jesus' words were simply so important to her that she had to sit at his feet and listen. She might not even have understood everything he was saying. Jesus' disciples often found his words perplexing for a while. But she was there, listening intently. When our missionary Tim Heiney was in the U.S. recently, he told another pastor how much busier our lives here seem than in Africa. Ours is a busy culture. We sometimes even boast about how busy we are. We seem to try to pack as much into our lives as we can. Work, school, sports, TV, civic duties, Internet, vacations, meals, housekeeping, caring for others, you name it. And none of these is bad to do. But when one or more of these begins to distract us from our Lord and his church, from listening to His Word here in worship, or in our times with His Word during the week, then we need to stop and hear Jesus' Words here. "Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted about many things, but only one thing is needed." Sometimes we begin thinking that Jesus and his Word are just another part of our lives, rather than the center of our lives. All other aspects of our lives are gifts from him. When we begin to think of those gifts, like job, home, and school, as priorities over the giver, then we need to stop and hear Jesus reorienting our compass: "Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted about many things, but only one thing is needed."
Martha invited Jesus into her home. But Martha made the mistake of thinking that she was the host and He was the guest. She got it backwards. Anytime we are in the presence of Jesus and his Word and his ways of showing us grace and forgiveness, we are the guests and He is the host. Through His Word we learn of our sinful natures and our need for help, our need to be saved. Through His Word, we learn how he purchased and won us from our captivity to death and the devil. Through His Word we learn how He suffered and died and rose again for our salvation. He provides his grace and forgiveness in very tangible ways. Light waves from a page, sound waves from the spoken word, His touch that comes through the waters of Baptism and the Bread and Wine of the Lord's Supper. When you come to this table in a few minutes to receive His Body and Blood, you are not performing some human duty to please God. NO, you are receiving the blessing of the Host. He is serving you with a heavenly banquet, a foretaste of the feast to come. You are coming to the one thing that is needed in your life, the forgiveness of your sins, and that is what He is doing for you here today during this entire service. We call this time together "Divine Service." During this time together, God, the Divine one is serving us. Through confession, through the reading and preaching of his Word, through sacrament; through all of these we receive New Life through our Lord Jesus Christ, his suffering, death and resurrection.
We are not here today in worship, or at least we shouldn't be, because of some sense of obligation or to avoid a sense of guilt. We are not here to do our duty to God. We are here to receive His blessings. When you study God's Word with your family and with others in God's family, you are not performing your obligation to God. When you study God's Word in your own personal devotions, you are not being a good member in God's club, you are receiving blessing after blessing from Him.
When I first became a college professor, I must admit I was shocked that students paid as much as they did to hear my words. Up to 40 students in a class, each one paying about $750 per course, 4 classes I would teach each semester. Each year my words, my teaching would generate up to $200,000 for the college. I want to thank you Immanuel for giving me the opportunity to teach and proclaim God's Word among you and this community, because now the Words I teach are worth far more than $200,000, far more than $200 million. The words I am privileged to speak and teach are worth more than any silver and gold, because they are God's words, the words of eternal life. The college learners who listened to me in the past did so for the long-term benefits, the hope of a college degree, the hope of a rewarding career, the hope of the status of being a "college graduate." You, the learners, the disciples here at Immanuel listen here to God's Word for the long-term benefits, benefits that are much more rewarding than any college degree. The benefits you are receiving from my teaching, as well as the teaching of others here in the church, others like Gale, Bob, Norma, Curtis, Ann, those benefits are eternal.
You younger learners, children, you are receiving great benefits from your Sunday School and Vacation Bible School teachers, Mrs. Dean, Mrs. Helmke, Mrs. Wiehl, Mrs. Schmoekel, Mrs. Hansen, Mrs. Weber, Miss Gardels and others. Through these teachers you are learning about Jesus, which is more important than any school subjects you will ever learn, than any college class you might ever take. Even if you go on to medical school, or learn to be a rocket scientist, or learn to be the most successful professional athlete of all time, the words about Jesus that you are learning here are more valuable than anything else you will ever hear. How do I know? Because Jesus said so. "Only one thing is needed." All the rest of our lives may be filled with striving for success. But only one thing is needed. To hear Jesus and his Word of life. Our lives may be filled with distractions, all the preparations we are making to keep ourselves financially solvent, or physically healthy, or entertained and comfortable. But if those distractions keep us from focusing on the main message of Christ's love for us, then listen again to Jesus' gentle words, his invitation to hear more of his words of salvation and life: "Martha, Martha, only one thing is needed."
The grace and peace and salvation words of our Lord Jesus Christ be with us always. Amen.