Meditationen am Gnadenstuhl: Thursday Easter IV - Luke 10:38-42

Thursday Easter IV

Daily Lectionary Readings: Leviticus 17:1-16; Luke 10:23-42; (Smalcald Articles: 1:1-2/2:7)

Luke 10:23-42:

[38] Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed 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 up 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] but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.” (ESV)

There's a contrast between what Martha and Mary are doing. Mary is a taker, and Martha is a giver. It's not too hard to sympathize with Martha. Now, here comes Jesus, the One who came not to be served but to serve.1 He is the Divine fixer, and He's come with His Word, which fixes everything.

Knowing all that, well, of course, we would want to sit at the feet of Jesus and hang onto His every word! We would be foolish not to be. But if Jesus came to your home unexpectedly, would you not also expect the others in your household to jump to tidy things up a bit? There are some dishes in the sink. Maybe some laundry waiting in a chair to be folded. Clutter on the coffee table. Look at that dust! Is that cat barf?! What am I going to feed everyone? Martha is understandably anxious about things, and we probably would be, too.

It’s not Mary and Martha that welcome Jesus into their home. It is Martha that acts as hostess. And she is really peeved with her sister. Wouldn't you be? I don't think I would do anything differently than Martha does. Martha seems to have a pretty bad attitude, however, almost hateful. There is a time for every matter under heaven2, but that list in Ecclesiastes chapter three doesn’t say anything about a time for hating someone, only hating their sin. But Mary is being sinful, isn’t she?

Mary is anxious, too! She is eager to be served by Jesus, to “gaze on the beauty of the Lord”3 and “seek the Lord’s face.”4 Mary sits at the beautiful feet of Him who preaches the good news.5 Perhaps Mary's behavior is not so deserving of reproach as it first appears.

In Martha's anxious state, she becomes overburdened by the distractions of the day: all the chores and preparations, the frustration of feeling like she has to do it all on her own. It's overwhelming. Again, we would feel the same. Just look at how ragged we are by the end of the week. Work. Meetings. Running our kids all over the place. Trying to keep up with all of our friend's doings on social media. Even trying to keep up with how our friends are doing, running their kids all over the place. Somewhere in there, there is yard work, housework, working on the car or tractor, or finding the time to take it to the shop. Oh, we have to eat and sleep a little, too. No wonder we're all tired and run down! No wonder we're anxious and depressed, nervous and lethargic.

“Hey, Jesus, can’t you say something to my sister? She’s just sitting there, and I’m doing all the work!““But the Lord answered her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.’”6 How much Jesus loves Martha! He has come to serve her, too. She’s so wrapped up in what she thinks she must do for Jesus that she misses the fact that He has come to serve both sisters. He contrasts Martha's many things with Mary's one good thing. And just what is Mary’s good thing? St. Augustine wrote:

What was Mary enjoying while she was listening? What was she eating? What was she drinking? Do you know? Let’s ask the Lord, who keeps such a splendid table for his own people, let’s ask him. “Blessed,” he says, “are those who are hungry and thirst for justice, because they shall be satisfied.” It was from this wellspring, from this storehouse of justice, that Mary, seated at the Lord’s feet, was in her hunger receiving crumbs. I will venture to say that she was eating the one she was listening to. He was being eaten, because he was the Bread. “I” he said, “am the bread who came down from heaven.”7

Whatever Mary heard and ate, it was, as Jesus said, the one thing necessary. It was Jesus revealing the riches of the glory of the mysteries of God. Such a mystery, men of ancient times waited to hear but didn't hear. They heard a promise and believed in faith. Such a mystery men of long ago waited to see but didn't see. They saw signs that foretold the coming of the Christ. Now, in the very house of Martha, sat the knowledge, wisdom, and mystery of the only begotten Son of God, the Word made flesh sent from heaven to take away the curse of the Law by his death. All the ordinances of the Law that we fight against, all the "dos" we don't do and the "don't" that we do do, Jesus bore on the cross for us, and nailed them there, and buried them there. This was how God handled our sin. His Son on the cross. His blood bringing our forgiveness.

Mary is sitting quietly and consuming the feast of the forgiveness of sin, life, and salvation that only He can set the table with for both Mary and Martha. “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink, nor about your body, what you will put on. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothing?”8 “Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.”9

Jesus visits in order to build up the muscle and confidence of faith already gifted to Martha and Mary. He comes that Martha and Mary not be shifting “from the hope of the gospel”10 that they have heard and believed. Both sisters needed the strengthening of the Gospel that would pour from the mouth of this Divine Servant. So to both these two sisters, Jesus has come to deliver the words of eternal life.

Sure, we can chastise Martha and give special accolades to Mary. But we can also do it completely the other way around. Both Mary and Martha are living in an often confusing but also deeply comforting paradox. It is the same paradox in which you and I live every moment of every day of our lives, both waking and sleeping. It is the paradox of being simultaneously saint and sinner. Confounding because the evil we don't want to do, we do; and the good we want to do, we do not do. Deeply comforting because our Lord Jesus Christ came for such as these – preaching, teaching, healing, and ultimately raising us from the walking death of sin. The one thing necessary is always the Word of our Lord. The Word is always good and ready to give us Jesus and his words. A word of warning for anyone hostile in mind and doing evil deeds. A word of security for those needing strengthening in the battle against sin, their flesh, and the devil.

Here is where we gather at the feet of Him who publishes good news. The feet nailed to the cross for the forgiveness of sins. It’s God’s love for the world in the Man Jesus Christ. It’s God’s Divine Service, and we are the guests receiving this holy hospitality. Here in our church service, we are strengthened by his Word, as was Mary. It is here all who hunger and thirst are satisfied. We sit. We listen. We pray. God serves us. Faith comes by hearing, hearing the Word of God. That's the better portion, that which Mary is having. I don't know about you, but I'll have some more of what Mary's having, won't you? Then we will be equipped to serve as Martha is serving because Jesus first served us.

1Matthew 20:28.

2Ecclesiastes 3:1,7-8.

3Psalm 22:7.

4Psalm 119:47.

5Romans 10:15

6Luke 10:41-42 (ESV).

7Arthur A. Just Jr., ed., New Testament III: Luke, Ancient Christian Commentary on Scripture [Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2003], 182)

8Matthew 6:25 (ESV).

9Matthew 11:28 (ESV).

10Colossians 1:23.