Luke 10:38-42 - Homiletics

Christ's sermon in the house of Martha.

A very short sermon, its substance being given us in the two last verses. But it is a sermon whose teaching goes far down into the truth of our hope and faith. Let us trace it, first, in the revelation made in Christ's word of the differences which the heavenly life comprehends; and, secondly, in the counsel with regard to this life which Christ's word conveys.

I. HOW INTERESTING IS THE SKETCH OF THE TWO SISTERS AT BETHANY ! They are so lifelike that we feel as if we had seen and known them. And, indeed, we have, because they portray familiar types of character and temper. No person of candour will regard the elder sister as only the embodiment of worldly mindedness in contrast with the younger as the embodiment of spiritual-mindedness. When we look more closely into the narrative, we see the injustice of this view. It is Martha who receives Jesus; it is she who provides for his comfort. If she is bustling and busy, this is only the sign of her devotion. Nor does Jesus say that, in her anxiety about many things, she had lost the one thing needful, and that she had no share in the good part which could not be taken away. He is defending Mary against the temporary petulance of Martha, and, in so doing, he cautions her against the temptations incident to her activity. "Jesus," says St. John, "loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus." Assume, then, that each of the two has a place in the communion of saints, and see what this place is and wherein each is fulfilled in the other.

1 . The usefulness of the Martha character is at once suggested. It hears the impression of the liberal soul who deviseth liberal things, who will take any amount of pains to oblige, who is eager to serve. Honour to those who have the readiness to do, and the knack of business! In such persons there is generally a vast amount of self-denial. You will find them toiling when there might be many excuses for resting. Prompt, energetic, shrewd, they go straight on, their activity being in a high state of development. All honor to the housekeepers! They enable the quiet and thoughtful to think and write. Erasmus and Melancthon can study when Luther and Farel are up and doing; the Leightons can preach for eternity because the Melvilles and Hendersons preach to the time. Your Marys could not sit at Jesus' feet unless the Marthas were going about the house. But the Marys, too, have their place. Busy business people are apt to underrate them. They exhibit something of the elder sister's impatience: "We are left to do all; these dreamers do not help." Not help? It is Mary who sees into the truth of Jesus' sacrifice. It is she who, sitting and listening, divines the joy and the sorrow which meet in the heart of the Lord. By-and-by, when Martha makes a feast, she feels that the hour has come, and she brings the alabaster box of ointment which she has been keeping for the hour. "Against the day of my burying," says Christ, "has she kept this box.., this that she hath done shall be spoken of for a memorial of her." The prophetic spirit belongs to the meditative. Martha is the worker, but Mary is the seer.

2 . The conclusion, therefore, is, "Let the Marthas and the Marys abide together in peace and mutual self-respect. Let the world of action and the world of letters recognize, each in the other, the balancing, completing half. God has created minds male and female—the active and the contemplative, the communicative and the receptive, the objective and the subjective. The Church of Christ, the progress of humanity, demands both; if the one is the guide, the other is the inspirer, of movement; and, for permanent effect, as well as for the discovery of truth, the Johns outrun the Peters. Let each person ascertain which of the two sides is predominant in him, and seek the balance supplied by the other. Whoso is Martha-like should cultivate the Mary temper. Unless he sit at Jesus' feet, he will be cumbered about the serving. It is not enough to get all right for the Lord; the first thing is to be right with and in the Lord. Whoso is Mary-like should recollect that gymnastic is needful to health; that he must work as well as enjoy quietly. He must not eat all the fat and drink all the sweet. The sitting at Jesus' feet must be with a view to the following in Jesus' steps. The real moral strength is found when this balance is found. So, from the Martha side it was found by St. Paul, who labored more abundantly than all the apostles, yet all the while sat at Jesus' feet. From the Mary side it was found by St. John, who, although the one who leant on Jesus' bosom, was the one named Boanerge—Son of thunder. To serve much, without being cumbered about it, "inquiring in the temple;" to be the thinker, with the liberty of the seat at the Master's feet, and yet the doer of the Word;—this is the beautiful proportion of the heavenly life. This life is love; and love must first see as did Mary; then, but in a sweeter and wholesomer spirit, it can work as did Martha.

II. Consider now THE TRUTH OF THE HEAVENLY LIFE WHICH IS INDICATED IN THE COUNSEL GIVEN BY CHRIST . It is a counsel administered under the twofold form of a caution and a commendation.

1 . The finger of caution is pointed to Martha. (Verse 41.) Observe the antithesis—the "many things," the "one thing." The good, kind soul is distracted by a multitude of concerns. Who does not know the worry which comes through the pressure of many littles? May it not be added that there is nothing which more wears the energy out than attention to the details of home-management? The whole sentence of Jesus is most expressive. First, the "careful, or anxious,"—this is the inward fault; and then the "troubled,"—this includes the external, the "restless turning and bustling hither and thither." Is it not eminently characteristic of what we notice in others and sometimes feel in ourselves? And note the mistake. It is not the serving; it is the being "cumbered" about the serving—the serving impeding the movement heavenward, as a heavy garment impedes the one who runs a race. The "many things" run away with both the peace and the strength of the mind. We may not absolutely forget; in a kind of way we recollect; but we cannot really concentrate our attention on the one thing which is needful. "Martha, the feast over which thou art exercised is good in its way. The intention is kind. But this day salvation has come into thy house. There is no need of all these dishes, all this cooking and preparing. But there is need of thine acceptance of the gift of God. If thou knewest that gift, and who it is that speaks to thee, thou wouldst feel that the one thing needful is to ask life of him, to learn what the life is from him, to receive the gift of the life eternal. O Martha-like souls, of every type and shade, 'why do ye spend money on that which is not bread, and your labor on that which satisfieth not'? The heart hearkening for Christ is the one thing, and you cannot have that without an inward collection and repose of spirit, without peace and liberty in God. Why be so greedy of the unneedful? Why pursue it with such impetuous eagerness that there are only odd times, fragments of thought, for that which is needful to health of mind, to the wants and desires of an immortal nature?"

2 . The finger of commendation is pointed to Mary. (Verse 42.) "She hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her." The good part is a place , a nourishment , and a choice. The place — Jesus ' feet. Oh the blessedness of sitting there! When the Gadarenes went out to see what had been done in their country, they saw the man who had devils long time—the devils now departed—"sitting at Jesus' feet, clothed, and in his right mind." To find that place is the sign that the strong one who binds with chains and fetters has been bound by the Stronger One, who has come into the heart. The nourishment —"She heard his word." That is the meat which endures to life everlasting. What cares she for the feast about which Martha is so busy, whose care is—

"Oh, take away whate'er has stood

Between me and the highest good!

I ask no better boon than this—

To find in thee my only bliss"?

The choice —"She has chosen." Behold the way of deliverance from the Martha carefulness and trouble. Choose your portion. Have within you, as the center of your life, a fixed, supreme determination. In this there is force. It keeps a united heart among the competitions of the "many things." The part is good, because it interprets the voice of reason; it expresses the wedding of the actual life to the truth and calling of God. It is good, because it confers a real spiritual independence, so that a man is not mastered by things, but can be the master of things. It is good, because it never can be taken away. Your banquets last for only a short time. The most satisfying food, apart from God, must one day fail and forsake you. Whatever is yours will be taken away. This part alone is you. It is you hidden with Christ in God—hidden where death can obtain no entrance. "He asked life of thee, and thou gavest it him, even length of days for ever and ever... Thou hast made him most blessed for ever: thou hast made him exceedingly glad with thy countenance." It is good, to sum up all, because it is not, as was the part of Martha, a moving about and around Christ, but "a seeking, laying hold of, and enjoying Christ himself." Thus one of the poets of the German Fatherland has sung—

"As Mary once devoutly sought

The eternal truth, the better part,

And sat, enwrapt in holy thought,

At Jesus' feet with burning heart,

For naught else craving, yearning for the word

That should be spoken by her Friend, her Lord,

Losing her all in him, his word believing,

And through the One all things again receiving;

"Even so is.all my heart's desire

Fix'd, dearest Lord, on thee alone.

Oh, make me true and draw me higher,

And make thyself, O Christ. my own

Though many turn aside to join the crowd,

To follow thee in love my heart is vowed.

Thy Word is life and spirit. Whither go?

What joy is there in thee we cannot know?"