Sunday, July 21, 2019 ~ Sixth Sunday of Pentecost

Dr. John Tamilio III, Pastor

 Sermon: “Choose What Is Best”

Gospel Lesson: Luke 10:38-42

© 2019, Dr. Tamilio

Good ol’ Mary and Martha.  Jesus pays them a visit.  While Mary sits at Jesus’ feet listening to what he has to say; Martha is running around — busy with her chores.  Martha is unable to relax.  She’s one of those people who can’t sit still until all the housework is done.  Her sister isn’t lazy.  She just knows that this isn’t the time to be a busy body.  This is the time to stop, to listen, to reflect.  Think about it: how often does the great rabbi, Jesus of Nazareth, pop-in to offer some words of truth?

Pause and Reflect: “Surrender to what is.  Let go of what was.  Have faith in what will be.” ~ Sonia Ricotti

You know, on days like these last few that we’ve had, when it is as hot as Hades, it is easy to get distracted, to not feel at peace in your skin.  Some people feel the same way when it’s freezing cold.  When you are uncomfortable, it is hard to focus.  Martha was this way with her “to do” list.  Instead of focusing on what really matters — on what will feed her soul — she becomes inundated with the tasks at hand.

Pause and Reflect: “The present moment is filled with joy and happiness.  If you are attentive, you will see it.” ~ Thich Nhat Hanh

Don’t misunderstand what Jesus is saying.  He is not shunning hard work.  He is not saying that being industrious is a sin.  As the writer of Ecclesiastes reminds us, there is a time for everything.  Yes, there is a time to work, but there is also a time to rest — and sometimes those moments of reprieve find us, catching us unawares.

The text does not tell us that Mary and Martha were expecting a visit from Jesus.  If anything, it seems as if he just popped in.  Verse 38: “As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him.”  They were passing by.  Jesus probably knocked on the door of some old friends.  You can imagine Martha answering the door and calling to her sister, “Look who’s here: Jesus and his disciples.”  Then, she probably said to herself, “My goodness!  I wish he called ahead.  Look how messy my house is!”  She then got to work straightening, dusting, cleaning the counters with her Mr. Clean sponge, and breaking out the vacuum cleaner.  (Thank you for that bit of poetic license.)

Pause and Reflect: “Be happy in the moment, that’s enough.  Each moment is all we need, not more.” ~ Mother Teresa

Imagine that you have a special radio in your house.  It’s one that allows you to hear God speak.  Like Elijah, we hear God as a still small voice.  The volume isn’t turned up to ten.  The voice does bellow from the speakers.  It is calm, serene.  It has much to say, words that will bring peace to your soul.  It’s hard to hear, though, because the TV is blaring in the other room.  Someone is binge-watching an action-packed Netflix series.  The kids are arguing with one another and the dish washer was in mid-cycle.  If this was yesterday, your house would also be flooded with the whirl of fans and the soft rumble of air conditioners.  It would be pretty hard to hear what God had to say.

I think it’s safe to say that if you had such a radio, you would turn off the TV, tell the kids to keep it down, and shut-off the loud appliances.  No one would purposely seek to drown-out the voice of God, would they?

And yet, God speaks to us all the time.  Just as Jesus showed up unannounced at Mary and Martha’s house, he breaks into our lives every day.  The reflective brain of the believer says, “I agree with that,” but the busy day-to-day brain says, “I need to get that report done for the boss, throw in another load of laundry, and start dinner.”

Pause and Reflect: “What would it be like if I could accept life — accept this moment — exactly as it is?”  ~ Tara Brach

This life, as you all know, is it.  It is the only one we’ve got — not counting the life everlasting we will one day inherit.  For now, this is what we have, what we’ve been given; and as you all know, life isn’t easy, as the old cliché reminds us.  It is filled with demands and obligations.  Once you are five years old, you go to kindergarten.  You spend the next twelve years in school.  After that, it’s college for many and graduate school for some.  Then, you get a job where you punch the nine to five clock and work to make someone else wealthy, the same person who holds your job security in the palm of his hand.  So, you’ve got to do all the right things.  You have to be a yes-man.  You can’t upset the apple cart too much.  You work and work to pay the bills, to send your kids to college, to take a vacation once in a while, and to save for when you retire and live out your last years in a body that is getting older and creakier.

Some of this you can control.  Much of it you can’t.  But what you can control is your spiritual well-being.  You can pause, each day, and let the living God refresh you.  You can allow Jesus to enter the doors of your home.  You don’t have to run around and do the dishes, sweep the floor, and put the groceries away.  You can sit at his feet and listen — listen to the word of peace that he brings, the solace found in prayer and meditation, the comfort that comes from delving into his Word, letting it saturate and guide your life.  A healthy spirit will give you a well of resources that you can drawn upon when you feel as if life is crashing down upon you, when the demands are too much, when you just need a break from it all.

Pause and Reflect: “Martha, Martha…you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed — or indeed only one.  Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

Substitute your name for Martha’s in that verse.  Listen to Jesus speak directly to you.  He is welcoming you to sit by his side and listen, to let him refill your spirit — worn and torn and exhausted.  Try not to even think of all the other things that you have to do.  They’ll be there later.  This time is yours: a time for you to tend to what really matters, the essence of who you are.  Carve it out.  Put it on your calendar.  Make it happen and savor every moment of it.  Call it your audience with God, your personal time with Jesus.  I call it the good stuff — the answer to that age-old philosophical question: What is life all about?  Pause and reflect and just be.  Amen.