Luke 10:38-42

Transcript

00:00:00:25 – 00:00:26:03
Clint Loveall
Hey, everybody. Thanks for joining us. As we get back into the Gospel of Luke on this Monday. We’re grateful for your presence. Thanks for listening. We’re finishing our way through chapter ten. Another story, I think, today, Michael, that’s probably relatively familiar. Pretty popular. A story that, you know, is kind of eminently appreciable and I think a nice devotional story.

00:00:26:04 – 00:00:46:37
Clint Loveall
We’ll try to talk about it in its context, but also then maybe we can jump off for some of the meaning, because I think this is one of those passages that lends itself to that really easily. Just a few versus here. So let me go ahead and read them and then we’ll we’ll circle back. Now, as they went on their way, he entered a certain village where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home.

00:00:46:42 – 00:01:06:32
Clint Loveall
She had a sister named Mary who said the Lord’s feet and listen to what he was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks, so she came to him and said, Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her to help me. But the Lord answered, Martha.

00:01:06:37 – 00:01:36:04
Clint Loveall
Martha, you were worried and distracted by many things. There is need only of one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her. So little bit of character stuff. Here we find out another place that Mary and Martha are the sister. Sisters of Lazarus will see a mention of that I believe in down the road a little ways.

00:01:36:09 – 00:02:00:25
Clint Loveall
We also I don’t know if we know this, Michael, from another part of the story, but the perception or the clear perception here is that Martha is older. Whether that’s confirmed in the Bible, to be honest, I don’t remember. That’s a thing I should know. But I always think of Martha as older. So I don’t want to say that the Scripture says that.

00:02:00:25 – 00:02:22:00
Clint Loveall
I may say that and have written that into my own version of the story. But to me, Martha sounds like an older sister, and Mary sounds like a younger sister. So a little bit of a little bit of cultural stuff here as well. This is one of those stories, I think, Michael, where it does speak to us on its own.

00:02:22:04 – 00:02:25:59
Clint Loveall
But I think that’s maybe helpful when, you know, a little bit of the background here.

00:02:26:04 – 00:02:51:27
Michael Gewecke
Yeah, I think one of the affronting natures of this text is the idea of the whole action of the story functioning around whether or not the woman should be serving in the House. That’s a question that we’re going to bring as modern interpreters. And some of this is just basically rooted in culture that there was an expectation for hospitality.

00:02:51:36 – 00:03:11:34
Michael Gewecke
This exists. You know, someone comes to your house, you have a sense that you should host them, and there are certain things you need to do that. But certainly in this culture, the women were responsible for that in this structure. And so while we might find that to be a thing that we want to talk about, the in Luke, that’s a given.

00:03:11:47 – 00:03:37:37
Michael Gewecke
The question here is what’s the proper response when Jesus is in your home? Is that what you are preoccupied with? Is it the work that you do? Or is it the listening, sitting, learning? And I think what makes this story so interesting is that here Jesus is less interested in whether or not culture is maintained or whether hospitality is shown correctly.

00:03:37:51 – 00:03:59:04
Michael Gewecke
Jesus in this case is interested in those who choose and actively want to be a disciple. And I think that is obviously a theme that Luke cares about, because if we’ve said that once we said a thousand times Clint Luke is interested in the lost and the least, and he emphasizes characters that other people in that time and place would not it emphasize.

00:03:59:04 – 00:04:27:16
Michael Gewecke
Emphasizing to women’s interaction with Jesus. Is not a given in this time in place. And Luke is going out of his way to make sure that we have this story and that we see. Jesus was not only interested in both Mary and Martha, he was interested in the connection of of teaching and Mary being welcome to be in the midst of that teaching, which I think that’s noteworthy and I think it’s something worth recognizing.

00:04:27:21 – 00:05:01:07
Clint Loveall
Right. And this again, I think there is a sense in which if you if you understand the time and the expectations of the day, Martha is not wrong. Martha is doing what’s expected of her. Mary is actually doing what is least discouraged and possibly forbidden to to put herself at Jesus feet is to put herself in the role of a man, the role of a disciple being taught, being instructed by a rabbi.

00:05:01:08 – 00:05:35:36
Clint Loveall
And and this was something that women were not certainly not encouraged to do, and possibly in many cases, forbidden to do. And so Martha has, from her vantage point and from the vantage point of the time and place she’s in, she has a point. She’s doing the right thing and Mary is doing the wrong thing. But Jesus, as he so often does, stands that on its head and and says, you know, Martha, you actually are distracted by even these good things.

00:05:35:36 – 00:06:03:18
Clint Loveall
She doesn’t say she’s doing anything wrong, doesn’t say she’s doing anything bad, but she’s missing the opportunity that Mary has taken advantage of to be taught by Jesus, to be in Jesus presence. Martha is getting wrapped up in the stuff that has to be done instead of the moment that she could have sitting at Jesus feet. And that’s not a criticism of what she’s doing.

00:06:03:23 – 00:06:41:09
Clint Loveall
It’s a criticism of being distracted. And that is the takeaway here. Please, please understand that Jesus is not saying that what Martha is doing is unimportant, nor that she shouldn’t be doing it, etc.. He’s saying that the the the experience of being worried and distracted is incompatible with being in the presence of the Savior. And I think, Michael, that’s the the point at which this text really leaves its culture and translates so well to ours because we all know that experience.

00:06:41:09 – 00:06:59:12
Clint Loveall
We all know what it is to miss something important because of things that we make more important than they really probably need to be in that moment. All of us have some experience with being worried and distracted, and I think that makes this text really accessible.

00:06:59:16 – 00:07:24:54
Michael Gewecke
100%. I want to really hone in for a second here on verse 40. This is where Martha addresses Jesus. And so it says that she’s distracted. We have that she comes to Jesus and says, Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me. That’s that’s me three times and myself one time.

00:07:25:06 – 00:07:51:43
Michael Gewecke
So in the course of our translation here, that’s just two sentences. We have four references to either me or myself. And that’s notable. It it’s it’s worth noting here that while Martha is doing good work, she’s doing laudable work. Her emphasis and focus is on herself and not the law. She addresses Jesus as Lord by her actions. Here are more connected to the tasks that need done.

00:07:51:43 – 00:08:21:57
Michael Gewecke
Hence the idea of being distracted than she is the Lord himself being in the room. And that’s where Luke is using a story like this. Not really at the expense of Martha. We’re not supposed to come out of this story. I don’t think making Martha some kind of enemy or some kind of bad example. I think that we come out of this story with a warning that we don’t become so fixated on me and myself on the task that need done and the stuff that we take for granted need to be the way that they are.

00:08:22:10 – 00:08:41:43
Michael Gewecke
And we miss in that encounter the opportunity to sit at the feet as a disciple of Jesus himself. This is where the Scriptures, Clint, are unbelievably helpful because we all, I think, on some level live with this narrative. You know, if Jesus lived now, I would just say this feed. I would just spend every waking moment with him.

00:08:41:43 – 00:09:13:06
Michael Gewecke
I would listen everything he said. And the reality is Luke is telling us here the very people who were closest to Jesus within earshot of Jesus still missed the opportunities to see him for what are in some cases very legitimate, understandable reasons. And so part of discipleship is practicing, Mary. It’s practicing being not distracted by the other stuff of life so that we can be focused on the center of life.

00:09:13:06 – 00:09:17:54
Michael Gewecke
Who is Jesus? And this is Luke teaching us that through this particular Jesus encounter.

00:09:17:54 – 00:09:45:59
Clint Loveall
One of the unfortunate things I think that has happened in this text, Michael, is as you just sort of insinuated, Martha and Mary become caricatures or they become references to personality types. And so we talk about them as if, Oh, you’re a mary or you’re a martha. And and that probably isn’t helped if you have a sibling. There is always that chance that you and your sibling sort of fit these, right.

00:09:46:06 – 00:10:08:57
Clint Loveall
One sibling goes outside and plays with flowers while the other one gets dinner. One is organized and or think of a marriage was often the case where one partner is kind of locked in and one partner’s a little flighty. Those things happen in human relationships, but that’s not the point here. This is not a personality text. This is about the choices that Mary and Martha have made.

00:10:09:01 – 00:10:34:33
Clint Loveall
Mary to listen to Jesus in her home and Martha to be distracted by the things, even though they’re not bad things, they’re good things. It is her distraction that is the problem. But I think we do this text a disservice when we categorize these people as if we’re one or the other, because it really is about the choice that both of these women are making.

00:10:34:33 – 00:10:43:30
Clint Loveall
Now, it may be the case that Mary was flighty and Martha was organized, but that’s not, I think, ultimately what the text is about, nor do I think it’s what it’s trying to tell us.

00:10:43:30 – 00:11:11:52
Michael Gewecke
Yeah, and that’s explicit in the text. What you just said. Look here, verse 42, Mary has chosen this is a read. Jesus said this Mary has chosen your. Yes. The text makes it clear that what’s at play here is the choice that is made. And we live in a very psychographic society. We live in a world in which we care a lot about personality and the makeup of our minds, what makes us unique and what drives us, whether our motivations, these kinds of things.

00:11:11:52 – 00:11:40:06
Michael Gewecke
And that’s just not a concern in the ancient world in the same way that it is in our culture. And so it’s not bad to bring some of that interest to a text like this. But your warning is, I think, well placed. We need to be very careful to not make this into well, I’m a I’m the kind of person who by personality would say that Jesus feet because ultimately what’s at play here is not who was more predisposed to do that.

00:11:40:21 – 00:12:11:26
Michael Gewecke
What’s at play here is who is the one who chose to be a disciple? Who’s the one who chose what looked like laziness for the sake of relationship and growth? That line, if we’re going to be honest with our self lives today, that moment where we stand and the question is should I eke out more work or should I stop and should I rest and should I be restoring time with family or should I be having time with God in prayer or Bible studies?

00:12:11:31 – 00:12:37:53
Michael Gewecke
This is a very practical, applied today type lesson. And I think you’re right that the more temptation we might have to cast this as a locked in time. Let’s make Mary and Martha pictures and put pros and cons underneath each one. That may be a temptation for us, but it will steal from us. I really golden opportunity to receive Jesus’s invitation to make the right choice.

00:12:37:55 – 00:12:38:11
Michael Gewecke
Yeah.

00:12:38:11 – 00:13:01:34
Clint Loveall
We have to be careful reading into this. Having preached this passage, it is a temptation, you know, to say, Well, be a mary, not a martha. Or if you’re a martha, be more like Mary. But again, we read that through our experi ience in our personalities and our understanding of that. Really, the takeaway I think, from this text is much simpler than that.

00:13:01:39 – 00:13:28:10
Clint Loveall
Try to make the choice that Mary made and not the choice that Martha made. And whatever you bring to that struggle to do, to make that choice, that still is. I think the compelling narrative from the story is try to. Well, he says it here. Mary has chosen trying to make Mary’s choice, tried to make the choice that Mary has decided to pursue rather than that of Martha.

00:13:28:12 – 00:13:43:01
Clint Loveall
This is not about who you are. This is about whether or not you allow yourself to be distracted. It’s it’s easy to take this text in a way that I think isn’t helpful to fully unpacking it.

00:13:43:06 – 00:14:06:18
Michael Gewecke
What this reminds me of is a text that we’ve already gone through, although it would have been last fall, I suspect, or last winter, probably. And just quick to bring it up, this is all the way back in Luke chapter four. But another story of here. Now, Simon’s mother in law, who was suffering from a high fever. Jesus stands over her, rebukes the fever, and it leads her.

00:14:06:18 – 00:14:32:27
Michael Gewecke
And immediately she got up to serve them. Another example that involves women service Jesus being in the midst of that whole situation. And in both instances, I just want to point out in both instances, Luke is choosing to tell Jesus’s story through his interaction with women, and that is that is something we take for granted and should not.

00:14:32:42 – 00:14:54:45
Michael Gewecke
This is not a common practice in ancient literature. It’s not a common practice around the time that this gospel account is being made. And I know we’ve already said this, and so maybe I’m risking repetition, but I just think it’s worth celebrating. There’s a lot of moments in the Scripture that are hard and difficult where we have to really wade in and figure it out.

00:14:54:50 – 00:15:23:22
Michael Gewecke
You certainly have that when you read Paul’s letters and talking about the different sort of commands that Paul makes about women in different contexts here, it’s very clear Jesus is engaging with women. He is having conversations. He’s teaching. In the case of Mary, there’s a spot for her at his feet. All of this, I think, is just worth pointing out that that the early church celebrated this kind of connection at the time, it wasn’t culturally celebrated.

00:15:23:22 – 00:15:33:22
Michael Gewecke
And that is a part of what it means to be people of faith. And we should celebrate that as we’ve come to advance and grow an understanding of that as time has gone on.

00:15:33:27 – 00:16:10:00
Clint Loveall
Yeah. To that end, I’m not sure we hear it as countercultural, but the fact that Jesus not only allows Mary to sit at his feet and learn, but then essentially applauds her for doing so, is very much against the grain of his time and place. And so it probably is difficult for us to maybe fully understand the striking nature of that and the way in which that stands out as different in his culture.

00:16:10:01 – 00:16:15:42
Clint Loveall
And so that there is certainly that kind of note in this text.

00:16:15:47 – 00:16:37:33
Michael Gewecke
Clay Don’t you think if you look at this here in verse 40, she comes to Jesus, Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me? I think one of the things that makes this text so easy to run with in our imagination is if you’ve ever been in the position of Martha, you know how doggone frustrating it is to see other people getting to sit.

00:16:37:46 – 00:16:55:12
Michael Gewecke
And it feels like, Hey, why don’t I get to sit with you? The meal is not going to cook itself. The laundry is not going to get done. Why do I have to sit? I think we can relate to that feeling. Every one of us at some point in our life. And that is maybe the thing that gets in the way of us.

00:16:55:12 – 00:17:17:43
Michael Gewecke
Hearing Jesus’s affirmation of Mary is because if you’ve experienced the frustration that comes back to you really quickly, and if that’s you, then I think this is an invitation for you to to ask, Do I sometimes rush ahead to the work and miss the opportunity for a relationship? Do I miss the opportunity for discipleship? Because I immediately move to the thing that needs done?

00:17:17:43 – 00:17:41:05
Michael Gewecke
And if that’s you don’t hear that it’s critique. Hear this invitation. This is an opportunity for you to take your place at the feet of Jesus and to learn and to grow as a disciple. This is that. It’s a gift of a text, I think. But it is so in some ways, ironically, it may be so approachable for us that we miss the rather clear point that Jesus is making.

00:17:41:07 – 00:17:53:17
Clint Loveall
Yeah, it it we have all known flighty, lazy people. Maybe we’ve all been one at some point. It just doesn’t mean that Mary is. Nor should you assume that.

00:17:53:22 – 00:18:10:16
Michael Gewecke
Well, I think that’s what we’ve got for you friends. We are grateful to have you with us. We are at the time of this video are just ten away from 600 subscribers. So if you’re new here and 80% of the people who watch the video are, we’d love to have you subscribe and we will see you as we continue on in Luke tomorrow.

00:18:10:20 – 00:18:11:04
Clint Loveall
Thanks to everybody.