Choose The Better – Sermon 21 July, 2013

Choose The Better

Luke 10:38-42

The story of the two sisters in the New Testament is the story where Luke contrasts two sisters, Mary & Martha and their relationship to Jesus on a particular occasion. In this story we find a good lesson to learn.

I don’t want to say that one did bad and one did good. No, I would rather say one did that which was “good”, but the other did “better” or “best”.

The focus of our passage today isn’t that we should not be concerned about household tasks. But it is about discipleship. We as the disciples of Christ need to choose the best over the good.

What does it mean to choose the better or the best over the good?

1. Being in the right place

In the story we see that Mary sat at the feet of Jesus, but Martha went to the kitchen.

The Greek word here (parakathizo) doesn’t mean to just sit, but sit near, which implies that she got as close to the Lord Jesus as she could possibly get.

Sitting at the feet of the master is the proper place for a disciple to be.

Paul said he was brought up at the “feet of Gamaliel” (Acts 22:3).

Luke 8:35 tells us the man whom Jesus cast demons out of sat at His feet.

If we want to be a good follower of Jesus and a good disciple we should choose to sit at His feet, as close as possible to hear His voice and learn from Him. Being near Him is the first important step.

2. Listening to the right voice

Mary, as she was sitting at His feet, heard the Words of Christ. She heard them clearly. While on the other hand Martha couldn’t hear the Words of Christ (at least not very well).

While at the feet of Jesus, Mary “heard His word”. “Heard”.  Luke switches tense of the verb here to an imperfect tense which means this was a continual listening and hearing process. She listened with attentiveness to everything He said, and she didn’t tire of His voice or of His teaching. She sat close enough to really hear what He had to say, which implies that she continued to think about them after He quit talking. You know there is big difference between hearing and listening. You can hear a voice or someone speaking but not necessarily understand what that person is saying. While listening means hearing and understanding. We need to understand what the Lord is saying to us; not only hearing the Word being preached.

3. Setting priorities and avoiding distractions

Mary’s priority was being close to Christ. While Martha’s priority was serving Christ. “But Martha was burdened about with much serving…”

Is serving bad? No, of course not. “Serving”. It is the Greek word diakonias. The feminine form of the word we translate deacon. She was being a deacon/servant.

We are told that we should serve one another (Gal. 5:13). Jesus had commanded His disciples to serve one another and gave a good example when He washed their feet.

What Martha did was a “good” thing, so what was the problem? It simply was NOT the BEST thing to do at this point in time.

We are told that Mary “chose good part” which means decided to do the “better” or “best” thing. Mary made a choice. She knew there were other things that needed to be done, but she purposely didn’t do those things. Instead, she went and sat at the feet of Jesus and listen what He had to say.

I can’t think of anything better than for a disciple to be sitting at the feet of Jesus getting every word that He spoke, so I think “best” or “better” is the best meaning behind “good part”.

Martha chose to serve the Lord, but that which wasn’t best thing to do at that time. She could have “sat at His feet” too. However, she chose to do other things instead. She was busy with good things that needed to be done, just not right then.

It is a lot easier to be a Martha than a Mary. At least we find that to be true in our own life. There are always what seems like a billion things to do and we don’t have much time to sit and listen to God.

It is easy to get busy like Martha and not “sit at the feet of Jesus” like Mary.

We need to “get close to Christ, sit at His feet and listen to His words”.

We need to prioritise in our life and put the Lord first and be on watch for anything, even good things that might distract us from the Lord. We need to apply this in our homes and lives. We need to make our relationship with the Lord our number ONE priority. We need to be careful not to let “things”, “people” or “activities” get in the way of sitting at the feet of Jesus and listening to His words.

I sometimes see Christians who are busy as “bees” or “ants”. Many Christians are going and doing all of the time, but are too busy to pray, read, study and meditate on God’s Word, attend a worship services, etc…

Who are we more like: Mary or Martha? How have our priorities been this past year?

We should pray as we need to make changes in our life. Maybe we need to reassess our priorities, or get rid of some of those things that keep us so busy so we can sit at the feet of Jesus.

Maybe we aren’t even sure what changes we need to make but we know one thing for sure, we have been more like Martha than Mary for so long. Most probably the church has been busy with doing good things and disregarding the better, sitting down at the feet of the Lord and listening to what He has to say. It is time for us, for the Church, to choose the better. If we do, then the Lord will say you have chosen the better.

Krikor Youmshajekian