Don't Just Do Something, Sit There - Haddon Robinson

0:09 Have you ever wondered how Jesus spent his evenings and his nights? After those long, weary hours of ministry, have you ever wondered what Jesus did, where Jesus went? Some of his disciples came to him early on to ask him about the fringe benefits of discipleship. Jesus told them that the foxes had holes and the birds of the air had nests, but the Son of Man had no permanent place to put his head. So I gather that there were times in his life when he slept out in the field with the sky for a blanket and the stone for a pillow. But there were other times in Jesus' experience that he enjoyed the warmth and hospitality of good friends. There was probably no home in all of Israel more valuable to him than the home of Martha and Mary and their brother Lazarus in the village of Bethany. in the closing hours of his life when other hearts and homes were shut to him.

1:13 The door of this house in Bethany was always open to him. In this passage that Grace read to you a few moments ago. for the last time. To get there, they have to go through the village of Bethany, a suburb of Jerusalem, about two miles to the east. And when Martha hears that the disciples and Jesus have hit town, she insists that they come to her home for dinner. She wants to extend warm hospitality, and she wants to show them through her hospitality how much she loves them. Now, it's always a bit of a threat, I think, for a woman to have a preacher in her home for dinner.

2:08 To have 13 of them sitting in the living room is sort of an Olympic challenge. I've been married now just about 40 years, and I still am in awe of what skilled cooks are able to do. A good cook can take the cold food, get it into the refrigerator at one time, the hot food in the stove at another time, it all comes out at the same time and everybody has a good time. From where I sit out there in the living room, the whole thing seemed like a kind of minor miracle to me. And as Martha was trying to pull off the miracle, it wasn't going very well. The stove was giving off more smoke than heat. bread refused to rise. And pretty soon the whole thing smelled more like a burnt offering for Jesus than a dinner. And finally she looked around for her sister Mary to help her and she glanced in the living room and there was Mary sitting at Jesus' feet. And now perturbed she came back into the kitchen and she was as burned up as the dinner. Then the volcano inside of her exploded and she stormed into the living room and went up to Jesus and said, Lord, don't you care that I have to get this meal by myself? Bid my sister come and help me. I'm sure she thought that Jesus would come to her defense and send Mary.

3:39 ...might respond to a fretting child. It says, Martha, Martha, one dish would have been enough. And Mary has chosen the good part, and it will not be taken away from her.

4:03 Now, you don't have to go to seminary to understand that story. you don't have to take a course in hermeneutics to discover who gets the low marks and the high marks and we all know that Martha made the bad choice and Mary made the good choice that's just the way it is and we all understand that difficulty is that after I've come to that conclusion my head and heart just don't agree I can confess to you that I have a secret sympathy with Martha. Putting it bluntly, Martha is my kind of woman. I mean, she is realistic. She approaches life as it is, and she calls him as she sees him. Remember over in John 11, Lazarus had died, and Jesus was four days late for the funeral. And finally, when he showed up, they took him out to the cemetery, and he stood in front of the tomb, and then he asked that the stone be rolled away.

5:00 and Martha, even though she was plunged in grief, said, Lord, you better not do that. I mean, he's been dead four days, and by this time he stinks. Not very couth, but pretty realistic. Martha was just that kind of woman. And she was realistic enough to know that if you're going to get a dinner for 15, 16 people, somebody's got to go out there and hustle and get it. sitting around at anybody's feet won't get the food prepared.

5:33 I read that and then I don't get any help when I turn to the devotional commentaries. I mean, they are in to Mary, this sweet sister who sits at Jesus' feet and reads the Bible and writes bad poetry. You know, she's in there. And Martha, she comes through as a kind of good-natured drone.

6:01 You know, I have to testify, if it weren't for the Marthas of the world, nothing much would get done. Very few sermons would get prepared and preached. Very few missions would ever be undertaken. If it weren't for the Marthas of the world, you could put evangelism to bed. Any pastor's got a lick of sense, he's delighted to have some Marthas in a pew. no martha's my kind of woman and i do take some that i'm not the only one who feels this years ago rudyard kipling wrote a poem called the sons of mary and the last two lines of the poem go something like this the sons of mary sit at the feet and hear the word and know how the promise runs they cast their burden on the lord and the Lord he takes their burden and puts it on Martha's sons

7:00 I have a sympathy for Martha. And one thing I think is that as you look at the story, you cannot give Martha low marks for serving. Jesus is not faulting for that. You know that because if you look at the context, the previous story that Luke has included is the story of the Good Samaritan. And in that story, the basic lesson is that your neighbor is anyone whose need you see, whose need you're in a position to meet. And I think in this story, Martha is being a neighbor. She recognizes that Jesus and his men have been on the road quite some time, and they are hungry. And she has a gift of hospitality, and she wants to meet that need. Quite frankly, I think that's the kind of woman that Martha was. I think that wherever she went there were from her hand the deeds of kindness and love that make life so bearable for other people.

8:07 I think that acts of graciousness fell from her life like the falling snow, beautiful and quiet. I think Martha was the kind of person when a child was ill would come by and sit a spell with the youngster while the mother got some rest. If a family was sick, she was the one to bring her a crock of soup so that they'd have something to eat for supper. And I think here, Martha wants to show her hospitality to Jesus and the disciples. I'm sure she wanted to show them the kind of lavish meal that they would not forget and they would know that they were loved and cared for. I think what Martha is doing is being a neighbor and Jesus is not faulting her for that. The difficulty that Jesus does seem to point out was not the service but the spirit of the service.

9:12 Luke says that she was cumbered about with the serving. And when Jesus responded to her, he said, Martha, you're worried and you're upset about too many things. It was the spirit that Jesus pointed out. I think that if Martha had gone to a friendly psychologist and taken a battery of tests, She probably would have ended up as a type A personality. You know, a kind of obsessive compulsive. A lot of those. A lot of them end up in seminary. Most of them teach. A lot of them study. And if you meet an obsessive compulsive, their life verse is that if a thing's worth doing, it's worth doing well. I think that motto is murdered as many people as it's motivated.

10:09 I mean, here's a woman who buys into that. She's going to show hospitality. So, you know, she not only has to prepare a lavish menu, but she does it in a sterile environment. I mean, she cleans the house as though they're going to have an operation in the living room. she dusts the door jam though the company's going to come with a white glove and have an inspection and if you ask her why in the world it goes to all this trouble she says well things worth doing it's worth doing well find that with students at Denver Seminary we have students who work 30 hours a week and they try to carry full academic load and in addition they strive to get A's and B's and if they get a C it's like a moral failure they feel that they let God down if you ask them why the low grade bothers them they say or part of Ephesians well the thing's worth doing it's worth doing well I think Martha would have said that but Jesus responds to Martha and says, Martha, look, you're worried and upset about too many things.

11:31 One dish would have been enough. That's all you really had to prepare. What Jesus is saying is a lesson that some of us need to underline. That is that if a thing is worth doing, it may be worth doing simply. Certainly, it is a good thing to show hospitality. But if you are driven by hospitality to superhuman feats and your spirit is hurt, you need to know that a soup and a sandwich, that'll pass muster. Hospitality is worth doing, but it may be worth doing simply. you meet your neighbor on Jericho Road it's certainly worth stopping to lend a hand but that doesn't mean that you have to start the Jericho Road Missionary Society it doesn't mean that you have to serve on the board and attend all the meetings and become the chief operation officer sometimes helping one neighbor is all you can handle and it's worth doing, it's worth doing simply.

12:52 I have to say that to students. If a course is worth taking, it's worth taking. But it may be worth taking simply. It doesn't necessarily mean that if you take the course, I have taken courses that weren't worth an A effort. I've taught courses that weren't worth an A effort.

13:22 If you take the course, it may be worth taking. But it doesn't necessarily mean you give it your best shot. Courses worth taking, it's worth taking, but it may be worth taking simply. We need to understand that. Simplifying life can be a very important strategy. the question then of course is how do you know when you're too busy how do you know when you have pushed yourself beyond the limits and that difference for different people but I think one answer is that when what you do has driven you to distraction when you are upset and anxious and irritable and hard to get along with. And that's a good clue that you may need to simplify things. Because the problem is that often in the way we do our service, we tarnish it. Good service in a bad spirit doesn't do anybody any good. The old saw says that misery loves company.

14:33 That may be true. One thing I am sure of is that misery spoils the company and the party for everybody else. I mean, that happened here. Martha's irritation spoiled the party for Mary. I mean, can you imagine how she felt? She's upset. She doesn't just tiptoe to the door and whisper and say, you know, Mary, could you come and help me? Oh no, it's a grandstand play. She moves into that living room and she didn't even speak to Mary. She goes up to Jesus. has left me to get the meal by myself. Bitter, come and help me.

15:17 Can you imagine how Mary must have felt? I mean, she's the sensitive soul. I think she is. I mean, she's embarrassed. And here, this lovely evening with Jesus is spoiled. Now, when you're irritable, you spoil it for everybody. She spoiled it for the disciples. Have you ever gone to a home, before you got there, the couple that was giving you the hospitality was sort of at each other? The answer to that is yes.

15:54 They might have been doing it, but the bell rings when you come to the door and it's like it's better than grace. I mean, they put a smile on their face and they greet you and welcome you. You don't know. I mean have you ever gone and the bell didn't do it you get to the table and they're still upset with one another I don't care what the menu is I don't care how lavish the meal it's covered with a gravy of irritation and all you want to do is leave early irritation spoils the party for everybody in fact Martha's irritation spoiled her relationship with the Lord this was going to be a sterling evening in her life here in her home is the one who by her own admission was the Messiah of God and she was going to entertain him but now suddenly because of her irritation she's angry with him she comes into the living room and says Lord, don't you care about me that I've got to get this meal by myself?

17:04 strangely enough in that evening at least Martha would have been better off if she hadn't known him she would have had a better spirit if Jesus hadn't showed up in her home or in her life out of her irritation she's upset with him when irritation is part of your service it just spoils the service and you are overextended when what you do is good works, is done with a bad attitude. When that happens, you better hear the word of Christ. One dish is enough. It's great to have a seven-course meal. One dish would have done it. But if things weren't doing, it's worth doing simply.

17:57 I don't misunderstand. There's no plea. Certainly there are times in life when you have to reach to your best effort. Blessed is the woman and man who knows the difference between those times and other times. And if you could prepare a seven-course meal and do it with great delight and warm hospitality, I'd like to come to your house. I mean, I prefer good meals to soup and sandwiches, but I'll tell you this, if I had to choose between a good meal with a bad spirit and a simple meal with a good spirit, I'll take the soup and sandwiches anytime.

18:43 Some of us have got to understand that things worth doing, it's worth doing, but it may be worth doing simply. But that's not the end of it, is there? Is it? because often when we cut back to what we call a simpler life, we leave greater things for lesser things. I don't think we have really improved much if we have turned away from Christian service to spend more time watching television.

19:15 There is in the story another thing, and that is that Jesus says that Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken away from her. What Mary did was to sit at Jesus' feet and hear his word. The question is, what in the world does that mean? Well, it doesn't necessarily mean that you're a shark in the Bible. The previous story of the Good Samaritan was introduced by a conflict between Jesus and a theologian. That man knew the Bible. heart and soul and strength and mind and your neighbor as yourself and in the story two of the chief actors were a priest and a levite before they left home in the morning they could quote those two great verses but obviously the verses had no impact on what happened that day in the Jericho Road. Now, knowing the Bible is important, but that's not what it means to sit at Jesus' feet and hear his word. To hear his word is to allow him to minister to you, to allow him to do something in you before you do something for him. The following passage in chapter 11 indicates that it involves prayer and thought and the ministry of God to us.

21:03 Jesus says that Mary chose the better part because before a ministry of service, there has to be a ministry to our spirit. The two commands are that you shall love the Lord your God with all of your heart and soul and strength and mind. And the second is, like the first, you shall love your neighbor as yourself. but those commands are always in that order if you get them turned around it'll destroy you if you put your focus on loving your neighbor that gets to be a pretty gritty business trying to go out and love your neighbor is like dipping the Atlantic you dip and dip and dip and when the day is over where you have a puddle at your feet and the Atlantic is still there.

22:03 If you give yourself to a neighbor of love, you'll find that it'll destroy your spirit. You'll find that you'll burn out. You'll discover you can't stay with it. it is only neighbor love that grows out of a love for Jesus Christ that has the staying power. So before you become involved in service for others, you must allow Jesus Christ to serve you. believe it or not that's what christ wants from you didn't bring you to himself to make you a slave brought you to himself to make you a friend and the sovereign majesty of the universe enjoys fellowshipping with us mary chose the good part because that's what jesus wanted when he came to their home that evening.

23:05 A couple of years ago, I was traveling back east. I had the opportunity to spend an evening with a couple that have been long-time good friends. If when I die they do an autopsy and they look at my heart, they'll find their names inscribed there.

23:26 I had an opportunity to be with them. they went out of their way to show me hospitality my favorite meat is lamb if it wasn't god's favorite meat they wouldn't have offered it in the old testament and lane knew that so she had a leg of lamb it was a i got to the house i spent time with the husband and then we went into this lovely lovely meal. Anything we needed or wanted, she was to her feet to see to it that we had it. It was thoughtful, gracious, hospitality. I appreciated it. When the evening was over and I went back to my hotel, it occurred to me that as beautiful as the evening was i'd spent time with uh...

24:22 the fellow but I had not really had quality time with her, and I missed that. Hear me well, I appreciated the hospitality, and I knew it came from a heart that loved me. But that evening, when it was all over, I would have preferred something simple if I could have spent time with her. unless you allow God to minister to you. will not be able to minister to others.

25:03 Years ago when I was in seminary, Dr. Harry Hager, who was then a pastor of a Christian Reformed church in Chicago, came to the campus. One evening he told us the story of a couple in his church. It was a mother and her son. The father had died when the boy was young. They had a very unique relationship. This was back before television and time when folks would spend evenings listening to the radio or reading. And they had a special relationship. When he was in his early 20s, he met a young woman at the church, fell in love with her, and they decided they wanted to get married.

25:55 Back then, during World War II, housing in our large cities was very difficult to get. so the mother knowing they wanted to be married said look we have a two-story house i can make an apartment to the second story and you and your bride can come and live in the first story it'll give you a home and you can be married she said the only thing i ask is that that we get a chance to spend some time together because i'm going to miss the the reading and the music. And the boy said, Mother, you could be sure of that. It's too important to me. So they were married, and for a while it continued on. He would stop by a couple times a week and spend some time. And then, you know, he was busy.

26:44 There were days, and actually weeks went by. There was a call from downstairs and just a brief glimpse. But the relationship was not what it had been. and then his mother had a birthday and the young man went out and bought his mother a lovely dress knew her size and he brought it to her on her birthday and handed her the package and said mother happy birthday she opened it and looked at the dress and she said oh son thank you I appreciate so much what you've done he said mother you don't like it She said, oh yes I do. She said, I do. It's my color. I just, thank you.

27:31 He said, Mother, I've got the sail slip. And they tell me I can take it back. She said, no, I do. I do. It is a lovely dress. He said, Mother, don't fool me. We've been together too long. What's wrong? The woman turned and she went to her closet and she opened it and she said, Son, I have enough dresses there to last me for the rest of my life. I guess all I want to say is that I don't want yours. I want you. And somehow out of this quaint story of long ago, I hear God saying that to me.

28:22 With all of my busyness. You better simplify life, because ultimately, I don't want yours as much.