How to Have a “Mary” (Not Martha) Christmas (Luke 10:38–42)

Krisan Marotta: Welcome to a special Christmas edition of Wednesday in the Word. I'm Kristan Murata. Thanks so much for listening. Today we'll be looking at the story of Mary and Martha from Luke chapter 10, verses 38 through 42. We're going to be talking about how not to have a Martha Christmas, but rather how to have a Merry Christmas. Have you ever noticed that you ask someone really anybody how they're doing and they tell you they're busy? That's the default response. You know, everybody says, oh, I'm busy or I'm so busy or I'm crazy busy. And then during Christmas, it's magnified. Because in addition to all the stuff we normally pack our schedule with, we now have the shopping, the baking, the wrapping presents, decorating, Christmas cards, travel, hospitality, the list goes on and on. But sometimes being busy is a badge of honor. Given the choice, I'm not sure a lot of us would choose that kind of hyperactivity, but we kind of encourage each other through kind of peer pressure or cultural peer pressure. Have you ever noticed that if you ask someone how they're doing and they say they're not busy, your first response is, what's wrong with you? And then notice that the people who tell you how busy they are are generally not the people who are pulling back-to-back shifts in the ICU, you know, or those who are commuting to three minimum wage jobs. You ask those people how they're doing and they say tired. For most of us who lament how busy we are, we suffer under a busyness that is very self-imposed. So we're busy with work and obligations we've taken on voluntarily, our classes we signed up for, or activities we encouraged our kids to participate in, or just our own drive and ambition. And then Christmas comes along and it's like one more giant addition to the to-do list. Well, it turns out, as you might expect, this is not a modern problem. During the time of Jesus, a godly woman named Martha had the same problem. And her choices and her story are contrasted with those of her sister Mary. So what we're going to talk about this morning is how to have a Merry Christmas, M-A-R-Y, as opposed to a Martha Christmas. A Martha Christmas is one where you are so frantic doing all these good things that you miss the best gift of all. And if you don't stop and think about it, it's the Christmas you're going to have, because it's the default choice. It's the one that we will get if we don't make any stop and think about it or make any choices. A Merry Christmas, an M-A-R-Y Christmas, by contrast, is where you recognize what's truly important and what the best gift of all is. So I'm going to take you through the story of Mary and Martha, and I'm going to give you four ways to have a Merry Christmas, as opposed to a Martha Christmas. This story is found in Luke 10, and it takes place about six months before Jesus would head to Jerusalem for the last time. So his earthly ministry is coming to a close. There's just a few short months left before he faces the cross and completes the mission he was born on Christmas Day to accomplish. So at this point, time with him is growing short. So this is Luke 10, 38. Now, as they were traveling along, he entered a village and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. Let me tell you who Martha is. She lived in Bethany with her sister Mary and their later to become famous brother Lazarus, who is not mentioned in this story. Bethany is a little village in the hill country of Judea. It's about two miles outside of Jerusalem, or it was. And Martha was probably widowed, though we don't really know for sure. She appears to be the oldest and the manager of the household. But we do know that she is a woman of great faith. She tells Jesus in John 11, 27, I have believed that you are the Christ, the Son of God, even He who comes into the world. Her sister Mary is probably younger, a single adult living in the same household. Now there are several Marys in Scripture. This Mary is not the mother of Jesus, the earthly mother of Jesus, nor is she Mary Magdalene. This is Mary of Bethany. She is a godly woman. She's part of a household that appears to be rather well off. She may also have been widowed or she may not yet have been of marriageable age. So on this particular day, Jesus and his followers come to town, and Martha welcomes them into her home. Now she probably didn't know they were coming, because Jesus couldn't just open his cell phone to call ahead or text her and say we're coming. And ordinary people didn't send letters announcing their arrival. So maybe the rumor mill kind of said Jesus is on his way, he's headed toward Bethany, but even if she'd heard that, she would have no way of knowing the day of his arrival or the hour. So he shows up in town and she welcomes him into her home, and once she does that, she must feed him. In that culture, hospitality was a big deal. It was a matter of honor. And matters of honor were not taken lightly. And being a good host involved serving and fixing a meal, hosts were expected to serve, and guests were expected to eat even if no one is hungry. So Jesus appears with 12 hungry men and who knows how many other followers. Social custom requires they provide a generous meal once they open their home, so they have a lot of work in front of them. So just to get the picture, imagine how you would feel if I said, guess what? Everyone in this room is coming to your house for lunch. You have 20 minutes. I mean, think about what that would take for you to figure out how would you feed this many people quickly with what you have on hand? It's really, it's kind of overwhelming. And how many of you cooked a big Thanksgiving meal last week? Probably a lot of you, maybe for a number of people. I know I did. I started planning weeks in advance, you know, counting the knives and the forks and counting the place settings and and making lists of what all I needed to do. I did a lot of advanced planning and started cooking two or three days in advance. And think about how much work, if you cook Thanksgiving, how much time and effort you put into it, and maybe you had people help by bringing side dishes or or like me, you take shortcuts like you buy those brown and serve rolls or pies that are already main. Well, Martha had none of those shortcuts and none of those advantages. And given the lack of refrigeration and the lack of modern food storage and kitchen appliances, she was probably not prepared to feed that many people, no matter how organized she was. And this is going to be a lot of work with both sisters working, even if they have servants and neighbors helping. So the first thing I want you to notice is the picture we have of Martha is positive. She is doing a good thing. She is providing the hospitality that's expected of her in that culture. She's doing it willingly. She didn't have to. She's taking on a task that is a matter of honor. It's not an easy task, and she's doing it willingly. So she's doing what every good host ought to do. I don't think that there's any indication that she's trying to prepare the perfect meal. She's just trying to prepare what's necessary, a necessary meal. Because she didn't have weeks to plan ahead for the perfect color palette and table centerpiece. So twelve hungry men appear at her door unexpectedly, they need to be fed, and there are a lot of chickens to pluck. You know, this is gonna take some doing. So of course Martha is busy. And she's busy doing good things, proper things, right things, necessary things, things from which others are gonna benefit. So what happens? She loses her primary helper. This is Luke 1039. She had a sister called Mary who was seated at the Lord's feet, listening to his word. Okay, so you can picture the scene. Both Mary and Martha start out preparing this large meal, and as they're going about their duties, they could probably hear the Lord conversing across the room or in the next space. Houses were not that big at the time. So Mary's becomes distracted by something Jesus is saying, and something about it draws her away and she stops to listen. And then maybe even without thinking about it, she just kind of quietly sits down at Jesus' feet because she wants to hear every word that he's speaking. And then the minutes pass, and all of a sudden Martha realizes I'm doing all of this alone. I mean, maybe she has servants helping her neighbors, but she's still got to be the organizer, the one supervising and making sure everyone's on task, and that's what that's a chore in and of itself. So this is good work she's doing. It's necessary. She's and she's doing it all by herself, so of course she comes unglued. I mean, who could blame her? So she appeals directly to Jesus for help. This is Luke 10, 40. But Martha was distracted with all her preparations, and she came up to him and said, Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the serving alone? Tell her to help me. So to Martha's way of thinking, Mary is being selfish and irresponsible. They are trying to host this meal, there's work to be done, they need both people working, and she has stopped, and that's just completely selfish and irresponsible. I mean, who has time to hear the words of Jesus when there's work to be done? I mean, who has time to stop for all that Bible study and prayer when Christmas is coming? You know, we've got miracles to perform and magic to do and lists to complete and baking and cards and shopping and wrapping. And Christmas is important, it's good work, it's necessary work, other people will benefit. So who has time to sit at the feet of Jesus and hear the words of life when hospitality is at stake? And that's Martha's mistake. I think Martha was so busy with all her preparations that she lost the main focus of the moment. Because sitting in her living room is the Son of God. This is the Messiah himself who is going to Jerusalem in a few short weeks to die on the cross to redeem his people from sin. But right now, he's in her chair. And in six months, he's not going to be there. A year from now, he's not going to be there. There won't be time to stop and listen to what he's saying. But right now is the Messiah, the one person in the universe with the words of life, and she's missing him because she's in the kitchen. She couldn't listen to the words of Jesus because she was too busy with just the work of daily life. And it all seems so necessary. So notice that's what Jesus responds to. It's her activity level. This is Luke 10, 41 and 42. But the Lord answered and said to her, Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things, but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her. So Jesus does rebuke her, but he does so very gently and compassionately. The repetition of her name is an expression of concern, the way we might use a nickname or put a Y on the end of someone's name. And notice he's not rebuking her for hospitality. He's not rebuking her for the preparations for the meal. I don't think he minimizes the work to be done or trivialize it. He's concerned with her priorities. And that's the first way to have a Merry Christmas. Priorities, proper priorities. Recognize what's truly important. Martha was concerned with too many things. And what were the things she was concerned about? Stuff of daily life. Preparing a meal, hospitality, the chores of caring for and meeting the needs of a household. All important stuff, all good work. But none of that is more important than listening to Jesus. And there is nothing so important that you can't drop it when the Messiah comes to town. Because there will always be work to do. Good work, necessary work, works that's important, and it will never be done. So if you're waiting to consider the claims of Jesus until your to-do list is complete, you're going to wait forever. Priorities matter. Some things can wait and some things can't. And knowing Jesus is one of those things that cannot wait. Listening to what he has to say is one thing we dare not postpone. Because knowing Jesus is more important than doing good things for Jesus. Sometimes we postpone getting to know him because we're too busy trying to impress him with our good works or trying to serve him. A friend of mine calls this the goodness gospel, and it's the idea that my goodness, my sanctification is up to me and it's based on what I do. So I develop this list of things, good things usually, that I must do, and I think doing those things makes me a good Christmas, or a good Christian, and that goodness gospel has everything to do with self-effort. Paul wrote extensively about this in Galatians, so he doesn't use the term. This is Galatians 3.2. Let me ask you only this. Did you receive the Spirit by works of the law or hearing by faith? Or by hearing with faith? In other words, how did you come to know God? How did you come to gain his blessings? Did you earn it by works? By being perfect, by doing good things, by serving him well, or did you hear and believe? And for Paul, the answer is obvious. You heard and you believed. It was a gift, and gifts by their very nature are not something we earn. And then in Galatians 3, 3, he goes on, are you so foolish? Having begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by the flesh? So having started this journey of faith, this life with God, as a gift by faith, by just hearing and believing, do you now think you have to work to stay in his favor? Do you now think you have to earn the next step by being good? Paul says that's foolish. That's foolishness. He writes in Ephesians 2, for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourself. It's a gift of God, not as a result of works, that no one should boast. So we are saved by grace, the grace of God through faith as a gift, not based on anything we do or did. And having been saved by faith, we are not now required to do good things to grow in his favor. So no one's saved by their works, and they can be stellar works. You could cure cancer, you could solve world poverty, you could feed a stranger, whatever it is, it's not going, it's not enough. Because knowing Jesus is more important than doing good things for him. Because Jesus didn't want Martha's service, he wanted her fellowship. And I think she meant well. I think she loved the Lord, she thought she was serving him, but our her priorities were off. Her idea of what was necessary was different than Christ's. And she was so busy with all her necessary things that she missed the most and necessary thing of all, the one thing that was necessary. Simple, humble faith in Jesus. So the first way to have a Merry Christmas is proper priorities. Recognize what's truly important. Faith is more important than good works. Now let's look at the second way to have a Merry Christmas. Look again at Luke 10, 42. But only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part which shall not be taken away from her. So the first way is proper priorities, the second thing is proper desires. You have to want what's truly important. Because Mary was hungry, but not for dinner. She was hungry for spiritual food. She wanted to hear the words of life, and here he was in her home. Elsewhere in Jesus, elsewhere in Scripture, Jesus calls us hungering and thirsting for righteousness. So what Mary has, what she has chosen, is a faith that longs for what Jesus has to offer. She's learned that sin tastes bitter and righteousness tastes sweet, and she hungers for that sweet taste of righteousness. She longs to be freed from the bitter consequences of sin. Because sin is not just a criminal offense against God. It is that. It is a violation of justice, and justice must be satisfied, but it also has consequences here and now every day. It hurts, and we see it every day in our broken world. We see it in divorce, in war, depression, anger, violence, bitterness, neglect, all kinds of abuse, abandonment, addictions, all the frustrations and pain of daily life. It all results from sin. And Mary has learned to hate that taste of sin and hunger and thirst for the taste of righteousness. She desires the right thing. I mean, who wants food when the Messiah is sitting in your living room? She was being fed by the bread of life and living water. So that brings us to the third way to have a Merry Christmas. The first is proper priorities, the second is proper desires, the third is honesty. Honesty about who you are and what you truly need. And knowing that you're not ever going to earn your salvation by being good. So Mary knows it's more important to learn from Jesus than to complete her to-do list or serve the perfect meal or host the perfect Christmas. Because you can't be good enough to gain that righteousness you hunger for. You can't get there through self-effort. Trying harder doesn't work. Partly it doesn't work because being perfect now does not negate prior disobedience. And that seems obvious to us, but it's amazing how often we do it anyway. So suppose I commit a crime, say I steal from a store or I burn down someone's barn in anger. The judge is not going to let me off if I appeal to him and say, oh, you know, but after I did that, I helped an old lady across the street. So I did this good thing afterwards. Doesn't that cancel out my crime? Of course, his answer would be no. Well, in the same way, I can't make myself holy. I can't gain the blessings of God by trying harder. Having once sin, and once is all it takes, I am sinful, and there's a penalty that must be paid. Because sin not only has tragic consequences, it is a violation of justice. I have committed a crime, and the penalty for my crime must be paid. And paying that penalty for my sin is what Jesus was born on Christmas Day to do. So my deepest problem is sin. And I have to be honest about that because one day I'm going to stand before my creator and realize he is holy and I am not. And all the good works in the world are not going to solve that problem. The goodness gospel won't solve that problem. My self-effort won't. But Jesus can and he did. He died on the cross on Good Friday and was resurrected on Easter Sunday, and God accepts his voluntary death as payment for my crimes, my sins. And because of what he did, God can forgive me and save me from this problem of sin. So Jesus and Jesus alone is the one person in the universe who can solve my deepest problem and meet my deepest need. And he came into the world to die on the cross to do that as payment for our rebellion to God. So the third step in having a Merry Christmas is knowing where life is to be found, being honest about who I am and what I need, and knowing that life will be found by trusting Jesus, not through my own effort. And that brings us to the fourth way to have a Merry Christmas, and that is faith. Choose the good part, as Jesus says, the one thing that will not be taken away from you. In other words, choose faith. Trust that God, because of the blood of Jesus Christ, both intends to and will in fact save you from sin. The good part, the best part, the main event of this season is sitting at our Lord's feet and hearing the words of life. Because meals are going to come and meals are going to go. Christmases are going to come and go. Gifts will be wrapped and opened and broken probably before the day is out. Memories fade, but the word of life will last forever. There's only one necessary thing, one truly important thing in life, and that is knowing Jesus and trusting him and believing that he loves you and he came to die on the cross for your sins. So the goodness gospel won't save you. Serving Jesus won't save you apart from faith. No amount of self-effort will earn his favor or his blessings, but you can receive it as a gift. So the best part, the best gift, the only gift you cannot lose is sitting at his feet and listening to what he has to say. There will always be work to do. There will always be meals to cook, but there was not always going to be a chance to learn from Jesus. One day that door is going to close. And the time to choose whether or not you want to follow him will be over. And on that day, he's not going to be impressed by the meals you cooked or the Martha Stewart hospitality you planned or how busy you were or how many times you completed your to-do list. What he wants on that day is faith. But that day is not yet. You can choose to follow Jesus today, right here, right now. There's a sense in which Jesus is here with us in this room waiting for you. You. And like Martha, you can continue frantic in your stress, or you can be like Mary and choose the one gift you cannot lose. The only necessary thing. You can choose faith. And all you have to do is ask. So, just to review, there are four ways to have a Merry Christmas. The first is proper priorities, knowing that I'm sinful, knowing that the biggest problem I've got, the one necessary thing, the most important thing in this season in this life is that I have this problem of sin, and that problem must be solved. The second one is proper desires, rejecting the bitter taste of sin and hungering and longing for the sweet taste of righteousness, of goodness and the holiness of God. So longing for the life Jesus has to offer. And then third, being honest about who I am and what I need. Knowing that I'm not capable of making myself good through self-effort, that God owes me nothing. I've done nothing to require him to save me. There's no divine spark within me that he must bless or honor. That if I'm going to be saved, it will be by his grace through faith. And being honest about that is more that it's more important to know Jesus than to serve him through self-effort or the goodness gospel. And then finally, faith. Choosing the best part, choosing the one gift I cannot lose. And faith is just a firm trust that God both intends to and will in fact save me from my sins because of the blood of Jesus Christ. It is more necessary than all the Christmas work we can do, all the meals we can took, all the good works, all the great things and necessary things we can do in this world. It's more necessary than being busy and completing everything on my to-do list, or doing everything I think makes me a good Christian. Because if I have faith, I have everything worth having. And if I lack faith, I have nothing, even though I have everything the world has to offer. So this Christmas, remember there's only one necessary thing, and that is knowing Jesus, trusting him, sitting at his feet and listening to his every word. So my prayer for you is that you have a Merry Christmas, an M-A-R-Y Christmas, a Christmas like Merry, where you learn and grow in faith and the love of Christ, where you can leave the kitchen and sit at his feet and be still and know that he is Lord. Some things can wait and some things can't. To-do lists can wait, good works can wait, but knowing Jesus can't wait. So if you're one of those people who says, you know, I'll figure this faith stuff out when I finish college or when my kids are out of diapers or after my to-do list is good done, you risk being like Martha and missing the best part in the main event because there will always be work to do. Good work. It's important work, it's necessary, it seems necessary, but only one thing is truly necessary: trust. So now is the time to put your trust in Jesus. So if you're wondering how to do that, it's very simple. You just admit that like everyone else in this room, you're a sinner. And being a sinner means that we're imperfect, that we do wrong, that we fall short of God's standard, not just on the outside but on the inside. It also means we're separated from him and we deserve his judgment. Second, you accept that God sent his son, Jesus Christ, to die for your sins, that he was punished, so you don't have to be. And not only that, that death did not defeat him after three days, he rose from the dead. So, and then third, you should believe that the only way to find forgiveness from God and to begin a relationship with him is trusting in Jesus' sacrifice for you, to turn away from sins. And then all you have to do is ask. All you have to do is tell God that. Just talk to him and tell him you believe. So I'm going to close in prayer. And if you don't know Jesus and you want to know Jesus, I invite you to pray with me. And if you need help understanding this prayer and what it means, you can ask the friend who brought you here today or any of the ladies of Wednesday in the Word, and I'm sure they would be overjoyed to talk with you. And if you do pray this prayer for the first time today, I please tell someone, tell one of the ladies that brought you here, or one of the women of Wednesday in the Word, so we can celebrate with you. So let me pray for us. Dear Jesus, I know that I'm a sinner and I ask for your forgiveness. I believe that you died for my sins and that you rose from the dead. And I will trust and follow you as my Lord and Savior. Amen.