Latest / Pulpit to Pavement / Breaking Bread: At the Table with Jesus Week 2 - What are you hungry for?
Transcript
- Kayla: Our scripture reading this morning is from the book of Luke, chapter 10, verses 38 through 42. The text will be shown on the screen, and of course, please follow along in your Bible. And if anyone here is a visitor and doesn't have a Bible, please let us know. We'd make sure that the usher gets you one. As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, Lord, Don't you care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her to help me. Martha, Martha, the Lord answered, 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. This is the word of God for the people. speaker-1: Thank you. Kayla: Thank you, Kevin. So how many of you have ever watched your kids go to the fridge and open the door and stand there for 20 seconds, which feels like 60 when they're standing there with the fridge door open. I think if if my dad knew how to use a Polaroid when we were kids, he probably would have taken a picture of the inside of the fridge and stuck it to the door and said, Now you don't have to waste cold air. Anyway, how many of you have done that? Watch them and then they close the door and walk away. And then they come back five minutes later and open the door again. Almost like they're expecting something new to magically appear in the fridge. And then they go and do the same thing with the pantry. Finally, they decide on a handful of chips, cookies, MMs. Nothing that really satisfies. They're eating. But they're not getting what they're actually craving. And friends, sometimes our souls are like that. We spend our days consuming things that promise to satisfy us. Entertainment, media, activity, even religious activity. And yet we still feel restless, exhausted, empty. Maybe it's because we are feeding ourselves plenty of things, but not necessarily the things we're most hungry for. This is week two in our breaking bread series, and we're discovering that when Jesus sits down to a table with people, the meal is rarely just about the food. Last week, Jesus sat at Levi's table where we discovered there's room for people others might exclude. And this week, Jesus encounters another home where we discover that sometimes The greatest gift Jesus offers us. And the greatest gift we can offer Jesus isn't what we put on the table. It's what we offer through our presence. And the question becomes, God bless you, are we so busy preparing a place for Jesus that we forget to spend time with him ourselves? We can be busy doing good things and still miss the best thing. Martha welcomes Jesus into her home and immediately begins doing what a good host would do. Preparing, serving, making sure everything is just right. And this is not a bad thing. It is a good thing to demonstrate hospitality. Her desire is to make Jesus feel honored and welcome. That's a good thing. In fact, hospitality was an important cultural responsibility and scripture encouraged Christians to practice it. But while she is doing this, her sister Mary is sitting at Jesus' feet listening to his teaching. And listen, I sympathize with Martha. Her frustration over the situation. I understand how irritating it can be to give up your entire afternoon cleaning and cooking while the rest of the family is. Sitting around, kicking back in the lounge or watching TV. Now it's not always like that for me, but I have known what that's like. There are other things I'd rather be doing with my time. And instead, you spend a couple of hours cleaning your house in preparation for your guests. And then you spend another couple of hours standing over a stove. And then after the dinner's over, you get to clean it up. Yay! It's bogus, isn't it? Well, as Mary sits at the feet of Jesus, seemingly oblivious to how much of the load Martha is carrying herself to serve their guests. It really begins to grind Martha's gears. And she eventually reaches her breaking point. Lord, don't you care? That my sister has left me to do the work by myself. Tell her to help me. I've been there, Martha baby. I see you. And I think I would have been just floored, perhaps even indignant at the response of Jesus. 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 from her. We don't we don't know what her response was after that. But I imagine her saying, seriously. So she gets to sit on her behind while I bust mine, and it will not be taken away from her. How is that fair? And rather than address Mary for her failure to aid Martha, he addresses the problem with Martha. And again, the problem wasn't that she was serving, the problem was that her serving had become a distraction from the very person she was serving. Luke tells us Martha was distracted by her many tasks. Pulled in many directions. Is that not an accurate description of everyday life for most of us? Yeah. I just love her. Sometimes our greatest distractions aren't bad things. They're actually very good things. You know, parents become so consumed with providing for their children that they struggle to be present for them. Spouses become so busy managing a household that they neglect nurturing their marriage. Christians become so occupied with church activity that they neglect their personal relationship with Jesus. And pastors and ministry volunteers become so focused on doing God's work that they forget to enjoy God's presence. So the work they do is in itself noble, well intended, but it easily distracts them from the most important thing. And I I think we've all done this. Yes? You invite a loved one over for dinner. You spend hours preparing the perfect meal, cleaning the house, setting the table. But when your guest arrives, you are so busy that you never sit down to enjoy their company. And by the end of the night, you know, the house looked great and the food was delicious, and everything went according to plan. Except You miss the very reason you invited them in the first place. It's possible to spend so much time doing things for Jesus that we forget to spend time with him. But notice the tenderness in his response. He doesn't shame Martha. He doesn't dismiss the importance of her work. He gently calls attention to what is happening inside of her. Because if you look at the story closely, you'll notice there's a progression. Martha becomes distracted by her many responsibilities. Her distraction develops into anxiety. There's still so much to do. Her anxiety becomes frustration targeted at Mary. And then that frustration becomes resentment that leads her to question Jesus. Lord, don't you care? And and that reveals something deeper going on. Martha is so overwhelmed by everything she believes needs to be done that she begins questioning the concern of the very one who loves her. How often do we do the same? You know, we become so overwhelmed by our schedules, our finances, our responsibilities and expectations. And somewhere in the midst of it all, we begin wondering: God, don't you see how hard I'm working? How hard I'm trying? God, don't you care how overwhelmed I am? God, why don't you break through in my life? Our worries can expose deeper desires. Martha may have wanted to be a good host, to meet expectations, or simply to receive just a little bit of help. And those desires aren't necessarily wrong. But when they begin controlling our peace, it reveals where we have placed our priorities. Sometimes we are hungry for things like approval. We want everyone to think we're doing a good job. We want control. We want everything to go according to plan and not just any plan, our plan. We want achievement. We measure our worth by what we accomplish. We want recognition. We want someone to notice just how much we're doing. We want security. You know, we believe. We'll finally have peace when everything is settled. And none of those desires are automatically sinful, but none can ultimately satisfy the deepest hunger of our souls. Jesus invites us to exchange anxiety for attention. Martha was focused on everything that needed to be done. Mary was focused on the one who was present. Martha was concerned about what she could provide for Jesus. Mary was receiving what Jesus wanted to provide for her. When you find yourself overwhelmed. What are you afraid will happen when you stop doing, stop fixing, stop trying to control everything? Because sometimes what we're most worried about reveals what we're looking to for wholeness. And Jesus doesn't simply identify Martha's anxiety, he points her to something better. Before Jesus calls us to do something for him, he invites us to be with him. Mary sat at Jesus' feet and listened. In the ancient world, sitting at someone's feet was the posture of a disciple learning from their teacher. So Mary wasn't simply avoiding household chores. She was taking the posture of a disciple. And Jesus affirmed her decision. And listen, that is especially significant, that that was even mentioned at all in the Bible. Because while Jesus welcomed her as a learner, you know, cultural expectations would have placed her alongside Martha in the work of hospitality. Jesus is not condemning service. He is correcting priorities. Sometimes this passage gets misconstrued to say that Mary is the spiritual one and Martha is the worldly one. I would not go as far as saying that. Because in the passage just before this one, we get the account of the, it's the parable of the Good Samaritan. And Jesus emphasizes the importance of act of compassion. Martha exemplified that. I think the placement of those stories back to back shows us that discipleship isn't choosing between serving Jesus and sitting with Jesus. You know, I think the two go hand in hand. But I think it's learning to serve from a life rooted in his presence. This passage shows us that while we are called to serve, we cannot give what we haven't received. You know, a pitcher that's constantly pouring water but never being refilled, that only works for so long, right? It eventually runs dry. And that's what happens spiritually when we are constantly giving, serving, leading, caring for others while Allowing not allowing ourselves regular time with Jesus, right, at his feet. What happens is we begin serving from exhaustion rather than abundance. And sometimes, like Martha, our joy in serving gradually turns to frustration over what others are not doing. We live in a culture that encourages us to stay busy, productive, entertained, connected. But being constantly occupied does not mean we're spiritually filled. I think we often mistake activity for nourishment. They are definitely not the same. It's the difference between and Ms. And a nutritious meal. You can snack all day and never really feel satisfied. And spiritually, we sometimes do the same. You know, we we might listen to an inspirational quote or scroll past a Bible verse or attend worship or say a quick prayer as we rush into the busyness of the day. Those things are good. But if that's the extent of our spiritual nourishment, We will always find ourselves hungry for something deeper. It's possible to know a whole lot about Jesus without spending much time with him. So how is it with you? What is feeding your soul? Are you spiritually nourished or are you trying to live on yesterday's, last week's leftovers? Mary chose what was better. She didn't wait until every tour was finished. She chose to sit at Jesus' feet while there were still things needing to be done, and that's challenging for us because there will always be something to do. Right, the laundry we call that the never ending story, don't we? The inbox will always be full. An event continually gets added to a calendar. The needs around us will will always continue. If we wait until everything is done before spending time with Jesus, we will never sit down. She chose what was better. The presence of Jesus isn't a reward for finishing everything on our to do list. It is the nourishment we need to face the list in the first place. So three practical things I'm gonna give you to feed your soul. One, create space for stillness, all right? Even if it's five to ten minutes a day in silence, in prayer, in scripture, just even that little bit can help reorient your heart toward God. Second, practice presence over perfection. You don't have to have the perfect home to welcome Jesus into it. You don't have to know all the right words. You don't have to perform this re this list of religious activity to show how much you love him. Jesus wants your attention, not a flawless performance. And three, let time with Jesus shape the way you serve. You know, the goal isn't to withdraw from responsibility, it's to approach them with a different spirit, less resentment, more joy, less anxiety, more trust, less striving for approval, more confidence in God's love. Now just imagine the scene again, okay? Martha's in the kitchen preparing the meal. Mary is sitting at his feet, receiving something she knows she needs. One is preparing to feed Jesus. The other is allowing Jesus to feed her soul. And perhaps the most beautiful part of the story is that Jesus doesn't reject Martha. He calls her by name. And that's invitational. Right, that's not dismissal. He sees her exhaustion. He recognizes her anxiety. He understands her desire to do everything well. But he also knows what she is missing. Jesus doesn't need Martha to impress him. He wants Martha to enjoy being with him. And perhaps that's what some of us, if not most of us, need to hear today. You know, you've been working really hard. You've been caring for your family. You've been serving your church. You've been trying to hold everything together. All good things. But somewhere along the way, your soul became malnourished. And then it manifested in things like anxiety, frustration, resentment, impatience. You became worried and distracted by many things. What are you hungry for? Are you hungry for recognition, for success, for approval, for a life where everything finally falls into place? Or are you hungry for the kind of peace, purpose, and love that only Jesus can provide? Because the truth is, you can fill your calendar and still have an empty soul. You can accomplish everything on your to-do list and still feel like something is missing. You can spend your whole life serving Jesus and forget to simply enjoy being with him. But here's the good news. The table is set. Jesus is present and there is a place waiting for you. You don't have to earn your seat. You don't have to bring the perfect dish. You don't have to get everything right first. You just have to show up. So come hungry, sit at the feet speaker-1: Thank Kayla: of Jesus and let Jesus give you what your soul has been craving all along. Let us pray. Gracious Jesus, we confess. That we are often more like Martha than Mary. We get caught up in all our stuff, our responsibilities, our expectations. We get distracted by a whole lot of things we think we need to accomplish. Sometimes we become so busy serving you even that we forget to simply be with you. Forgive us. For looking to things that cannot satisfy the deepest hunger of our souls. Teach us to recognize what truly matters. Help us to slow down, to quiet our hearts, and make room for your presence. And as we leave this place, may our service flow from our love for you, rather than our need to prove ourselves. Feed our hungry souls with your grace, fill our restless hearts with your presence, and remind us that in you we truly have everything we need. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.