Luke 10.38-42
After his inoperable brain cancer was diagnosed, Eugene O’Kelly, the 53-year-old CEO of a major accounting firm, wrote a guidebook on how to die. His book, Chasing Daylight, was written by a man once described as a “controlling, orderly, privileged, and powerful man who sometimes felt like an eagle on a mountaintop—then, to his astonishment, the mountain disappeared.”
In the final months of his life O’Kelly wrote:
What if I hadn’t worked so hard? What if, aside from doing my job and doing it well, I had actually used the bully pulpit of my position to be a role model for balance? Had I done so intentionally, who’s to say that, besides having more time with my family, I wouldn’t also have been even more focused at work? More creative? More productive?
Mr. O’Kelly died shortly after writing those words, before he could answer his own question.1
Is your life balanced right now?
This morning, where is the guilt for your unbalanced life coming from? Where are you compromising balance in your life and in turn hurting you and those around you?
Hearing that question, and knowing that your life is not properly balanced because balance is hard to come by, what changes do you need to make?
In this morning’s Biblical text, chosen for us by the lectionary, we meet a woman named Martha who is living an unbalanced life. Martha is busy doing a whole bunch of things, things that we would call good things, but was she wasn’t spending any time getting the rest she needed to find the strength to carry on doing the good things she was doing.
In this Biblical text we hear Jesus gently invite Martha, and us, to return and find proper balance between the Spiritual Nourishment that provides rest that strengthens us and the Spiritual Work we have to do.
Luke 10.38–42 records this piece of history:
[38] Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. [39] And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. [40] But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” [41] But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, [42] but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.” (ESV)
It is a very common occurrence in the Church to have this text taught and preached wrongly.
I can’t tell you how many times I have heard the message, “Don’t be a Martha. Be a Mary.” And, it’s exact opposite, “Don’t be a lazy Mary, be a go-getting Martha.”
That presentation of this situation and these people is a complete misunderstanding of the text and a complete misrepresentation of the two women.
I think that we can all agree that evil works are a distraction from the life that God wants us to live.
But, it is important to note that even good works can be a distraction from the life God wants us to live.
Martha, the distracted, busy, worried, stressed and harried one was not doing anything evil.
Martha was, in fact, doing really good things. Martha was exercising her spiritual gift of hospitality. Martha was acting as the hostess with the mostest. Martha was making sure that Jesus and His friends were comfortable and that their needs were provided for while they were in her home.
That’s why Jesus doesn’t vilify Martha.
That’s why Jesus doesn’t condemn Martha.
That’s why Jesus doesn’t tell Martha she is being disobedient to God.
That’s why Jesus doesn’t call Martha a sinner.
Jesus just says, “Hey, Martha. Take a break from using your God-given gifts, talents, and passions and come find some rest and peace. Come to where peace and rest may be found so that you can have the strength and proper motivation for all of the good stuff you are doing.”
Where is true and lasting peace and rest found that we need to be able to get through each day and each task?
In Jesus.
At Jesus’ feet.
In Jesus’ Words.
But, the rest that Jesus provides for us isn’t few more hours of sleep, it is the rest that comes from knowing that God is fully satisfied with us because of Jesus life, death, and resurrection for us. The peace and rest that comes from Jesus life, death, and resurrection for us, sets us free to live and love without the worry of having to do it all perfectly in order to make God happy. Because of your union with Jesus, through faith, God is 100% for you, all of the time, always welcoming you into His eternal Kingdom of Heaven.
When Jesus spoke, “It is finished,” from the cross, He was letting you who hear and believe Him that the need to make God happy by satisfying His demands of a life perfectly lived, was truly and and eternally completed for you by Him.
As we heard last week, as Christians, God gives us brand new hearts and strengthens us every day to do good things to help the people that we come into contact with every day.
However, the problem comes in when we get lost in the good thing that is the loving others portion of our faith and let it distract us from the loving God part of our faith.
English Preacher, Theologian, and Writer, John Stott once wrote this:
“Balanced biblical Christianity is a rare phenomenon. It seems to be a characteristic of our fallen minds that we find it easier to grasp half-truths than to grasp the whole truth, and in consequence we become lopsided Christians.”2
God calls us to be balanced Christians. Not lopsided Christians.
God calls us to be a little bit of Martha and a little bit of Mary.
If there were no Marys, there would be no Christians.
If there were no Marthas, there would be no Church.
But, Jesus calls you to be a Mary first and then a Martha.
This is the proper order of life. This is how God designed you to find the proper balance.
It is in choosing the good portion of beginning by filling your mind with the peace and rest that comes from Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection of you, that allows you to have what you need, the rest and peace that comes from knowing your good deeds don’t save you but help you with the freedom and confidence you need to help your neighbor.
Life can be A LOT! There is so much to do, all of the time. So, even the good stuff we do wears us out and steals our peace and joy.
I have come to notice that Church people are the biggest culprits of living out of balance by thinking the Martha life is better than the Mary life.
You will find some of the most tired, unrested, and joyless people you will ever find in the Church.
That’s because we profess the truth that life is about resting in Jesus’ presence while we live practically as if we will only find rest if we do enough good stuff to earn that rest from God.
We have to be reminded, like Martha needed to be reminded, to put the work down, yes, even the good work, and learn to listen to Jesus speaking words of comfort to us.
We can hear Jesus gently reminding Martha and Mary,
[45] For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give his life as a ransom for many.” (Mark 10:45, ESV)
Or, in other words, Jesus said to Martha and Mary, “I didn’t come so that you had to work to prepare your house for me. I actually came to work to prepare God’s house for you.”
And, Jesus would have also gently reminded them of His invitation and promise which says:
[28] Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. [29] Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. [30] For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light.” (Matthew 11:28–30, ESV)
Somewhere between 10 and 15 years ago, I read about a Bible study/Bible reading plan that I haven’t ever forgotten about. A writer friend of mine shared a system called “Professor Grant Horner’s Bible-Reading System.”
The goal of the system was to read 10 chapters of the Bible everyday. There are 1,189 chapters in the Bible. Following this plan would allow you to read through the entire Bible about 3 times every year.
Professor Horner says that 10 chapters a day would take the average reader 35-45 minutes each time that sat down to read.
Now, I know exactly what you are thinking, because it is exactly what I thought many years ago and what I am thinking with you right now, “Who has 35-45 every single day to sit down and do nothing but read the Bible?”
However, regardless of the time commitment, I have tried more times than I can remember to implement this plan. I have usually been able to make a a few days, maybe into a second week, but then,
maybe it was ADHD,
maybe it was addiction all of those years ago,
maybe it was depression,
maybe it was making the excuse of being too busy this day or that day,
maybe it was boredom,
maybe it was laziness,
maybe it was a sinful lack of desire to take Jesus’ command to rest in the presence of my Lord and Savior seriously,
whatever the excuse was, I always just stopped very early on in the process and gave up on this specific Bible reading plan.
About 3 months ago, I attempted to start again. And, I was doing really well, I was balancing my day by doing all of my Bible reading, which allowed me to find peace and rest in Jesus’ presence before I started on the never-ending to-list on my desk. Before I attempted to accomplish anything, I was daily reminded that regardless of what happened for the rest of the day, my faith in Christ made me one with Jesus and therefore, God fully loved me and accepted me despite the ups and downs that a day in this life brings.
Like I said, I WAS doing very well. But, about 3 weeks ago, I pulled out my VBS Preparation To-Do List, and I immediately made the excuse that I was too busy to start my day with the Bible reading, but I would CERTAINLY get it done later on, in pieces, between some of the tasks I had to accomplish for VBS to be ready to rock. And, if I didn’t get my Bible reading during the day, I would CERTAINLY make sure it happened before bed.
We all know how this story ends because it is all of our story.
The “later on”, the “in-between other tasks”, the “before bed,” never came.
Why am I telling you this somewhat long story?
I am telling you this somewhat long story about my life, because it describes what is happening in our text and what Jesus tells us is the best order of events for our daily life.
To put it succinctly, over the past three weeks, even though I was spending every waking minute doing what we would all call “good and Godly” things—preparing for well over 100 people to hear about the love of God in the person and work of Jesus Christ—my life became out of balance. I lost my way. My priorities became reversed.
And, in reversing my priorities and pushing the time I needed with Jesus in God’s Word out of the picture completely, I can testify to you that I became exhausted, overwhelmed, burdened, irritable, angry, quick to run my mouth and slow (if not deaf) when listening, and resentful—just like Martha saying, “Lord, do you not care that my [church] has left me to serve alone? Tell [them] then to help me.”
All of this happened while I was doing good things for God’s Kingdom because I pushed God out of the equation and tried to do everything all on my own without the strengthening help that Jesus provides in order to properly do the good works that He has prepared in advance for me to.
Like I said, this text has been taught wrongly and will continue to be taught wrongly. That is because of the tension that exists between the Law and the Gospel.
While I was in seminary, my mentor, who was also my Pastor in Staten Island, was a brilliant man overtaken by the beauty of God’s love in the the Gospel of Jesus Christ.
I still remember him saying many times from the pulpit that we can’t full grasp the totality of God’s working but we simply have to acknowledge that there is a Biblical tension.
What he meant was that we have the clear message that the forgiveness of sin and eternal life has absolute nothing to do with the thoughts we think, the words we use, or the deeds that we do. We do not play an active role in gaining God’s love, God’s forgiveness, and a place in God’s Kingdom. That is all God’s doing for us. We receive it by sitting at Jesus’ feet like Mary.
However, the Bible also makes it clear that we do have a calling and responsibility to live in a manner worthy of Christ. Just like Martha knew.
The Christian doesn’t sit around doing nothing saying, “God did everything for me, now let me be.” No, the Christian responds to God by getting moving to do good deeds because the ultimate good deed of dying on the cross to reconcile us to God through the forgiveness of our yesterday’s Sin, today’s Sin, and tomorrow’s Sin.
Many passages that contain the narratives of Jesus’ life on earth give us easy to pass over details. Today’s Biblical text opens with the simple positional statement, “Now, as they went on their way.”
Like I said, easy to pass over. It’s simple right, Jesus and His disciples were just walking around and then they ended up win Martha’s house.
However, what we have to remember, is…
Jesus wasn’t on his way to get cheeseburger from McDonald’s or on his way home to watch the next episode of The Bachelor on Netflix.
Jesus was always on His way to the cross to die in the place of sinful humans, including me and you. On earth, Jesus was always on His way to the cross to die in order to provide the forgiveness that me and you need so that we can be called perfect and righteous and in turn be eternally reconciled to God our Father in Heaven, our Maker and Creator.
And, because Jesus is love, because Jesus is Grace, and because Jesus is Mercy, He stopped along the way to the cross to have compassion on those who were hurting, helpless, and hopeless. Jesus always has time to come to you who are burdened, weary, anxious, troubled, distracted, and overwhelmed by the taskmaster called “daily life.”
In Jesus, God has come to you to balance out your like with rest, peace, and strength, so that you can freely do the good things that need to be done to help the people around you on a daily basis and ultimately lead them to Jesus for rest, peace, strength and freedom as well.
This is the Word of God for you today.
This is the Grace of God for you today.
Amen.
Reverend Fred Scragg V.
August 3, 2025.
Sinner & Saint 