“Mary Time”

Sermon by Rev. Dr. Stephen Poos-Benson

July 18, 2010

Luke 10:38-42

As they continued their travel, Jesus entered a village. A woman by the name of Martha welcomed him and made him feel quite at home. She had a sister, Mary, who sat before the Master, hanging on every word he said. But Martha was pulled away by all she had to do in the kitchen. Later, she stepped in, interrupting them. “Master, don’t you care that my sister has abandoned the kitchen to me? Tell her to lend me a hand.”

The Master said, “Martha, dear Martha, you’re fussing far too much and getting yourself worked up over nothing. One thing only is essential, and Mary has chosen it—it’s the main course, and won’t be taken from her.”

We are in the middle of summer and I hope you are soaking it up. Are you just reveling in the heat? I say that we take the summer that we are living in right now and soak it up! Wear shorts, wear sandals. Don’t you love firing up your grill on the back patio in the evening for dinner? Don’t you love grilling a T-Bone steak?

Don’t you love to go for a walk as the sun is setting, just basking in the glory of summer? Or is there too much work to do? It’s good to have work, but this is summertime.

This is the time of the “to-do” list! I go into the weekend thinking I’m going to get some time off and then something happens. Stuff breaks! My kid’s car has been breaking; the fence broke! Do you know what broke this past weekend? Yesterday I was in a septic tank! It was going to cost $600-700 to get it fixed so I put on my chest waders and dropped down. When stuff breaks, you have to fix it!

In Colorado, we know we have about 3 ½ to 4 months of really nice weather to go hiking, biking, climb 14er’s and do all this fun stuff before it gets cold again. So we kind of cram and we cram to get the work done and we try to find a balance to get some, “Mary Time,” in there. I call it Mary Time because Mary took the time away from the kitchen to sit at the feet of Jesus and hang on to his every word. She set aside time to sit with Jesus.

It’s kind of a tough passage. If you are the Martha’s or the Mike’s of the world, you really kind of value being a good host or hostess. Jesus did just kind of show up on the spur-of-the-moment, unannounced, right at dinnertime. Don’t your friends always do that? What was custom was Martha was to get up, separate herself from the men and go prepare the dinner and she thinks Mary is going to be with her but she’s not there.

This is a lot of work. She has to rake the coals. She has to make the bread. She has to slaughter a goat and get it ready. She’s working away and she’s looking for her sister. She goes looking for her and sure enough she’s in the living room with Jesus. She marches off, starts kneading the bread like she’s tying a knot in the devil’s tail until she says that’s it! She puts the dough down, goes into the living room, puts her hand on her hip and says to Jesus: “Master, don’t you care that my sister has abandoned the kitchen to me? Tell her to lend me a hand.” Jesus responds with: Martha, Martha, Martha.

Now, Messiah or not, I think he is all of a sudden on really thin ice. You can calm a storm, you can walk on water, but you do not cross a woman with her hand on her hip!! I’m convinced this is why Jesus was not married!! Guys don’t try this at home. Martha, Martha, Martha, you are consumed by many things when only one thing is required. Only one thing is essential. Mary has chosen and it won’t be taken from her.

The passage ends there and I always wonder what happened to poor Martha. How is Martha supposed to respond? If you are Martha, what are you going to do? You are kind of left with a choice, aren’t you? We don’t know, but if you are Martha, do you go back to the kitchen? Do you go sit at the feet of Jesus? If you are Martha, how are you going to respond? It is a choice, isn’t it?

We are kind of like Martha because we are always surrounded by more than we can ever get done. We have these precious moments where we get to choose to sit at the feet of Jesus. How was Martha going to respond?

When I was thinking about this passage, I was reminded of the story of the precious present and Martha needs to learn that story. I was first told this story when I was in my 20’s. One of my mentors told me the story of the precious present.

There once was a little boy and an old man. The wise old man saw the little boy playing and he loved to watch the little boy riding his bike, swinging on the swings, running through the yard; just being alive in the moment. The old man told the little boy—hopefully, when you are older you will discover the precious present. The little boy said, precious present? I love presents. Is this like Christmas? The old man said not really, but if you discover the precious present, you will be one of the wealthiest people in the world. As the boy grew, he remembered that story of the precious present and he wanted to find out what the precious present was. As he grew up, he went to college and he earned all kinds of degrees to find out what the precious present was but the more he searched, he couldn’t find it. It was elusive. So he started searching around the world and he traveled near and far, talking with all the wisest people about where the precious present was. The boy, now a young man, goes back to the old man and says to him: Wise old man, I’m trying to find the precious present and it has eluded me. Give me a clue, a key to find it so I can attain great wealth. The old man said, you have looked high and low; you have looked everywhere except for the most important place. The young man said where, where is that? The wise man said, within your heart. It was as if a flower opened in the young man’s mind and he began to realize what the precious present was. The precious present wasn’t a material possession. The precious present was being present in the moment and it was precious because it was right there and it was precious because he was alive and he was living it. It was the precious present and suddenly this whole new dawning of understanding came and he began to relish the relationships and the friendships that he had. He began to relish every single day that he was alive and he celebrated the precious present.

Martha has a precious present, does she not? Jesus is sitting in her living room! Jesus, the Messiah, sitting in her living room! What an opportunity! Which way is Martha going to choose? Which way are you going to choose?

You, too, have precious presents. Jesus said only one thing is essential, one thing. What is your one essential thing that you have got to do to make your soul come alive? Is it praying, is it reading the scriptures, is it meditating? Is it going for a bike ride, is it dancing, is it singing, is it playing in the yard with your children, is it digging in your garden, is it sitting on a beach, is it traveling? What is it that wakens your soul? Are you doing it? Are you doing your one essential thing because it always amazes me when I have this conversation with people and ask: What is your one essential thing? Often their answer is: It was two years ago! How sad. No wonder your soul is like a dried-up sponge that has been left under the sink.

God gave us this wonderful world so that we can bathe our soul in it. We have but one pass in this life. If there’s more, maybe that’s gravy! Are you doing your one essential thing? Are you basking in the glorious life that you have been given because here’s the scary thing? It can go like this and if you think that you need to wait until you have time to bask in these precious presents, you’ll be waiting until you’re dead. One of the things I’ve learned is you’re never going to dig your way out. You can never get it all done. The list is never going to be crossed off. If you keep on waiting until you have the space and the time to enjoy the moment, it is gone.

I had a bad moment the other day. My son, Taylor, was coming up the stairs and I was in the kitchen. I had a moment when I saw him out of the corner of my eye. I looked at him and said it’s gone—his childhood is gone. He was sporting a goatee; kind of carrying himself different now that he’s a graduate, getting ready for college. At that moment, I wondered—did I revel in his childhood? Did I revel in his crazy adolescence? Am I being awake to him, as he becomes the young man that he is becoming? Am I doing the same with my daughter and my older son; with my wife—or am I consumed with my septic tank??

Phoebe said why don’t you climb out of that septic tank and let’s go for a horseback ride. I almost said no, let me stay down here and then I said, no, it’s “Mary Time!” I crawled up out of there and had some Mary Time.

What are you going to choose? We are in the middle of summer. May you choose to pop a cold one. May you choose to blend up a margarita. May you choose to pour a tall glass of ice tea. May you choose to sit under an umbrella and revel in your garden. Might you choose to roll down the windows of the car and turn off the air conditioner and just bask in the heat of summer because you are alive! You are alive!

Amen