It's easy to be distracted - Mary and Martha

From Helen

You will not have failed to notice that there has been a lot of buzz about football recently.  Well, I want to buck the trend this morning and start by telling you a story about rugby! 

In one match the great Welsh player Gareth Edwards was playing for Cardiff, and one of his Welsh team-mates Ray Gravell was playing for the Llanelli Scarlets. The one problem that they encountered on the pitch was of course that having played together for Wales they knew each others insecurities.

Gareth Edwards worked out that there was one way to distract Ray Gravell so that he would have a dreadful game, thereby ensuring a better result for Cardiff.  So, he picked on Gravells’ physical condition.  He began the game, by saying, “You look out of shape, you’ve put on a lot of weight.” This of course bothered Ray Gravell, and so he kept asking other players during the game, if he had indeed put on weight. This of course distracted him greatly, and it was not helped by the fact that every time Gravs looked at Gareth, he was making hand gestures to suggest a big tummy !

Distraction, can come about so easily, our readings this morning are all about God having a hard time getting people’s attention.  In the Old Testament reading from the book of Genesis (18:1-10a) we heard of Abraham who had stopped believing the promise from God that he and his wife Sarah would have a child. To be fair to Abraham he was in is nineties ! Anyway, God needed to get Abrahams attention and so He sent three strangers who promised once again that Abraham and Sarah would have a child. 

God stepped into normality for Abraham and surprised him.  In the New Testament reading from the epistle to the Colossians (1:15-28) the people to whom the epistle was written had been led astray by distractions, other beliefs, new ways of thinking, all of which were seeking to take the people away from God. In the letter they are reminded what the gospel is about, that there is one God, who has made Himself known and who has a concern for the world.

Then in the gospel reading  (Luke 10:38-42) we heard of the distraction of Martha.  I always feel really sorry for Martha.  She was there trying to make everything perfect for Jesus, she was looking after the house, the food,  she was busy. In all this business she had became so intent on doing things correctly, in being a good host, that she got distracted from her guest.  Mary rather than being the good host was a good guest.  This is in terms of Jesus coming alongside her, whilst she sat and listened intently, paying him all her attention.  Yes, Jesus was Marthas guest, but for Mary she felt that the impact of Jesus was such that she was His guest.

There is a danger that we can be distracted from God, and not hear what God is saying to us, I think we are all guilty of carrying on with our lives and not letting God in.  Sometimes we do this by piling up more and more things in our lives, the things that we have to do, and this cuts down on the time that we should be spending with God. Sometimes, we can be so intent on doing things for God that we miss out on Him speaking to us, because we are so busy doing His work.  

I don’t think that Martha was wrong, neither do I think that Mary was wrong.  They both wanted to listen to God, and they both went about it in different ways.  Martha was a go and do type of character and Mary was a sit and listen type of character.

I think that in our lives there is room to be both of these, I also think that we need to be aware of when we need to go and do and of when we need to sit and listen. It’s easy to be distracted.

Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev used to tell of a time when there was a wave of petty theft in the Soviet Union. To try and prevent this the authorities put up guards around the factories. At one timberworks in Leningrad, the guard knew the workers in the factory very well. The first evening, out came PyotrPetrovich with a wheelbarrow and, on the wheelbarrow, a great bulky sack with a suspicious-looking object inside. "All right, Petrovich," said the guard, "what have you got there?" "Oh, just sawdust and shavings," Petrovich replied. "Come on," the guard said, "I wasn't born yesterday. Tip it out." And out came nothing but sawdust and shavings. So he was allowed to put it all back again and go home. When the same thing happened every night of the week the guard became frustrated. Finally, his curiosity overcame his frustration. "Petrovich," he said, "I know you. Tell me what you're smuggling out of here, and I'll let you go." "Wheelbarrows, my friend, " said Petrovich, "wheelbarrows."  

We can be easily distracted but when we do this we can miss the point. The point being that God is there for us and He has much to share with us.  We can build things up around our lives which protect us from the things that threaten to hurt us, we can build concerns around ourselves which worry us, we can build the ‘must do’ things in our life that stop us from being spontaneous, we can build so many things around us, that we become so much of a Martha type of character that we never get to enjoy the peace that Mary felt.

We need to be the type of people who are ready to remove distractions, and all that stands in the way of us and God. 

For us we need Mary days, we need to take away all that gets in the way of us and God, we need to focus on Him and allow Him to lead us into Martha days.

So may we be ready to not only be the people who go and do things for God and other people, but also to remove distractions and allow God to strengthen us, may we be ready to listen to God, and ask Him to use us as he wishes. AMEN