Sermon - Proper 11, Year C, 2025 - Luke 10:38-42

Christ with Martha and Mary, Joos Goemare, circa 1600

Receiving God’s Service

1. God serves His people first

2. Our service must respond to, but not distract from, God’s service

3. Listening to Jesus is the one thing needful

What’s the point of going to church? Why should people come here? Obviously I don’t need to convince you into coming to church, since you’re already here. But when you’re having a conversation with someone, and you tell them they should come to church, and they ask you why, you need to have an answer, and you need to have the right answer. The simple answer is: we go to church to be served by God. We go to church to be like Mary, “who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to His teaching.”

This question of why you should go to church has been a major disagreement among Christians on this continent for the past few hundred years. In the 18th and 19th centuries Christian Revivalism and the First and Second Great Awakenings were huge movements in Christianity, attempting to revitalize American Christianity. These movements focused on making emotional appeals through particular types of preaching and worship. For example, preachers like Jonathan Edwards and Charles Finney would preach in such compelling ways that their hearers would be excited into heaven through hearing about the horrors of hell. The music and worship accompanying these very long sermons was designed to entertain and produce a specific emotional response which would make a person more likely to make a personal commitment to Jesus. The highlight of worship then was the altar call, when people would come forward to make this decision for Jesus. This revivalistic worship and preaching became the norm among most American Protestants and has remained quite common still today.

In this vein of revivalism the Church Growth Movement became popular in the mid 20th century, which sought to grow the church by making it look appealing to non-churchgoing people, using various sociological research and methodology. This movement emphasized especially lay participation in nearly every aspect of church life, because the thought was that if everyone has a responsibility at church then they will be more committed to church and attend. Thus, the Church Growth Movement focused on individuals serving in the congregation.

Over the past few centuries Revivalism and the Church Growth Movement often saw short-term numerical success. They saw numerical success because the American culture at large was friendly towards Christianity and had a positive perception of it. However, the past few decades have shifted to the point where American culture now views Christianity negatively, and so those movements are usually no longer seeing even very strong short-term successes.

As such, the question of why should you go to church requires us to give a stronger answer than was previously required of us. There has to be a stronger reason to come to church than entertainment or an emotional appeal, because we cannot compete with the entertainment available to the average person today on their phones. Obviously people aren’t joining churches today because we have a lot of volunteer jobs they could do, since most churches struggle to convince even the most dedicated people to volunteer at church.

What’s more, Revivialism misses the point of what’s going on in church entirely. Jesus teaches us so plainly today: “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.” What’s the good portion Mary chose? To sit at the feet of Jesus and listen to His teaching. The point of going to church is not so that you can be like Martha and serve Jesus or others, but the point is that you are here to be served by Him first and foremost.

Now, of course it is a good thing to serve the Lord and serve your neighbor. Martha was showing necessary hospitality to Jesus when she was presumably preparing the meal and a place for Him to sleep overnight. Those were necessary things, and were by no means sinful; supper wasn’t going to cook itself. Likewise, service in the church and throughout our lives is absolutely necessary. Sidewalks need to be shoveled, landscaping tended, dinners made, floors swept, tables wiped, dishes washed, trash taken out, and so on and so forth. The ordinary work of hospitality is important and God-pleasing.

It’s good that our congregations run efficiently and without waste. It’s good to have various boards and jobs within the congregation. This service is often necessary for the operation of a congregation. It’s also good and important for Christians to volunteer to do mercy work, whether they do that within the congregation or individually on their own. It’s good for Christians to do good things and serve each other every day as part of their normal life. These are all good works and are necessary for Christians to do, because Christians do good works since God lives inside of us.

But what was Martha’s problem? She “was distracted with much serving… anxious and troubled about many things.” What was she distracted from? From the one thing needful. All of her good works were distracting her from sitting at the feet of Jesus and listening to His teaching. All of the good and necessary works that we must do in service to God and neighbor must always be a response to Jesus’ words, and must never distract from listening to Him.

Let this be a reminder for all of us here at church: don’t let the good works that you do here in this congregation distract you from hearing Jesus’ words. Whether that’s working in the kitchen, serving on a board, or anything, really, don’t let those things distract you from the word of Jesus. If that means a meal is a little bit later or a mess has to sit a little longer, so be it. If you’re anxious and troubled because it seems like there’s too much to do and so you have to miss Jesus’ words, let’s find a way so that you can choose the good portion. 

This also applies in our homes. The Word of God is meant to permeate not just the congregation, but our home lives. There must be daily opportunities to hear Jesus’ teachings and pray in your home. If there seems to be no extra time for that, remember not to be distracted with much serving, remember not to be anxious and troubled about many things, so that you can dedicate the time to sit at Jesus’ feet and listen to Him. If you’re going to cut something out of your life, don’t let that be Jesus.

Because listening to Jesus is the one thing needful. Jesus’ service to you is the one necessary thing above them all, and the only thing that will endure beyond this life and the grave. There’s a reason we call our church services the Divine Service, because here the Divine is serving us. We welcome Jesus into our home, not so that we can be busy running around doing stuff for Him, but so that we can sit at His feet.

We’re gathered like beggars around the feet of Jesus who showers us with His gifts and blessings. We confess our sins, and He forgives us with His blood. We pray for mercy, and He is merciful. His Word is set before us, as we stand to highlight the hearing of His Word. From His word He speaks promises to us, just like Abraham and Sarah heard the promise of a son and the return of the Lord, so are we reminded of the promise of the Son of God and His return. We are encouraged by His word, as the Psalm today reminds us that “the Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold of my life; of whom shall I be afraid. One thing have I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in His temple.” His Word gives us hope, as we heard in Colossians: “He has now reconciled in His body of flesh by His death, in order to present you holy and blameless and above reproach before Him.”

In the Divine Service He doesn’t expect us to serve Him a meal, but He gathers us around His altar, being hospitable to us, to feed us His meal. Not just any meal, not just coffee and donuts, or prime rib and ice cream, but the Lamb of God feeds us His holy body and blood in order to nourish our bodies and souls unto life everlasting. Before we depart, the Lord lifts His face upon us and gives us His peace beyond understanding.

We come to church, not because God needs us to do a bunch of stuff for Him, not because it’s some shallow entertainment, not even because there’s a bunch of other people here whom I love. But we come to church so that the Creator of all things, God Almighty, has looked upon my needs, and here provides the good portion, the one thing needful, which shall not be taken away from me. God promises to be present here and serve me, to provide for all of my needs; so where else would I be except sitting at the feet of Jesus.