"Loving God and Neighbor: Loving by Listening," Sermon July 17, 2016
Community UMC,
Quincy, CA
“Loving God and
Neighbor: Loving by Listening”
Pastor Andrew Davis
July 17, 2016
Luke 10: 38-42
38 As Jesus and his disciples were on their
way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39
She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he
said. 40 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 the work by myself? Tell her to help
me!”
41 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you
are worried and upset about many things, 42 but few things are needed—or indeed
only one.[a] Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from
her.”
How many of you are familiar with the
“National Lampoon’s Vacation” movie franchise featuring Chevy Chase and
Beverly D’Angelo as Clark and Ellen Griswold?
--- If you have, or haven’t seen any of these movies, family patriarch,
Clark Griswold is always seen trying to plan the perfect family vacation, -
such as to the fictitious theme park Walley World in California, a vacation
toEurope, or Las Vegas. Or, in the case
of the Christmas movie, Clark attempts to plan the perfect family
Christmas. Clark is always running
around and worrying about all these little details and plans, with a sense of
determination to get to each destination and give his family a good time, well
a perfect time in Clark’s eyes. -- Not
so much in the rest of his family’s eyes.
Oftentimes, Clark thinks that he knows
everything, all the ins and outs, as well as shortcuts, which is not always a
good thing either because it gets often him into trouble. Most of Clark’s good intentions usually backfire
on him and wind up in disaster, whether it’s nearly destroying the family car
while trying to find the perfect Christmas tree in the mountains, trying to
connect with relatives in Europe and getting the wrong family, encountering
relatives that won't go away such as Cousin Eddie played by Randy Quaid, his
aunt dying in the car on the way West from Chicago, gambling away all his money
in Las Vegas, or traveling a long way only to have his favorite amusement park,
“Walley World” closed. Any time that Ellen,
or Clark's children, Rusty and Audrey try to offer Clark practical advice,
Clark begins getting highly agitated until at some point, he has a major
meltdown and goes off on a tirade. And
it happens in each film too. Clark’s
worry and distraction about these little things often gets the best of him,
distracting him away from fully listening and being present to his family.
As we have been thinking
about what it means to love God and neighbor this past week, we want to look how
listening to each other is important this week. But in many instances
and in life itself,
listening can sometimes be a challenge.
Like Clark Griswold, we sometimes get preoccupied in making plans for
our life, or making other plans in which we sometimes lose sight of listening
to what God is trying to show us. - Likewise,
we sometimes spend too much time worrying about other things around the church,
our homes, or in our own lives that we sometimes miss what our neighbors, each
other, and even what God has to say. And
you know what? -- I’m just as guilty as anyone else. But, loving by listening is certainly a
challenge that I embrace and will take head-on.
And I hope we can too! ---
As we just heard in our
Gospel lesson, a short one at that, we come across the sisters Mary and Martha,
as Jesus has stopped at their place as he continues making his way to
Jerusalem. In our first encounter with
the text, we see Martha running around frantically, or as I like to put it, a
headless chicken. -- Martha is too busy preparing food for the meal that she
and Mary are about to enjoy with Jesus.
Except unlike Martha, who runs around frantically and in an uproar, Mary sits and listens to
Jesus’s teaching and every word that he has to say. Mary is captivated by his teaching, all while
Martha is too busy to even pay attention or listen. Martha is way too distracted and way too
worried, then doesn’t help matters when she becomes furious and tries to get
Jesus to intervene, kind of like in elementary school when we’d try to tell the
teacher what someone was or wasn’t doing. -- When Martha gets mad at Mary for
her lack of help, Jesus doesn’t tell Mary to get up and help her sister, but
instead tells Martha that she is WAY too worried and too busy, as Mary gets the
best part, the word of God (Lk. 10: 42).
How often do we find ourselves
in this boat? --- Like Clark Griswold constantly trying to plan the perfect
vacation or Christmas gathering, or Martha trying to do all this prep-work for
dinner with Jesus, how often do we find ourselves distracted from really
listening to what our neighbor and even what God has to say? --- Now being a
new pastor, I probably should not be saying this to you, but I also believe
firmly in the transparency of leadership.
This passage is one that really speaks to me because I humbly admit to
you that listening and paying attention is not exactly my best quality, even
though it is a growing
edge I am trying to work on. -- I tend to relate more with Martha and Clark
Griswold, wanting everything to be perfect and worrying over the tiniest detail
when in reality, I really need to be paying attention to what the people most
important to me are saying, and to God as well.
Loving by listening goes hand in hand with loving God and neighbor.
It’s hard to say why it’s specifically hard to
listen, - although we live in a place where there is constant noise among
us. Pundits on TV, the 24/7 television
and radio programing, YouTube (aka a vortex to get sucked into late at night),
but also worrying about finances, deadlines, job situations. --- The list is
long, but is also a reality that we presently live in. - One commentary from
Discipleship Ministries of the UMC explains that “Western, and increasingly,
Eastern capitalist-driven cultures are all about Martha, to be sure.
Productivity, getting things done, being on the move and available 24/7, the
'never sleeps' economy— this is how you ‘get ahead in the world,’ right?”[i]
Martha is simply doing what her duty calls
for when it comes to offering hospitality; preparation and “fulfillment of her
role in society.”[ii] Hospitality to strangers is highly important
at the time that this passage takes place in, which Martha is doing her best to
fulfill and thus, distracted and worried about getting it right while Jesus
shares God's word with Mary. Mary is more concerned about actually hearing what
Jesus has to say, listening intently to his words and his teachings. From last week's lesson, the “Good Samaritan
loves his neighbor” by showing compassion and mercy to a total stranger whom he
would not ordinarily associate with, while this week, “Mary loves her Lord” by
listening; the two stories complement each other nicely considering that this
passage happens right after “The Good Samaritan.”[iii] In other words, “Mary exemplifies what it
means to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, and mind.”[iv] --- In Brian Blount’s commentary, True
to our Native Land, “the
greatest act of hospitality a person can afford a disciple of Jesus, what Jesus
calls ‘the better part,’ is not the provision for physical sustenance but the attention
to the Word of God that the disciple conveys,” which Mary demonstrates.[v] Mary shows how she loves God and neighbor by
listening to the Word of God when she sits and listens intently. ---
On the other hand, we
could see all of this as an indictment against Martha, which is not necessarily
the case either. For Martha, there is a difference of values,
of customs, and what’s really important compared to Mary. But in order to even absorb the word of God,
we have no other choice but to listen and listen intently, whether it’s to each
other, our neighbors, our teachers, our community leaders, and so on and so
forth. Sometimes, we may even hear God’s
voice through the voices of our neighbors.
---
So often, we hear multiple voices surrounding
us, all rising up loudly at times. We
hear it in the news, we hear it at the restaurant, we even hear it in the
church. This past week, the
jurisdictional conferences of The United Methodist Church have been meeting,
including our own Western Jurisdiction in Scottsdale, AZ. The primary purpose of the Jurisdictional
Conference is to elect a bishop, in which here in the West, our own bishop in
California-Nevada , Warner H. Brown Jr. is retiring and creating a vacancy, in
which Bishop Minerva Carcano will be succeeding him in September. Just watching the entire episcopal election
process and the voices of what people want in an episcopal leader have been
enough to make our heads spin at times.
Yet amidst the many voices raised, we may find ourselves in a situation
like Martha, worried and distracted.
That is when we sometimes have to be like Mary and just stop; quiet our
voices, and listen…listen for that still small voice. But, we also must listen to what our neighbor
has to say, even in times of controversy or times of uncertainty. ---
But this word also goes for us in the church
too. -- Do we sit and listen to each other intently, just as Mary does at
Jesus’s feet, or are we like Martha, too preoccupied and distracted to pay
attention and listen? -- And do we listen for God’s voice intently? ---
Listening to our neighbor is just as important as listening to God’s voice on
this journey of faith. We show our
neighbor love when we are willing to stop, pay attention, and be a listening
ear. -- Sometimes we hear good things, but sometimes we also hear things that
we don’t always want to hear. There are
also times that we have to hear truths from each other, which to be frank, can
sometimes hurt. -- Yet listening carefully is necessary, because you never know
that it may be God’s voice speaking through someone else. -- Amidst hearing
tough things at times, they are opportunities to grow. -- Now I admit that I
also often get told how much I worry, and sometimes I resent that.
But hearing those words are necessary for growth. ---
From experience, one of the four legs of the
“Wesleyan Quadrilateral,” if you hear someone tell you that you worry too much
or nip something you know is a growing edge in the bud, it’s best to listen up
and pay attention. Guess I’m admitting
another fault, but then again, it’s another way that I too relate to
Martha. But amidst the fact that Martha
is running around, worrying and distracted by everything but sitting and
listening at Jesus’s feet, she’s not a bad person, as she is doing what she
thinks is the most important and what Clark Griswold is always trying to do;
making sure that everything is in order and perfect.
Sometimes we just need to stop and
listen. And regardless of who it is.
Whether it is a stranger on the street, the clerk at the grocery store, a small
child, a teenager, someone in middle age, our senior adults, and anyone we
encounter for that matter who wants to talk.
We show love to our neighbor and each other when we listen to them, when
we listen to each other, and listen to God.
Martha and Clark Griswold may be in a constant uproar trying to get
things right, but the good news is that Jesus assures each of us that it is
okay to stop and that it’s okay to sit down and simply listen. Furthermore,
if you want to serve your guest, or anyone else, you need to
listen first. Really listen. Do nothing else. Let go of all other distractions.
Turn off the livestream in your head that diagnoses what others need. Just
listen. To love your neighbor as
yourself, and to love God—both require this, first of all. Turn off the uproar.
Stop. Listen.[vi]
As we prepare to go
out and enjoy some ice cream shortly, we know things have been well prepared by
several people, similar to what Martha
was doing. As we may encounter various people
from our community during this time and as we see each other during the week,
what do we need to hear from each other? --- And as we go into a new week, what
are ways that you love your neighbor by listening? --- At the same time, what
do you listen to from God?
In the name of the Father, Son, and
Holy Spirit, Amen.
[i]
Ministries,
Discipleship. ‘Lectionary Calendar’. 1997. Accessed July 15, 2016. http://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship/lectionary-calendar/ninth-sunday-after-pentecost-year-c-2016.
[iii]
Ibid.
[iv]
Ibid.
[vi]
Ministries,
Discipleship. ‘Lectionary Calendar’. 1997. Accessed July 15, 2016.
http://www.umcdiscipleship.org/worship/lectionary-calendar/ninth-sunday-after-pentecost-year-c-2016.
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