17 July 2016 St. Athanasius Lutheran
Church
Pentecost 9
Vienna, VA
“Come, Sit For a Spell”
Text: Luke
10:38-42; Genesis 18:1-10a
Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God
our Father, and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.
The world seems to be
going faster and faster every day. Everyone is in a hurry. There’s never enough
time. Technology is quickly changing, morals are quickly changing, nations are quickly changing. What used to take days takes
mere minutes, or even seconds, nowadays. And sometimes we don’t want to wait
even that long.
Come, sit at my feet,
Jesus says.
The world seems to be in
flames. The coup attempt in Turkey. The
Islamic State and its tentacles. Snipers firing at
police. Orlando, San Bernadino, Nice,
Brussels.
Come, sit at my feet for
a spell, Jesus says.
There are troubles in
your own lives. Difficulties at work, or finding work.
Your beliefs are being assailed more and more. Persecution
for going against popular opinion. Disease, uncertainty.
You’re tired and worn.
Come, sit at my feet and
rest, Jesus says.
There is unrest in your
own heart. Sin, guilt, struggle, dismay, wishes, longings,
fear, anxiety.
Come to me and sit at my
feet, Jesus says.
It has been observed that
Americans seem to be terribly mixed up. Instead of keeping things where and how
they belong, many worship their work, work at their play, and play at their
worship.
Come, sit at my feet and
set things straight, Jesus says.
Do you get the picture?
Our first reaction to many things is often to do something; take action. Work
on it, try to fix it. Take matters into our own hands.
Jesus
says: Come, sit at my feet.
Our second reaction is to
say: Jesus, you’ve got to do something about this! Don’t you know what’s going
on? Don’t you see? The danger, the decay, the distress?
And Jesus says: Come,
sit for a while. Sit? Yes. Sit. Do you get the picture, Martha?
There’s a time for doing,
a time for action, a time for prayer. But first, come,
sit at Jesus’ feet for a while. Listen to Him. To His Word.
For One thing’s needful; Lord, this treasure
Teach me highly to regard (LSB #536 v.1).
So two things here:
First,
Jesus knows what’s going on. He knows better than you. And He’s in control. He’s
on the throne. And He’s working. So to come and sit for a while is an
expression of faith in that. Confidence. For while
from our perspective, our experience, our feeling, everything is going wrong,
and to hell in a handbasket, our view of things is far too limited to make
right judgments. There is a bigger picture, and
whether we know it or not, or whether it feels like it or not, Jesus is
ruling all things for the good of His Church; for the good of His children.
And we know that, we
learn that, by sitting at His feet and listening. The stories in the Old
Testament in particular teach us that truth. For there we hear how God worked
and how He kept His promises, over and over again. How He saved His people from
Egypt, saved His people from the Philistines, saved His people from the
Assyrians, saved His people from the Babylonians, and many others. We hear how
He sometimes had to discipline His children, but always in love, always for
just a time, and always for His good purpose. That’s why St. Paul exhorts us
all the time to learn from the past. Come, sit, and listen. Rest and relax.
Hear. For the God of the past is the God of the future. What He did in the past
He will do in the future. How hopeless did Israel feel and often seem? Yet God’s
plan for them never failed.
Come, sit for a while,
and listen.
But not just do we know
this from the Old Testament, but also - and even more - from the cross. The
cross, where it seemed like everything was going horribly wrong, but where
everything in reality was made right. Where God used even
death to accomplish His good and gracious will. The horror of Good
Friday made the marvel of Easter that much greater for the disciples. So
perhaps the horrors of today will cause us to marvel even more, as perhaps we
will see the hand of God at work, working good and
using these things for His kingdom.
Come, sit at my feet at
the foot of the cross, Jesus says. I’ve got it covered. Your sin is
forgiven, your death is defeated, and satan
- well, he roars loud. Come and listen to all that I’ve done. All that I’ve done for you.
And then second,
come and listen, because when we act first and act apart from the Word of God,
we act wrong. And the example of that we heard today was Abraham.
God had made a promise to
Abraham: you will have an heir, a son. And from this son will come the promised Saviour. Abraham
waited for a while, but things didn’t seem to be working out. He waited some
more, but he and Sarah were just getting older. The old biological clock was
ticking! Until finally they decided they’d better do something to make
this promise happen. So Abraham took Sarah’s advice and had a child with her
servant. There!
But then a little later,
God came to Abraham and said to him - nope! That’s not the child I promised. I
told you I was going to give you a child, and I am. You think it’s too late.
You think you’re too old. You think wrong. I will come back this time
next year and Sarah will have a son.
Come,
sit for a while, Abraham. Listen.
And you,
come sit for a while. Listen.
Or are you too troubled
by many things? Serving that needs to be done, preparations that need
to be made. Work, home, school, family. And God’s Word? No time? Oh, I meant to . . . I forgot. I got too tired. I thought I’d get
to it later . . .
If that sounds like you,
you’re in good company. Luther had that problem, too. He said that if he didn’t
take the time to sit and listen first thing in the day, he never seemed to get
back to it. One thing always leads to another. Jesus gets squeezed out of the
day.
It’s not that serving is
bad. It’s not. Serving your neighbor, your family, doing your work to the best
of your ability, is fulfilling the callings God has given you. And that’s good.
But as Jesus told Martha, one thing is necessary; one thing’s
needful. To receive from Jesus. To
receive Him.
Come, sit for a while.
For you will hear
marvelous things. You will hear of His love. You will hear of His forgiveness.
You will hear of His care. His Spirit will work through that Word and strengthen
you. If all you ever hear and fill your brain with is the bad news on the
nightly news casts or from the internet, how do you think you will think? How
do you think you will see things? How do you think you will be? But there’s
another Word, a greater Word, a greater truth, to give you hope
in the midst of a world of trouble.
Come, sit for a while,
and listen to Him. His Word. For Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my
path.
His Word given and
applied to you in Holy Baptism lights the way for your feet, to move into the
future with confidence, knowing that joined to Christ in His death and
resurrection, you have a future that is safe and secure, that cannot be taken
from you. A promise He will fulfill. Just like with Abraham. You don’t do it. He’s
doing it.
And then there is His
Word given and proclaimed to you in the Gospel which shines the light of His
forgiveness into your heart, to scatter the darkness of sin and fear, for you
to walk in the light of His truth and promises. You hear how Jesus took your
place in sin and death, that you have His place in light and life.
And then also His Word
which makes the bread and wine His Body and Blood, given and shed for you for
the forgiveness of sins. That He who washed His disciples’ feet, still is. That
He who came not to be served, but to serve (Matthew
20:28), still is. That He who gave the manna in the
wilderness to eat, fed the 5,000, and provided a passover lamb, still is. For here is the Bread of
Life for you. The Passover Lamb for you.
For
you in the wilderness of this world. For you perplexed and
worried. For you oppressed and beaten down. For you troubled by many things.
Your Saviour came to be the least for the least, to
exalt you to the seat of honor, a seat at His Table, a seat of rest, forever.
Come, sit for a spell,
and listen. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will
not be taken away from her. Nor from you.
And when the time then
comes to act, God will use you, and you will be ready. For you will be equipped
with His Word. You will forgive, for you have been forgiven. You will speak the
truth, for you will know the truth. You will have mercy, for you have been mercied. You will act in confidence, for you know the end
of the story and how it all turns out. The Lamb fights the dragon, and the Lamb
wins. For you.
So whatever happens
today, tomorrow, or the next day - who knows? Things are changing so much and so
fast. But one thing does not change: the one thing needful. And He has
you, and has given Himself to you.
And so whatever happens
today, tomorrow, or the next day - how mighty the dragon seems, how loudly the
lion roars, how deep the darkness gets - you are safe. Safe
in His hands. Safe at His feet.
In the Name of the Father,
and of the (+) Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Now the peace of God which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds through faith in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Amen.