7-17-22 “Choose Wisely!”

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“Choose Wisely!”

I want to start with something funny. I found this story on an internet site: A human-resources director found herself at the Pearly Gates. “We’ve never had a human-resources director here before,” said St. Peter. “So we’re going to let you spend one day in heaven and one day in hell, and you can choose where to spend eternity.” “I’ll go to hell first and get it over with,” said the HR director. To her surprise, she spent a wonderful day playing golf on a beautiful course with her former fellow executives. A sumptuous meal at the clubhouse followed the game. When she returned to heaven, she spent her day sitting in a cloud, playing the harp. “Have you decided where you’d like to spend eternity?” St. Peter asked. “Yes,” she said, “heaven was great but too boring. I choose hell.” “Okay,” said St. Peter, “off you go.” When she arrived in hell, she found everything barren and desolate. Confused, she confronted Satan. “Where’s the golf course?” she asked, “And where are my friends?” Satan smiled. “Yesterday, we were recruiting you; today, you’re staff!”

It’s a joke, but if we could choose whether we go to heaven or hell, which one would you choose? When I was in Chicago, a young adult member came to me after hearing about how we may worship God for eternity in heaven during a Sunday service and asked, “I wonder if we worship God all the time in heaven, it must be boring there. Why should we go to heaven?” I’m curious to know if you think that worshiping God is boring. With our experiences, perhaps, we assume that heaven’s worship might also be boring. Since that time, one of my prayers has been that all people of God may experience a joyful Sunday service. A few days ago, I had a chance to share my prayers with a friend. She said, “If one falls in love, the one may see their loved one every moment of every day and want to spend time with them. Like this, Christians’ worshiping God should be like dating Jesus, who loves us so much, and we love him. If we fall in love with Jesus, no matter what, we should love worshiping God all the time.” It is true. It made sense to me. And, I pray that all people of God fall in love with Jesus, and naturally, they may enjoy worship and all that ministry of God, like they were dating Jesus. I sometimes think that if all people fell in love with Jesus, this world would become like heaven: it is like the Lord’s Prayer, “Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven.” May we all taste heaven, even partly in everyday life!

We face many cases to choose from in everyday life. Today, I want to talk about why we should “choose wisely.” We have a “to-do list” in daily life. Some things might be needed in a hurry; others we can take our time. When we make a “to-do list,” we may consider what is urgent or what the priority is. Sometimes, we feel that the “to-do list” never ends because we have to add things again and again even though we remove some things from the list after we are done with them. Furthermore, how do you feel when you face an unexpected task to add to your to-do list, when you have a full schedule? So, we need the wisdom to make a to-do list. Let us get some ideas from scripture.

In today’s scripture, we see Martha and Mary. Through their experiences, let us get some wisdom about how we can choose wisely. Jesus, with his disciples, continues their mission journey, healing the sick, teaching the Word of God, and proclaiming the kingdom of God. One

day, he enters a certain village. Today’s scripture doesn’t say the name of the village, but we may guess that the village’s name is Bethany (John 11:1). Later on, Jesus used to visit their house very often, and he loved to visit them. And we remember that their brother Lazarus was dead and alive again by Jesus (John 11). However, today’s encounter with them is the first time by Martha’s invitation. They seem to have no parents, meaning Martha is the head of the household. Unusually, a woman is the head of the family in the Israelite society. According to their custom, only the head of the household could invite people and make a plan for a house event. As we see that Martha asks Jesus and his disciples to her home, she must be the head of the household.
She hoped to hear about Jesus and his disciples and get a chance to see them. She wanted to treat them well. However, as she was the head of the household, being a woman, her life was tough. She had a lot of “to-do lists” every day. On top of all of that, an urgent matter unexpectedly came up. With the invitation of Jesus and his disciples, and all her tasks that needed to be completed, her mind and body were flying here and there. Guess how many people were there and how many different foods she prepared for them. As we know there was Jesus and twelve disciples, at least there were thirteen male adults. Perhaps more than thirteen people because right before Jesus’ seventy people returned from their mission work, many people always followed him. Can you imagine how distressed Martha felt about what was happening? While she jumps up here and there to prepare food for them, Jesus teaches people who followed him to her house. Martha thought she should prepare food before Jesus was done with his teaching and often caught a glimpse of them. And then she found her sister Mary sitting at the Lord’s feet and listening to him. Suddenly, Martha felt angry with Mary. While distracted by her many tasks, Mary was sitting idle there. So, Martha came to Jesus and asked him, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.”

You might have experienced similar situations to this one with Martha. If you were in her shoes, what do you want to do? Well, we may understand how Martha felt at that moment, but you may want to call Mary quietly without interrupting Jesus. Think about Martha’s act. She was upset with Mary. However, she rebuked Jesus, not Mary. She came to Jesus while he was teaching people. She interrupted Jesus and made him stop teaching, and then she received the attention of all the people. Guess her bossy acts, “Lord, do you know who the head of this household is? I am the head of household, but I am the only one working, while anybody else just sat before you. Do you think it is fair?”

What do you think about it? Is it fair? Let’s see how Jesus reacts to her. Verse 41 says, “But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.” It sounds like attending worship service or listening to the Words is a better part than preparing food or working on other things. If it does so, questions are there. If everybody just sits in the pew, who can prepare fellowship and work in church mission work which is needed? Furthermore, some people think that Jesus scolded her, but he didn’t. Instead, he made her comfortable, “Martha, Martha, I know you are upset because you have many things to do. But, you don’t need to do many things at once; it is enough if you prepare only one thing.” Mary chose only one thing, which was listening to Jesus. Mary was sitting at the teacher’s feet as a woman. It was not usual. That means to become a disciple of Jesus. Mary didn’t lose a chance to be his disciple because that’s her house. No one blocks her from sitting at the Lord’s feet. Mary chose wisely, and she never got another chance. When Martha was preparing food for them, she could choose only one thing, like tea or cookies, and she may then want to sit there with Jesus. Choose wisely as Jesus says, “there is need of only one thing.” A to-do list is a plan we can do one by one. May God give you the wisdom to make it easy and enjoy dating Jesus! Thanks be to God! Amen!