Genesis 18.1-10a
Luke 10.38 - end

We all know that life seems to be getting busier. It seems that we don't know how we found time for all the things we once did. Hotmail has recently run an advertising campaign: The new busy are not like the old busy. Its slogans include We are the new busy. We are redefining busy, because we know that having a full calendar means having a full life.

Being busy is a feature of contemporary life. There's always so much to do. The pressure on those in work to work longer and harder increases. There are more possibilities open for children, and life for parents becomes more demanding. Looking after those among the elderly who are living longer but becoming more frail takes more time.

Then there's the church. We have fewer people but still the same amount of things to be done. It's not only the activity of our church, but the increase in government legislation in such areas as trusteeship, safeguarding, and producing proper accounts that cause the pressure to build.

And that's before we remember to look outside the walls, and think about saving the world. The challenges of climate change, the growing gap between rich and poor, protecting endangered species, and many other issues are continually before us.

The trap of the Protestant work ethic or Catholic guilt can consume a Christian. Hotmail's campaign just takes over where Protestants and Catholics left off. And so Christians get even busier, loading upon ourselves all those activities that we see as indispensable, if we're going to play our proper role in God's world.

The Gospel today comes as a timely reminder of a different kind of starting point for a fulfilled life, a different approach to a busy world.

Martha is bustling about trying to prepare for visitors, to get food ready for the meal, to do the hundred and one tasks that need to take place for a household to run properly and be warm and welcoming. She sees Mary sitting idly at Jesus feet. Her resentment mounts. Why should Mary just sit there, when all this work needs doing? It's just not good enough. So off she goes to speak her mind. I think many of us can understand where she's coming from.

Martha doesn't go directly to Mary, but approaches Jesus. It's as if she knows where the power lies, and how little hope she has of getting Mary to co-operate if she goes to her directly. After all, Mary is her sister, and who listens to sisters, especially when they're being critical!

It turns out that Jesus doesn't offer the support she's been hoping for. Perhaps you can empathize with this, and recognise times in your own life when you haven't found support in the form you were looking for? Instead of supporting Martha's outrage, Jesus has a few challenging words to offer 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.

As so often happens, we don't hear Martha's reply to Jesus words. Was she chastened? Did she feel resentful? Did Jesus naming her worries and distractions in fact release her from them, in the way that facing up to a hard reality can be liberating?

The words that stay with us in the Gospel are Jesus' words, speaking positively of Mary, putting life into a different perspective.

It could feel like Jesus is offering the path of time wasting. Is it really better to sit and listen to Jesus than get on with the many tasks that need to be done? Doesn't the world need action-packed people? Isn't the church open to being criticised when it seems it isn't doing enough?

This passage in Luke's Gospel comes between Jesus' teaching about the Good Samaritan and his teaching about prayer. In the conversation with Martha, Jesus' response isn't as simple as saying that Martha should do nothing. It's already clear from the previous passage that he has radical ideas of how people should help out those who are in need.

But if Martha is getting worried and distracted, the chances are that life is getting out of perspective for her. And, as is the way when people get worried and distracted, Martha is likely to be causing havoc to all around her, putting her anxieties on to her family and friends. It's at this moment that Jesus halts her in her tracks and brings her back to a different starting point.

It's not that she shouldn't be busy, it's that she also needs to take time and reflect on what that busy-ness is really all about. As she stops, and sits at Jesus' feet, and listens to his words, so her life will find a new meaning and perspective. The worry that has arisen out of her trying to do too many things at once will be taken away.

Taking time to spend time at Jesus feet, to be quiet in the presence of God, can seem like a distraction and a waste in the midst of a busy schedule. And yet it is in the taking of time that the real energy is released and life is lived to its full. The pressure to be constantly busy can be a way of turning off to God's call, of not hearing God's word, of not living in God's way.

The tussle between the two sisters is an interior tussle for all Christians - balancing out the desire to serve with the desire for contemplation and prayer. In a busy world with many pressures, the Gospel contributes a word of wisdom on what can seem like time-wasting. Taking time to sit and listen, to wait upon God, lies at the heart of the fulfilled life. The Gospel word overturns the values that lead to a busy life being seen as the only way forward. Sitting and listening is time-enriching rather than time-wasting.

Values are also overturned in the Genesis reading, when the strangers come to Sarah and Abraham. Abraham could have thought that they were far too busy to start entertaining. He could have thought that it was OK to entertain family and friends, but certainly not strangers. Yet out of his open-heartedness, comes the promise of new life, of a son to Sarah. Taking time to sit and eat together with unexpected visitors has brought an undreamt of possibility into Sarah and Abraham's life.

The challenge comes to each one of us, to look at the one thing which is needful in our lives. Let us be bold to put aside our worries and distractions and let the humility of Mary fill our lives, as we sit at Jesus' feet and listen for his word, and are fed at his table.