It is truly a joy to be here – privileged to be a part of this wonderful celebration. Paola, we are here with your parents and with your friends and with your church family to thank God. It is through his grace that we can celebrate today. And our prayer today is that God may accompany you throughout your life. As you grow older, you will face many difficult situations, Paola. Choices will be placed before you. In the future, you will be able to show not only that you talk the talk, but that you walk the walk. At stake in those choices will not be your salvation – you see, Christ took care of that many years ago. What will be at stake is your effectiveness, or alas your lack of effectiveness as a believer and your peace of mind in your relationship with God.
Let me read a passage from the Gospel according to St. Luke for you:
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 only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10.38-42)
This is a wonderful passage because it clearly illustrates to us what is important to God – what He values. Here we meet a family – two sisters - Mary and Martha. From another place in Scripture, we also know that these sisters had a brother named Lazarus. On this day, this family gets unexpected company – Jesus and the disciples.
Mary and Martha both loved Jesus. And we know that Jesus had a special love for this little family too. He comes into the house and starts to do what He loves - teach. The Lord was a captivating teacher – crowds followed to hear him. Today was no exception. Mary and Martha were eager to serve Jesus. Martha did so by getting busy around the house. She had to cook and serve - to make sure that the guests had food and drink. But Mary chose to serve Jesus by sitting down to listen to Jesus teach.
Then something happened. Martha – the busy one - thought that Mary’s style of serving was bogus - inferior – didn’t cut it. Martha took her complaint to Jesus. “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”
Isn’t that the conundrum that we face daily - choosing what is most needful? You see, Martha didn’t realize that in her busy-ness she was actually neglecting Jesus. It sure seemed like the right thing to do. I mean, aren’t we supposed to be hospitable? Aren’t we supposed to show our guests that we care about them? The answer is yes – and that is exactly why Martha didn’t choose what was most needful. Instead of spending time in the presence of Christ, she got busy. She had lots of things that she needed to do. She had to make preparations. She had to work. She was busy – so much so that she forgot to make time for Jesus.
Paola, you will have many opportunities in the future to choose between spending time with Jesus and being busy. That will be the choice – the choice that will determine not your salvation, but the nature of your relationship with Christ. Not making the most needful choice, converts God and the things He wants for us into a burden. But making the most needful choice will put you in a position to be served by God. The things of God become awesome touchstones for living - God becomes a friend.
Here’s a question - “What would you prefer to get from Jesus: a sermon or a miracle?” You see, if we don’t make the most needful choices along the way – we get sermons. The Apostle John writes about another meeting between Jesus and this little family. You see, the brother, Lazarus had gotten very sick. Mary and Martha sent word to Jesus saying, “Lord, the one you love, Lazarus is sick. Come and help him.” But Jesus delayed. By the time Jesus started to Mary and Martha’s, Lazarus had died.
Now listen, there is no question that both Martha and Mary loved Jesus. We are talking about two faithful followers of the Lord here. But there was a difference in heart. How Jesus responds to each speaks to the little choices they had made along the way. When Jesus finally arrives, Lazarus had been dead for four days. Martha was the first to see Him. Let me read about the encounter between Martha and Jesus from the Gospel of St. John:
20 When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home. 21 “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. 22 But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.” 23 Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.” 24 Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.” 25 Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; 26 and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?” 27 “Yes, Lord,” she told him, “I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.” (John 11.20-28)
You see, beloved, Martha had been a woman of action. Because of this propensity to be busy, she had missed out on time with Jesus. This had affected her sense of what Jesus could do. When she came out to meet Jesus and said: “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” Jesus had to instruct her. He had to give her a sermon. He had to reacquaint Martha with Him – to point out that He was the author of life. You see, Martha had not made the most needful choices in the past, and now, when she needed a miracle, the Lord gave her a sermon.
Listen to what happened when Mary came out to meet Jesus:
28 And after she [Martha] had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. “The Teacher is here,” she said, “and is asking for you.” 29 When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. 30 Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. 31 When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there. 32 When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” (John 11.28-32)
Notice that Mary made exactly the same comment as her sister: “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” But when Jesus heard Mary, the scriptures say that Jesus asked to see the burial site. Then Jesus wept. He was moved. Mary, who had learned to choose what was needful, had a heart that had been shaped by listening to Jesus. She had a spirit that had been humbled and stood forgiven by Jesus. Mary was tuned to the Lord. And when she approaches Jesus, The Lord responds by giving her a miracle and not a sermon. Let me read what Jesus did:
38 Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. 39 “Take away the stone,” he said. “But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.” 40 Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?” 41 So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. 42 I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.” 43 When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” 44 The dead man came out, his hands and feet wrapped with strips of linen, and a cloth around his face. Jesus said to them, “Take off the grave clothes and let him go.” (John 11.38-44)
As we grow older, Paola, the Lord will come to us many times. He will want to have quiet moments of tenderness and communion. Making the most needful choices at those times will give us a life of growing intimacy with the Lord. We’ll be able to see Jesus work miracles. We’ll see the cross upon which He died to win our forgiveness – not as a sermon, but as miraculous power for living. We’ll see the empty tomb – the Resurrection – not as a sermon, but as miraculous hope for eternal life. We’ll live in this grace and forgiveness. And when the trial comes, when the test comes, when the choice comes, He’ll give us the wisdom and strength to choose what is most needful.
And when this happens, others notice. Others notice when Jesus works in the life of a person. Those whom the Lord has empowered to walk with integrity and choose the most needful thing are witnesses. Mary’s walk and the power for living that Jesus brought to Lazarus’ tomb didn’t go unnoticed. St. John writes: “Therefore many of the Jews who had come to visit Mary, and had seen what Jesus did, put their faith in him.” (John 11.45) Salvation came to others by the witness.
And this is what I pray for you, my little sister – that your friends and family may notice your relationship to Jesus now and in the years to come. The Psalmist prays: “One thing I ask of the LORD, this is what I seek: 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 seek him in his temple.” (Psalm 27:4) Paola, may the Lord live through you. May the Lord empower you through his Word, through your baptism, through his very Body and Blood. May the Lord bring you the strength of character, the humility and the grace to choose what is most needful.
On this beautiful, wonderful occasion, Paola, we thank God that He has made you His. He has chosen you from the foundation of the world. Jesus has chosen what is most needful for you – the Cross. And because you stand in his grace, because He has filled you – because Jesus has chosen what is most needful – eternity is yours. Because of Jesus, beloved – life will be not a sermon, but a miracle. Amen.
