Jesus was no remote austere figure like the Buddha. He was human, had need of company and relaxation. One of his favourite stops was at a house in a little village called Bethany, just a mile or so from the city gates of Jerusalem. The house was owned by two sisters, Mary and Martha. Together with their brother Lazarus, their home provided a comfortable refuge for the great man when he was in the vicinity of Jerusalem.

The relationship was obviously a close one. When Lazarus died of a mysterious illness, Jesus wept with sorrow. Yes, they all had great faith in Jesus. Martha had said as much to Jesus as her brother lay dead in the tomb. “...I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.” (John 11:22)

Martha had a wonderful faith, and showed it by her deeds, she ran the household, made delicious meals, did the washing up. Mary was less practical; she was one for relationships and loving gestures. When Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead Mary responded by anointing his feet with an expensive perfume and drying them with her hair, this gesture of love, gratitude and affection that so annoyed Judas Iscariot.

In our story this morning Jesus was staying with the family once again. As usual Martha was rushing around between kitchen and dining room. As usual Mary sat at Jesus feet, talking and listening to the man she loved. Martha snapped; “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” As you know Jesus was not going to send Mary off to do the washing up. That could wait, for now to take time in relationships was more important. “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

So what does this story mean for us today?

I have three pictures for you this morning. The first is of a mound of champagne glasses. (OK you have often heard this one before but shall be near Epernay in a couple of weeks.) Please imagine a large round tray on which every inch is taken up with a large number of champagne glasses. On top of this first layer is carefully placed another slightly smaller layer. On top of this is placed is carefully placed yet another slightly smaller layer still, and so on until right at the top of the pile there is only one glass. Are you with me so far?

Along comes the Head Waiter and uncorks a bottle of wonderful Champagne, lets say an Ayala 1990. He pours the golden bubbly into the top glass, fills it to the brim, but then keeps on pouring. The champagne flows down from the top glass, and gradually its overflow fills all the other glasses right down to the bottom. There is no shortage of bubbly; the head waiter opens more as necessary; he keeps pouring it into the top glass as long as the others are empty.

Be selfish like Mary; sit at God’s feet, allow Jesus Christ to fill you with the champagne of God’s love. It is as we are filled with the champagne of God’s love that our own needs are met, and others benefit too.

Often we say, “Don’t just sit there, do something.”

Jesus says “Don’t just do something, sit there!”

How passionately I believe that our worship is the key to everything in the Christian life. Mary sat at the Lord’s feet, but she was no passive dummy. She talked with the Lord Jesus; their personal relationship mattered. Are you able to be like Mary, to sit there and receive the champagne of God’s love?

My second picture is of a parent and child sitting together on a sofa. They are enjoying talking, engaging in dialogue about this and that. I miss my kids being little. In a few weeks I will be ‘Grandpa Tim’ for the first time, so here we go again. My boys liked us to sit together and watch a video of the Lion King; we talk about it and the characters, about making cartoons, the history of Walt Disney Studios. We enjoyed talking together about definite matters, and our relationship develops through that dialogue. The doing is the enabler of our relationship.

My daughter Caroline was quite different. She liked to sit on the sofa and watch the Lion King too, but it could be anything, wrestling, Panorama, the Test Match. What mattered to Caroline is that we are sitting and spending time together. We still enjoyed talking together about anything and everything, but to her it doesn’t matter what we do as long as we are together. For Caroline it is the being rather than the doing that counts.

Parent and child sitting together on a sofa. Developing dialogue with God through prayer and Bible reading, sitting at his feet with Mary is where true Christian growth takes place.

Francis of Assisi would often spend up to two thirds of the day in prayer. Yet he was also a singularly active man who won the poor back to the church and renewed the following of the Gospel in his day. Ignatius Loyola, the founder of the Jesuits, a masculine activist if ever there was one spent hours in the morning in quiet prayer, the tears running down his cheeks. Two more examples: Francis de Sales said that a person of prayer can do more in a year than another can do in a lifetime. I have a lurking suspicion that much of the so-called activity of the churches in this country is “Much ado about nothing”. We are constantly encouraged to dream up projects, to quote “get involved” in the community. The Church Urban Fund, and the Diocesan Mission Team are prime examples of good and worthy projects; nothing wrong with them, but without an undergirding of prayer they are “Much Ado about Nothing”, and our church activity will always be largely “Much Ado About Nothing” until we do engage with God.

Is this Tim being unreasonable?

Let me read you a few lines from St John of the Cross; “Let those then who are singularly active, who think they can win the world with their preaching and exterior works, observe here that they would profit the church and please God much more, not to mention the good example they would give, were they to spend at least half of this time with God in prayer..........   They would certainly accomplish more, and with less labour by one work than they other wise would by a thousand.....   Without prayer, they would do a great deal of hammering, but accomplish little....

Yes, I stand by my picture of Parent and child sitting together on a sofa. Developing dialogue with God through prayer and Bible reading, sitting at his feet with Mary is where true Christian growth takes place. Otherwise what the church does is Much Ado about Nothing.

But deeds do matter too; Martha fed and cared for her family. Jesus’ brother James wrote a very fierce letter to Christians to the effect that Christian Faith without deeds to prove its existence is dead. My third picture is of a silkworm. Clever little things these bugs. They munch away their mulberry leaves, get fat and juicy, then some instinct leads them to build a framework of bits of twig around which they spin a cocoon of silk. They wall themselves up in this cocoon for a while, then out pops a little white butterfly. Martha’s deeds of service enabled Jesus and the whole community to rest and feed so that they could move on to the next stage of their Christian development. It all seemed very humble at the time as Martha cooked and washed up. But her practical service was invaluable to Jesus ministry; through this partnership the world was changed. Just as the little silkworm goes about its work; so God expects us to go about ours. We gather together the little twigs of our life and weave round it the silk of our deeds. Inside that shelter we rest and grow, though building it seems hard work at the time. Suddenly, for no apparent reason it is clear to others that we have changed, and become free. God takes our deeds, and through the ordinariness of life produces something very special. To a silkworm silk is nothing, to others it is a fine fabric.

Our lives may seem mundane, but lived with Christian faith and Christian deeds they become fine enough to be woven into God’s Royal robe, liberating ourselves and others into new flights of joy and peace. Out of the mundanity of our existence pops out the white butterfly of a life purified and freed to the glory of God. Yes, the silkworm is a good teacher, like Martha God takes our deeds, and in the ordinariness of life produces something very special.

I hope you are encouraged by the story of Mary and Martha.

Please remember the three pictures I gave you:

Champagne glasses in a pile: be selfish like Mary; sit at God’s feet, allow Jesus Christ to fill you with God’s love. It is as we are filled with the champagne of God’s love that our own needs are met and others benefit too.

Parent and child sitting together on a sofa; developing dialogue with God through prayer and Bible reading, sitting at his feet with Mary is where true Christian growth takes place.

The silkworm: like Martha God takes our deeds, and in the ordinariness of life produces something very special which will be woven into God’s Royal robe.

Often we say, “Don’t just sit there, do something.”

Jesus says to Martha and to us, “Don’t just do something, sit there!”