In 1866 the National Labor Union asked the US Congress to pass a law requiring the creation of an eight-hour workday. Three years later, President Grant issued a proclamation that government workers would only work eight hours a day. Congress did not pass a law until 1916, when it established an eight-hour work day for interstate railroad workers. And in 1940 Congress amended a previous law to limit the workweek to 40 hours.
Why were these laws passed? Well in 1890 the US government found that the average full-time workweek for an employee with a manufacturing job was around 100 hours. To put that in perspective, there are 168 hours in the week. The first company to institute the modern-day five day, forty hour work week, was Ford Motor company in 1926 (https://www.businessinsider.com/history-of-the-40-hour-workweek-2015-10).
This move away from such a strenuous work week for the average person, was because of the reality that a person needs down time. The body needs time to recuperate from the stress of the world, so that it can maintain competency. I had an older pastor once tell me that you should work only as much as your most involved volunteer. They have a 40 hour work week, and if they give you 20 hours, then your work should not exceed 60 hours. Yet sometimes, we have to work longer than what we “should.” If you live on a farm or a ranch, you know cattle and plants don’t take clock out. If you’ve ever owned your own business you know that the work doesn’t stop at the office. Yet, we need rest, or we’ll burnout. There’s a reason we hav sayings like, “burning the candle at both ends.” We recognize the need for rest, but don’t always take it.
So it’s this idea of being rejuvenated that brings us back to our Wrecked series, where we’re going to be looking at a moment in the life of a woman by the named Mary, that occurs in Luke 10, starting in verse 38. And as we open up to Luke 10:38, let’s look back at what we’ve covered so far in this series.
In our first week we looked at the life of Paul and how God wrecked his self-righteous perception of himself. God brought Paul to a place where he realized his wretchedness, so that Paul could understand the deep love and work God had done for him. We looked at how we too must realize our wretchedness when we are separated from Jesus’ work on the cross. And when we do realize it, we can better understand the deep all consuming love God has for people.
The second week brought us to Nathanael’s story of a person who, though was one of the twelve apostles, not much is known about. But what we saw is that Jesus knew Nathanael. Jesus saw Nathanael and because of that Nathanael believed Jesus was the long awaited Messiah. Jesus wrecked Nathanael’s arrogant attitude and brought him to a place of submission. We walked away understanding that we need to have our desire to be seen by the world wrecked, being satisfied with only being seen by God.
Then in our third week we talked about Esther and how, though she didn’t her a voice from God, or have a prophet tell her, she walked rightly in God’s commands. And because she did, the Jewish people were saved. We walked away from that week with an understanding that we need to do what God has already commanded us, not needing to be told what God has already spoken.
That brings us to last week where we looked at the calling of Samuel. A young boy who hadn’t heard the voice of God. That voice would go onto to wreck Samuel’s life, to where God would use him to span two eras of Israelite history, and through him bring about the Davidic monarchy. We then talked about three common ways in which God speaks: through mature believers, through an audible voice, and through his Word. Walking away from last week, we learned that we must learn to listen to God, taking the time to hear through the ways he established to experience his voice.
This brings us to our final week in our Wrecked series, where we turn to Mary’s story in Luke 10, verse 38.
“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 few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.’”
Mary and Martha are two sisters that get pitted against each other, with Mary being the one who is right in the story. While Martha is mulling about serving her guests, Mary sits at Jesus’ feet listening to what he has to say. Yet, in the culture, Martha is in the right. There are two cultural problems with what Mary is doing. First, Mary should be helping Martha tend to the guests, and yet is not. Martha’s appeal to Jesus is to correct Mary’s lack of work. This is the cultural problem that Martha is so upset by. The second is that women were not supposed to sit at a Rabbi’s feet to be taught. So it’s surprising that Jesus takes Mary’s side in this circumstance.
Now not much is known about Mary, and it is church tradition that says that she is the person same as Mary of Magdala, a demon possessed woman who most likely was a prostitute and might have been the woman who was caught in adultery. But the way in which both women are presented in the Gospels, I don’t think they are one in the same. No, instead what we know of this Mary is that she is the sister to Martha, as we see in this passage, and is sister to Lazarus, who Jesus raised back to life. She was most likely the woman who put perfume on Jesus’ feet during the last week of his ministry pre-cross. And who was one of the first to see Jesus risen and was not believed by Peter and John. In the end, tradition says that she occupied John the Apostle to Ephesus where she eventually died.
Mary’s story encapsulates one of the most important themes of the Scriptures. A theme that has its roots in the creation story, and continues through the Old Testament and into Jesus’ teaching. This is the theme of rest.
We’re told in Exodus 20:8 in the fourth commandment to, “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy. 9 Six days you shall labor and do all your work, 10 but the seventh day is a sabbath to the Lord your God. On it you shall not do any work, neither you, nor your son or daughter, nor your male or female servant, nor your animals, nor any foreigner residing in your towns. 11 For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”
The word Sabbath has a connection with an Assyrian word (sabattum) that means “a day of rest for the heart.” It occurs roughly 111 times in the Old Testament and we can gather that it means to abstain from labor. And it’s a theme that God connects to his purposeful creation. “For in six days the Lord made the heavens and the earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but he rested on the seventh day. Therefore the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and made it holy.”
And this theme of resting from labor is taken up by Jesus, to point to a greater rest that God intends. In Jesus’ teaching this rest in found in him. In Matthew 11:28-29, Jesus states, “28 Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.”
It’s John 15, that Jesus connects this rest to abiding in him, when he states, “Remain in me, as I also remain in you. No branch can bear fruit by itself; it must remain in the vine. Neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing (verses 4-5).”
These two ideas of resting in Jesus and remaining in him speaks of true Sabbath. Not just a day of rest, but a lifestyle of resting in God. This is where Mary and Martha’s story comes in. Mary was resting in the Lord. Jesus was there and Mary was in her rightful place simply being in the presence of God. But we’re told that, “…Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made.” She was not at rest.
We read in the Scriptures how we can be in Jesus’ rest. We saw it in Jesus’ words in John that abiding is resting. We also get places like 1st Thessalonians 5:16-18, “16 Rejoice always, 17 pray continually, 18 give thanks in all circumstances; for this is God’s will for you in Christ Jesus.” This is rest and remaining in Jesus. To have our thoughts on God throughout our day, knowing who we are in Jesus, knowing his deep love for us, walking in his commands, listening for his voice, makes our lives a life of rest. Sure we need physical down time, but we need a lifestyle of rest.
This is what Jesus is saying to Martha when he states, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”
We can easily allow the things of this world to worry and upset us, but what we need only a few things and the greatest is resting in our Savior.
The Hebrew writer looked at the promise land of God and the rest he spoke about as being greater than the physical land. In the book of Hebrews we read, “8 For if Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken later about another day. 9 There remains, then, a Sabbath-rest for the people of God; 10 for anyone who enters God’s rest also rests from their works, just as God did from his. 11 Let us, therefore, make every effort to enter that rest, so that no one will perish by following their example of disobedience (4:8-11).”
This greater rest is done through the Gospel. It’s the eternal life that Christ has gifted to all those who trust in him as their Savior. This rest begins at the moment of acceptance of Jesus as Savior and moves into eternity. We are called to begin to experience this rest now. To lay our burdens at the feet of Jesus and follow him.
We must have our idea of rest wrecked. We tend to think it’s the weekend, or the vacation, but those are only the physical moments of rest. Those are what you take, then feel tired from, and then dread the going back to work. But God’s rest is living in his presence, relying on his strength, and walking in his will. It’s being exhausted, yet rejoicing in it. It’s feeling faint and speaking to God about it. It’s feeling like your at the end of your rope and yet thanking God for the opportunity.
Mary chose resting in the presence of God, Martha is chose working in her own strength. So Jesus recognizes the value in what Mary has chosen and rejects Martha’s stance.
And so we must also seek the rest and presence of our Lord. We must seek to live a lifestyle of pushing into God’s rest. We do this by implementing what we have covered in this series. To recognize our need for our Savior, to be content with him seeing us, to walk in his commands, and to listen for his voice. Let us not simply think that the Sabbath God calls us to is a day off, but rather a lifestyle of being in the presence of our God.
This week I want to challenge you to go through each of the previous challenges, taking one every day and redoing it. Then on the fifth day reread and meditate on Mary’s story, seeking God to show you how to better rest in him. Then on the sixth day practice what God as directed you to, so that you may rest greater in his Sabbath.
Let us all seek to rest in the God who calls us to loose our burdens to him. That we may know him and his will for us ever greater in our lives. Amen.
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