In the name of God, source of all being, eternal Word, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
Bill Pronzini is a mystery writer. He says there are only two stories in the world: some one goes on a journey; and a stranger comes to town. Some one goes on a journey; a stranger comes to town. In fact, there is only one story: just with two points of view.
Strangers came to our village: a pair of them. Fishermen, from Galilee, by the looks of them. Andrew, and the big quiet one, Peter. Rough hands. Rough voices. Rough manners…. They told us straight out – in fact, they blurted it, like bad news: the kingdom of Heaven is at hand. God’s rule is about to begin. Here. On earth.
In this village? I don’t think so, I said. The temple guards come and take their tax. The Romans come and take theirs. And then the tax collectors come again, for theirs.
But they had something to show us. Something to offer us. They healed the sick, they raised the dead – raised the dead! – and all in the name of one Jesus, of Nazareth.
He is the one, they said. The messiah. The one every body has been waiting for, to put things to rights. To put the temple people in their place – and send the Romans back to theirs.
No, no, no. Not yet: already, but not yet.
What’s that supposed to mean?
The kingdom of God is breaking in – like a thief in the night. The Romans cannot even see it; the temple proudies won’t know it until it’s right on top of them.
For now, prepare. Get ready. Tell the word – show the deed. The reign of God: it’s coming. Look sharp – starting acting like it. Start acting like God is in charge of the world. Start acting like the creator is the redeemer, the one who will bring us peace. The one we can rely on. To make us right with God, to make us free of our chains – our chains of misery and of hate and of fear, of suspicion and jealousy. The disease of human weakness, greed, power-hunger, lust, all its many symptoms: he will cure us.
He is curing us. Through these disciples he sent to us he is sending the word – the news. They act as his agents. They bring his message. And they show us the power – the power only the people of God could have.
They want us to join them. To carry the message beyond our village, beyond our borders, beyond our comfort zones – beyond any familiar territory. And they want us to begin by telling our neighbors, people like ourselves, as they have done, telling us.
They were Jews, like us. People who worked with their hands. People who prayed, too, with their hands – hands uplifted to God.
He sent them to us, first, the ‘lost sheep of the tribe of Israel’. For a season, we heard the message. And then they moved on, across the world, finding among us those who would travel with them, work with them, spreading the news and living the word.
Come with us, now: into the new world, the new millennium, the new age. Come into the kingdom of Heaven.
Because there are only two stories in the world – and really, there is only one: it is only a matter of perspective.
There are two kinds of people in the world – aren’t there? Jew and Gentile? Maybe, but maybe not: as Jesus taught us, as he showed us, all are welcome at God’s table.
AProper6 2008
The Readings for June 15th, the Fifth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 6):
Genesis 18:1-15 * Psalm 116: 1, 10-17 * Romans 5:1-8 * Matthew 9:35-10:8
"There are only two kinds of people in the world - people who like oregano on their spaghetti and people who don't."--attributed to James Shelby
Showing posts with label Genesis 18:1-14. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Genesis 18:1-14. Show all posts
Saturday, June 14, 2008
Saturday, July 21, 2007
Martha and Mary in the presence of the Lord
CProper11 BCP
Eighth Sunday after Pentecost
Genesis 18:1-10a(10b-14)
Psalm 15
Colossians 1:21-29
Luke 10:38-42
1. This week’s gospel, the story of Mary and Martha, is the second of two stories about the kingdom of God, about listening and not listening to the good news of what it really is, what really is, what we really are. It is also the second of two illustrations of the summary of the law: Love God, and love your neighbor.
Last week we listened in as a lawyer asked Jesus, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” He himself supplied the answer:
Love God, and love your neighbor. These are the first and greatest commandment, and the second, which is like unto it. “Do this, and you will live.” But then, because the lawyer wanted to secure his hold on the kingdom, he asked Jesus to clarify his terms. “But who is my neighbor?” Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan, and the lawyer learned there is more to the kingdom than fulfilling his obligation under the law.
In this week’s story, of Martha and Mary, we have another chance to see what the kingdom is – and more explicitly, who Jesus is. We see a woman being reminded of the first law, the love of God: the very reason for what we do, for all that we do, is the love of God.
There are two sisters. Mary takes the place of a disciple, sitting at Jesus’ feet. Martha -- distracted and worried by many things -- objects to this.
What she is doing is fine, in a way: it is the ordinary task of an ordinary day in an ordinary household. This is, however, no ordinary day: Messiah has come and he is under our roof, at this very moment. Rabbi is teaching: what are you doing in the kitchen when you could be listening, picking up pearls as they fall from his lips?
For a woman to take the place of a disciple was NEW: it was unexpected, unheard of. Jesus’ message of the kingdom breaks down traditional barriers. The love he shares with Martha, Mary, and us is so expansive, so outrageous, and so extraordinary that it overflows. The channels of ordinary piety cannot contain the Spirit. It floods into our lives. This is no ordinary day.
Maybe that makes Martha a little nervous. Maybe that is why she is busying herself among the pots and pans. She is doing hospitality – at a moment when the one thing necessary is to wait – to wait not on tables but to wait on the Lord, to listen to what the Lord is saying. To see that this is the day when righteousness and peace embrace: the kingdom has come to our house, Martha, and it is time to rejoice.
2. Like the lawyer Martha made a good effort. She wanted to do what is right. She may even have wanted, as the lawyer who asked the question did, to inherit eternal life. What is missing is that you do not earn your way into heaven. You celebrate its arrival in the midst of you. It is present, even in an ordinary day, even in the completion of ordinary duties. But when the day comes to listen to the Lord, take off your apron, drop the duster, set down your pen, turn off your computer, hang up your cellphone, and sit at Jesus’ feet.
Our culture values the doer. We say: “Come on, let’s get going; let’s get something done.” We get up early so we can ride the elevator up to the twelfth floor with the boss. At least I have. We spend our week getting things done, and at the end lean back in satisfaction at what we have accomplished. At least I have. But then on that same Friday evening, in the very next moment, I asked myself: What was this all for? Have I lost track of the very reason for what I was doing, as I was so busy doing business? Do I need to step back, take a long look, and remember why I am here?
The lawyer meant well but he may have forgotten the relationship, to God and the neighbor, which was the reason behind the rules. Jesus breaks the rules; but he fulfills the Law. He reinstates the relationship between God and us. He reminds us why we are here. And he does it in part by overcoming judgment with mercy, by showing us the outrageous abundance and the exuberant overflowing of the kingdom of Heaven. Remember this is the Christ who, presented with the need to feed five thousand, had them sit down and share five loaves and two fish – and they all were well fed. Maybe Martha is worrying too much.
3. Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying, took a disciple’s place. Martha, on the other hand, was “distracted and anxious” about many things.
“Mary has chosen the better part” – there is that word “chosen”. As Canon Lynell Walker has pointed out, the good news is that you can choose, that your time has come, that now it is your turn to be in the presence of the Lord. The part “which will not be taken away from her” – what is that? Clearly Jesus is only there for the night but, as Dean Brian Baker has pointed out, the Word of God will remain forever. As will the Spirit.
4. By the oaks of Mamre – the scene of this morning’s Old Testament lesson – Abraham, the exemplar of faith, saw three strangers approach. He was host to the three men. Sarah, in the tent, made cakes; a servant prepared a calf; and Abraham served the men himself, standing by them under the tree while they ate. One promised to return in due season, and that Sarah should have a son. [Sarah laughed.]
This is the classic example of Middle Eastern hospitality – the welcome to strangers, preparing them food. The blessing in return, here a promise of children – and thus a future with hope – is probably characteristic too: but here it has a larger purpose. The three men represent the three persons of the Godhead, indeed icons of this scene are entitled “The Old Testament Trinity”.
So here we have the image of hospitality – and the roles of men and women – that Martha and Mary and Jesus grew up with. For Mary to break with this pattern was a surprise. Yet here she is, sitting at the feet of the Lord and listening to what he is saying: she has taken her place among the disciples. This, even though tradition would indicate that those who sit in the presence of the guest would be men – the man of the house – and that the women would like Martha concern themselves with children, church, kitchen. … leaving the men to themselves to discuss man stuff like … what?
Is the Messiah here only for men? Is the Kingdom of Heaven exclusive? No, in one situation after another we see Jesus break the rules. The kingdom of heaven is for all people. He is here to announce it, to proclaim it, to manifest it, to usher it in.
So this is not your typical guest, nor your typical meal. The occasion is extraordinary. Jesus, the Messiah, is here present now in Martha (and Mary’s) living room. What to do?
Maybe it’s all a bit upsetting. I mean, Jesus breaks the rules. Who knows what he’ll do to my life? Maybe he’ll change it all around, stretch my boundaries, and eliminate my preconceptions. Maybe he’ll call me to some new level of service of which I’m afraid.
Martha may want a bit of business, ordinary business in the household, to occupy her hands while her mind races to take it all in. What we hear from her, though, is a plea: Lord, make my sister come help me in the kitchen.
Is this what you would ask Messiah for? If he were to come to dinner today at your home, what would you say to him?
“My Lord, if I find favor with you, do not pass by your servant. Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree…”
“Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.”
And what will he reply to you? Is anything too wonderful for the Lord?
5. I used to read a lot of mysteries. Mysteries come in several sorts. There are puzzle mysteries, like Agatha Christie novels. There are mysteries that present problems to solve, situations to investigate, and secrets to be discovered. There are stories to be told. Some mysteries are only resolved in the telling of the story. And some mysteries are only fully revealed as they are lived. “The mystery that has been hidden through the ages and generations but has now been revealed to his saints,” – “which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” – is one of these last. To begin to tumble to the truth, in this story, takes all your living. God, who was present to Abraham and Sarah, Mary and Martha, is present to you, now, this morning.
Your freedom to act is in the present moment. It is today not yesterday or tomorrow that you receive the divine invitation. Now it is your turn. Today you are invited to sit at the feet of Jesus and listen to what the Lord is saying. This morning he has come to your tent – and he is here to share with you a meal. The cup is your salvation and the bread his presence.
Sources
Tom Wright, Luke for Everyone (SPCK, 2001)
Herbert O'Driscoll, The Word Today: Reflections on the Readings of the Revised Common Lectionary, Year C, Volume 3 (Toronto: Anglican Book Centre, 2001)
Herbert O'Driscoll, Patrick's Well (www.herbodriscoll.com)
Barbara Crafton et al., Geranium Farm (www.geraniumfarm.org)
Arthur J. Dewey, The Word in Time (New Berlin, WI: Liturgical Publications, 1990)
Sharon H. Ringe, Luke, Westminster Bible Companion (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1995)
Thomas W. Walker, Luke, Interpretation Bible Studies (Louisville, KY: Geneva Press, 2001)
Fred B. Craddock, Luke, Interpretation (Louisville, KY: John Knox Press, 1990)
Michael F. Patella, O.S.B., The Gospel According to Luke, The new Collegeville Bible commentary, New Testament; v. 3 (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press)
Keith F. Nickle, Preaching the Gospel of Luke: Proclaiming God's Royal Rule (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2000)
Common Worship (Church of England, 2000) http://www.cofe.anglican.org/worship/liturgy/commonworship/
The Book of Common Prayer (Church of England, 1662)
Oremus Bible Browser http://bible.oremus.org/
Stephanie Frey, “Living with Martha (Luke 10:38-42)”, Living by the Word, The Christian Century Magazine, July 13, 2004
Posted by John Leech at 1:41 PM 0 comments
Labels: Colossians 1:21-29, CProper11, Genesis 18:1-14, Luke 10:38-42, Martha and Mary, Mary and Martha, Psalm 15
Eighth Sunday after Pentecost
Genesis 18:1-10a(10b-14)
Psalm 15
Colossians 1:21-29
Luke 10:38-42
1. This week’s gospel, the story of Mary and Martha, is the second of two stories about the kingdom of God, about listening and not listening to the good news of what it really is, what really is, what we really are. It is also the second of two illustrations of the summary of the law: Love God, and love your neighbor.
Last week we listened in as a lawyer asked Jesus, “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” He himself supplied the answer:
Love God, and love your neighbor. These are the first and greatest commandment, and the second, which is like unto it. “Do this, and you will live.” But then, because the lawyer wanted to secure his hold on the kingdom, he asked Jesus to clarify his terms. “But who is my neighbor?” Jesus told the story of the Good Samaritan, and the lawyer learned there is more to the kingdom than fulfilling his obligation under the law.
In this week’s story, of Martha and Mary, we have another chance to see what the kingdom is – and more explicitly, who Jesus is. We see a woman being reminded of the first law, the love of God: the very reason for what we do, for all that we do, is the love of God.
There are two sisters. Mary takes the place of a disciple, sitting at Jesus’ feet. Martha -- distracted and worried by many things -- objects to this.
What she is doing is fine, in a way: it is the ordinary task of an ordinary day in an ordinary household. This is, however, no ordinary day: Messiah has come and he is under our roof, at this very moment. Rabbi is teaching: what are you doing in the kitchen when you could be listening, picking up pearls as they fall from his lips?
For a woman to take the place of a disciple was NEW: it was unexpected, unheard of. Jesus’ message of the kingdom breaks down traditional barriers. The love he shares with Martha, Mary, and us is so expansive, so outrageous, and so extraordinary that it overflows. The channels of ordinary piety cannot contain the Spirit. It floods into our lives. This is no ordinary day.
Maybe that makes Martha a little nervous. Maybe that is why she is busying herself among the pots and pans. She is doing hospitality – at a moment when the one thing necessary is to wait – to wait not on tables but to wait on the Lord, to listen to what the Lord is saying. To see that this is the day when righteousness and peace embrace: the kingdom has come to our house, Martha, and it is time to rejoice.
2. Like the lawyer Martha made a good effort. She wanted to do what is right. She may even have wanted, as the lawyer who asked the question did, to inherit eternal life. What is missing is that you do not earn your way into heaven. You celebrate its arrival in the midst of you. It is present, even in an ordinary day, even in the completion of ordinary duties. But when the day comes to listen to the Lord, take off your apron, drop the duster, set down your pen, turn off your computer, hang up your cellphone, and sit at Jesus’ feet.
Our culture values the doer. We say: “Come on, let’s get going; let’s get something done.” We get up early so we can ride the elevator up to the twelfth floor with the boss. At least I have. We spend our week getting things done, and at the end lean back in satisfaction at what we have accomplished. At least I have. But then on that same Friday evening, in the very next moment, I asked myself: What was this all for? Have I lost track of the very reason for what I was doing, as I was so busy doing business? Do I need to step back, take a long look, and remember why I am here?
The lawyer meant well but he may have forgotten the relationship, to God and the neighbor, which was the reason behind the rules. Jesus breaks the rules; but he fulfills the Law. He reinstates the relationship between God and us. He reminds us why we are here. And he does it in part by overcoming judgment with mercy, by showing us the outrageous abundance and the exuberant overflowing of the kingdom of Heaven. Remember this is the Christ who, presented with the need to feed five thousand, had them sit down and share five loaves and two fish – and they all were well fed. Maybe Martha is worrying too much.
3. Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying, took a disciple’s place. Martha, on the other hand, was “distracted and anxious” about many things.
“Mary has chosen the better part” – there is that word “chosen”. As Canon Lynell Walker has pointed out, the good news is that you can choose, that your time has come, that now it is your turn to be in the presence of the Lord. The part “which will not be taken away from her” – what is that? Clearly Jesus is only there for the night but, as Dean Brian Baker has pointed out, the Word of God will remain forever. As will the Spirit.
4. By the oaks of Mamre – the scene of this morning’s Old Testament lesson – Abraham, the exemplar of faith, saw three strangers approach. He was host to the three men. Sarah, in the tent, made cakes; a servant prepared a calf; and Abraham served the men himself, standing by them under the tree while they ate. One promised to return in due season, and that Sarah should have a son. [Sarah laughed.]
This is the classic example of Middle Eastern hospitality – the welcome to strangers, preparing them food. The blessing in return, here a promise of children – and thus a future with hope – is probably characteristic too: but here it has a larger purpose. The three men represent the three persons of the Godhead, indeed icons of this scene are entitled “The Old Testament Trinity”.
So here we have the image of hospitality – and the roles of men and women – that Martha and Mary and Jesus grew up with. For Mary to break with this pattern was a surprise. Yet here she is, sitting at the feet of the Lord and listening to what he is saying: she has taken her place among the disciples. This, even though tradition would indicate that those who sit in the presence of the guest would be men – the man of the house – and that the women would like Martha concern themselves with children, church, kitchen. … leaving the men to themselves to discuss man stuff like … what?
Is the Messiah here only for men? Is the Kingdom of Heaven exclusive? No, in one situation after another we see Jesus break the rules. The kingdom of heaven is for all people. He is here to announce it, to proclaim it, to manifest it, to usher it in.
So this is not your typical guest, nor your typical meal. The occasion is extraordinary. Jesus, the Messiah, is here present now in Martha (and Mary’s) living room. What to do?
Maybe it’s all a bit upsetting. I mean, Jesus breaks the rules. Who knows what he’ll do to my life? Maybe he’ll change it all around, stretch my boundaries, and eliminate my preconceptions. Maybe he’ll call me to some new level of service of which I’m afraid.
Martha may want a bit of business, ordinary business in the household, to occupy her hands while her mind races to take it all in. What we hear from her, though, is a plea: Lord, make my sister come help me in the kitchen.
Is this what you would ask Messiah for? If he were to come to dinner today at your home, what would you say to him?
“My Lord, if I find favor with you, do not pass by your servant. Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree…”
“Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.”
And what will he reply to you? Is anything too wonderful for the Lord?
5. I used to read a lot of mysteries. Mysteries come in several sorts. There are puzzle mysteries, like Agatha Christie novels. There are mysteries that present problems to solve, situations to investigate, and secrets to be discovered. There are stories to be told. Some mysteries are only resolved in the telling of the story. And some mysteries are only fully revealed as they are lived. “The mystery that has been hidden through the ages and generations but has now been revealed to his saints,” – “which is Christ in you, the hope of glory” – is one of these last. To begin to tumble to the truth, in this story, takes all your living. God, who was present to Abraham and Sarah, Mary and Martha, is present to you, now, this morning.
Your freedom to act is in the present moment. It is today not yesterday or tomorrow that you receive the divine invitation. Now it is your turn. Today you are invited to sit at the feet of Jesus and listen to what the Lord is saying. This morning he has come to your tent – and he is here to share with you a meal. The cup is your salvation and the bread his presence.
Sources
Tom Wright, Luke for Everyone (SPCK, 2001)
Herbert O'Driscoll, The Word Today: Reflections on the Readings of the Revised Common Lectionary, Year C, Volume 3 (Toronto: Anglican Book Centre, 2001)
Herbert O'Driscoll, Patrick's Well (www.herbodriscoll.com)
Barbara Crafton et al., Geranium Farm (www.geraniumfarm.org)
Arthur J. Dewey, The Word in Time (New Berlin, WI: Liturgical Publications, 1990)
Sharon H. Ringe, Luke, Westminster Bible Companion (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 1995)
Thomas W. Walker, Luke, Interpretation Bible Studies (Louisville, KY: Geneva Press, 2001)
Fred B. Craddock, Luke, Interpretation (Louisville, KY: John Knox Press, 1990)
Michael F. Patella, O.S.B., The Gospel According to Luke, The new Collegeville Bible commentary, New Testament; v. 3 (Collegeville, MN: Liturgical Press)
Keith F. Nickle, Preaching the Gospel of Luke: Proclaiming God's Royal Rule (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press, 2000)
Common Worship (Church of England, 2000) http://www.cofe.anglican.org/worship/liturgy/commonworship/
The Book of Common Prayer (Church of England, 1662)
Oremus Bible Browser http://bible.oremus.org/
Stephanie Frey, “Living with Martha (Luke 10:38-42)”, Living by the Word, The Christian Century Magazine, July 13, 2004
Posted by John Leech at 1:41 PM 0 comments
Labels: Colossians 1:21-29, CProper11, Genesis 18:1-14, Luke 10:38-42, Martha and Mary, Mary and Martha, Psalm 15
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