Two Sisters: Mary and Martha Bridging
Sermons
Rev. Peter Hofstra
The
sermon this past Sunday was based on Luke 10, the Parable of the Good
Samaritan. Jesus told this parable
ultimately to answer one of the big questions of our faith. “What must I do to inherit eternal life?” This was a challenge question from a lawyer. Jesus’ gained the answer from the lawyer by asking what the law said. It is loving God and loving neighbor. In an attempt to justify himself, the lawyer challenges then on who qualifies as ‘neighbor’. Thus the parable.
But there was a
piece left unanswered, headed in a different direction. What happens if doing things in the faith out of love for neighbor, like showing mercy, becomes a weight of being an obligation. What do we do when "I want to" becomes "I have to" or "I am supposed to"?
The
follow up in Luke 10, our Scripture for this Sunday, gets at this very
question. After this great debate with
the lawyer, Jesus goes to the home of Mary and Martha. Mary is prepared to set everything aside to
join our Lord in company and conversation.
Martha is prepared to go a little crazy trying to prepare for a drop in visit by Jesus.
It gets
to a point of frustration with Martha that she seeks Jesus’ intervention to get
Mary 'off the couch and into the kitchen' to help. I believe it is not
that Martha did not want to do as her sister did, to join Jesus in company and
conversation. Rather, she had a list of
what needed to get done FIRST before that peace could be enjoyed, and Mary was not helping.
This
Sunday, we will consider what Jesus said to Martha and how that connects to our
lives in the moments when we too feel that the ‘weight of obligation to service’
overtakes the joy and love from which we are called to do the work of
Christ.
Our text
is Luke 10: 38-42 to anyone who would like to read ahead.
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