[RCL] Amos 8:1-12; Psalm 52; Colossians 1:15-28; Luke 10:38-42 Here’s a trick question: Are you a Mary or a Martha? If you have ever spent time hearing interpretations of today’s gospel passage, you probably understand the dichotomy implicit in the question. Martha, we often say, is the “active” one, rushing around, busying herself with the…

[RCL]: Amos 8:1-12; Psalm 52; Colossians 1:15-28; Luke 10:38-42 Some of the most interesting moments in Jesus’ ministry happen when he visits his friends Mary and Martha in Bethany, just outside Jerusalem. It was Mary and Martha’s brother Lazarus that Jesus called out of the tomb and into new life. And it was at a…

It’s a brief story, and Jesus delivers the punch line: “Martha, Martha,” he tells his hostess. “You are worried and distracted about many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, and it shall not be taken from her.” Everything, therefore, hangs on the one thing that Jesus mentions,…

Just when we think we have the formula all worked out, the path to success all laid out, the one easy answer for earning us an A-plus for discipleship, Jesus goes and throws a wrench into the works. Last week we heard the story of the Good Samaritan, where the point was: Go and do….

There is an old vaudeville joke about a man and woman dancing in the Catskills, at a singles resort. “I’m only here for the weekend,” the man says. “I’m dancing as fast as I can,” responds the woman. Martha is that kind of a woman, dancing around her house as fast as she can, trying…

Jesus had special friends. Among them were Mary and Martha of Bethany and their brother Lazarus. Some modern scholars think that Lazarus was “the Beloved Disciple” of the Gospel and the Epistle, and the disciple at the foot of the cross. We won’t really know until we are in the next life. Then we can…

The Gospel of Jesus the Christ calls us into doing some radical living, if we are truly listening. The Gospel calls us right into the middle of life—true life that brings the Kingdom of God down to all of us, so that we all can celebrate God’s goodness and concern for us all. Yes, statements…

Today we hear about Mary and Martha — two really remarkable people who have often been treated rather badly. To be sure, they are famous and, if nothing else, doubtless have had more women’s guilds named after them than anyone else. But they are so often used as types, as symbols, that their own story…

Hospitality was an important aspect of life for Abraham and his descendants. Life in the tents of that nomadic people required a gracious response to travelers and a reputation for providing a generous welcome for them was highly prized. Note how carefully the writer of Genesis details Abraham’s response to the appearance of visitors as…