The July 21, 2013, Concordia Publishing House copyrighted bulletin cover quotes Luke 10:42 from the copyrighted English Standard Version and uses a photo copyrighted by Robert Cushman Hayes.
+ + + In Nomine Jesu + + +
Please join me in prayer: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be pleasing in your sight, O Lord, our Rock and our Redeemer. Amen.
Dear Brothers and Sisters in Christ,
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.
From refreshments before Bible Class this morning, through Bible Class and Sunday School, this Divine Service, and the meal that will follow, to the Voters’ Meeting after that—here at Pilgrim today there is “much serving”. On this Ninth Sunday after Pentecost, by Divine Providence, “much serving” is also a part of the Gospel Reading. In the Gospel Reading we hear of Martha’s being distracted by doing “much serving” to the Lord, while in contrast her sister Mary can be said to have chosen receiving “much serving” from the Lord. As we reflect on this Gospel Reading for the next few minutes, we consider when and where we are on the doing and receiving ends of “much serving”.
The Gospel Reading itself picks up St. Luke’s divinely‑inspired Gospel account right where it left off last Sunday. You may recall that for the last three Sundays now we have heard how Jesus, Who steadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem (Luke 9:51), was gradually making His way there. With no permanent place to lay His head (Luke 9:58), we heard how, to every place He Himself was about to go, Jesus sent out ahead of Him official messengers, with specific instructions, such as what to do when a town did or did not receive them (Luke 10:8, 10). We heard how a certain village of the Samaritans did not receive Jesus (Luke 9:52-53), and this morning we heard how another place, most likely the village of Bethany, did receive Jesus.
More-specifically, the Gospel Reading says a woman named Martha welcomed Jesus into her house. There is much we do not know, such as how well—if at all—Jesus at this point knew Martha and Mary—if the “Mary” of today’s Reading is both “Mary Magdalene” and the same person who anointed Jesus in Luke chapter 7, then they definitely knew each other, as Jesus had apparently cast out seven demons from her (Luke 7:36-8:3). We also do not know how many people Martha had welcomed into her home—some commentators say the total number could have been more than 70, but at least one other commentator says the group split up at this point, and the Reading itself does say simply that Martha welcomed Jesus. That she welcomed Him is somewhat unusual, for Jewish rabbis did not usually enter women’s homes or teach women (St. Luke does not mention Martha and Mary’s brother Lazarus). Yet, Martha showed Jesus hospitality, much like the hospitality Abraham and Sarah showed to the Lord in today’s Old Testament Reading (Genesis 18:1-10a)—except in that case the host, Abraham, delegated the work to his wife and a servant, and instead, in this case, the hostess, Martha, apparently did the serving herself. Martha’s sister, Mary, having sat at the Lord’s feet, like others from whom demons had left (Luke 8:35), was listening to His teaching. When Martha went up to Him, she apparently expected Jesus to care that Mary essentially had left her to serve alone (she arguably does not rebuke Jesus), but Martha did not get the response from Jesus that she apparently expected.
We who have had siblings, and those who have raised more than one child, know how one sibling will ordinarily complain about doing more work than another. For example, I used to complain that my mowing our yard was more work than my sister’s picking up the dog’s poop from the yard before I mowed. But, Jesus’s response to Martha’s question and command makes clear that hers was no ordinary sibling complaint. Martha had let herself be pulled away from the Word of the Lord, and she wanted Jesus to tell Mary to leave that word, too.
How do we let ourselves be pulled away from the Word of the Lord? What makes us anxious (or divides our mind) and troubles us? When it comes right down to it, do we know what “one thing” is necessary? Do we let every other thing wait so that we can avail ourselves of that “one thing” when and where it is available? That “one thing” is never taken away from us, but how often do we, like Martha, let ourselves be pulled away from it? If we are honest with ourselves, we know that we let ourselves be pulled away from the Word of the Lord too often. Mary may have chosen the good portion, but that was only because the Lord had already chosen her and enabled her to have that choice. By nature Mary was—and all of us are—dead in trespasses and sins, deserving nothing but death now and for eternity. That sinful nature still clings to those whom God has chosen, and that sinful nature wants to pull them away from His Word. We too often give in to that temptation and other temptations; in other words, we sin, for we remain sinful by nature. From such sin and from our sinful nature, God calls us to repent.
Jesus gently rebuked Martha for He knew what was in her heart and mind. He knows what is in our hearts and minds, too, and, as appropriate, He gently rebukes us. He calls us to turn in sorrow from our sin, to trust Him to forgive our sin, and to want to do better. When we so repent, then God forgives our sin. God forgives our sin of letting ourselves be pulled away from His Word or whatever else our sin might be. God forgives all our sin for the sake of His Son, Jesus Christ, Who died on the cross and rose from the grave in order to save us from our sins.
Today’s bulletin’s front cover shows the Word of Holy Scripture as the “one thing necessary”, and the description on the back cover refers to the “living Word that alone gives us eternal life”. That “living Word” is Jesus Christ. Our Hymn of the Day makes more-clear that He, the Word made flesh (John 1:14) is the “one thing necessary” or “needful”. We sang in that Hymn of the Day (Lutheran Worship 277:2):
For where God and man both in one are united,
With love and forgiveness the heart is delighted;
There, there is the worthiest lot and the best,
Where Jesus alone is your joy and your rest.
The “one thing needful” or “necessary” is what Mary chose, the “good portion” (or we might say “better” portion or as the Hymn sad, the “worthiest lot” or the “best” portion). We sang in the Introit: “The Lord is my portion; I promise to keep Your Words” (Psalm 119:57-60, 64; antiphon v.105). The Lord is our portion or our inheritance, freely given, not earned, as the expert in the law who questioned Jesus in last week’s Gospel Reading apparently thought, though there is no evidence Martha thought she was earning anything by “much serving”. Jesus Himself came not to be served, but He came to serve by giving His life as a ransom for all (Matthew 20:28; Mark 10:45), or, as Jesus put it when Zacchaeus welcomed Him into his house in Jericho, He came to seek and to save the lost (Luke 19:10). By Jesus’s death, St. Paul writes in today’s Epistle Reading (Colossians 1:21-29), we, who once were alienated and hostile in mind, doing evil deeds, are reconciled in order to be presented holy and blameless and above reproach before Him, if indeed we continue in the faith. When their brother Lazarus died, Martha and Mary both confessed believing that Jesus could have kept him from dying, but it was Martha who confessed more: that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God, come into the world, and that Lazarus would rise again in the resurrection on the last day. Lazarus will rise, and we will, too, because his and our sins are forgiven by grace through faith in Jesus, the Word of the Lord.
Jesus, the Word of the Lord, God in human flesh, gives us and serves us with the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation through His words of Holy Scripture, especially as they are preached, connected with water in Holy Baptism, spoken by the pastor to individuals in Holy Absolution, and connected with bread and wine in Holy Communion. As Jesus told the devil tempting Him, we do not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord (Luke 4:4; Deuteronomy 8:3). In Holy Communion we have food both for the body and for the soul, what we need to make our way through this life. As He taught and ate with Martha and Mary, so He teaches and eats with us here today.
Even as there is no evidence Martha thought she had to serve Jesus before He would serve her, we remember that His serving us here with the forgiveness of sins, life, and salvation, brings forth from us, according to our various vocations, service to God in the persons of our neighbors. Some think that today’s Gospel Reading means that only the life completely spent contemplating God’s Word can please God, but such is not the case, for such a life does not serve one’s neighbor. You and I live our lives with daily repentance and faith, hearing and studying God’s Word and receiving His Sacraments whenever they are available. And, the rest of the time, we cooperate with God in producing the fruits of faith, good works—not those good works we come up with on our own, but those good works described in His Word.
Today’s refreshments before Bible Class are done, as are Bible Class and Sunday School. Soon, this Divine Service also will be complete, and then, in turn, the meal that will follow and the Voters’ Meeting after that will be over. This day there was, is, and will be “much serving” by our Lord to us through His Word and, as a result of our receiving His serving, there was, is, and will be “much serving” done by us to one another and so also to Him. Yet, earthly meals and meetings pass away, but the Word of the Lord and the meal it gives us and serves us remain forever. In Him, His Word and Sacrament, we find peace and joy, both now in this life and for the life to come.
Amen.
The peace of God, which passes all understanding, keep your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus. Amen.
+ + + Soli Deo Gloria + + +