One Oar or Two?
This is the sermon I preached Sunday, 7/21/19 at St. Timothy Lutheran Church . The text was Luke 10:38-42. We are presented today with a radical story. Jesus upends the cultural norms of the day, which is what usually happens when Jesus is on the scene. The first person Jesus encounters is Martha who welcomed Jesus into her house. This in itself is radical. First of all, it was unusual that a woman owned the home. She’s in charge and the responsibilities of the household fell on her. If this is the Mary and Martha John wrote of in his gospel, where is their brother Lazarus? We may assume he had died if the house was Martha’s. Martha is distracted. Wouldn’t you be? For one thing, it wasn’t just Jesus who arrived, but his disciples as well. Now, was it just the 12 or did this include the 70? That makes a lot of difference. Her complaint to Jesus about Mary not helping is certainly reasonable. After all, how many of the disciples or even Jesus ever had to prepare a meal ...