6th Sunday after Pentecost
Genesis 18:1-10 Psalm 15 Colossians 1:15-28 Luke 10:38-42 Dear fellow ministers of the gospel of Jesus Christ, grace and peace to you from the one who calls us to love both God and neighbor. Amen When Jesus is pressed to summarize his teaching it boils down to love of God and love of neighbor. These two things are most important, and while this seems simple enough it can get confusing because as much as we claim otherwise we humans are pretty bad at multi-tasking, we tend to focus on one thing at a time Yet Jesus calls us to both, and he gives examples of both. Last week we heard the story of the Good Samaritan who embodies love of neighbor by stopping to help a man left for dead on the side of a dangerous road, in the story the Good Samaritan is contrasted with a priest and a Levite who when they choose their own way of loving God rather than helping their neighbor turn out looking not so great. this week we hear of Mary who embodies love of God by sitting at Jesus’ feet listening to him teach. She is contrasted with Martha, who, busy loving her neighbor in her own way comes off looking not so great. we tend to see these contrasts in terms of right and wrong, one better than the other, but it’s not that one person is better than the other, it’s the choices they make in the moment that Jesus comments on, Jesus needs both the priest and the Good Samaritan both Mary and Martha as his followers. As a disciple Martha embodies the hospitality that will further the kingdom. When Jesus sent the 70 out to share the good news he told them to depend on hospitality of the kind that Martha offered welcoming people into her home and caring for their needs. As a disciple Mary embodies the devotion to Jesus’ teaching that will further the kingdom. She is attuned to Jesus’ presence and hangs on his every word. Jesus will depend on her to teach others when he has returned to his father. Jesus needs both Mary and Martha, the conflict comes when Martha gets so caught up in the tasks in front of her that she tries to make her way of serving necessary for someone else, for Mary. And that’s when Jesus jumps in and gently chides Martha, not for serving but for being so caught up in what she was doing that the tasks suddenly became more important than loving God and neighbor, and for trying to spread her worry and distraction to Mary when Mary is doing just fine at loving God and neighbor in her own way. This past week at confirmation camp we spent our confirmation time talking about how God made each of us different, gave us different gifts and callings and how God needs all of us to further the kingdom in our own way. Some of us like to follow the rules, some of us like to create new ways of doing things. Some of us like to listen and study and some of us like to get our hands dirty and learn through new experiences. Some of us are good at organizing, some of us are good at encouraging, some dream up new ideas and others make those ideas a reality. None of these ways of being a disciple of Jesus are better than the others, God needs all of them to further the kindom. Where we get into trouble is when we prioritize our gifts or ways of doing things over others, when we expect others to love and serve in the exact same way we do or have been doing, and getting frustrated when they don’t that’s when Jesus gently chides us and turns our attention back to him, because when we get upset we forget that it’s Jesus in our living room. Jesus calls his disciples to lives of both and. Which means following Jesus is more complicated than following a set of rules that detail exactly what is right and what is wrong in any given situation. Instead Jesus has created us as unique individuals designed to work as a small part of a whole, it is up to us to choose how to live out love of God and love of neighbor using our God given gifts and callings Sometimes that will look like stopping on a dangerous road to help a stranger, sometimes that will look like saying the dishes can wait while spending time with this special person who is here right now. And while what we decide to do will be different for each of us the common thread is love of God and neighbor. We live in a tradition that recognizes the both and of life. And while some may find the lack of exactness frustrating both and catches the truth of life in all its complexities. We acknowledge that we are both saints and sinners. And while those two seem to conflict we know the reality that we are not perfect, we make mistakes, we intentionally harm others, and at the same time we know that in our baptisms God has forgiven our sins and that nothing will separate us from God. Both are true at the same time. Both and. We acknowledge that we need both the law and the gospel. There are times when we need a good talking to, where we need to be shown how we have not been loving God and neighbor, we need to law to reflect back to us our need for repentance our need for God. And then there are times when we feel like we will never be enough, that we can never do enough, that the pain of the world threatens to overwhelm us, and that is when we need to hear the gospel, the good news that in Jesus we are enough, that Jesus is present in the pain of the world, that it’s up to Jesus to save the world not us. We are both saint and sinner We need both law and gospel We are to love both God and neighbor And Jesus tells us that In a world of both and there is need of only one thing. Jesus, the way, the truth and the life. when we get worried and distracted Jesus is there, gently calming us down, giving us perspective, calling us to return to the one we need. When we are loving our neighbor Jesus is there alongside us. When we take time to study his teachings Jesus is there pointing out the important parts. When we are torn between both and Jesus is present reminding us of the gifts he has given us and the community that surrounds us, the community made up of many members that is able to both love God and neighbor in the name of Jesus. Amen
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AboutPastor Emily Johnson preaches weekly at Christ Lutheran. These are manuscripts of her sermons given at Christ Lutheran. Feel free to engage with them in the comments section of the blog. Archives
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