Let me start with the gospel reading this morning – a lovely
little cameo that is the story of Mary and Martha.
I remember that my first wife Alex always felt sorry for
Martha because she never got any credit for all her hard work she did in
looking after her guest and I can see her point and perhaps women more
generally can empathise with Martha, but that is not the thrust of this story.
If we treat this story as a parable, then in general a
parable only has one central point and the circumstances of the story are there
as window dressing to make the story and therefore the central point more
memorable
So the point of this beautiful little cameo is that Mary “listened to his teaching” while Martha
was anxious and troubled and distracted from listening. That Mary was “sitting
at Jesus’ feet” is also instructive. That is the position of a disciple, a
learner. This was the “greater part” Jesus says Mary has chosen, not that she
was lazy or neglectful of her share of the household chores.
The greater part is not to be distracted by our anxieties or
side issues that are ultimately unimportant. Learn to discern the difference
between form and substance.
An application to HST
might be - Are some of us so engrossed by piffling side issues and non
important things that we are just too distracted to actually listen to what
Jesus is trying to teach us?
Do we miss out on hearing the essential saving grace of
Christ. Is he drowned out because we are distracted by what books we use, what
robes are worn, the form of a service, what coffee we drink? Or are we more
captivated by the loving and saving message and teaching of Jesus. Are we Mary
or Martha?
But why should we listen to Jesus anyway? Who is this guy?
Why should we be captivated, sit at his feet and listen
Paul spells out the reason in a few lines that are
unsurpassed in their magnitude and beauty.
It starts with an enigmatic phrase “He is the image of the
invisible God”. Now someone that is invisible can’t have an image and yet we
somehow know what Paul means, and he goes on to describe Jesus in terms that
are unmistakably divine terms and carries on to describe Jesus as “the
firstborn from the dead” and the climax to all the promises in the Bible that
talk of a new creation or a re-creation and that where Jesus goes we will
follow.
He rose from the dead, the firstborn from the dead and
because he was like us in his humanity this opens the door to our own
resurrection on the last day. And just us, but as the Biblical tradition
underlines, all creation will be redeemed.
In order to triple underline the fact that Jesus is an
eternal part of the divine being the lectionary compilers have seen fit to add
the story of the three visitors to Abraham and Sarah from the book of Genesis.
What is mysterious about this story is that “THE LORD”
appeared to Abraham and then in the very next line the Lord (singular) becomes
three men and the story continues switching between the Lord and the three men meaning the same
thing throughout the story.
This provided the Christian doctrine of God as three in one
with rich pickings and indeed the most famous icon from the Orthodox world is
the three visitors by Russian Orthodox icon painter Andrei Rublev.
This beautiful icon depicts the Father, Jesus and the Holy
Spirit sitting around a table with what is a Eucharistic chalice full of wine
and they are differentiated from each other by clever utilisation of colours
which are themselves full of meaning. Jesus’ eyes are fixed on the Father, and
his hand in a gesture of blessing over
the cup and the Holy Spirit’s eyes are fixed on the chalice emphasising the
Spirit’s essential role in animating and making manifest the will and action of
God in the world in a masterpiece.
The teaching of the Spirit of Jesus today is almost self-explanatory.
Don’t be distracted by anything from learning from and
listening to the word of God made flesh, Jesus Christ.
For He is God and He holds your past, present and future in
his hands.
