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Location: Hattiesburg, Mississippi, United States

Sunday, July 21, 2013

Pentecost 9 7/21/13

Pentecost 9 7/21/13 Luke 10:38-42 Title: Come; I Am The Only Way, Truth, And Life. At first glance this morning’s gospel reading appears to be just about priorities. We hear from Jesus’ that Mary’s priorities are correct while Martha’s are wrong. It is a pretty simple and straightforward story, but I would put forward that that story while addressing the matter of one’s priorities, is not about priorities, but Jesus message of love and forgiveness. More on that later, but let’s look first at our priorities, especially those concerning the sitting at Jesus feet in worship and Bible study. Setting priorities is part of human life. It is how we can function, for if there were not priorities; that is, if everything was of equal value we would all be running around like a crazy person. We must have priorities in life to function. The problem comes in when our priorities get out of whack and we put the wrong things first. Certain things in life do need to come before other “less important” things. Things like paying an electric bill is more important than going out to eat. If you had to prioritize between providing immediate much-needed love and care to a loved one who was suffering in some way and going to a ballgame or mowing the lawn, naturally the care of a loved one would come first. No brainers I would say, but there are those who would disagree, for their priorities are different. We are all guilty from time to time of getting our priorities out of whack. The problem is knowing when they are out of whack. Oh, you might have that nagging little feeling in the pit of your stomach that something just doesn’t seem right when you put your needs above another’s needs, but I think most of us, for the most part never realize when our priorities get out of whack until it is too late. We don’t realize our priorities are out of whack because we have all become quite good at justifying our behaviors before our neighbors and God. It is not that hard to do, for we can generally justify our bad behavior, for after all my priorities are not the same as your priorities, and since they are my priorities and not yours you have no right to disagree with them. In other words my priorities are my business and they don’t have to match your priorities. We are different people in different circumstances with different wants and needs. While there is a lot of truth, actually half-truth, to that kind of reasoning, God does not buy it, for God, is, as he tells us a jealous God, demanding 100% of our attention. He is to always be our number one priority. As I said earlier the story of Martha and Mary appears to be about setting priorities and to a large extent it is about our putting God first, but it is about much more than that, it is about Jesus. Listen to Jesus’ words to Martha in verses 41-42, "But the Lord answered her, "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, 42 but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her." If your heard God’s law being spoken in those words, I would suggest that you need to go back and read the account again, especially verse 40 where we read that Martha was distracted, in the Greek, torn away from listening to Jesus’ words by the desire to serve him. We thus see that Martha must have been sitting at Jesus’ feet earlier, when the desire to serve Jesus literally tore her away from being served by Jesus. Jesus is not rebuking her, but inviting her to come back, to get her priorities right, as he says to her, “Martha come back and set down and let me serve you. There will be time for the stuff you are so concerned about later. Join Mary in receiving the most important thing of life, my love and forgiveness, for I am the Bread and Water of eternal Life.” God does the same thing today, as he invites us to get our priorities right through his Word and Sacraments. He tells you, through the work of the Holy Spirit when you wake up every Sunday morning, “Come to me. Set down. Let the stuff, the anxieties of life, the misplaced priorities of your life aside and listen to me, as I speak to you today through the words of the music, the readings, the Lord’s Supper, and your pastor, the one I sent to you to be my spokesperson at this time and place. When Jesus, speaking of his Ascension to heaven, was telling his disciples that he was going to be leaving them they were greatly troubled. He told them “Remember, I am with you always to the end of time.” This was not just some abstract statement. It is a truth that he is in what he what he wants to be in; that is in his Word and Sacraments. We all know that the only way to truly know someone is to be around them, so that you can see their actions and listen to their words. The same thing applies to our knowing, truly knowing Jesus. We must read and meditate on his words, for the only way we can know him is to know about his actions and words as they have been recorded for us in the Bible, God’s Word. Any of you that read God’s Word know how it speaks to you at different times in your life. It is not that the words change, but that their application changes depending on your age and what is going on in your life and the lives of others. That is the wonder of God’s Word. It never gets outdated, even though there is a movement by some who believe they have great worldly wisdom to say that it is outdated; not applicable to our lives today. That believe is simply a false teaching, for God’s Word speaks to children in one way, another way to a man or woman yet there is no age, no moment in life when Jesus’ word does not have something to say to us. Our entire life from baptism to grave stands under the Word of God and is sanctified, that is made holy, by God’s Word. Some time ago I read a sermon by the great Lutheran Pastor Bonheoffer who preached a sermon on the promise of Jesus in a sermon he delivered in Spain on the first Sunday after Easter in 1928. Because it was spoken in German and the English translation was in the English of that time I am paraphrasing his words. The Christian Church is about proclaiming God’s Word and how God’s grace comes before all human actions. This Word of God speaks to young children of the sanctity of their parents love. (for their parents love toward them is to be God’s love) To older children at play it speaks about God’s truthfulness, about God’s seriousness and goodness, about service as Christ’s followers, about heroic deeds and knightly deeds; the great stories of the Old Testament. To young people God’s Word speaks about much joy and cheerfulness, though it also speaks about preparing for the prospect of marriage and parenthood later in their lives. To the young adult God’s Word speaks about the blessedness of the divine command to go and make disciples and about eternal goals, opening their eyes to the glory of the world, to a yearning to roam beyond the temporary things of life, to the permanent things of life; and the Word tells of the purity of God and of the heart. To mature adults the Word of God speaks about the seriousness of work, about fate and guilt, about responsibility and loyalty and about God’s will so that each of us might take hold of our own life and shape it. The Word of God also tells us how God has sanctified motherhood and fatherhood to show God’s love to their children. To the elderly God’s word comforts and speaks about the insignificance of the things of this world which death separates us and about the last things and the promise of our permanent home with him. And yet it speaks one and the same thing to both the young and the elderly, and everyone in between; God loves you and is with you. God has promised that he will be with us unto the end of time. This promise of God adds meaning to human life which on its own will in the end, as King Solomon attested become meaningless, a chasing after the wind. Isn’t it great that, as we are told in Hebrews 13:8, “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” Those are the words we are to depend on, for Jesus is Lord of the ages and is always with his own, even when things are difficult. If troubles and anxiety come upon you, Jesus is with you, guiding you on your journey, if you will listen to him, and eventually leading you into God’s eternal Kingdom. Jesus Christ our never changing God is with you to the end of time. That is God’s free gift to you. It’s said that a cathedral in Milan, Italy, has three inscriptions etched into respective doorways. Over the right-hand door is inscribed “All that pleases is but for a moment.” Over the left-hand door one reads “All that troubles is but for a moment.” But over the center door is etched “Nothing is important save that which is eternal.” Have your priorities gotten out whack? Has God fallen from being your first priority to second or third or lower? If so, Jesus lovingly invites you to come back, as he did for Martha. Come back he calls. Come back to me, for I offer something the world cannot offer. I alone can give you everlasting love and forgiveness, certainty in the uncertainty of your life, joy in the midst of your sorrow, and eternal hope when you feel hopeless. Come, sit at my feet and learn. Amen.

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