Model Discipleship

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This coming Sunday is the 16th Sunday of Ordinary Time  and the story of Martha and Mary. In yesterday’s post we provided some context and raised the question of this gospel and the one in which the lawyer asks Jesus what he must do to gain eternal life.

Looking at these stories together, it suggests that the contrast is not between doing and listening, but between being anxious and not. Green (The Gospel of Luke) notes in a footnote (p. 436) that the contrast is not really between Martha’s doing or service and Mary’s listening, but between “hearing the word” (namely, discipleship) and “anxious” behavior (namely, the antithesis of discipleship). Continue reading →

Middle Aged Milestones

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There are many “milestones” that mark the passage from “young” to middle-aged. I’m too old to remember them all having given up the notion that I am still in either category. But Joey Knight, a sports writer for the Tampa Bay Times, notes that the Tampa Bay Buccaneers football team has a double marker of middle aged:

  • They are about to start their 47th preseason training camp, and with
  • a 45-year old starting quarterback

In speculating on the possible fortunes of the Bucs in the coming season, Knight writes: “We cite Rocky Balboa here: Time is undefeated. Brady can continue with his revolutionary training methods, meticulous diet and general defiance of the natural order. At some point, he’s going to regress. Will it be this season? So far, there is zero evidence of that. He’s coming off one of his most prolific seasons ever (5,316 passing yards, 43 touchdowns) and was spinning the ball as crisply as ever during the recent mandatory minicamp. But no one — not even the NFL’s resident freak of nature — lasts forever.”

Well… not in this life. But we are all in the “preseason training camp” of this life, preparing for the life to come! Amen!

A contrast

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This coming Sunday is the 16th Sunday of Ordinary Time in Lectionary Cycle C. This week we will encounter the well known story of Martha and Mary. Our pericope ( fancy word for story) has an immediate context:

  • Jesus sending out on mission the 72 other disciples to proclaim the Kingdom of God
  • A scholar of the Law who quizzes Jesus, who in response tells the parable of the Good Samaritan, asking who acted as neighbor?
  • Our passage herein, the oft told story of Martha and Mary
  • Immediately followed by Jesus teaching his disciples to be persistent in prayer

38 As they continued their journey he entered a village where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him. 39 She had a sister named Mary (who) sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak. 40 Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving? Tell her to help me.” 41 The Lord said to her in reply, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. 42 There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her.” Continue reading →

The Battle of Britain

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July 10, 1940: On this day in history, in the midst of World War II, the Battle of Britain began as the Luftwaffe started attacking southern England. The Battle of Britain was a military campaign  in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defended the United Kingdom against large-scale attacks by Nazi Germany’s air force, the Luftwaffe. It has been described as the first major military campaign fought entirely by air forces. The Battle of British lasted until 31 October 1940, which overlaps the period of large-scale night attacks known as the Blitz, that lasted from 7 September 1940 to 11 May 1941.

Seeing

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“Go and do likewise.” This seems like a pretty clear command from Jesus. Go about your day and life, showing mercy, being a merciful person. As Moses says in the first reading this command is not mysterious, hidden, something remote and inaccessible. Just do it! ….So… are you a merciful person? Yes? No? Sometimes? Hopefully we at least reach the “sometimes” rating. Jesus’ dialogue with the scholar, in a way, held up a new standard for him to follow: the 10 commandments are great – follow them – but, as St. Paul says, without love, without mercy, those commandments are just clanging gongs and clashing symbols. Just noise. Continue reading →

Why a Samaritan?

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This coming Sunday our gospel is the well known story called the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37). In yesterday’s post we see the “Good Samaritan” coming to the aid of the beaten man who was left for dead on the roadside. In this parable, why would Jesus choose a Samaritan to be the “hero” of the story? Brian Stoffregen has interesting insights into this answer: Continue reading →

The burdens

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From time to time this summer I have been commenting on the first reading, recently from the prophets Amos and Hosea. Their words have been direct and challenging to any who would listen: this is how you are seen in the eyes of God. It was a rough encounter. While it promised doom to those whose heart remained hardened, there was always the call to turn back to God, back to the covenant. Continue reading →

The Parable

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This coming Sunday our gospel is the well known story called the Good Samaritan (Luke 10:25-37). In yesterday’s post the questions from the scholar continue, moving on to an inquiry about who is (or is not) a neighbor whom one is to love. It is at this point that the parable begins. Culpepper [229] identified the central character as being noticeably undefined. He is not characterized by race, religion, region, or trade. He is merely “a certain man” who by implication could be any one of Jesus’ hearers. The phrase “a certain man” (anthrōpos tis), however, will become a common feature of the Lukan parables (12:16; 14:2, 16; 15:11; 16:1, 19; 19:12; 20:9). Jesus’ audience no doubt imagined the man to be Jewish, but Luke’s audience may have assumed he was a Gentile. The point is that he is identified only by what happened to him. Continue reading →