Martha and Mary Sermon
This is the sermon that I gave at the Church of the Saviour Episcopal Church in Clermont, Iowa on July 18, 2010. I want you to note right at the beginning of this sermon the context in which Luke records this incident in the home of Martha and Mary. Luke places it immediately after Jesus has taught the parable of the Good Samaritan. I think that is significant because in that parable the ‘religious people’ are condemned for not doing the practical thing of helping the man lying injured by the roadside. This incident in the home of Martha and Mary seems to teach the very opposite. The context is important because it helps us to understand the meaning and purpose of this story in the Gospel of Luke and in our lives today. Martha and Mary, along with their brother Lazarus, are close friends of Jesus. Their home at Bethany, some two miles from Jerusalem, was a familiar place for Jesus and his disciples to rest and relax. Their home would also be the scene of the miracle of the resurrect...