Hi everyone,
Welcome to worship for this 6th Sunday after Pentecost, landing on July 20th, 2025!
The bulletin for this service can be found here. You can use it to follow along with the service and the sermon, or you can just use the words that will appear on your screen, and the sermon is pasted on this page below the video.
To enhance your online worship experience, you are invited to have a lit candle in your space for the duration of the service and extinguished near the end after the sending hymn. You are also welcome to participate in communion if you are comfortable, by having something small to eat and drink prepared for the appropriate time. Further instruction will be given then.
May the joy of God’s love fill your hearts and strengthen you for service!
Holy God, may our ears be opened for your Word, our eyes opened for your truth, and our hearts opened to receive your love and grace, through Jesus Christ. Amen.
The other day one of our sons and I were listening to a morning show on the radio, and the topic of their conversation turned to dating. Like romantic dating, not like carbon dating fossils which would have been pretty cool, but it is what it is. This dating talk was awkward enough to listen to with our teenaged son, but then the male DJ host goes and brings up the opinion that dating these days is much harder for men than it is for women.
And as soon as he said the words, the reaction that came from the two other DJ hosts, that happen to be female, was exactly what I thought it would be. You might know what I mean or might be having the same reaction yourself. In that, they just didn’t agree. Actually, “didn’t agree” probably isn’t a strong enough term. They vehemently did not agree. There was actual scorn in their voices and sparks were starting to fly. While they did let him say his piece, it wasn’t without plenty of interruptions with differing opinions and arguing about how he’s just plain wrong.
Now, I should say that I’m not agreeing with either side or saying what demographic actually does have it the worst in the dating world, because I don’t really know and frankly, I’m not sure that’s an argument that needs to be had. I’m not trying to be callous toward the plight of those in bad dating situations, but I’m just saying that I’m not sure if there’s a blanket truth in this matter. I mean relationships are just hard in general, regardless of what gender they identify as. So really, what’s the point? Why bother trying to get the other side to concede? What will change if one side is definitively proven right? What is accomplished by belittling the other side for having an opinion that is different from yours? What would the outcome be… other than maybe inadvertently displaying how your opponent is right with your difficult and competitive attitude?
Again, I’m not siding with anyone here, as much as you’d think I’d have a natural bias. I know dating is hard. Even in this day and age of technologically advanced conveniences that ironically make life busier, I get that meeting someone is difficult. I understand how other people, especially those who see the world differently from us, can be extremely annoying with their different habits and ways of doing things, and living and co-existing with them can be so hair-pullingly frustrating because they just don’t ever seem to conform to what we want, what we think, what we are.
What happened that made relationships in general such competitions? Aren’t they supposed to be about companionship? Why are we so distracted by being right in our opinions rather than being loving in how we relate to our partner or friend or, as it were, sibling?
And that brings us to today’s very often dangerously mis-used and mis-interpreted story from our gospel lesson, where we hear about another pair of siblings from the bible that get into a little friction. These sisters graciously welcome Jesus into their home, and as one of the co-hosts, Martha picks up the slack with preparing the preparations while the other co-host Mary slacks off and is just chillin’ with Jesus. This infuriating and frustrating act of doing nothing, of course infuriates and frustrates Martha.
I mean who wouldn’t be mad? Sure, Mary has always been portrayed as and presumed to be the youngest sister which of course automatically disposes her as the carefree and irresponsible one, but come on now, this is Jesus we’re talking about. Fold a napkin or something. Go slaughter a calf, fatted or otherwise. Grab some choice flour and make some cakes or whatever. I don’t know, just doing something would be better than nothing.
We don’t know what their relationship is like normally and if they’re the bickering type, but it does seem like Martha has been slighted by her sister like this before by how she reacts. She doesn’t complain to the source of the issue, which is Mary, as though she already knows that it wouldn’t get them anywhere. Instead, she triangulates Jesus, their guest, in hopes that he would be able to back her up in this competition of good host-ness.
It was like, “hey Jesus, I’m busting my hump here being a good host to you and your friends, the least you could do is tell Mary to help me out.”
Martha isn’t wrong here, but Jesus does what none of us who have ever been in Martha’s position before would have expected, he sides with Mary.
Or at least, that’s what it seemed like. “Martha,” Jesus says, “relax. You’re distracted. Don’t be so worried about stuff that doesn’t need to be worried about.”
Uh, right. That’ll work. Martha should calm right down now. Nice strategy, Jesus.
Unfortunately, we don’t really know what happens after this, the story just kind of ends there. Martha could have calmed down and was like, “you’re right, Jesus, let me continue doing everything while my sister does nothing” or she could have driven them all out of her home with a cleaver. We just don’t know.
But is that really it? Is this story just about what Martha did and what Mary didn’t? Or trying to figure out who is right and who is wrong? Or who has it the worst in this relationship? Well, I do think that it’s about relationship dynamics, but not in a competitive sense. Like I think it’s more about why we do what we do when we do. More about our love and service to God and to neighbour. I think this story is reminding us that relationship is not about competition, but it’s about companionship.
Because notice that Jesus doesn’t actually spell out what the “right thing” was that Mary chose. He doesn’t commend her for sitting around doing nothing. He doesn’t rebuke Martha for running around and doing everything. Rather, he just says that Martha is distracted. Distracted with worry, distracted with being the hostess with the mostest, distracted by comparing herself with her sister.
Imagine if Mary had the same attitude as Martha. Imagine if it was Mary who went to Jesus to complain. Imagine if Mary was like, “Jesus, what’s the deal with my sister? You came all the way here to hang out with us but she is spending our limited time together making more than enough food. Tell her to come and sit with us.”
And then imagine how Jesus would react to Mary’s hypothetical triangulation. He’s probably say, “Mary, Mary, why you buggin? You’re worried and distracted about many things, but you only need to be worried about one thing. And your sister Martha chose correctly.”
See it isn’t so much what the sisters are doing or aren’t doing around the house as hosts. It isn’t so much that they should be on the same page about things and be exactly the same. It isn’t even about what is appropriate behaviour when you have company. But it’s about living and being out of grace. It’s about serving God and neighbour out of love. It’s about recognising the distractions that are taking our focus away from our relationships, because that is where God can be mostly clearly seen, heard, and felt.
So if you feel called to serve, then have at it, you are blessed for having that gift of humility and helpfulness. If you’re called to sit and listen, you go and do you, you are blessed for having the gift of attentiveness and care. But all of us are called to live in community, with all its diversity and multitude of opinions and ways of doing things, focussed on relationship and love. We don’t have to worry about what our neighbour is doing and/or how they’re different from us, but rather focus on how we can be of loving service to them.
And I think that’s the point. It’s not about the competition but about companionship. We are all distracted by many things, but we are called to just one thing, and that is our relationship with God that is reflected in our relationships with each other. This relationship that is full of grace, mercy, and love, is what strengthens us to welcome, include, and serve. And then perhaps we won’t be so worried about the other and the differences that separate us, but we can be reminded of how we are joined together in Christ, united by the Spirit, and empowered by God to reflect God’s gracious love first shown to us, in our action and words, through the hospitality that we give and receive, and living together in right relationship and community.
So in this season after Pentecost, may we see God present in our relationships, communities, and throughout the world, that we might remain focussed on the love and grace that has been first given to us, that we be able to faithfully reflect it onto all whom we encounter. Thanks be to God. Amen.