Hi First Presbyterian Church, 

It’s time for our Mid-Week Meet-Up! Congratulations to Karen Travis, Matt Wahl, and Janis Croop whose names were drawn after successfully completing the crossword puzzles for Weeks 1 and 2 of Advent! I’ve attached the crossword puzzle for the third week of Advent. Some clues to the puzzle can be found in this Sunday’s reading from Psalm 73:56-72. 

It’s Day 94 in our one-year Bible reading journey. Yesterday we read the parable of the Good Samaritan in Luke 10:25-37, and today we read a story about two sisters named Mary and Martha in Luke 10:38-42. I’d like to reflect on those two passages with you. 

As I’ve mentioned before, one of the main purposes of Luke’s Gospel is to communicate that Jesus is for everyone. Unlike the other Gospels, Luke includes more stories that show how the ministry of Jesus was radically pro-women. In Acts 22:3, the apostle Paul describes his own background and says he was “brought up at the feet of Gamaliel.” Gamaliel was a rabbi from the school of the Pharisees. When Paul says he was “brought up at the feet of Gamaliel,” he means he was a student of Gamaliel. Students would literally sit at the feet of their teacher, but the phrase “at the feet of the rabbi” was also a common euphemism that simply meant “a student of.” In the time of Jesus, only boys and men were allowed to be rabbinical students. So… in Luke 10:39, when it says that Mary “sat at the Lord’s feet,” she was doing something “out of place” and even radical! While others, like her sister Martha, thought Mary’s actions were inappropriate and even offensive, what do we see Jesus doing? He praises her for pushing against the social norms in order to dedicate herself to learning from him! He wants to communicate the important point that the Gospel is meant to be received by all people, regardless of social expectations. 

In the story of the Good Samaritan, we encounter a similar message. A Jewish man is attacked and left for dead. For passersby, there was probably no way of telling if the man was actually dead or not! According to known Jewish practice (from the Jerusalem Talmud Nazir 56a), anyone who came upon that man should have stopped to help him. The religious clergy who first passed by the man (the priest and the Levite) were obligated to try to save a life but failed to do so. The only one who fulfilled their moral and religious obligation was a Samaritan, and as you probably know, Samaritans and Jews did not only find it hard to tolerate each other – they hated each other! The fact that a Samaritan is the hero in this parable would have been offensive to Jesus’ listeners, and the fact that this Samaritan stopped to help a Jew would have put his listeners to shame. This parable communicates a similar point to the story of Mary and Martha – that the Gospel is meant to be received by all people (even Samaritans). But it also takes it one step further: the Gospel is meant to be shared with all people! 

Friends, the Gospel is good news: the God who created heaven and earth has come to us in Jesus Christ, forgiven us of our sin, rescued us from despair, and claimed us as God’s own beloved children. Whoever you are and wherever you find yourself on your journey, I pray you receive this truth into your life, let it transform you from the inside out, and then share it with anyone who will hear it. 

Peace to you,

Pastor Aaron