A Fresh Perspective

Let’s begin by being clear on what this story does not teach. Martha is busy attending to things, making sure the food is prepared and being the proper host. Mary is setting in the presence of Jesus listening to his teaching. Martha rebukes Mary and even turns to Jesus expecting him to back her up. But Jesus rebukes Martha and commends Mary for choosing the “better part.” Why does he do that? Why does Jesus commend Mary but rebuke Martha? Let’s begin by laying to rest one explanation very quickly. It’s not because contemplation is more important than activism. It’s not because prayer is more important than service. Jesus is not disparaging the active work involved in hospitality, nor is he elevating worship over hospitality. Both work and rest, prayer and ministry, solitude and service,  hospitality and worship are equally important in the grand scheme of the spiritual life. We can trace a pattern in Jesus’ own life of active engagement in teaching, preaching, and healing,...

This is a kind of reverse reversal story. Much of Luke’s Gospel is about Jesus’ journey to Jerusalem , but these two disciples, possibly a husband and wife, are leaving Jerusalem . They are on the road to Emmaus, but it’s not like they were going anywhere in particular, they are simply leaving Jerusalem , because for them the story of Jesus had ended, and it ended badly, it ended in tragedy. The one in whom they had placed their hope for the redemption of Israel was rejected and crucified. But then something happens. They meet a stranger along the way. And as a result of this encounter, hope is reborn, a new faith is ignited that reverses the reversal – that turns them around and sets them on a new direction. How many times has the direction of your life changed because of an encounter with God, because you met the living Christ? Hopefully, at least once. Possibly, many times. This appearance story, I believe, sketches out the contexts where such encounters can occur, whe...

Gospel scholars tell us that Mary’s canticle of praise (the Magnificat) was most likely a song or prayer used in early Jewish Christian worship. It is a song or prayer of longing that envisions a dramatic reversal : “He has shown strength with his arm; he has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts. He has brought down the powerful from their thrones, and lifted up the lowly; he has filled the hungry with good things, and sent the rich away empty” (1:51–53). . The overthrow of the wealthy does not come about through the rising up of the oppressed in revolution, but through the advent of a lowly, humble child, who is born in humility, if not poverty, and who, throughout his ministry, demonstrated what Gospel scholars call a preferential option for the poor. When he defined his ministry in the synagogue at Nazareth , he declared that his mission was to bring good news to the poor and set the oppressed free (Luke 4:18–19). When he said that he had come to declare “the acc...

In the Gospels, Jesus’ sense of vocation—his conviction about what he was called to do—emerged from a clear sense of who he was. Before Jesus began his public ministry he may have been a follower of John the Baptist. He was baptized by John in the desert. In the context of his baptismal experience Jesus was given a vision, a revelation of his true self. The Gospels employ symbolical language to describe Jesus’ spiritual encounter: The heavens opened, the Spirit descended in the appearance of a dove, and the Divine Voice pronounced, “This is my Son whom I love; with him I am well pleased.” Immediately after this experience Jesus faced Satan in the desert, that is, Jesus faced the temptations of his calling (temptations he would encounter throughout his ministry). And then, in the power of the Spirit, Jesus began proclaiming the good news of the kingdom of God, welcoming all manner of sinners into his fellowship and manifesting healing power. Jesus becomes the Messianic agent of Go...