Crossing Boundaries

The reading from Genesis follows a classic story form well known in the ancient Near East: heavenly beings come in disguise to a humble home, are shown hospitality, and announce a future birth.  

Abraham is portrayed here as the perfect host. One of the visitors foretells the birth of Sarah’s son. Sarah’s significance is clear. She is named rather than merely identified as Abraham’s wife. The child is identified as her son rather than Abraham’s. Obviously, this woman will play an important role in the life of this child. All of this points to the extraordinary nature of the yet unborn child.  

Paul rejoices in his sufferings, for he believes that they will benefit the Colossian Christians. He would never say that the sufferings of Jesus were in any way lacking in their atoning efficacy. Rather, he believed that, joined to Jesus, his own sufferings had merit and could be seen as part of the sufferings that would inaugurate the messianic age. Ultimately, the real message that Paul proclaims is Christ the risen Lord. To borrow from the great Jewish rabbi Hillel, everything else is commentary! However, commentary is necessary for us to understand the specific impact of the message in every time and place.  

Martha welcomes Jesus into her house. She is not merely overwhelmed with the traditional household duties; she is fulfilling the customary responsibilities of hospitality. The word “service” has specific ministerial connotations. Mary sits at Jesus’ feet, the customary place of a disciple. In their own ways, both sisters are faithful disciples of Jesus, one listening to his word and the other performing service. Jesus is not being asked to intervene in a domestic squabble. He is being asked to set priorities. Last Sunday we saw that attention to the person in need is to be preferred over the fulfillment of one’s everyday responsibilities.  The story of Martha and Mary seems to be another example of this principle.