"See! Judge! Act!"

1          GHOSTS OVER MY SHOULDER

1.1       Business end of a teapot

I have a couple of ghosts looking over my shoulder this morning.

First is my late mother-in-law who used to tell me

she thought Martha received a very bad deal in this Gospel reading.

Considering my mother-in-law was much seen

on the business end of a tea-pot

and even brought her knitting to Presbytery

so that she could claim a productive evening she had a strong case.

1.2       The big sister

Second is that of my ubiquitous grandmother,

the firstborn of 12 children with 6 of her own,

whose idea of a good sleep-in was to get up before 7am winter or summer.

Grandma told me wistfully that her mother, an only child and a good Baptist,

would sit and read her Bible most of the day,

while Grandma, being the big sister

would attend to such things as forever tying and untying bootlaces

and helping to blow little noses.

Her name was Mary but her role was Martha.

Grandma was responsible for helping at least two of my great-uncles

start in the world

and when I was baptised in her home her mother was bedridden there.

I don’t think she ever stopped looking after people

and in her latter years had to be guided to comfortable chairs.

2          MARTHA AND MARY (Luke 10:38-42)

2.1       Following the Good Samaritan Parable

So, what’s this all about with Martha and Mary?

You’ve noticed by now this passage

follows the Parable of the Good Samaritan.

Last week it was all about hands-on ministry in the face of mere status.

Just when we’ve got the hang of it,

this story seems to take us into the opposite direction.

But Jesus has a habit of doing this.

When he’s around we’re never quite sure we’ve been right.

2.2       Trapped in anxiety (Lk 10:40f)

But this particular passage is not to condemn Martha.

The key is that Martha felt trapped by the many things she was trying to do.

She was not going to sit down any time soon.

Anxiety had taken her over just like I’ve experienced

and probably most of you at some time.

We’ll never be able to complete everything,

and we need that time and space where we can sit down and listen to Jesus.

2.3       The other side of Martha (Jn 11:20-27)

For those who want to see this other side of Martha,

try John 11 where she has this deep conversation

with Jesus on death and resurrection.

It’s OK to be busy, but Jesus does want to get a word in edgeways.

There is much to command our attention.

When the Young Christian Workers organisation was formed

in Belgium about a century ago,

it took on the model of “See, Judge, Act”.

This involves observation, contemplation, and action.

Mary, Martha, and Jesus are all needed here.

3          AMOS WITH THE BASKET OF SUMMER FRUIT (Amos 8:1-12)

3.1       Contemplating the figs (Am 8:1)

This is where the minor prophet Amos comes in.

He saw that the nation of Israel in the 8 centuries before Jesus was in trouble.

They were living the good life and the good life wasn’t going to last.

He observed what was happening from his working life down in Tekoa, Judah

as a herder and a dresser of sycamore trees.

Rather than rush into action, he contemplated a basket of summer fruit, probably figs or olives.

We know what happens to fruit in late summer when it’s not eaten.

The richness and the tastiness always wears off,

and “off” is the operative word.

3.2       A curds and whey society (Am 8:4-6)

That was it.

He knew that Israel to his north was going the same way as the summer fruit.

Amos left Tekoa in Judah

and hiked all the way north into the kingdom of Israel.

He had a message to deliver whether the people wanted it or not.

God was being put aside in favour of the “Greed is good” mentality.

The wealth was drifting upward like cream in milk left out in the sun

leaving the poor at the bottom.

When that happens the whole lot goes sour.

Curds and whey like Little Miss Muffet drinks.

3.3       The end for Israel (Am 8:2b,7-12)

The fact that we have what Amos said before us

proves for us that people didn’t listen

except for the few that made sure this was all written down

so it could be read after it had all come about.

And come about it did.

Shortly after the Assyrian Empire from what is now northern Iraq

expanded west into the area sweeping all before it.

4          NOT HERE TODAY, SURELY?

4.1       “It’s the economy, stupid”

We would have to be living under a rock not to see that such events like this have happened over many other times and in many other places.

Not today, surely? Not where we are, surely?

Yet, our whole way of life is based on the belief that the Market is God.

Our cultures are being relentless eroded

in favour of endless and repetitive marketing propaganda

in our respective faces on TV, online, and everywhere.

We cannot get the information to search for truth and wisdom

because our news programs are full of gossip and propaganda censoring out what we really need to know.

It is easier to find funds to build another casino

than it is to lift up those who need a decent break.

Everything is decided on the premise that “it’s the economy, stupid”

as if anybody can predict accurately what the economy is going to do

and in the meantime our environment is abused on the way.

4.2       The fruit of the spirit (Gal 5:22f)

Keith Rowe writing in our “With Love to the World” puts it so much better.

“In our day we might say that the destructive actions of brewery barons, media magnates, tobacco tycoons, dodgy developers and finance fiddlers

are abhorrent to God for they contribute

to the destruction of human community and damage individual lives.

But their days are numbered.

The future belongs to those who walk in the pathways of God’s love,

who trust in the steadfast love of God.”

There is a time to be Mary, to be Martha, to be Amos,

and most of all to be like Jesus for the fruit of the Spirit will never perish.