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Amos 8: 1-12
Psalm 52
Colossians 1: 15-28
Luke 10: 38-42
The reading starts with Amos' fourth vision and contains a play on the Hebrew words for 'summer' and 'end.' The first two visions ( Amos 7:1-3 and 4-6) finish with Amos praying to God to deliver Israel. In the second pair of visions Amos knows that it is no longer any use praying for the deliverance of Israel. God has made it very clear that Israel has been judged, found wanting, and will be punished. What was Israel's sin? It seems that judgement was not for any individual sin, but for structural and institutional evil. Israel had broken the two basic commandments, they had failed to love God and love neighbour. It is the second of these that has really upset God. How dare they "trample on the needy" and "bring ruin to the poor." They were not only cheating the poor but also buying and selling them as commodities. What made it even worse was that they were doing all this on the Sabbath. They were not only cheating their neighbour, they were cheating God. The retribution for their sins is to be the destruction of their land. Several times in his book Amos makes the connection between the social sins of the Israelites and the subsequent disturbance of nature. We may have thought that such a connection was a recent invention! However, the sins of Amos' time, a world of small scale agricultural societies, are minute compared with the evils of today. Our exploitation, greed, and environmental destruction could literally bring about the apocalyptic doom described in verse 11. Like Amos, process theology acknowledges the relationship between what we do as humans and what happens to the environment. Finally, verse 12 describes a crisis of belief that is also present in today's society. There are many today who are looking for spiritual relief, but fail because they are not "hearing the words of the Lord".
This Psalm is a lovely example of a prayer by someone who has complete trust that their God can do everything. The author is praying for deliverance from an enemy. It starts by saying why the enemy deserves God's wrath; they "love evil more than they love good." God will break them for loving riches and wealth more than they love God. But God will protect me for ever (a green olive tree is protected and lives for a long time) because I trust in God and do God's will. The prayer ends with thanks to a loving, protecting God. We may not think of God in terms of one who can do everything, but surely this Psalm can be an example to us of how we should talk to our God. We should talk about our concerns, our worries, as well as our dreams and wishes. We should give thanks and praise to our God for the many 'deliverances' and other benefits that we have received. God can work with that and use us to further God's kingdom here on earth.
Without a doubt the centre piece of today's reading is the wonderful poetic hymn. It is often called the 'Christ Hymn' even though Christ is not mentioned in the hymn. This has led commentators to speculate as to the origin of the hymn. Many commentators put this hymn in the same category as Phil 2:5-11, Heb 1:1-4, Eph 2:14-16, and John 1:1-14 and say that if we try to extract the meaning from their imagery we run the risk of "robbing the words of their power."
Regardless of its origin, I like to ask the question "Why has the author put the hymn here?" Remember that the author thought that the church at Colossae was travelling pretty well, but they were being upset by a group that was pushing what was possibly an early form of gnosticism. Later on in the letter the author gives us an insight into several aspects of this "philosophy" or spirituality which involves a complete system of religious beliefs and practices.
We must also understand that this letter comes from a period when 'reality' consisted of human life being controlled by invisible forces, angels, demons and other "elemental spirits of the universe." Remember in last week's reading the author says that God has rescued us from the "powers of darkness." In this context, the "Christ Hymn" in verses 15-20 are the author's way of showing how the early invisible Wisdom has been made visible by the coming of God's beloved Son. In the hymn, the Son occupies a place of pre-eminence and supreme authority over the whole of the heavenly and earthly cosmos. The whole of creation has been reconciled in God, and the Colossians have to look no further than their own Church if it is based on Christ as its head.
In the subsequent 'lesson' ( vs21-28), the author "I Paul" commissions them to act as a Church which he says is the body of Christ. He reminds them that they have in their own Church all the knowledge to understand the "mystery that has been hidden throughout the ages and generations. . . " We no longer believe in a cosmos frequented by powers and elemental spirits, but the message is still clear, through Christ God has been revealed to us. With 'Christ in us,' everyone will "mature in Christ." If we think of Christ as the ongoing revelation of God within us, then to mature in Christ is to continuously listen to what God is revealing to us. We cannot grow in isolation, we need the support of people of faith, a Church, and we need to make "peace" with every "creature under heaven."
Verses 21-23 have a creation theme, saying that in faith we must remain steadfast in the hope promised in the gospel "which has been proclaimed to every creature under heaven." This ties in with verses 27-28 where we are told that God has an initial aim and a lure for not just Jew and Gentile, but for all creatures, both animate and inanimate.
A short, simple story, but what a tremendous amount has been read into the differences in approach between Martha and Mary. Norman Perrin says that this story is a characteristic approach to women in Luke's gospel: the woman disciple is praised; the woman domestic is chided. The notes in my Bible suggest that a simple meal (only one dish) is sufficient for hospitality. Despite her best intentions, and it is highly likely that Martha wanted to hear what Jesus was saying, Martha has become distracted by the 'act' of hospitality. Mary is satisfied to sit at the Lord's feet and listen. Is Mary inhospitable, lazy, inconsiderate, or does she have her priorities right? Martha 'tells' Jesus what he 'must' say and Mary 'listens' to what Jesus 'wishes' to say. Martha is preoccupied with what they should eat and drink, Mary is concerned with the kingdom of God. We are reminded that true devotion to Jesus may not always be busy action; it also involves quiet listening. Jesus was not against serving at the table, and Luke's readers would have been familiar with the two aspects of the diakonia, ministry of service and ministry of the word.
Another aspect of the story normally used is that Martha is occupying the traditional role of women in first- century society. They were not allowed to become rabbi's pupils, and were restricted to domestic duties. Mary, by sitting at Jesus feet is taking the traditional posture of a disciple. This is another example of Jesus 'breaking the rules.' Jesus was breaking down another of the accepted norms and prejudices of the day. (Question . . . Who leaves the Church service early at your Church so that morning tea can be served?)
This story is part of Luke's systematic lesson in what is required of us
if we want to see the kingdom of God. Jesus is on his way to Jerusalem, in
obedience to God's will, and is teaching his disciples about the kingdom
of God. Earlier we were told the story of the disciples too busy or too
preoccupied to follow the way of Jesus, and how they will not be fit for
the kingdom of God. Next we heard about the seventy who listened to, and
then did the will of God, but they were told not to expect worldly praise
but that they would have their names written in heaven. In the story of
the Good Samaritan we are told to follow the example of compassion, mercy
and love in order to have eternal life. In today's story we are told that
we have to make time to listen to the word of God. When we listen we will
find that God's word is always with us and the promise is that it will
never be taken away from us. The story of Martha and Mary is a story about
the kingdom of God.
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