July 17, 2022

Let the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight, O Lord our strength and our redeemer. Amen.

As many here know, I enjoyed a 30-year career with the US Postal Service.

Maybe the word “Enjoyed” does not describe all the emotions I experienced.

When I was first hired, I was assigned to the Main Post Office at 30th Street.

New hires go through a 90-day probation period, and during that time, have no job protections, neither civil service nor union.

We were told we could be fired for any reason,

even if the supervisors didn’t like our looks.

I had left my job as a State Store Manager, where I was comfortable in my job duties, and was climbing the management ladder here in Delaware County for over 5 years.

Now I was in an unknown world.

My career change had been a financial decision.

I could make more money at the bottom of the Postal ladder then I had been as a store General Manager in the PLCB.

We had just purchased a new home in Radnor,

we had 2 children and the third was on her way.

The pressure was on!

The Post Office is always interested in the “numbers”.

They count and measure everything they can, which is a lot.

Postmasters and supervisors are tasked with keeping work hours under their budget.

If they don’t, they had better have a good reason.

High mail volume, snowstorm, etc.

So, supervisors were always pressured, and the pressure flowed down to the Carriers.

Later, as a supervisor, a route examiner and eventually an analyst at HQ in Washington

I dove deeper into productivity and service scores and at HQ developed rankings for all Areas and Districts nationally.

So, it is no surprise, that a performance analyst might have a problem with the Mary and Martha story in today’s Gospel.

Martha who was so busy preparing the house for Jesus,

would make an excellent postal Clerk or Carrier.

I would hire her in a minute!

She was multitasking, while Mary was just sitting there.

I would have been next to Martha saying,

“Get up Mary, your break time is over.

You can listen to Jesus later, when you hit off the clock”

Martha would have surpassed all productivity standards of the Postal Service.

Part of me wants to side with Martha.

I can picture Martha feeding the goat, sweeping the house, cleaning both sets of dishes, all to make Jesus visit that much more enjoyable.

If she hadn’t done all these things, what would Jesus think of her as a housekeeper.

<Pause>

Is Jesus teaching us about priorities here?

About our focus?

We know Mary, to Martha’s chagrin, is focused on Jesus.

That is clear, but what is Martha concerned with?

Is she focused on Jesus thinking well of her?

-About Jesus being impressed with her domestic abilities?

-Is Martha trying to earn Jesus’ favor?

Most of us have had times in our lives when we were trying to impress God.

Has anyone else ever prayed the bargainer’s prayer?

Dear God if you give me a new bicycle, or a new job, or whatever it is we want, I will go to church every week and give more in the collection! I’ll do this that and the other thing for you God! Now help me out.. please?

On that note, there is no need to bargain with God or try to impress Him.

God knows us better than we know ourselves.

Scripture tells us that the hairs on our heads are numbered, or in my case, the decreasing hairs on my head.

He knows every bad thing we did, and he knows why we did them.

He knows every time we hurt someone, and he knows why we did.

And after all that, he still loves us.

Not because we can earn his love with our actions,

But he loves us in spite of our actions.

Some of us, may have heard of the Pelagian heresy.

It was a big deal in the fifth century.

Pelagius and his followers stressed the essential goodness of human nature, and the freedom of the human will.

No Problem there.

God made us in his image.

And he gifted us with a free will.

However, Pelagius taught that all we humans had to do,

was just make the right decisions.

There was no need for grace or help from God.

We could do it all ourselves.

And that was HIS error.

That all of us could live perfect lives if we just put our minds to it.

The Apostle Paul wrote time and time again about trying to obey the Jewish law, and how futile that was.

He mentions how only one person, Jesus was able to lead a perfect life.

Paul wrote that is we are guilty of one infraction; we are guilty of breaking the entire law.

Paul also tells us about God’s grace.

It is a free gift from God.

It can not be earned, which is a good thing,

because although grace is free,

A heavy price was paid for it, by Jesus on the cross.

Perhaps, the lesson of the Mary and Martha story is priorities.

Martha’s priorities were skewed.

She was trying to earn favor with God by her multitasking.

Mary on the other hand seemed to sense that spending time with the Lord was more important.

Is this a faith vs works story?

The Faith vs works argument was a key point in the Protestant Reformation.

Scripture teaches us that we are saved by Faith.

However, the Bible also reminds us that Faith without works is dead.

I don’t believe it is an either–or situation.

When we put it in the light of Jesus’ teaching on the two greatest commandments:

  • Love God, and
  • Love your neighbor as yourself.

We see not only is the Mary and Martha story about priorities, but it is also about relationships.

Our relationship with God and our relationships with others.

The two things are not separate.

I know when I am faithful in my prayer time,

I am more in tune with seeing how I can help others.

When I am faithful in helping others, I find it easier to pray.

The Christian life shouldn’t be about checking off a list of things to do.

Rather it is about relationships with God and our neighbors.

At 8:00 –

We’ve been singing a short hymn for the Gospel acclamation at the 10:15 service, and although we don’t sing at this service, I think the verse applies

At 10:15-

I like our current Gospel acclamation, and I think the verses give us some insight of living the Christian life.

Seek ye first the kingdom of God and all its righteousness,

and all these things will be added unto you.

Alleluia – Alleluia.

Alleluia – Alleluia!