Journal: Priscilla Papers
Volume: PP 34:2 (Spring 2020)
Article: Mary And Martha: Celebrating The Gifts Of Others
Author: Janet Galante

PP 34:2 (Spring 2020) p. 10

Mary And Martha: Celebrating The Gifts Of Others

a sermon by

Janet Galante

And

Molly Kate Hance

Janet Galante is College Minister at First Christian Church in Johnson City, Tennessee, and is pursuing an MDiv nearby at Emmanuel Christian Seminary.

Molly Kate Hance is a student at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee, and is involved in a church plant called Alive Nashville.

This sermon was jointly written and has been preached by both authors. Thee form presented here is a combination of the two original versions.

I want to begin this morning with a story about my family, a story about my sister and me. My sister is younger than me, and I’m proud of her. Well, most of the time. I’m usually an awesome big sister, and I brag on her until I drive people crazy, but every once in a while, I get a little more jealous than I’d like to admit. This story happened on a Mother’s Day weekend. My dad gathered my sister, brother, and me on the Friday night before Mother’s Day. He told us he would get Mom out of the house all day Saturday and it would be our job to top-to-bottom clean the house for her.

The next morning, my dad took my mom out to run some errands, and my siblings and I leapt to work, making sure the house was spotless. Our spirits were high, but quickly, on that May Saturday morning, it became apparent that my little sister was absolutely lapping me. Every time I looked at my phone, or paused for a break, or even grabbed a glass of water, she had started a new task.

This continued until about three p.m. As I went to get a load of laundry from the dryer, I noticed her conspicuous absence. My perfect sister had stopped helping me around the house to read a book she had to finish by Monday morning for her English class. My friends, you have never seen a stack of towels so sanctimoniously folded as the stack I folded that day! Even though my sister had done more work than I could ever do that morning, and even though I knew this load of laundry was a gift to my wonderful mother, I was creasing linens with a vengeance. My perfect little sister had left me to finish the work by myself, and by the time my mom arrived home, I was in no mood to celebrate.

I don’t know if you’ve ever done that, if you’ve ever taken on a task with excitement but, by the end of it, felt overwrought and frustrated with every person in the room, but this problem is an old one. In fact, in Luke 10, Jesus encounters two sisters, much like my sister and me, getting the house ready to celebrate someone.

Here’s how the story begins...