Articles
Christ in the House of Mary and Martha – Johannes Vermeer
The painting is inspired by Luke 10:38-42 where Jesus enters the home of Mary and Martha. It happens after the Good Samaritan. The passage only occurs in Luke’s Gospel.
Martha greets Jesus but is preoccupied with tasks. Mary chose listening to the teachings of Jesus over helping her sister prepare food. Jesus is friends with this family who live in Bethany. Later, just before the crucifixion, Jesus will raise Mary and Martha’s brother Lazarus.
The three figures are bound in a circular composition. Circular compositions were frequently employed to unite complex figure groupings and impede the viewer’s eye from straying aimlessly around the picture If, however, the implied circle becomes too influential, the observer may feel subliminally entrapped. As a remedy Dutch artists often included a sort of escape route Vermeer provided a similar visual relief in the half-opened doorway to the dark recess of the upper left-hand corner of the composition.
The work is known for the handling of light and shadow. The play of light on different surfaces such as the loaf of bread or the different fabrics (Mary seated) is noted. There is color contrast in Mary’s clothing. Martha is statuesque with her downcast eyes. She seems to ignore Jesus pointing. The painting seems to be echoing the last verse. But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.”
Dutch interior paintings are their own genre in the 17th century. Many of the paintings focus on love and/or the virtues of domestic life, the latter appropriate for this painting. The Dutch had fought a ware for independence culminating in 1648 The new Dutch Republic was the most prosperous nation in Europe and led European trade, science, and art. A distinctive feature of the period, compared to earlier European painting, was the limited number of religious paintings. Dutch Calvinism forbade religious paintings in churches, and though biblical subjects were acceptable in private homes, relatively few were produced.
This is one of the largest and earliest surviving paintings by Johannes Vermeer (1632-1675). It is also his only known work of a biblical subject though he was a specialist of interiors. It was done between 1654-1656.
Around the time that he painted this picture, Vermeer married Catharina Bolnes, the youngest daughter of a wealthy Catholic in Delft, Maria Thins. This match would have required Vermeer’s conversion to Catholicism, and the young couple soon moved in with the bride’s mother. Given its large size, it is likely that Christ in the House of Martha and Mary was a specific commission, possibly intended for a clandestine Catholic church in Delft or for a Catholic patron, perhaps even Vermeer’s mother-in-law.
The Spiritual Side of Apollo 11
On July 20, 1969, Apollo 11 landed on the moon. Although faith and science have often been in conflict in the past and many see the mission as only a triumph in science, there are examples of faith a part of the Apollo program.
One of the first acts performed on Apollo 11, after first landing on the Moon, was a celebration of the Communion by astronaut Buzz Aldrin. In 1969, Buzz Aldrin was an elder at Webster Presbyterian Church in Houston, where he was given the communion kit that he took to Sea of Tranquility. Upon landing on the Moon in the Eagle LM, Buzz made the following announcement to Mission Control:
“Houston, this is Eagle. This is the LM pilot speaking. I would like to request a few moments of silence. I would like to invite each person listening in, whoever or wherever he may be, to contemplate for a moment the events of the last few hours, and to give thanks in his own individual way.
Aldrin reported later “ In the radio blackout, I opened the little plastic packages which contained the bread and the wine. I poured the wine into the chalice our church had given me. In the one-sixth gravity of the moon, the wine slowly curled and gracefully came up the side of the cup. Then I read the Scripture: “I am the vine, you are the branches. Whosoever abides in me will bring forth much fruit.
“Eagle’s metal body creaked. I ate the tiny Host and swallowed the wine. I gave thanks for the intelligence and spirit that had brought two young pilots to the Sea of Tranquility. It was interesting for me to think: the very first liquid ever poured on the moon, and the very first food eaten there, were the communion elements
It is especially fitting and poignant that Buzz also read Psalm 8: 3-4:
3 “When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars that you have established;
4 “What are human beings that you are mindful of them, mortals[a] that you care for them?”
Each year since 1969, his church, Webster Presbyterian, holds a Lunar Communion service to commemorate Buzz Aldrin’s celebration on the Moon.
The mission also carried goodwill not only with the message “We came in peace for all mankind” but also left a special disc. The company Sprague used a photo-etching technique using lithographic thin films to create a long-term alternative to microfiche to engrave letters (scanned and reduced 200x) from the leaders of the world’s nations. Each letter was photographed, and optically reduced to the point where each letter was ¼ the width of a hair!
Some like Buzz Aldrin carried their religion to the moon but at least two others felt the tug of religion on their return.
Jim Irwin of Apollo 15 felt the presence of God during his 67 hours on the Moon’s surface. In his autobiography Destination Moon he wrote: “Before the flight, I was really not a religious man. I believed in God, but I really had nothing to share. But when I came back from the moon, I felt so strongly that I had something that I wanted to share with others, that I established High Flight, in order to tell all men everywhere that God is alive, not only on earth but also on the moon. “
Astronaut Alan Bean recounts another experience on Apollo15, “I can remember when he and Dave were riding along on their rover near the end of their 3rd EVA and Dave said, “Oh, look at the mountains today, Jim. When they’re all sunlit isn’t that beautiful?” Jim answered, “Really is, Dave. I’m reminded on a favorite biblical passage from Psalms: ‘I look unto the hills from whence cometh my help.’ But of course, we get quite a bit from Houston, too.
Matthew, Sept. 21, Apostle and Evangelist
Sept. 21 is the day we celebrate the life of the author of the Gospel of Matthew, both Apostle and evangelist due to the Book he wrote.
Matthew was one of the 12 apostles that were with Jesus Christ throughout His public ministry on earth. The consensus among scholars is that this book in the Bible was written in the mid-70’s, 40 years after the resurrection. It was the second Gospel written after Mark, 10 years earlier.
Matthew was a Jewish tax collector that left his profession to follow Jesus. Matthew gives a personal witness account of many miracles that Jesus performed prior to being crucified on a Roman cross.
He wrote after the destruction of the temple by the Romans and massacre of the Jewish priests. Many thought they were in the end days. He was a Greek speaker who also knew Aramaic and Hebrew. He drew on Mark and a collection of the sayings of the Lord (Q), as well as on other available traditions, oral and written. He was probably a Jewish Christian and we think the book was written in Antioch in Syria where a community had developed.
The purpose of this book is to prove to readers that Jesus is the true Messiah that was prophesized in the Old Testament of the Bible. The Kingdom begins with us . The author of the Gospel of Matthew, more than the other synoptic writers, explicitly cites Old Testament messianic writings. With 28 chapters, it is the longest Gospel of the four.
It begins by accounting the genealogy of Jesus, showing him to be the true heir to David’s throne. The genealogy documents Christ’s credentials as Israel’s king. Then the narrative continues to revolve around this theme with his birth, baptism, and public ministry.
The Sermon on the Mount highlights Jesus’ moral teachings and the miracles reveal his authority and true identity. Matthew also emphasizes Christ’s abiding presence with humankind
The Gospel organizes the teachings of Jesus into five major discourses: the Sermon on the Mount (chapters 5-7), the Commissioning of the 12 Apostles (chapter 10), the Parables of the Kingdom (chapter 13), the Discourse on the Church (chapter 18), and the Olivet Discourse (chapters 23-25). The emphasis corresponds to the 5 great books of the Old Testament, the Pentateuch .
General Convention – 2022, introduction
General Convention will be held for 4 days (Fri July 8 through Monday , July 11, 2022) in Baltimore MD.
General Convention is the governing body of The Episcopal Church. It typically meets every three years as a bicameral legislature that includes the House of Deputies and the House of Bishops composed of deputies and bishops from each diocese. It is also the largest churchwide gathering, drawing together upwards of 5,000 attendees.
The General Convention addresses a lot of internal issues of the institutional church. Who are we as Episcopalians? What do we care about? What should we be doing, and how, when, and with whom?
It is a grueling pace for those participating. Most days Deputies and Bishops will start around 7 or 7:30 am and stay on the go through at least 10 pm each night. The typical deputy day involves Worship, legislative sessions, workshops, and meetings. Evening legislative sessions happen toward the end of General Convention as resolutions and canons come out of committees.
Luke- Sending out the Seventy (Gospel July 3)
This story speaks of the seventy whom Jesus sent out. Working Preacher calls it a kind of “internship,” a training time while Jesus was still with them. This story is a series of instructions by Jesus . Jesus sends out the twelve earlier in the story and gives them instructions about what they are to do (Luke 9:1-6). The mission of the seventy is an extension of the mission of the twelve. One major difference is that this is a mission in Samaria. This is a peace mission among Samaritans who were often hostile to Jews in Galilee and Judea.
Our passage today, unique to Luke, is intimately related both to Jesus’ words in 9:1-6, when he sends out the 12, and 9:51-62 (last week), where he rather harshly dismisses potential followers who have to “take care of things” before they follow Jesus. He possibly was sending out all of his followers in this lesson.
The number seventy is reminiscent of the seventy elders of Moses in Numbers 11:16-17. Just as these seventy men were destined to become the leaders of the Old Testament community, the seventy missionaries/disciples in Luke were destined to become the leaders of the New Testament community. In the Old Testament, the Lord God said that he would “take some of the Spirit that was on Moses and put it on them/the seventy that they could also bear the burden of the people.” In the New Testament, the implication is that the Spirit of Jesus would be transferred to these seventy missionaries/disciples, and that they would be equipped for leadership in the new movement of faith. It is representative of the number of nations in the world.
The urgency of the mission is emphasized. Jesus begins by using an agricultural metaphor. “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few.” The Day of Judgment (harvest) is close at hand so there is a need to look to the Lord to supply a full complement of missioners. In Jesus’ day, people intuitively understood when the fields were ripe for harvesting. Plowing, planting, watering, caring for, weeding are all different activities before harvesting. Harvesting means that the plants are ready to be gathered in or picked off the tree or from the field. Jesus was saying that people were ready to be harvested.
This was certainly true in Jesus’ day: a myriad of people were ready to belong to the kingdom but what was needed were more workers.
The mission was the same as Jesus’ own ministry: “cure the sick” and “say to them, ‘the kingdom of God has come near to you.’”
In any case, Verses 1-11 give us a snap-shot into the life of an itinerant preacher-teacher-healer at the time of Jesus.
Jesus sends them “ahead of him … to every town and place where he himself intended to go.” He “set his face to Jerusalem” in last week’s lectionary and will probably travel through villages where he has not been before. Rumors of what Jesus is doing have undoubtedly spread into Samaria so the seventy emissaries will announce his coming by giving people a preview of his own work. They were vulnerable in this land.
But when we look at the material in 10:1-12, it is not really about preparing people for the visit of Jesus, but rather about the mission of the disciples. It is also a preview of the ministry Jesus gives us today. We go “ahead of him,” bringing his message where we go. They are to travel “in pairs.” We think of groups doing mission work door-to-door, always with two people. We can assume that Jesus’ directive is for safety and for mutual encouragement. It’s also a sign that “we’re in this together” as followers of Jesus. When the disciples go out they will be vulnerable to rejection and persecution
Jesus’ advice on the mission was to “go light.” They were to come only with who they were and await local response In our terms the equivalent advice would be, “Don’t let stuff get in the way or conflict with your ministry of the gospel.” Travelling without personal possessions was an indicator of one’s humility and possible holiness. It also made one wholly dependent on the hospitality of strangers.
They have not expectations of how they are to be received. Once you find like-minded people, work with them. So don’t get distracted by “success.” The credit for that all belongs to God anyways. Instead, stay focused on your relationship with God who has written your name on the palm of His hand
There are two basic tasks 1. Bring the message, “God’s kingdom has come close to you!” All this is in the present tense and not the future. 2. Show by action. Bring deeds of the kingdom. (Namely, heal the sick.) Tell them the good news that “the kingdom of God has come near to you” (v. 9): it’s partly already here! The teams went out with an urgent message. “Turn around people – and seek peace – God’s reign has come close to you!” The message is timeless.
The early Christians saw themselves participating in this great climax of hope. Paul appears to have developed his strategy of visiting the cities of the world (of his time) and bringing an offering from the Gentiles to Jerusalem against this expectation. His apostleship was playing a role in the divine plan of bringing in the Gentiles.
The action plan of the disciples and doubtless of Jesus, himself, made hospitality central, especially the shared meal. The response of faith was about willingness to share food, to be together in mutual acceptance and fellowship at a meal. This was also a central symbol of hope. In their radical way Jesus and his disciples after him were precipitating hope in meals in the here and now. These became celebrations of hope, but also of inclusion and healing.
When you find a receptive person, a person of peace, God’s peace will be on him or her (v. 6). Accept their hospitality (“the laborer deserves to be paid”, v. 7) and “eat what is set before you” (v. 8, i.e. ignore Jewish dietary laws)
Reception was closely linked to hospitality. The ancient world had strong customs about hospitality. Larger Palestinian houses were such that you could freely enter the front half of the house from outside – it was public space. These disciples would then face the owners with the choice of being part of the kingdom movement by offering hospitality and enjoying its benefits through healing and teaching or of turning away these uninvited would-be guests.
The owners had a dilemma. The visitors claimed to be envoys of peace and wholeness, including healing. They claimed to be announcing the reign of God and by their actions, bringing its reality into life in the here and now. To receive them was to receive the one who sent them and to receive him was to receive God, to be open to the kingdom. To reject someone who is not an enemy, to refuse to offer hospitality, was shameful. It brought disgrace and promised misfortune. That is the expectation here, too. Reject these messengers and you reject Jesus; reject Jesus and you reject God; reject God and you invite judgment. Shaking dust off the feet is probably symbolic of such judgment
Vv. 11-16 tell the seventy how to handle hostile situations: tell such people that they will be ignored; the kingdom has come anyway. If people don’t accept your message, he says, shake their dust off your feet and move on. At the end of the era, they will be judged harshly (v. 12). Then v. 16: in hearing the good news from a disciple, people hear Jesus; if they reject a disciple, they reject Jesus and the Father (“the one who sent me”).
Notice how Jesus only tells them what they should do and doesn’t say anything about measuring their success. The version 16 paragraph closes with another note about success. We are not to rejoice about our success in our various ministries, but to rejoice “that your names are written in heaven,” that is, that we are part of this kingdom of God which we are proclaiming. So, the essence of the mission is to live out the relationship with God that has been given to us through Jesus Christ. And this is what it looks like; don’t travel alone, do travel light, not worry about what is up ahead, just share peace and healing if you can.
It is not about selling a brand name (‘Christian’), but sharing a vision of change in such a way that means real participation in making it real in the here and now. People who really care recognize others who really care.
Historically the growth of a household churches was a result. Households (half public communities in themselves) committed to caring in the name of Jesus became church communities. The travelers became ‘apostles’ (envoys), the link people. Link people and locals were a loose movement for change, people for the poor, people convinced they were participating in God’s initiative to bring hope. It was all about being bearers of this hope. As the movement grew the link people spawned local leadership patterns, which evolved into structures for order, now reflected in formal orders of ministry.
The seventy returned with joy, saying, “Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!” He/Jesus gave his disciples power and authority over the demons and unclean spirits. The disciples were more effective when they knew that they had been invested with authority. With authority, the disciples told about the power of God in their lives. Jesus had an inner spiritual authority which drew people to him. The opposite of having power and authority in one’s faith is to have a doubting, half believing faith. A doubting, half believing faith lacks credibility, power and authority
In our time the church is closely linked to mission and it’s difficult to avoid measuring success. We live with membership figures, giving levels, budgets, annual reports, and so on. It’s very easy to measure our work by these figures — and that’s how many people will measure our ministry — but that’s contrary to this text.
Success is not only difficult to measure but is difficult to achieve in any sense in our day with Sunday being “just another day”. The phenomenon of “spiritual but not religious” has captured many people who indicate their religious preference is “none.”
How does the church articulate its mission today? Can working with and through agencies and institutions substitute for talking with individuals about their response to the gospel? In what ways can the mission of the church be articulated and pursued by the church today?
Such questions do not permit easy answers, but the interpretation of these verses for the church is not complete until we grapple with these issues. The church can neither recreate the itinerancy of the earliest days of the Jesus movement in Galilee nor abandon the gospel call to announce the kingdom and devote oneself to kingdom tasks. The expression of the mission of the church in concrete forms and specific activities, however, has changed from generation to generation.
The development of a world economy and the oppression of Third World Countries require that we include in our awareness of the church’s mission concerns for the end of economic exploitation of other people, alleviation of disease and hunger, and assurance of basic human rights
So how do we define mission today. One possibility: “10 PRINCIPLES OF MISSION” (quoted from Brian P. Stoffregen )
1. It affirms the world’s need for the church’s mission: “The harvest is plentiful.” there is more work to do than laborers to do it.
2. Jesus’ commission affirms the importance of prayer in support of the church’s mission: “Ask the Lord of the harvest.”
3. It insists on the active participation of each disciple: “Go on your way.” The work of the church is not merely the calling of a select few. Believers can contribute to it in their own way and in the context of their spiritual journey.
4. Jesus’ commission warns of the dangers will face and provides guidelines: “I am sending you out like lambs into the midst of wolves.” By means of this metaphor, Jesus seems to be counseling innocence and sincerity, vulnerability and non-resistance as means of turning aside anger and danger.
5. Jesus calls for singularity of purpose: “Greet no one on the road.”
6. The commission specifies the purpose of the mission: “Say, ‘Peace to this house’ and ‘the kingdom of God has come near to you.'” Disciples declare what God is doing and bring God’s peace to whomever receives them. Share table fellowship with whomever receives you.
7. The host, not the guest, sets the context for the disciple’s witness: “Eat what is set before you.” The disciples do not seek to dictate the menu or impose their own cultural background on others.
8. Jesus’ commission recognizes that the disciples will not always succeed: “[When] they do not welcome you….” Jesus knew that the disciples would meet resistance and rejection some of the time.
9. Jesus admonishes the disciples to persevere: “Shake the dust from your feet.
10. Jesus gives the disciples a word of assurance about the fulfillment of God’s redemptive mission: “Know this: the kingdom of God has come near.”
By principles such as these the church can be guided in every generation. The context, means, and forms of the message continually, but its basis in God’s redemptive love remains constant.
One hope for mission may be generational. Thee millennials (born 1982-2002) those 22-30 are struggling to find themselves within community. Their world is different from many of us. They have been plugged into technology since they were babies, are a safe generation, are the first generation for which Hispanics/Latinos will be the largest minority group instead of African Americans and have the most educated mothers of any generation before them.
They are a challenge. Joe Carter writes in the Gospel Coalition (thegospelcoaltion.org) of the Millennial Value Survey survey done in March, 2012. About 25 percent of younger Millennials are unaffiliated with a religion, up from 11 percent who were affiliated with a religion in childhood. About 76 percent of Millennials feel that modern-day Christianity “has good values and principles,” but object to certain perceptions of churches as being “anti-gay.”
For the seventy two missioners the writing consisted of miraculous healings, while for us today, the writing consists of such things as the love of the brotherhood – “by this shall all men know that you are my disciples”. The message then was about a coming kingdom communicated by wandering prophets, while for us today, the word is a message about eternity communicated on a church banner, a pamphlet, a TV advert, a free Bible distribution, a web site…