Bible Study for July 20, 2025

Hi everyone,

In our Gospel for this Sunday, we hear the story of "Martha and Mary", a story that often is misinterpreted.  Be careful, this gospel is not about passivity being better than activity, nor about silent listening as the best way for women.  Remember, Martha's necessary "tasks" are called diakonia in Greek, the same word that is used for "ministry" in the New Testament.

TO JOIN ONLINE

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/88689075784?pwd=K3lRMnVmL2Z6MGFoQ3AzRjJsRFplZz09

Meeting ID: 886 8907 5784
Passcode: church

Pastor Tim

"God has led you to the desert, and spoken to your Heart."

Mount of Olives Lutheran Church

3546 E. Thomas Rd

Phoenix, AZ 85018

602-956-1620 office

Bible Study for July 20, 2025

Opening Prayer:

Creator of all, we thank you for the opportunity to gather in study. Open our minds and hearts. By the power of the Holy Spirit, unite us in faith, hope, and love. Help us to be faithful to the gospel and to walk humbly with you. Grant us your peace as we grow in wisdom and understanding. We pray in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Luke 10:38-42 When has a good friend helped you see something in your life that needed changing? How might you do this for a friend of your own?

The Gospel writer depicts Martha as “distracted by her many tasks” and has Jesus chiding his hostess for her harried demeanor. This was a diagnosis of her soul’s condition. The repetition of her name (“Martha, Martha”) was a mild rebuke or impatient lament over her distraction from the things that really mattered. But at the same time Jesus was expressing deep love and concern for her, a closeness further revealed in the Gospel of John chapters 11 and 12. It requires a good friend to care enough to challenge our destructive behavior. In early Christian literature, “distracted” or “drawn away” referred to the cares of the world that pull us from God, like the thorns that choked the growth of the seed in the parable of the sower. Jesus ultimately presented Martha with the task of discernment. Sometimes the disciple sits and receives from Jesus. At other times, the disciple rises to serve. Luke underscores the disciples’ need for trust and discernment by preceding the Mary and Martha story with the Good Samaritan parable, and then followed it with Jesus’ teaching on prayer: “Give us this day our daily bread.” This is the choice for all of us—to identify the “one thing needful”—everyday as we follow the Christ. 

Colossians 1:15-28 How does hymn-singing draw a congregation together?

After giving thanks for the faith and love of the congregation at Colossae, the author of the letter breaks into song, an early hymn exalting the person and work of Jesus Christ. The hymn, probably familiar to the Colossians, helps establish a bond between the author and this congregation founded by someone else. The high regard and universal scope of the hymn is startling when compared with the career of the earthly Jesus, born as the son of a Galilean artisan. How did early Christians make the leap from the humble historic Jesus to the cosmic, eternal Christ? Colossians 1:27 provides a clue: “Christ in you.” The powerful experience of the resurrected Christ within the church prompted several hymns: Philippians 2:6-11, 1 Timothy 3:16, Hebrews 1:3-4, and 1 Peter 2:22-25. The mystery of Christian faith is attested to not only by exalted songs but also by the hardships willingly endured by Paul and his followers. Only by holding on to Christ could the Colossians mature in faith and feel accepted in God’s presence. 

Closing Prayer

O god of Abraham and Sarah, in due season, you fulfilled a promise almost too wonderful to imagine.

Awaken us to the workings of your will in our midst, and keep us attentive to the things that matter, until the day when your mystery, hidden throughout the ages, stands fully revealed in the kingdom of all your saints. Amen.