The readings for the sixth Sunday after Pentecost are taken from Genesis 18:1-14; Colossians 1:21-29; and Luke 10:38-42.
Work does not create a worker. Fruit does not create the tree. We don’t take care of God; He takes care of us. Central to the good message is God’s promise to restore life. Promises bring hope, but also the challenge of waiting patiently. Resting in honesty about our dependence on God is impossible for human nature corrupted by the rebellion of Adam.
Genesis records how many times God appeared to Abraham to reassure him that he and Sarah would have a son—while Sarah’s age and barrenness made that promise from God impossible. Exactly. How else to bring us to the truth of our limitations, which makes way for us to know the truth of God’s limitlessness? Abraham is the model of a regenerate soul: grateful and hospitable to the Word of God. Sarah is perfectly typical of our human nature: laughing at God’s promises to give us life.
Paul reminded the Colossians about God’s remedies for our loss of life. God reconciles us to Himself through the substitutionary life of Jesus. Paul reminds us that God’s promise to Abraham was that in his descendent all the nations of the world would be blessed (restored to life). This is a mystery to human nature that insists that we are the source of our own life, future, and hope.
Luke also records a comparison between two people. Martha was convinced that her relationship with God was based on her service to Him. Mary, acutely aware of her inability to live under the law, was at rest as she heard how the Lord Jesus was restoring life to her by His Word and Spirit. Notice how Mary remains at rest while Jesus defends her against Martha’s criticism. Resting in honesty about our dependence on God lets us hear what He promises and provides patient hope as we wait for God to restore our lives to us—partly now, completely in eternity.