'The Road to Jericho, Mary & Martha'
- Background to the Good Samaritan Parable
- Mary & Martha from a different perspective
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all right in this episode we're gonna
talk about the road to Jericho and Mary
and Martha in a way you probably haven't
heard before here we go alright so
continuing on from our last episode in
Luke 10 the 70 have reconvened with
Jesus and he is teaching them and
teaching other disciples and maybe
another non group of non disciples that
are there and he's dispensing all this
wisdom and going over parables and
teachings and talking about him and the
father and a certain lawyer comes up to
him to tempt him
so here all these teachings are coming
out and now they want to trap him we've
seen these types of scenarios many times
not just here but you see it all the
time in our own lives right where
someone's just trying to trick someone
or make them stumble on something and
so this lawyer stands up and says master
what shall I do to inherit eternal life
so there's zero sincerity in his
question he just wants to hear what he
is going to say and Jesus says what is
written in the law how Rita stout of
course this is all the law of Moses and
this is a lawyer a lawyer would be
someone who would be who would know the
law of Moses very well and the lawyer
answers and says thou shalt love the
Lord thy God with all thy heart and with
all thy soul and with all thy strength
and with all thy mind and thy neighbor
as thyself so he sums it up really well
write all the law and the prophets are
kind of there under this as Jesus has
taught previously and so Jesus says to
him thou has to answer
right this do and thou shalt live
perhaps meaning this do and you'll have
eternal life and so the lawyer retorts
here he comes back to him and he says
okay but who is my neighbor right this
is a very sticky question for them
because they are surrounded again
especially in Galilee they're surrounded
by a lot of different types of people
the Jews are a minority in Galilee and
of course Jerusalem is a center where
there would be a lot of other peoples
that are there as well but in Galilee
especially the Jews are a minority what
are one of the largest groups that are
in Galilee it's the Samaritans that are
there and again for you to go from
Galilee down to Jerusalem through the
shortest path you'd be going right
through Samaria the area of the
Samaritans at that point and the
Samaritans are reviled by the Jews
overall and so Jesus answers with a
parable a very famous parable here and
this is the parable of the Good
Samaritan and we're gonna dig a little
deeper into this parable and try and get
some context and richness out of it and
understand it a little better and Jesus
answering the lawyer said a certain man
went down from Jerusalem to Jericho now
a little bit of background on this that
would be important so he's going down
from Jerusalem to Jericho it says now
Jericho is actually northeast of
Jerusalem but the reason that they say
down is because Jerusalem is about 2,500
feet above sea level and 18 miles away
in Jericho it is about 1,800 feet below
sea level we're talking a very arid
desert area and so it's kind of like
Jericho's basically an oasis in the
desert but you would be going down it's
quite a descent over that those 18 miles
to travel down about 4,300 feet down in
in altitude
and so we might imagine this parable
taking place maybe more toward the
Jericho side where things are drier
there's no trees the trees disappear
there's only maybe desert shrubs and it
would be a not a very bountiful
place but he says he's gonna travel down
to Jericho now in the past when the
Kingdom of Israel existed which is kind
of the heritage of the Samaritans
they're a mixture of Jews and Samaritans
and other Gentiles that would have mixed
into this group and they're kind of the
descendants of those peoples and in the
past of people of Israel the Northern
Kingdom which sometimes fight with the
kingdom of Judah which is the one that's
left over here with Jerusalem but
sometimes they were fighting against
each other and when during the reign of
King Ahab the Northern Kingdom Israel
prevailed in war against Judah and they
took many many prisoners from Judah and
took them up into the north but a
certain prophet in the North said that
they needed to treat them right and to
let them go and so they anointed
them with oil they clothed them they put
shoes on them for those that were too
feeble they put them on donkeys and they
brought them back down in very good
condition taken care of to Jericho and
so there's some history there of the
northern kingdom treating the Jews those
are the Jews very well right and
bringing them to Jericho so that's a
little bit of a backdrop the second
thing to look at in this road to Jericho
is that it is infamous for bandits and
so it's a it's actually called the
road of ascent or the red road of
ascent something more or less like that
and now partially because of the red
rock but also because of the blood
that was spilt on this road so you would
have to travel with guards or you'd have
trouble in a large group but it wouldn't
be very smart to travel alone
necessarily because of all the bandits
that are on this road and the priest and
the Levite that are travelling here in
the parable would have been coming
probably from the Temple in Jerusalem
back to Jericho which was a temple of
Prayer a village of priests were a lot
of priests there so coming back from the
temple experience and serving in the
temple and going down to Jericho and
that's where we pick up here so a
certain man went down from Jerusalem to
Jericho and fell among thieves these
highway men which stripped him of his
raiment and wounded him and departed
leaving him half dead okay not a far off
scenario here this probably happened all
the time and in 3rd and in verse 31 and
by chance there came down a certain
priest that way and when he saw him he
passed by on the other side I've heard
sometimes that this would be a purity
issue for the priest that he wouldn't be
able to touch him and that's possible
but he is coming not going to the temple
he's coming from the temple so it seems
in this example that the Jesus is saying
implying that the priests should have
helped that it would not have been a
purity issue for him and so the priest
passes him right by just served in the
temple but he's gonna leave the man
there on the road and likewise a Levite
when he was at the place came and looked
on him and passed by on the other side
so now a Levite who would also likely
have been serving in the temple is on
his way to Jericho and he passes him
right by now a Levite is actually given
the responsibility of medical care and
so they would be ones that would be
nurses or physicians that would actually
help people they would have been trained
in this and used to helping people out
but here the Levite passes right by the
man and then in verse 33 our third
example here
but a certain Samaritan as he journeyed
now we'll take a pause here with the
Jews there are three types there
people are classified into three groups
and they still do this today in
synagogue and that would be the Kohanim
which are the priests and then secondly
after them would be the labium which are
the Levites and then third would be the
asylum which are the Israelites and
that's just the commoners that's
everybody else right would be an
Israelite and so for example in
synagogue you might have a certain call
to read something from the Torah or to
do something in the synagogue it would
first be given to the priests secondly
then to the Levites and then third to
the Israelites the everybody else
and so those are the three groups so the
people in the crowd here that are
listening to Jesus for that third person
we just have the example of the priest
then the Levite the third person what
they would expect to hear would be
Israelite would be the next person but
he of course is flipping this on its
head and he says instead and then came a
certain Samaritan
so not Israelite but a certain Samaritan
as he journeyed came where he was and
when he saw him he had compassion on him
and went to him and bound up his wounds
now remember the question here that the
lawyer asks Jesus is who is my neighbor
that's the point of the parable and the
last thing he wants to hear likely is
the Samaritan but he went to him and
bound up his wounds pouring in oil and
wine and set him on his way on his Beast
and brought him to an inn and took care
of him and on the morrow when he
departed he took out two pence now that
would be two days a pence would be a
laborers wage each day but Joseph Smith
here actually puts in just he puts in
money says it's just money and gave them
to the host and said unto him take care
of him and whatsoever thou spendest more
or when I come again I will repay thee
and so here's the scenario the people
that you hate that are all around you
and that are here that are really your
neighbors right are the ones that have
helped out the man here on the road to
Jericho and not the priests and not the
Levite so the question then Jesus asks
is which now of these three thinkest
thou was neighbor unto him that fell
among the thieves well what's he going
to answer at this point and he said he
that shewed mercy on him then said Jesus
unto Him go and do like what do that
likewise so the parable is set up in an
answer to the question of who is your
neighbor and here in their culture it
has been defined and we have rabbinical
teachings from this time that say look
you can't contrive the death of someone
who's not a Jew but if someone is dying
or is not you know you have zero
responsibility of taking care of anybody
who is a Gentile who you know anybody
who's not a Jew that was the belief at
the time those were the teachings the
rabbinical teachings at the time so
saying look you don't have to help
someone who's laying on the on the side
of the road on the road to Jericho if
they're a Gentile you wouldn't you
wouldn't touch them but and you zero
responsibility to do so
but Jesus here is saying your neighbor
the one that you are responsible for
helping is could be a Samaritan or it
could be somebody that you need to help
of course the man that was on the side
of the road could have been a Samaritan
right or it could have been it could
have been a Jew it doesn't matter
the neighbor is the person that helped
out right the person the neighbor is the
person that helped out and so through a
brilliant response by Jesus with this
parable he basically gives the lawyer no
other way to answer but then to say it
was the Samaritan that helped out and
they
for contrary to the current belief the
Samaritans are our neighbors or can be
our neighbors just like anybody else
but we go back and remember what the
lawyer had said about these two laws
basically right these two things that
everything falls under one is to first
love God with all thy heart might mind
and strength basically and then to love
your neighbor and elsewhere in the
Gospels we get love your neighbor as
yourself right love others as yourself
do unto others as you would have them do
unto you is the golden rule so one thing
I think about with this parable is that
in this instance where there are tribes
so to speak right where there are
differences different religions
different races different traditions and
cultures different geographies is this
completely breaks that down and
regardless of someone else if they're
different from you if they have
different beliefs from you if they have
a different background a different
religion they're your neighbor and
that's how we should treat them and do
unto our neighbors as we would be have
things done unto us and I think that's a
great teaching here that he gives the
lawyer and goes against everything that
the current culture there is trying to
teach the people Jesus is very much in
these teachings and in these parables
trying to turn everything on its head
because it's all upside down and here in
this specific teaching he's breaking
down these barriers so that we love
everyone and this is another part of not
specifically his mission but it
certainly was of the church soon after
him but that is to go to the Gentiles
and it's not the gospel here the
priesthood the temple everything is not
just for the Jews right the gospel is
for everyone then Jesus after giving the
parable here Luke has him going down
basically to Bethany it says a village
but this is going to be Bethany and here
we get the story that we've heard many
times before
especially the women about Mary and
Martha this has been told so many times
that it's kind of it seems to me
developed into its own story it has its
own personality and its own facts even
sometimes that I hear I just was hearing
listening to someone commentating on
this that started talking about some
things that don't exist in the story at
all and so I want to cover this a little
bit I have a different take on this
story
then maybe you've heard before and I'll
back that up but I want to give you a
little bit of a different take but first
let's kind of go through it and talk
about what traditionally anyway we think
of about this story of Mary and Martha
right so Jesus and it would have been
his disciples so it could have been a
large group that were with him come to
Bethany and says here in verse 38 now it
came to pass as they went that he
entered into a certain village Bethany
and a certain woman named Martha
received him into her house and she had
a sister called Mary which also sat at
Jesus feet and heard his word so we're
getting the set up here between the
differences between Mary and Martha Mary
is sitting at the feet to listen to
Jesus and we get this idea of just her
there it could have been a lot of
disciples that were there listening to
him it could have been outside this
could have been in a larger room this
could we don't know but verse 40 it says
but Martha was cumbered about much
serving in other words she's distracted
by serving certain tasks and came to him
and said Lord dust thou not care that my
sister has left me to serve alone bid
her therefore that she help me
okay so we're kind of getting in in our
mind the picture that we've always had
running of this video in our minds about
this story and Jesus answered and said
unto her Martha Martha
thou art careful and troubled about many
things
but one thing is needful and Mary hath
chosen that good part which shall not be
taken away from her so what is the
lesson here between Mary and Martha and
I've heard a number of women say well am
I Mary or am I Martha or you know which
one of these women am I or which one you
know it sounds like I want to be more
like Mary who is more spiritual and
Martha and they said these are the terms
that you hear over and over again is
more practical and task-driven
and Mary is more spiritual so there is
definitely a solid teaching in that
example of putting first things first
right of again our values hierarchy what
is most important Martha certainly is
doing something important it sounds like
and but Mary seems to be doing something
more important where she is listening at
the feet of the Savior and so we can
look at this example traditionally as
we've heard it as the higher and the
lower laws we have two goods that are in
here but one good is better than the
other good is how we might look at that
and I think that's typically how its
taught where Martha is tending to things
as the hostess here at her home that
would be important and Mary is not and
usually the pictures or the
paintings of her would be with her kind
of sitting on the floor looking up at
Jesus and listening to him teach and to
speak which is great but which one are
you
are you a Mary and this is guys - are
you a Mary or are you a Martha is
usually the question it helps us keep
our priorities straight and helps us
learn more about that good better and
best we've heard about in General
Conference previously but I want to give
a different take on this and I want to
do it through two different ways number
one is going to be through scriptural
context and what I mean by that is we
have other examples of Mary and Martha
right and so let's go to the
and then number two I want to do it
through the principle that I talk about
often of authorship and in that example
of authorship we learned something a
little bit different here as to why this
story is told right now and not in
another context or at another time and
it's not that it didn't happen now but
it's Luke the author of the Gospel that
is inserting it right in this place so
let's talk first about the context that
we would have with Mary and Martha and
help us you know fill in the puzzle
pieces here a little bit more maybe
first of all we this is the first we
hear of Mary and Martha in in Bethany
but we know something about Bethany and
that is that it is a place of refuge a
City of Refuge it is a place for the
poor to go to it basically means more
than likely there's some different
interpretations but most people agree
that the meaning of the word Bethany
the Nate place named Bethany is
basically a place of the poor or City of
the poor and it would be for those that
are looking for refuge or the sick and
afflicted that would all go in there and
in one of the I think it's the first
Easter episode that I did called Palm
Sunday I basically said this is a place
for Les Miserables right this is where
all the miserables go and where they
might need tending to
and it's a place where they can come
together so it's very likely very
possibly a religious center it is also
the place where Jesus and His disciples
as they come down from Galilee here
would have stopped and others from
Galilee Galileans would have all likely
stopped on this route to Bethany where
they can avoid Samaria the Samaritans
they would come down to Bethany here on
the east side of Jerusalem and stop
there first which it's about a mile and
a half to two miles outside of the city
walls of Jerusalem and so there's
traffic that comes here all the time and
Jesus has spent a lot of time here he
may have spent time here when he was a
kid
and Joseph and Mary may have brought him
through Bethany many times and he may
have known Lazarus and Mary and Martha
they're all siblings since he was a
little kid for all we know and it seems
like they're in some type of a position
here of respect and maybe control even
in Bethany says that later on when
Lazarus dies then a lot a number of
the Jews came from Jerusalem to comfort
basically and console' Mary and Martha
well why would they do that
see there's connections there and so
that's one thing to understand is where
they're at which has had Bethany the
other thing to know is that later on
when Jesus comes to Bethany there are a
couple of examples of women being Mary
and Martha and at least another woman
that's I unidentified it could be one of
them that happens there in Bethany and
the first example would be as they're in
Bethany and Jesus is about to come in on
on the donkey where all the palms are
thrown down before him as he makes the
procession up to the Jerusalem he stops
there in Bethany and Mary just as is
kind of pointed out here Mary is at his
feet and she anoints his feet and this
is kind of an anointing for Jesus to
beaten coming in as the king basically
and so she's anointing him and she saves
some of the oil very very expensive oil
but what do we hear about that oil
remember that Judas wanted to sell it
because it was very expensive oil and he
what he wanted to do was he said was
give it to the poor well the poor are
all around them right though this is the
City of Refuge the poor all around them
so he's saying hey we could take that
sell it and give it out but the authors
of the gospel say basically Judas he's
the one who kept the purse he's the one
who held on to the money
and it likely would have been at least a
portion of that for him but the example
the response of Jesus is and I think
this is important the response of Jesus
is you always will have the poor with
you but me you will not right so keep
that in mind then later on another woman
anoints him it could be Mary again but
another woman unidentified anoints Jesus
for his burial so this is later in
Easter week takes the oil may be the
same from the same place takes the oil
and anoints him and again the same thing
is brought up why are we not giving this
selling this and giving this money to
the poor which again is all around them
and Jesus says same thing you know
you'll always have the poor with you but
you mean you will not and then we have
the account of John which is that toward
the beginning of Easter week looks like
before the procession and he gives the
account also of the anointing and he
says that Mary is at his feet and
anoints his feet and but in this one he
says at this time that Martha serves so
she's serving and he says specifically
that she's serving supper so again you
might have a very large group of
disciples that are with him she's maybe
in charge of all of this but in this
example it does say that she's
specifically serving supper so these are
the examples that we have of women in
Bethany and maybe all of them are Mary
and Martha and they have to do with
selling the oil and taking care of the
poor but Jesus says I'm actually more
important than the poor that around
you right here so let's go back now on
the second point that I was saying and
bring up authorship so here Luke is
going over some specific things the
seventy in Luke 10 here the 70 have come
back and the lawyer tries to entrap him
and Jesus gives the example of the
parable of the Good Samaritan but what
is the question that the
let's go back to that the question was
how do I obtain eternal life and
the lawyer himself gives the answer that
you love the Lord with all your heart
might mind and strength and your
neighbor likewise more or less that is
the crux of what the message is from
Luke and here the story of Mary and
Martha are brought in right after this
question and the parable of the Good
Samaritan so we need to think about what
is Luke's message here what is he trying
to get across why is it placed right
here at this point why are there no
other event or discussion that that's in
here before this or why does he not
go off onto another tangent and if we
think about the question of how do I
obtain it to eternal life and what the
answer is then we look at the story of
Mary and Martha through different eyes
and in something where we get maybe a
little bit more focus on what the Lord
was trying to teach with this so if Mary
and Martha are in Bethany and it says
that Martha is serving well the Greek is
for serving is a word that also means
ministering it also means magnifying
your calling your stewardship it could
be helping others out people that are
have bad health you know that she's
trying to help others out there remember
they have the poor all around them it
could also be that she's helping all of
the disciples we get this idea where
it's just Mary and Martha and Jesus and
there are no other actors in this
scenario but that wouldn't have been the
case they have all of the poor and all
of the sick that are there with them in
Bethany and if Mary and Martha are used
to helping them and taking care of them
then that would be part of what Martha's
service would regularly be the second
thing is if that's not referring to
maybe helping the poor and the helpless
and the sick but service here might mean
helping out all of the disciples they
could have very well been helping them
out with
health issues in other words they just
had a long trip in traveling there could
be sprained ankles there could be dried
skin there could be a lot of hunger and
other things that would be going on so
she might be ministering unto them but
it says that she offers this service now
in John when Martha is serving it also
says the word serving and it
specifically says there she's serving
supper this is a different time a
different event it uses a different word
which is kind of interesting that uses a
different word in Greek than the word
that is used in the example we're
speaking of right now we're where we
don't know if she's actually serving
supper and this is one of the things one
of those things that gets repeated over
and over and over again we don't know
what is meant here by serving it might
be that she's in the kitchen it might be
that she's needing to cook dinner she's
got some casserole going for everybody
but we don't know that we don't know
what was meant here by serving that is a
it's completely an assumption here in
this in this story what we do know is
that Luke has been trying to get a point
across in this chapter and that is that
first you are to love God with all your
heart might mind and strength and second
you are to love your neighbor and so
instead of thinking of Martha as being
in the kitchen we can think of Martha as
serving either the poor and she needed
help in helping the poor that was around
her and she was asking Mary to come help
her or she may have been helping out all
of the disciples that were in this group
with Jesus and these would all be her
neighbors these would be her fellow men
and women and Jesus here is saying that
is really important to help your fellow
man but first and foremost as is in the
law we are to love God above all and
then secondly we love our neighbor and
that to me is the message
of the story of Mary and Martha and it
takes a little bit of the confusion out
of it I think because we wonder
sometimes while she was doing something
good but it was just not as good as
sitting at Jesus's feet the point is to
love God first and then to love your
fellow man secondly I think that's the
point of the story of Mary and Martha
I'll talk to you next time
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