Luke 10:38-42, Colossians 1:15-28 In our Luke passage we have the familiar story of Mary and Martha. Mary is sitting at Jesus’ feet listening to what he was saying while Martha is busy in the kitchen. When she complains to Christ about Mary not helping, trying to use his authority to get her to work, Jesus replies quite differently. He tells Martha that she is worried and distracted by many things. Only one thing here is important and he says Mary has chosen the better part. This better part is told in detail by the apostle Paul in Colossians. Christ is said to be the image of the invisible God. All things were created not only through him but for him. Was creation made so that Christ could become human and bring salvation? Since he is the first born of the dead he has first place in everything. Through him salvation was accomplished – making peace through the blood of his cross. From this we have been reconciled in his fleshly body death so we can present ourselves holy and blamel...

II Kings 5:1-14, Psalm 30 The great man and commander of Aram’s army, Naaman, could conquer anything except his skin disease. When he hears from a young girl captive that the prophet in Israel could heal him he sends money to the king of Israel with the message that he might cure him. But alas the king tears his clothes knowing he can’t do it, scared this might cause a quarrel between the countries. But when Elisha hears of this he sends a message to the king saying, “Let him come to me so that he can learn there is a prophet in Israel.” So, he goes to him with great fanfare – horses and chariots but Elisha doesn’t bother to greet him but sends a messenger with directions of what he must do to be healed. Naaman becomes angry at Elisha for not greeting him and performing what he was expecting. Instead, he gives strange but simple instructions. Naaman goes away in a rage but the servants again come to his rescue. If he was asked to do something difficult wouldn’t he have done it, how...

II Kings 2:1-2, 6-14; Galatians 5:1,13-25 Few people realize that our expression of “passing down the mantle” comes from this story in II Kings about Elijah passing on his prophetic role to Elisha. An insecure Elisha asks for a double share of Elijah’s spirit – perhaps his power which isn’t up to Elijah but to God. Elijah is lifted to heaven in a chariot – thus he never dies. So, he appears again at the Transfiguration and Jewish tradition leaves an empty chair at Passover for Elijah. By picking up the mantle Elijah has dropped, Elisha has the power with it to part the Jordan like Elijah did. Many think this mantle merely brought power to do the miraculous, yet I believe it brought a share of the spirit of Elijah that Elisha had wished for. Hopefully, the Spirit brought love shown in the fruits of the Spirit told of in our Galatians passage. Our passage in Galatians tells us we are no longer slaves to the law but are called to freedom. This shouldn’t be used for self-indulgence, ...