What's in a Name?

Luke 10:38-42 38 Now as [Jesus and his disciples] went on their way, he entered a certain village where a woman named Martha welcomed him. 39 She had a sister named Mary, who sat at Jesus’s feet and listened to what he was saying. 40 But Martha was distracted by her many tasks, so she came to him and asked, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her, then, to help me.” 41 But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things, 42 but few things are needed—indeed only one. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.” A few weeks ago, I preached on Luke 10.

It's the story of Mary, Martha, and Jesus, where Jesus enters into the sisters' home and both go right into their vision of hospitality. And then, just last Tuesday was the commemoration day of Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. These figures have been sticking in my mind a lot lately. Not because of who they are or exactly what they did (though this is important and part of what I've been dwelling on as well), but because of where they are from - Bethany. The sisters and their brother Lazarus are from a small village near Jerusalem named Bethany. Bethany, the namesake of the very place where many of us reading this call our 'church home.' So, I've been pondering, in what ways in our Bethany like the Bethany of the bible? In what ways is it different? What does the Bethany from the bible even symbolize?

Well, we can begin with our story from a few weeks ago; Bethany, for Jesus, was a place of hospitality. And this wasn't the only time Jesus had visited Bethany; in fact, Mary, Martha, and Lazarus are cited as friends of Jesus, so it can be assumed that this was a frequent stop for him. Perhaps even a resting point. A place of refuge. A place amid the busyness of his ministry he could share in the love of his beloved.

This is the place for which we have been named. Names mean something. What, dearest Bethany, does it mean today, for us to still be Bethany?