16th Sunday of Ordinary Time

  Sixteenth Ordinary Sunday (C) [Lk 10:38-42]

17.07.2022

Jesus Visits Martha and Mary

Readings: (1) Gen 18:1-10 (2) Col 1:24-28

1. Theme in brief

      Priorities of an ideal disciple

2. Focus Statement

Christian disciples must consider the dangers of getting too much preoccupied with worldly affairs and give first priority to the better part of their life, that is to sit at Jesus’ feet in order to listen to his Word.

 3. Explanation of the text

Whereas last Sunday’s story of the Good Samaritan emphasises love and service to our neighbours, today’s story of the visit of Jesus to Martha and Mary reminds us of the priority of the love of God cultivated by listening to the Lord’s Word. When taken together, both the stories try to strike a balance between work and spirituality. In other words, both emphasize two complementary aspects of Christian discipleship: While the former story emphasises an active, "doing" discipleship, the latter calls for a "being" discipleship. Both the stories seem to have been blended to give the message that a disciple’s “doing” or activities should flow from his/ her “being” a person rooted in the love of God or in the Word of God.

The story of Martha and Mary is presented by Luke in the context of Jesus’ decision to go to Jerusalem (cf. Lk 9:51). On his way, he was welcomed by a woman named Martha in a certain village (we are told it was Bethany in Jn 11), who had a sister named Mary (10:38-39). When Jesus entered their home, Martha kept herself busy with “many tasks” (10:40). Though Luke does not tell us what these tasks were, we can very well guess that she began preparing a good meal to treat her honoured guest. Meanwhile her sister Mary sat at the Lord’s feet, listening to his words (10:39). She took upon herself the role and posture of a disciple learning at the feet of a rabbi (teacher). Sitting at the Lord’s feet, to hear his word, signifies her readiness to treasure it in her heart, and her submission or resignation to his guidance. We observe a contrast here: While Martha busied herself with the traditional role assigned to women in her society, Mary sat at the Lord's feet to listen to his teaching – a role traditionally reserved only for men in their culture. Thus, Mary symbolized the first priority of an ideal disciple – to sit at the feet of the Master and listen to his Word (10:39).

      Martha, her sister, was so busy in her work that she had no time for Jesus when he was personally present at home. She allowed her daily work to distract her (10:40) from the most important aspect of following Jesus, which was listening to his Word. She thought that Jesus was not caring about her need for a helping hand. She complained to him that her sister had left her alone to do all the work by herself, and wanted him to tell Mary to help her (10:40). Actually, Martha’s problem was not her work as such, but, as Jesus pointed out, her weakness to be “worried and distracted by many things” (10:41). Literally, the word “distracted” means she was getting pulled or dragged in different directions. Her pull towards many directions of worldly engagements without setting any priorities was the main reason for her failure to give attention to the guest. Jesus wanted to tell her that too much preoccupation with work, business and worldly affairs could seduce her to forget about her spiritual needs.

This passage should be taken neither to mean Martha’s work is not important nor to mean Mary never helped her sister in household duties. Most probably, Mary had been in the kitchen with Martha until Jesus came in and began his teaching. What made him praise Mary was the choice made or the priority given by her to listen to him when he was personally present with them, especially since it was his last visit to them before his crucifixion in Jerusalem. She had made a conscious decision between two alternatives: doing work and staying with Jesus. Since she had the opportunity to listen to what Jesus had to say, she gave up her other duties and chose listening to Jesus at that time over household duties. According to Jesus, the “only one thing” needed (10:41) at that time was to be with him and listen to him. He called the choice made by Mary a better part or portion (10:42), not because domestic service is not needed or not necessary for life but because Christian discipleship consisted precisely in listening to and obeying Jesus’ Word. Household chores and other worldly engagements were a part or portion of life that had their own time. Now was the time to take spiritual ‘dish’ or food from the Lord.

Here Jesus was not so much condemning Martha's work and commending only Mary's devotion for all situations and times. What he was saying was that Mary had put her priorities in order. When Jesus said that the better part chosen by Mary would not be taken away from her (10:42), he might have meant that the knowledge of divine truths gained by her and her faith in him would last for ever. He insisted that it was not right to take away the best part chosen by her by asking her to stop listening to him and help Martha in her domestic duties (10:42).

3.  Application to life 

The two stories – the Good Samaritan (prescribed for last Sunday) and Jesus’ visit to Martha and Mary (today’s gospel) – seem to emphasise active and contemplative dimensions of Christian life. Since the former story highlights active service to the needy neighbours, there is a danger of misunderstanding Christian discipleship as purely a social service. Today’s gospel serves as a corrective to that wrong impression. Both Martha and Mary knew that Jesus was a man of God and his visit was like a godly visit. At that hour their priority and main focus should have been on the spiritual food he had to offer rather than keeping themselves busy with physical food. While Mary succeeded in keeping this priority, Martha failed. Mary exemplifies what is implied by the commandment of loving God with all one’s heart, soul and strength.

Today Jesus challenges us to live our life not by chance but by choice. He calls us to consciously and deliberately choose to become like Mary from time to time and take time to reflect before him on which direction our life is going. The reason for such an insistence is, humans as we are, there is all the likelihood of neglecting this essential part of our Christian life. Jesus invites us to reflect whether we have missed the priorities of life or have neglected the essential in order to be busy with the non-essential. He wants to tell us that Christian discipleship is first and foremost a personal adherence to him.  As disciples, sitting at his (Master’s) feet and receiving spiritual food from him takes the first priority over all other works, because everything else – our work, service to neighbours, duties, relationships, social involvement, decisions – spring or flow from it. Serving our neighbours without spiritual nourishment is like expecting good fruits from a tree that has its roots cut off. Faith in Jesus or listening to his Word is that “one thing” (as told by Jesus to Martha) that is needed for a disciple more than anything else. Otherwise our care for others may not proceed from genuine love for them but from our own selfish desires. As Jesus said, the better part chosen by Mary would not be taken away from her, because she had chosen the lasting food over everything else that would pass away or perish.

      Mary knew her priorities; hence she chose the best part by putting aside other duties of life at that moment. Like her we must take time for reflection on the Word of God, self-examination and checking of our goals and priorities in life. This could become the better part of our life in the midst of so many tensions, worries and burdens of our daily work and business. Otherwise, we may lose control over own lives. In fact, all our service and works of charity flow from our devotion to the Lord’s Word and lead us back to it for further reflection and self-examination. We have to be cautious so as not to allow worldly concerns and duties to take possession of us. Over-anxiety and obsession with work and worldly concerns is dangerous. The same thing happened to the twelve apostles in the early Church. When they realized that they were getting so much engrossed in the daily work of distributing food from the common fund, they decided in their assembly: “It is not right that we should neglect the Word of God in order to wait on tables” and chose seven deacons to do that work (Acts 6:2-3).

Of course, we need to be like Martha also and take care of the essential services at home. Her work is indispensable and valuable to family. She is not reproached by Jesus for her work but for her over-anxiety, worry and distractions. Many of the illnesses of modern times, including heart attacks, are stress related. Today’s text presents Martha as a stressed out woman. In the hustle and bustle of life she had no time to be with Jesus and listen to his words that give spirit and (divine) life (Jn 6: 63). As Jesus mentions in other places, Martha is distracted and worried about what to eat (Lk 12:22), whereas her first concern or priority should be to strive for God’s Kingdom and other things would be given to her as well (Lk 12:31). Moreover, as Jesus was heading towards his suffering in Jerusalem, what he wanted at that time was not food but some friends to listen to him. Like her, the Lord challenges all of us to examine our priorities and reflect on the most essential things of life. There is a time to work hard; there is a time to listen and reflect. Striking a balance between prayer and action, reflection and work is becoming harder and harder as the world advances further and further. Most of us are forced to live busy lives full of activities and schedules. Feeling pulled in different directions like Martha without focussing on the purpose of our life is the biggest danger for us. Today’s gospel tells us to prioritize our activities and put an occasional break on our mad running. Life is full of tough choices between what is right and what is wrong, what is most important and what is less. When our faith gets deepened with prayerful reflection on God’s Word, our anxiety lessens.

In Lk 8:14 Jesus says that the condition of the ‘seed’ (God’s Word) which fell among thorns represents those who are preoccupied with the cares, riches and pleasures of life. Like Martha, we allow the secondary matter in our life to take possession of us so that it becomes our only concern. Modern people tend to treat their work, business and duty as their gods. There is so much tension, anxiety and worry in life due to cut-throat competition, target-oriented jobs and desire to become richer as fast as possible. Life seems to be so busy that there is hardly any time for prayer, reflection, interaction and even for a deeper level of communication of mutual expectations between married partners or between parents and children or even among members of religious communities.

The Lord tells us that human beings do not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God (Mt 4:4). Mary did precisely that. If we find ourselves quite often shouting, lashing out and complaining at our dear ones, colleagues and friends as Martha did about her sister, it is a good indication that something needs to be fixed. Today’s message reminds especially fathers of families to consciously make time for children, to be with them and guide them. This story does not teach us to sit whole day and do no work, but to make a proper discernment to set our priorities carefully and seek the better portion. There is a tendency in many of us to be possessed by work/ business/ politics which makes us sing the most common refrain: “I have no time.”

In modern times, the ubiquitous mobile phones which are supposed to be a boon (blessing) for us may become a bane (curse), if we do not apply any personal discipline about their use. If we are fully preoccupied with mobile phones throughout the day (with calls coming and going left and right), the Lord may tell us: “Martha, Martha (or so and so), you are distracted by too many calls. Can you put away your mobile phone for a while and listen to my voice? Do you feel out of place or lonely and empty without your mobile phone?” This ring tone comes from the Lord more loudly to those who are in Consecrated Life reminding them not to lose track of their priority – primacy of God and singular devotion to him alone.

      Basically, this story is not about the role of women in society or the Church but about Christian discipleship in general, of both men and women. But if we extend its pastoral application, it has an important message for the women disciples of the Lord. They are challenged not only to be busy Marthas preoccupied only with household chores and other domestic works, but also to be faithful Marys – who sit at the Lord’s feet and become hearers and doers of his Word. Like the male disciples of Jesus who left everything (their boats, nets, etc) to follow the Lord (according to Lk 5:11), here Mary is presented as a woman disciple who left her household chores to listen to Jesus and follow him.

4.  Response to God's Word

    What is our first concern or priority in life as Christ’s disciples? What are our over-anxieties, worries and distractions that lead us away from God and primary purpose of our life? Do we consider what is non-essential as essential to our life? Do we give sufficient time for God, prayer, reflections and human relationships? Are we busy only with work and what to eat and drink, or listen also to what God wants to tell us in his Word?

5.   A Prayer

      O provident God, today we place all our over-anxieties, worries and distractions into your hands. Thank you for challenging us to examine our life’s priorities and reflect on the most essential things of life. Grant that in the midst of worries and burdens of our daily work and business, like Mary, we may consciously choose to sit at your feet and listen to what you want to tell us. Amen.