Introduction to the Celebration
Welcome! Today we recall a small incident in the life of
Jesus. Going along a road he came to a village and was welcomed into a house.
There one sister, having to get the meal, complained that the other just sat
and listened to Jesus; and Jesus says that this second sister, named Mary, ‘has
chosen the better part and it is not to be taken from her’. This Mary is a
model of discipleship for us. We are frequently busy with many things, but are
we spending time listening to the voice of the Lord, are we reflecting on his
wisdom, are we meditating on his goodness and wonder as we see it around us in
the creation, are we recalling his gift of life, are we rejoicing in the
presence of the Word made flesh?
Gospel Notes
This scene is found only in Luke, and is the story of one of
a series of meals which are related in his gospel. Each shows the Christ with a
different company, with a slightly different take on the nature of the welcome
he receives from the householder and which he gives to those at table with him.
For, while these meals always take place in another person’s house, it is clear
that it is Jesus’s table: he is the host of the meal.
When this gospel was preached, the scene clues provided
would have immediately made the audience recognise this as a meal of disciples
and they would have read it eucharistically. This is not something that comes
immediately to us for two reasons.
First, we have so developed the theological interpretation
of the meal, that we fail to see the meal under the theology. Yet without the
meal, there is nothing to be a sacrament of anything!
Second, we make a radical distinction — even when we are
trying to study the early church — between the meals of the community and ‘The
Eucharist’. But this distinct item of practice, along with its name, did not
emerge until the second century. However, we still read the gospels as if only
the Last Supper (and possibly Emmaus) relate to the Eucharist; while all the other
meals are just informal settings so that Jesus could preach. This distorts
Luke. For him to be a Christian disciple was to belong to the community and its
common practices at the core of which was the weekly gathering at table in
continuity with the practice of Jesus. In this gathering, the medium was the
message. So every meal story was a teaching about the importance of being at
the meal with the Lord.
It is from this perspective of the praxis of Luke’s audience
that this text is interpreted in the homily notes. However, while the ‘message’
of this scene is tied up with the contrast between the actions of Martha and
Mary, it should be noted that the traditional interpretation (going back to
John Cassian) that it is the contrast between two ways of life, the active and
the contemplative, is an imposition upon it from ‘spiritual’ interpretation.
This is not a charter for a two-tier church, nor a plan for a pecking order
between various religious orders in the church. The contrast concerns ways of
behaving at the meal, and the reference to the ‘better share’ (meris) uses the
exact same term used for the share (i.e. the broken parts of the loaf) each
member of the community had in the Lord’s loaf.
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Michel de VerteuilGeneral Textual Comments
Here is another very famous story which you must meditate on
personally, letting yourself be guided by your feelings.
The passage has given
rise to deep and sometimes mystical interpretations, but at root it is a simple
story of human relationships and your meditation must start there.
You may like to focus
on Jesus. See him as a model human being, receiving the hospitality of the
sisters, accepting the love of Mary, teaching Martha wisdom, kindly but firmly.
Though the Catholic
tradition has tended to favour Mary over Martha, some have found that Martha
was in fact the more mature of the two. Identify with whichever of the two you
feel attracted to, letting the other one be a lesson by way of contrast.
The key to the
passage is the little phrase “the better part.” Your personal meditation will
guide you in making your interpretation.
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Sean GoanGospel Notes
That the incident in the house of Martha and Mary should
follow immediately after the parable of the Good Samaritan suggests a possible
connection. One aspect of Christian living is highlighted in the parable by the
words ‘go and do likewise’. Being a disciple is not about ideas, it is about
action. However, the Martha and Mary story shows that sometimes the action can
be misdirected and undertaken in a way that makes us lose sight of what really
matters. We have to be careful here, because Jesus is not telling Martha that
her work is not important, nor is he commending Mary for doing nothing. He is
simply reminding his followers that if we want to serve him we must first
listen to him — we need to be people of prayer before we can be people of
action. Otherwise our actions can just be about us and it is possible to do
good things for all kinds of bad reasons like,for example, our need to be
needed or our exaggerated belief in the importance of our own contribution.
Such behaviour can easily undermine the message of the good news which must
always be about Jesus and his kingdom.
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From The Connections:
THE WORD:
The sisters Martha and Mary mirror the two expressions of the disciple’s call: loving service to others (Martha) and prayer and contemplation (Mary). But as Martha comes to realize in today's Gospel, discipleship begins with hearing the Word of God, with opening our hearts and spirits to the presence of God.
HOMILY POINTS:
We are all like Martha in our own anxiety over details; we worry about the peripherals at the expense of the important and lasting. “The better part” embraced by Mary transcends the pragmatic and practical concerns of the everyday (that have overwhelmed poor Martha) and sees the hand of God in all things and realizes the gratitude all of creation owes its loving Creator for the gift of life.With so many agendas demanding our time and attention, Jesus calls us to consciously choose and seek out “the better part”: to make a place in our lives for the joy and love of family and friends that is the presence of God.
It is a motto of Benedictine monasteries around the world: “Let all be received here as would Christ” (The Rule of St. Benedict, chapter 53). Like Abraham’s welcome of the three strangers (today’s first reading from Genesis 18) and the welcome Martha, Mary and Lazarus extend to Jesus in Bethany, hospitality is not only a holy responsibility but also a joyful opportunity to welcome and serve Jesus in the persons those who come to our tables.
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Homily Notes
1. The scene in the gospel could not be simpler – it
appears. Jesus happens to be going down a road and meets a village and accepts
hospitality, there is some talk, and then, for the gospel teller, he moves on
getting ever closer to the ‘centre stage’ in Jerusalem. But the early
Christians froze this moment in their memories as something significant; and
we have been recalling it ever since. Why?
2. Somehow this encounter was, for Luke, a vignette
capturing something essential about Jesus. It somehow gave in a ‘snap shot’
something that was true of all encounters with the risen Lord. But how can we
grasp the essence of this story and see how it might – as part of the kerygma –
characterise our encounters with Jesus?
3. The place to start is with the common elements: a
village, a house, a meal, sitting at table, discussion. This is one more of
these meal events – particularly prominent in Luke – that remind us that Jesus
was ‘a party animal’. The meetings with those who were his followers and those
who would listen are often shown to take place around the dining table. This
was not just’ a quick bite on the way from work’ – his gathering of people
around him at meals was at the very heart of the Lord’s work. To learn about
Jesus and to be with him is to eat with him; and his meals model the perfect
new community and offer a taste of the welcome of the Father in the final
banquet.
4. We think of communities as ‘cities’ and churches as
‘parishes’ with hundreds of people. We usually think of our gatherings not
being in a house – the ‘House Mass’ or ‘Station Mass’ is an increasingly rare
phenomenon – but in special formal buildings called’ churches’ and then they
are often built to fit hundreds. We tend to think of ‘getting Mass’, not of
‘sitting around the Lord’s table.’ And, we may see the table when we gather but
we call it an’ altar’. Gathering for any meal around a table where we talk may
be something done only rarely as we eat’ fast food’ or food off trays in front
of a screen. So our gatherings do not immediately remind us of the meal in
Martha’s house; and reading of that meal seems very distinct from sitting here
on Sunday. Two factors create the separation: the first is sheer scale – we
think of large groups and many such gatherings each Sunday; and second we use a
language and a formality that obscures some of the basic shape of our
encounter with the Lord at his supper
5. We should recall that for most of our history Christians
have lived and worshipped in very small villages. In an ancient city like
Corinth the Christians would have had a village-like existence and met in
groups of 50 at most, and so would have had a real meal experience. This is
what Luke knows and experiences and what his audience knows and experiences.
To meet for the meal/the Eucharist is the central act of the discipIes’ week
as Christians. There they gather to be participants in the presence of the Lord
as their welcoming host. There they share his food and his life and listen to
his words. There the key is to be focused on the Lord – Mary – rather than
focused on the mechanics of the meeting and the meal Martha.
6.The gospel today reminds us that the Word has become
flesh, and he sits among us. He shares his table with us – the most basic human
experience of welcome and sharing. Weare disciples and sit with him and listen
and learn from him so that we can grow to be fully-trained disciples.
7. Luke’s message today could be summed up as: To know Jesus
is to eat with him.
8. There is always a surprise at Jesus’s meals: have you
noticed this is a house that is owned by a woman? This is most unusual in the
ancient world. Have you noticed that Jesus accepts women as full table
companions – they can sit with him and talk with him? Again, not something that
was at all usual in the ancient world. But Jesus broke down all the barriers to
welcome at his table for that welcome was intended to show the welcome of the
Father at the heavenly table.
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HOMILIES:1. ACP
A House of Hospitality
How I wish that someone would unearth a whole volume of
Martha/Mary/Lazarus stories of which this one and the raising of Lazarus in St.
John’s Gospel are the only ones we have. But even these two stories enable us
to see Jesus in a family context, in domestic scenes, with people that he loved
and loved him. The parents of the three presumably were dead because we hear
nothing about them. They are also likely to be in their early or middle teens
because they are not married. The two women were clearly in love with Jesus and
he treated them with respect and affection. Were they people who actually
existed? It would be hard to doubt it, since the stories presume that those who
read the Gospels know all about them. Jesus is not saying that one should not
wait on guests. He is rather saying that more important than waiting on them is
enjoying them and loving them. We should never be so busy that we have no time
for love.
Our Irish tradition laid great store by hospitality, a
practice somewhat harder to keep up in a busy urban setting, but one that we
would do well to keep alive, and even revive to a higher level. We are more
likely to encounter the grace of God when welcoming visitors to our home, than
just by sitting watching television!
Listening whole-heartedly to Him
“What is man that you care for him,” the Psalmist asks God
to explain (Ps 4:8), “or mortal man that you keep him in mind?” It has been
said that when it comes to discovering the meaning of human life and of our
existence in this world, most of us are like pygmies, who travel on the backs
of the giants who have gone before us. In other words the number of people who
were able to stand back, as it were, and try to see human striving, endeavour,
hardship, in meaningful terms, is small indeed. The majority of us are willing
to go along in varying degrees with their discoveries, as they filter down to
us through different channels.
God’s Message, the theme running through today’s readings,
comes to us in more or less the same way. Some chosen individuals seem able to
grasp in a wonderful way God’s message for the human race, and have shared that
knowledge with the rest of us. So the Word of God came to Abraham, not as
something abstract, needing to be found in books; for there were no books then, but rather a
tradition of faith handed on orally and finally committed to scrolls. Abraham’s
encounter with God was on a personal plane. He was the friend of God, the Bible
says, and his welcome for the Messengers of God has all the merits of eastern
nomadic hospitality.
Abraham is a supreme example of deep-rooted faith and trust
in God. Called by God to leave his own clan, he left off worshipping their gods
and set out for an unknown destination. In return God promised he would become
the father of a new and numerous people. Abraham trusted and followed this
call, even when there seemed little hope that this promise would ever be
fulfilled. When they had practically given up hope, he again hears that his
wife will bear a son, and again he trusts in God’s word. And later still, when
Isaac was born Abraham was asked to sacrifice this precious son. It
he carried out this grim command, how could the promise of God evercome true?
But Abraham’s trust in God never wavered, and in the end was vindicated. It was
for this faith that Abraham was justified in God’s sight, and this faith was
passed on to his children and to all believers, including ourselves.
As we saw in the gospel, God’s Message came in person to
Mary, the sister of Martha, and we see her vibrant relationship with God in
Christ. On one level, we feel sorry for Martha, being left to do the household
work on her own, but the key value here is that our listening to God, our
attentiveness to Christ must never be drowned out by the bustle of our everyday
lives. Then, in the reading from St Paul we are told how the Word of God,
hidden from all mankind for centuries, comes to the gentiles.
Only one thing really matters in the hurly-burly of our
modem world, that we always make space for God in our lives, that we reach out
and grasp the message which God is continually presenting to us, that we make
it our own, and that we allow it to guide and shape us, as we live and as we
hope to die, in fulfilment of God’s wishes for us.
Choosing the Better Part
It is hard not to feel sympathy for Martha. It was her house
after all, not Mary’s, and she would naturally want to show it at its best. The
trouble with her – as with over-anxious people in general – was that she could
view things only from her own angle and became annoyed when others wished to
follow a different course. She does not see is that to be a good host, we have
to forget ourselves and focus on what our visitor wants from us.
Martha loved Jesus as much as Mary did, and it is clear that
he treasured them both. Her mistake was in not trying to find out how Jesus
wanted to be entertained, while visiting her house. Her sister correctly senses
that when Jesus comes on a visit the last thing he wants is to have people
fussing over how to feed him. So, while Martha makes the greater housekeeping
effort, Mary understands better what is expected of her by him. Her
contemplative intuition grasps instinctively the real reason for Jesus’ visit.
He is there not to receive but to give, not to be served but to serve. He has something
he needs to say and the one thing necessary is to listen to his voice.
We have here a whole theology of contemplation, of how to
receive the Lord’s visit. It starts off from the basis that, no matter who our
visitors may be, there is always something to be learned, something to be
gained from them. The one who comes knocking on our door will have something to
tell us, should be listened to and understood. After a demanding and
frustrating confrontation with today’s scribes and Pharisees, Jesus comes to
visit his friends, in an atmosphere of ease. He comes to talk to us in the
quiet of the evening or the freshness of the morning, to share with us the Word
that brings us to salvation. He comes not because he needs us but because we
need him. We too can be “distracted with all the serving;” we too can “worry
and fret about so many things.” We may, like Martha, miss the better part, the
one thing necessary, which is to submit to the Word of Christ.
The world is made up of Martha’s and Mary’s – the doers and
the dreamers – and it would seem the former are far more numerous than the
latter. The industrial and commercial society of today places a huge premium on
achievement. It is results that count. Targets are set for production and sales
and only those who achieve or surpass them are rewarded. Captains of industry
everywhere are pushing hard to have pay related to production. Their message is
“shape up or ship out.” And those who can’t or won’t are made redundant. We
live in Martha’s world.
It is ironic that Christ’s followers so seldom show his
marked preference for the Marys of this world. They toiled away in their
garrets, often in poverty, elaborating their dreams and bringing to birth a
better world for future generations. Mercifully, we still have our dreamers.
The message of today’s gospel is that we, like our Master, should cherish such
dreamers. It is the poets and prophets, writers and thinkers, philosophers and
mystics, who like Mary, have chosen the better part.
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Lord of All Pots and Pans!
(Attributed to Nicholas Herman alias Bro. Lawrence, cook
in the monastery)
Lord of all pots and pans and things,
Since I’ve no time to beA saint by doing holy things,
Or contemplating thee,
By praying in the dawn-light,
Or storming heaven’s gates,
Make me a saint by getting meals,
And washing up the plates.
Although I must have Martha's hands,
I have Mary's mind, and,
When I black the boots and shoes
Thy sandals, Lord, I find.
I think of how they trod the earth
What time I scrub the floor,
Accept this meditation, Lord,
I haven't time for more.
Warm all the kitchen with thy love,
And light it with thy peace,
Forgive me all my worrying
And make all grumbling cease.
Thou who didst love to give men food
In room or by the sea
Accept this service that I do
I do it unto thee.
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Scripture ReflectionsLord, many people misunderstand hospitality.
They worry and fret about preparing plenty of food and decorating the house.
But few things are needed to make people feel at home,
indeed only one, which is to sit with our guests and listen to them speaking.
Lord, we pray for parents today.
Let them not fall into the error of worrying and fretting
about doing many things for their children,
then complaining that no one is helping them.
Remind them that the only essential thing
is to sit down at the feet of their children and listen to them.
Lord, so often we keep busy, complaining about all we have
to do,
and that our brothers
and sisters are leaving us to do all the work by ourselves.We even ask you to tell them to help us.
We thank you for that day when you sent someone to speak to us
- a sermon in church,
- one of our children told us we were insincere,
- we found ourselves committing a sin.
We felt hurt and
angry
But now we realize
that it was Jesus speaking to us as he spoke to Martha,showing us that we really were running away
from the one thing we needed more than any other,
to spend more time at prayer,
to sit at your feet and listen as you show us the truth about ourselves.
“The creator, the source of all, is in the heart of each one
of us.” The Upanishads
Lord, there is a
Martha and a Mary within each of us
- a part of ourselves
which is active and busy,- another part which sits at your feet and listens trustingly to your word.
We need our active
self to accomplish your will,
but the listening
self is the best part,and we must not allow it to be taken from us.
Lord, we thank you for listening communities,
-Bible sharing groups;
- alcoholics anonymous;
- Montessori schools.
What marks them out from others is simplicity.
Those responsible
know that few things are needed to make a community,
and the one thing
that must not be taken awayis listening to every member of the group as if sitting at the Lord’s feet.
“The West Indian people have not waited on governments; they
have integrated in their own informal but highly effective way.” Report of the West Indian Commission, June
1992
Lord, we pray for our
leaders.
They worry and fret
about many things, and even complainthat the people leave them to do the serving all by themselves,
when in fact they are neglecting the one thing that is needed most of all,
which is to sit at the feet of their people and listen to them.
ILLISTRATIONS:
1. Mommy’s
Dinner:
Once upon a time a mommy had such a wonderful time on her
vacation that she decided that on the last weekend she would have a party for
the neighbors at their summer place in gratitude for what good friends they had
been. She hoped that she could do that every summer. Let’s have pizza her kids
said –as kids always say. We can grill some hamburgers, her husband said,
that’s easy (which is what he always said). No, said the mommy, we should have
a really NICE dinner (which is what she always said).
The rest of the
family groaned to themselves because they knew what that meant – a whole day of
hard work for everyone during which the mommy would act like it wasn’t her idea
but theirs and now they weren’t helping enough. The rest of the family thought
that beef bourgeon was a little much for a summer dinner. There was no reason
to clean up the house like it was just before Christmas. If they had to have
Caesar salad, couldn’t you make it out of a bag. Was it really necessary to
bake potatoes? Wouldn’t potato salad be just as good? Couldn’t you buy the
apple pies at the bakery instead of making a half dozen of them? And what was
wrong with package pie crust?
Well, the party was a
feast which everyone enjoyed. They would have enjoyed it a lot more, however,
if the mommy wasn’t so worn out that she didn’t have any fun. (Andrew
Greeley)
Hospitality is the way we come out of ourselves. It is the
first step toward dismantling the barriers of the world. Hospitality is the way
we turn a prejudiced world around, one heart at a time.” (Benedictine
Sister Joan Chittister)
--------------------
-Working for God & doing God’s work (Thomas Green,
sj)
-Don’t fit God into your schedule, but fit yourself into
God’s plans for you.-------------------
Jesus did not intend to belittle Martha and her activity,
but rather to show that hearing the word of God is the foundation of all
action, that the word of God must permeate all other concerns. The highest
priority must be given to listening to the word. Prayer and actions must be
continuous, complementary and mutually dependent. Prayer without action is
sterile, and action without prayer is empty. We are expected to be
"contemplative in action" because only those who listen carefully to
the Word of God know how to behave in the way that God wants, when they show
deep concern for the well-being of other people. That is why Jesus reminds
Martha that proper service for him is attention to his instruction, not an
elaborate provision for his physical needs.
Without the “fuel” of prayer, silence and communion with
God, service can become a crushing responsibility, a burden rather than a
vocation, an annoyed grumbling, rather than a response to the invitation of
God. It is a well-known fact that those who are in the caring professions like
doctors, nurses, pastors, social workers and even parents often suffer from
burnout and terminal exhaustion as Martha did.
Serve the Lord with Martha’s diligence: Some of mankind's
greatest contributions have come from people who decided that no sacrifice was
too large and no effort too great to accomplish what they set out to do. Edward
Gibbon spent 26 years writing The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman
Empire. Noah Webster worked diligently for 36 years to bring into print the
first edition of his Webster’s Dictionary. It is said that the Roman orator
Cicero practiced before friends every day for 30 years in order to perfect his
public speaking. Most of the famous scientists sacrificed their whole lives on
their research for the betterment of human lives. Now let's think about how
much energy we put into the Lord's work in an age when people are self-serving,
self-centered, and self-indulgent. The comparison can be rather embarrassing.
--------------------------------
3. We
need listening Marthas and serving Marys:
Martha has become a symbol of action-oriented, responsible
people who get the job done. Our world needs such men and women and boys and
girls who get the job done. This is certainly true in the church. How would the
Church survive if not for the Marthas and Bills who sing in the choir, run the
altar guild, work with the homeless, work with the youth, and build the Church?
The Church could not exist without the Marthas and Bills, the women and men who
are responsible and do the work. The same is true with the family. We need
responsible people to do the work in the house: to cook, to clean, to keep the
house operating, to pay the bills, to keep the cars running, not to speak of
rearing the children and loving the spouse. Households can’t survive without
Marthas and Bills. Nor can offices, schools or businesses. There is nothing
wrong with being a responsible, action-oriented, get-it-done kind of person.
But we must find time to listen to God speaking to us through His word and time
to talk to God. Jesus clearly said: be hearers and doers of the word. Jesus
never reversed that order.
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4. The
Archbishop of Canterbury with Mental Hospital Inmates
Some years ago, The Archbishop of Canterbury was rushing to
catch a train in London. In his haste, he accidentally jumped on the wrong
passenger car and found himself on a car full of inmates from a mental
hospital. They were all dressed in mental hospital clothing.
Just as the train pulled out of the station, an orderly came
in and began to count the inmates, "1-2-3-4..." when suddenly he saw
this distinguished looking gentleman there wearing a business suit and a
clerical collar and he said:
"Who are you?" The answer came back: "I am
the Archbishop of Canterbury!" And the orderly said: "5-6-7-8."
The point of that story is this: It is so important to know
who we are and who other people are. If we know what makes us tick and what
makes other people tick, we get along better. If we understand where we are
coming from and where other people are coming from, we relate better. There is
more compassion, more empathy and more kindness. When Jesus looked at Martha
that day in that emotional scene, he saw some red flags, some warning signals,
some danger signs, some destructive attitudes within her which were more
harmful to Martha herself than to anyone else. Jesus loved Martha. They were
good friends and that day, he saw in her some hurtful attitudes that were
working in her like spiritual poisons, petty attitudes, which can devastate and
destroy the soul.
Let's look at these dangerous attitudes which were in
Martha. We may find ourselves or someone we know somewhere between the lines.
When Jesus looked at Martha that day, he saw deep down inside of her the
dangerous attitude.
1. Resentment
2. Narrowness3. Unkindness
___________________________
5. A
Gazelle and a Cheetah
On 10 July 2013 someone posted a YouTube video. Three days
later it had 5 million hits.
The one minute clip shows an amazing life-or-death race. It
was shot by some Krueger Park tourists on safari in South Africa. Routinely and
sternly, visitors to the park are told to stay in their vehicles at all times.
But tourists being tourists, you know the rest of the story. The video shows
cars parked along the access road with all their windows and doors wide open,
and people hanging out every which way in order to get a better view.
In this case what everyone was gawking at was a herd of
gazelles being chased down by two amazingly speedy cheetahs. Suddenly the whole
chase changed course and headed into the roadway. Predator and prey came racing
through the line-up of parked cars, then disappeared into the trees on the
other side of the road. Moments later one gazelle doubled back - again, running
towards the road - with the cheetah pair in hot pursuit.
Feeling the hot breath of death on its heels, the terrified
gazelle made an incredible choice. It hurled itself INTO a Toyota minivan whose
side door had been slid open. The confused cheetahs ran on past, looking around
for the prey that had been so close only moments before. As the disappointed
cheetahs ran off, the owners of the "get-away car" opened the other
sliding door and the gazelle did an "exit-stage-left" back out into
the wilderness.
And we think we live with stress!
"Stress" is one of the greatest contributors to a
host of diseases and debilitating maladies suffered by people living in our
rapidly rotating world.
_____________________6. Don't Forget the Best
There is an ancient Scottish legend that tells the story of
a shepherd boy tending a few straggling sheep on the side of a mountain. One
day as he cared for his sheep he saw at his feet a beautiful flower -- one that
was more beautiful than any he had ever seen in his life. He knelt down upon
his knees and scooped the flower in his hands and held it close to his eyes,
drinking in its beauty. As he held the flower close to his face, suddenly he
heard a noise and looked up before him.
There he saw a great stone mountain opening up right before
his eyes. And as the sun began to shine on the inside of the mountain, he saw
the sprinkling of the beautiful gems and precious metals that it contained.
With the flower in his hands, he walked inside. Laying the
flower down, he began to gather all the gold and silver and precious gems in
his arms. Finally with all that his arms could carry, he turned and began to
walk out of that great cavern, and suddenly a voice said to him, "Don't
forget the best."
Thinking that perhaps he had overlooked some choice piece of
treasure, he turned around again and picked up additional pieces of priceless
treasure. And with his arms literally overflowing with wealth, he turned to
walk back out of the great mountainous vault. And again the voice said,
"Don't forget the best."
But by this time his arms were filled and he walked on
outside, and all of a sudden, the precious metals and stones turned to dust.
And he looked around in time to see the great stone mountain closing its doors
again. A third time he heard the voice, and this time the voice said, "You
forgot the best. For the beautiful flower is the key to the vault of the
mountain."
In our Scripture passage we have someone who also forgot the
best. Her name was Martha.
Adrian Dieleman, Hosts and Guests
__________________________________________
7. Will
the Grass Ever Come Back?
Erma Bombeck, the author who wrote "If Life Is A Bowl
Of Cherries, What Am I Doing Here In The Pits", tells of two moments in
her husband's life:
There was a time when the children were growing up that her
husband used to go and look at the back yard. Surveying the muddy patches where
the lawn should be, he would wonder -- Will the grass ever come back?
And then there was the time when the children were grown and
gone that her husband went and looked over the beautiful green lawn, immaculate
from lack of use and wondered -- Will the children ever come back?
Some parts of life are temporary - some are eternal. Wisdom
knows the difference. This is the fundamental issue at stake in the story of
Mary and Martha.
Richard J. Fairchild, The Better Part
________________________________________
8. Responding
with Humor
By the way, don't you think Luke also included this incident
in his gospel account because he found it irresistible, or perhaps more
accurately, because he found a touch of humor in it? There is humor here, isn't
there? We smile at the story because we see ourselves in it, or we detect
someone we know who is similar to Martha. Sometimes our priorities, or
frustrations, are so far off the beam that they are laughable. And along with
this was Martha's own lack of humor, which might have finally saved her. "The
Lord's coming to my house? You mean he did accept my reckless invitation?"
Martha might have asked. "Well, then, he's going to have to settle for
potluck!" Such an attitude could have made Martha a relaxed, delightful
hostess.
A friend of mine likes to tell stories about how his teenage
children would call him at home on the telephone on Friday nights after the
high school basketball games. It was usually about 10 o'clock and they wanted
to know whether they could bring a few friends over for a little get together.
When the parents asked how many friends were coming, they were usually told,
"Oh, about seventeen." Instead of slamming down the phone, the guy
said he always smiled at his wife, and the two of them hightailed it over to
the supermarket to get enough supplies to feed and water down the two dozen
teenagers who showed up. The slight ridiculousness of the situation and the
parents' humorous response to it preserved a loving relationship between them
and their children.
Richard W. Patt, All Stirred Up, CSS Publishing Company,
Inc.
__________________________________9. Being Present
How many of us have been to a party where our host or hosts
are so busy with all of the little details that the guests leave the party
thinking, "That was a lovely party, but I wish I had more time to speak
with our host!" I imagine this Martha from over 2,000 years ago to have
something in common with a certain 'Martha' from our present. Fussing over the
perfect table setting, the most delicious and perhaps elaborate meal, adjusting
every little detail until it is just so...and only when everything is perfectly
in place, turning to the guests to enjoy their company. There is a lot of joy
to be taken in being a host and doing something gracious your guests, but it
should never compromise the time we have to really enjoy our contact with them,
especially when it starts to feel like 'work' as Martha clearly expresses.
I think that one of the things Jesus is praising in Mary's
behavior in this text is her careful listening and just being present with her
guest and her God. Jesus is telling us that there is great wisdom in letting
the dishes soak in the sink so we can listen to and relax with others in
fellowship.
Staff, www.esermons.com
_________________________________
10. The
Highest Priority
Have you ever been in a hurry and buttoned up a long
overcoat with lots of buttons and when you were done, found out that the coat
was uneven? What went wrong? I'll tell you what went wrong. When you don't get
the first button in the right hole, all the rest are out of sequence too,
right?! That's a parable about life. Jesus said it this way in the Sermon on
the Mount: "Seek first God's kingdom and his righteousness, and all these
things shall be yours as well." (Matthew 6:33) If the Lord is not the high
priority in your life, then, like the overcoat, so many other things in life
will be out of whack as well.
Arthur E. Dean Windhorn
_______________________
11. Faithful
to my Lord's commands
I still would choose the better part;
Serve with careful Martha's handsAnd loving Mary's heart.
Charles Wesley
___________________________
12. ABC
Priorities
A time management guru, a professor in the business school
at Harvard, speaks about A, B, and C priorities, and then he notes that too
many people spend too much of their time on the C priorities! And then he asks,
"Why do you think that is?" The answer is that the C priorities are,
first, much easier to accomplish, and, second, give you the impression that you
are actually getting something done. In other words you can keep busy with the
C priorities all day and never get to the more important things. The lesson
from Mary and Martha is "Don't let the good (the C priorities) get in the
way of the best (the A priorities). Sound like anyone you know?
David E. Leininger
__________________________________
13. There
Is Always a Load Limit
Dr. John Anderson tells about a cartoon that appeared in the
NEW YORKER magazine. Approaching a small bridge plainly marked, "Load
Limit 8 tons" was a truck, also marked on its side, "8 tons."
When the 8 ton truck was about in the middle of the bridge with the 8 ton
limit, a bluebird lighted on the top girder. At that point the bridge gave way
and crashed with the truck into the river below, to the obvious surprise of the
bluebird.
The bridge was built as indicated for 8 tons; the truck
weighed exactly that. The bridge could hold up under its load limit, but not
under 8 tons and one bluebird.
Of course, this story is wonderfully ridiculous. Most
bridges could stand up under their load limit and several thousand bluebirds
extra. But, to be sure, all bridges have a breaking point somewhere "that
point at which the bluebird would be just much too much. But, friends, it
really isn't the bluebird that breaks it down. It is the fact that 8 tons are
already present.
We all have bluebird troubles, don't we? We are all burdened
by the facts of our lives which load us to the point of "load limit."
We let little things get the best of us, little bluebirds of nothingness, tiny
bluebirds of no importance, but just the thing to bring us down. Every person
has a limit and we would do well to watch for the warning signs of one bluebird
too many. There is always a load limit.
Arthur E. Dean Windhorn, Sermons.com
________________________________________
14. Worry
Worry has been defined as "a small trickle of fear that
meanders through the mind until it cuts a channel into which all other thoughts
are drained."
Unknown
__________________
15. Humor:
When Anxieties Finally Come True
For several years a woman had been having trouble getting to
sleep at night because she feared burglars. One night her husband heard a noise
in the house, so he went downstairs to investigate. When he got there, he did
find a burglar. "Good evening," said the man of the house. "I am
pleased to see you. Come upstairs and meet my wife. She has been waiting 10
years to meet you."
William Marshall,
Eternity Shut in a Span
__________________
16. Inviting
Us Out to Worship
There is a chapel somewhere in Wisconsin that has a stained
glass window over the entrance, showing the figure of Jesus with open arms.
Some, seeing it for the first time, remarked, "How meaningful! He seems to
be inviting us in to worship."
"That's true," the pastor said. "He is indeed
inviting us in to worship."
When the service was over and the same person was going out
the door, he looked up at the window again. There was the figure of Jesus, with
the same invitingly open arms. "Look!" he said. "Now he seems to
be inviting us out."
"Right," the pastor replied.
***************
A psychologist ran every morning in a park near her home before going to her office. She often met a colleague there, a well-known psychiatrist. Without any formal arrangement, they had run together every morning for many years. But after she was diagnosed with cancer, somehow her running companion was never there. A strong and determined woman, she continued to run, despite a difficult course of surgery and chemotherapy. After a few months of running alone, she called the psychiatrist, but he never returned the call.
About a year after the completion of her treatment, she took a different path on her run one morning and saw the psychiatrist running up ahead. Being twenty years younger, she caught up with him easily. As they ran side by side, she told her one-time running companion that she was hurt by his not calling back. Everyone in their small professional community knew about her cancer. Surely he had heard.
The psychiatrist replied, “I’m sorry. I simply did not know what to say.”
What would she have wanted to hear?
“Oh, something like, ‘I heard it’s been a hard year. How are you doing?’ Some simple human thing like that.”
Too often, we hide behind our credentials, our expertise, our work, our designated role or function in order to avoid the awkwardness of simply being human. Like the psychiatrist in the story, we can be experts in the science of hurt but find ourselves too afraid to extend the simplest form of healing; like Martha in the Gospel, we bury ourselves in our work and agendas and calendars to avoid loving and being loved by our “guests.” Jesus invites each one of us to make a place in our lives for the “better part” — for welcoming the joy and love of family and friends that is the very presence of God.
--------------------
From Fr. Tony Kadavil's Collection:
3. Set your priorities:
There is a story about a man who was preparing his favorite breakfast of hot oatmeal when his daughter came rushing in with his little four-year-old grandson. "The babysitter has been delayed," she explained, "and I've got to go to work. Will you keep Bobby for a few hours?" Granddad said, "Sure," and his daughter left. Then Granddad scooped up two bowls of oatmeal. "Do you like sugar?" he asked. When Bobby nodded he asked, "How about some butter, too?" When his grandson nodded again he asked, "How about milk?" "Sure," the boy said. But when the grandfather placed the steaming bowl of oatmeal in front of Bobby, the boy made a face and pushed it away. "But when I asked you, you said you liked sugar, butter and milk," grandfather protested. "Yeah," Bobby answered, "but you didn't ask me if I like oatmeal." Granddad forgot to ask the most elemental question. Sometimes we forget to do that, too. We never set priorities. We never list in our own minds what those things are that matter most. We allow life to buffet us here and there and we never center in on those things that really matter.
***************
17. ‘A simple human thing’:
About a year after the completion of her treatment, she took a different path on her run one morning and saw the psychiatrist running up ahead. Being twenty years younger, she caught up with him easily. As they ran side by side, she told her one-time running companion that she was hurt by his not calling back. Everyone in their small professional community knew about her cancer. Surely he had heard.
The psychiatrist replied, “I’m sorry. I simply did not know what to say.”
What would she have wanted to hear?
“Oh, something like, ‘I heard it’s been a hard year. How are you doing?’ Some simple human thing like that.”
[From Kitchen Table Wisdom by Rachel Naomi Remen, M.D.]
Too often, we hide behind our credentials, our expertise, our work, our designated role or function in order to avoid the awkwardness of simply being human. Like the psychiatrist in the story, we can be experts in the science of hurt but find ourselves too afraid to extend the simplest form of healing; like Martha in the Gospel, we bury ourselves in our work and agendas and calendars to avoid loving and being loved by our “guests.” Jesus invites each one of us to make a place in our lives for the “better part” — for welcoming the joy and love of family and friends that is the very presence of God.
--------------------
From Fr. Tony Kadavil's Collection:
1. "I would like to be married to both of
them":
Some single men in a Bible
study group were discussing who would make the better wife--Martha or Mary. One
fellow said, "Well, I think Martha would make the better wife. The way to
a man's heart is through his stomach. It sounds like Martha surely knew how to
cook. I would love to be married to a woman like that!" Another man said,
"I think Mary would make the better wife. She was always so thoughtful,
sweet and loving. I could be very happy, married to a woman like Mary!"
Finally, another fellow settled the argument when he said, "Well, I would
like to be married to both of them. I would like Martha before supper and Mary
after supper." Today’s gospel challenges us to combine the listening
spirit of Mary with the dynamic spirit of Martha in our Christian lives.
2. "She can sit all evening at the feet of a friend
and not say anything.”
The headline on the cover of Sports Illustrated some
time back read: "Sportswoman of the Year." One of the pictures on the
cover showed Mary Decker pressing the tape as she defeated, by inches, the
Soviet champion, Zamira Zaitseva, in the 1500-meter world championship race.
The article went on to describe Decker's phenomenal performances in San Diego,
Los Angeles, Gateshead (England), Stockholm, Paris, and Oslo. One comment was
made about Mary Decker by the writer of the article that is relevant to our
discussion today. He wrote, "She can sit all evening at the feet of a
friend and not say anything, just smile and let the talk wash over
her."[Kenny Moore, "She Runs and We Are Lifted," Sports
Illustrated (December 26, 1983), p. 38.] Today’s gospel tells us about another
Mary, Mary of Bethany, who did the same thing when Jesus made his last visit to
her home.
There is a story about a man who was preparing his favorite breakfast of hot oatmeal when his daughter came rushing in with his little four-year-old grandson. "The babysitter has been delayed," she explained, "and I've got to go to work. Will you keep Bobby for a few hours?" Granddad said, "Sure," and his daughter left. Then Granddad scooped up two bowls of oatmeal. "Do you like sugar?" he asked. When Bobby nodded he asked, "How about some butter, too?" When his grandson nodded again he asked, "How about milk?" "Sure," the boy said. But when the grandfather placed the steaming bowl of oatmeal in front of Bobby, the boy made a face and pushed it away. "But when I asked you, you said you liked sugar, butter and milk," grandfather protested. "Yeah," Bobby answered, "but you didn't ask me if I like oatmeal." Granddad forgot to ask the most elemental question. Sometimes we forget to do that, too. We never set priorities. We never list in our own minds what those things are that matter most. We allow life to buffet us here and there and we never center in on those things that really matter.