Friends,
today’s Gospel inspires protests more than almost any other that I’ve
preached on. "Hey Bishop, I think Martha gets a bum rap." And for
centuries the story has been read that Martha represents the "active"
life and Mary the "contemplative" life. I would like to stress that the
active/contemplative reading of the Martha and Mary
story is not that helpful. We have to dig a little deeper.
What
does he upbraid Martha for? "Martha, Martha, you are anxious and upset
about many things." It is the frantic, divided, unfocused quality of her
life that Jesus is drawing attention to. And what is Mary being praised
for? Not precisely that she is "contemplative," but that she has chosen
the unum necessarium
(the one necessary thing). She sits quietly at the feet of the Lord,
not so much eschewing work as gathering herself, learning what she is
essentially about.
There
is a cacophony of voices calling out to you; there are a thousand
influences pulling you this way and that. What’s the one necessary
thing? It is to listen to the voice of Jesus as he tells you of his love
and as he tells you who you are.
Tuesday of the Twenty-seventh Week in Ordinary Time
Lectionary: 462
Brothers and sisters:
You heard of my former way of life in Judaism,
how I persecuted the Church of God beyond measure
and tried to destroy it,
and progressed in Judaism
beyond many of my contemporaries among my race,
since I was even more a zealot for my ancestral traditions.
But when he, who from my mother's womb had set me apart
and called me through his grace,
was pleased to reveal his Son to me,
so that I might proclaim him to the Gentiles,
I did not immediately consult flesh and blood,
nor did I go up to Jerusalem
to those who were Apostles before me;
rather, I went into Arabia and then returned to Damascus.
Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to confer with Cephas
and remained with him for fifteen days.
But I did not see any other of the Apostles,
only James the brother of the Lord.
(As to what I am writing to you, behold,
before God, I am not lying.)
Then I went into the regions of Syria and Cilicia.
And I was unknown personally to the churches of Judea
that are in Christ;
they only kept hearing that "the one who once was persecuting us
is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy."
So they glorified God because of me.
Jesus entered a village
where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him.
She had a sister named Mary
who sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak.
Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said,
"Lord, do you not care
that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving?
Tell her to help me."
The Lord said to her in reply,
"Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things.
There is need of only one thing.
Mary has chosen the better part
and it will not be taken from her."
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