🙏 SUNDAY INSIGHTS - THE 16TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME 🙏

First Reading - Genesis 18:1-10

Second Reading - Colossians 1:24-28

Gospel - Luke 10:38-42

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.” The central themes of today’s readings are the importance of hospitality in Christian life and the necessity of listening to God before acting. Jesus welcomed and tended to the needs of all, reflecting in his actions the very hospitality of God.

In the first reading, we hear the story of Abraham and Sarah and their offering of hospitality to three strangers. Both the ancient Jews and the early Christians believed that the best way to show their dedication to God was to be dedicated to hospitality. Three visitors appeared unexpectedly before Abraham’s tent. Abraham was wealthy enough to play the very generous host with the best of his contemporaries, and he was spiritually keen, sensing that his visitors were disguised angels. He and his wife, Sarah promptly started making preparations for a lavish meal with which to refresh their guests. Their generous hospitality was even more generously rewarded. God, speaking through the guests, promised that the aged couple would have a son within a year! The birth announcement was a sign of the fulfillment of God’s promises of progeny, prosperity, and property, a homeland for Abraham. If we open our hearts and our homes to God, the impossible can happen – God’s presence can overturn things. For the Israelites, this story was a sign of how God’s plan of salvation would be carried out through them, and they waited for the promised Messiah from the offspring of Abraham and Sarah. Because of his exemplary hospitality, Abraham has been featured in rabbinic stories as the founder of inns for travelers and the inventor and teacher of grace after meals. He may have been the inspiration for the missionary host who insisted that his guests praise Israel’s God for their room and board or pay cash for it! 

In the second reading, Paul presents his credentials to the Colossians. Saint Paul had suffered many hardships in preaching the Good News brought by Jesus, the same Messiah whom he had encountered on the way to Damascus. He reported that he had not only been invited to join the suffering ministry of the risen Jesus but had also been given the insight that he was actually suffering “on behalf of His body, which is the Church.” Paul could honestly look even at the Gentiles and state that he saw “Christ in you, the hope for glory.” Paul was speaking figuratively when he stated that he filled up what was lacking in the sufferings of Christ (v. 24). Obviously, the saving sacrifice of Jesus was absolute and complete. Therefore, Paul’s statement should be understood as a metaphorical expression of the author’s incredible closeness to Christ as a member of His Mystical Body, the Church, a closeness which enabled him to make Jesus’ suffering his own. What was lacking was not the atoning power of the cross but its manifestation in the Church as a present reality. Paul also believed that he had been commissioned by God to minister to the Church, as the revealer of the mystery of salvation and the preacher of the word in its fullness (v. 25). Paul invites believers to open their hearts and minds to welcome the mystery of Christ. Those who consent, by Faith, to become “hosts” of the mystery are thereby challenged to cultivate that quality of hospitality that welcomes all others in Christ.

Traditionally, today’s Gospel story has been interpreted to mean that the quiet life of contemplation and prayer led by monks and nuns and personified in Mary, is superior to a busy life of activity and action, personified in Martha (Origen of Alexandria, 3rd century). 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, and that the word of God must permeate all other concerns and Martha was distracted by her hospitality. 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 “contemplatives 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 just an elaborate provision for his physical needs. Mary shows her love for the Lord by listening to him. Jesus in fact, needed Mary and Martha to keep him company and to listen to him because he was preparing to face the cross. Mary may be a representative of discipleship and Martha of hospitality and the ideal to combine both. By this episode, Jesus teaches his disciples that those who minister among God’s people must be actively listening to his words thus becoming hospitable hosts and hostesses, welcoming into their hearts and attending to the good news of salvation. At every Mass, we are offered the very hospitality of Jesus at the table of the Eucharist to become both Mary and Martha. Both Mary and Martha are teaching would-be disciples that their following of Jesus and their service in his name will require frequent spiritual refueling by prayer, silence, and communion with God. Otherwise, service, instead of being a loving response to the invitation of God, can become a crushing responsibility, a burden. In other words, listening to the Lord and resting in his presence is more important that busying oneself with the duties or routines of daily life. Mary chose to listen to the Lord; Martha chose (as her first priority) to work in the kitchen. Both are necessary, but when the Lord is present, our own agenda must be put aside to hear what the Lord wishes to teach us.

Dear friends, 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. People suffering from burnot often end up angry, anxious, and worried. Hence, occasionally we need to put aside the work we do for the Lord in serving others and just spend some time being with Him, talking to Him and listening to Him, fully aware of His holy presence in our souls. We may do the recharging of our spiritual energy also by our personal and family prayers, by the meditative reading of the Bible and by participating in the celebration of the Holy Mass. Christian husbands and wives should develop “couple spirituality” and seek more opportunities to pray together. The Martha and Mary episode teaches us the need for balance between service and prayer and the need for spending time with the Lord, learning from Him and recharging our spiritual batteries with the power of the Holy Spirit.

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, women, boys and girls, and so does 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 them. 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.