Homily for Sunday Ordinary 16 C

“Jesus entered a village where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him.”  We are so sure we know where this story is going, we run right past the opening line.

I have Mass on Sunday, July 20th

at St. Isidore, 9:30/11:30 am

at St. Andrew, 5:00 pm

frjoedailey@gmail.com

Transcript

A reading from the Holy Gospel According to Luke. 

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." 

The Gospel of the Lord.

Some friends of mine moved into a brand new condo complex in Lake Orion. Last Saturday, I was invited over for dinner. I had already been there, but for some reason, I was thinking that the complex was in the next block. I realized my mistake the moment I drove past the entrance. Since it's a brand new development, it's not even on Apple Maps yet. They have a real problem directing Amazon drivers, not to mention dinner guests, to their new address. You know you're in trouble when people give directions and then add, "You can't miss it." 

"Jesus entered a village where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him." We are so sure we know where this story is going, we  run right past the opening line.

At the beginning of this chapter, Jesus sent 72 disciples to all the places he intended to visit. They were to take nothing with them, which meant that they would be completely dependent on someone receiving them and providing for them. Jesus told the 72 disciples, "Whoever listens to you listens to me." In welcoming them, we welcome Jesus. And in receiving Jesus, we welcome not him, but the one who sent him. 

In welcoming Jesus, Martha is a child of peace who has encountered God's reign. She is among the blessed disciples who see and hear. 

At first hearing, it seems like Martha is in competition with Mary, and Jesus' comment to her appears to support that. But in welcoming Jesus, Martha signifies her openness to the word and work of God. She is depicted as a model disciple, in contrast to those in the previous verses who do not receive Jesus' messengers. 

Mary is presented as listening to Jesus' teaching. So, like Martha, Mary is also among those who receive Jesus. In calling her "sister," perhaps Luke is telling us that both Martha and Mary participate in the community of Jesus' disciples. 

We see a similar pattern in the reading from Genesis. Right at the beginning, we're told that God visited Abraham. Abraham welcomes the three visitors with lavish hospitality, but it turned out that in receiving the three visitors, Abraham, as the author of Hebrews puts it, "entertained angels, unaware." 

But this is more than a story about hospitality. This is an enunciation story. You know this annunciation from Luke. The angel said to her, "Do not be afraid, Mary, for you have found favor with God, and now you will conceive in your womb an embarrassed son, and you will name him Jesus." In the Genesis annunciation, one of the three guests said, "I shall come back to you next year, and then your wife Sarah will have a son." 

In receiving the three visitors, Abraham welcomed Yahweh. Now the promise Yahweh made to Abraham will be fulfilled. Abraham will welcome the promised son, Isaac. 

In today's Gospel, Mary simply sat beside the Lord at his feet, listening to him speak. In Luke, chapter 7, a woman washes Jesus' feet with her tears and dries them with her hair. The woman is not named, but in the Aramaic version of Luke's Gospel, that woman is Mary of Magdala. 

In John's Gospel, it's Mary of Bethany who took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus' feet, and wiped them with her hair. By placing Mary at the feet of Jesus, Luke may be suggesting that the relationship between Mary and Jesus centers around this extravagant gesture of washing his feet. 

The double naming "Martha, Martha", is a common device when God is speaking. The angel of the Lord called from heaven, "Abraham, Abraham." When Moses approached the burning bush, a voice called "Moses, Moses." And on the Damascus road, the Lord called "Saul, Saul." 

Martha has already addressed Jesus as Lord. Lord do not care. And the Lord replies, "There is need of only one thing." Or, there is a footnote in your Bible, "Only few things are needed." James Alison suggests that what Jesus said was probably a pun that got lost in translation. Alison imagines Jesus saying, "Martha, Martha, you want Mary to help you with the serving, but I just want to serve you." 

In Luke, chapter 12, Jesus said, "Be like people waiting for their master to return from the wedding feast, ready to open the door as soon as he comes and knocks. Blessed those servants whom the master finds awake when he comes, in truth I tell you he will do up his belt, sit them down at table, and wait on them." 

At the Last Supper, Jesus asked his disciples, "For who is the greater? The one at table, or the one who serves? The one at table, surely. Yet here am I among you as one who serves." 

Jesus is turning the tables on us. Whenever we welcome the Lord, the Lord in turn welcomes us. The one who is our guest becomes our host. To choose a better portion is to accept the invitation of the one who wants to give himself to us, to sit at his table, sharing the meal he has prepared for us.