SIXTEENTH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME

[cappie]

The story of Jesus in the home of Martha and Mary complements last Sunday’s story of the Good Samaritan. The Good Samaritan is an example of how a disciple should see and act. Mary is an example of how a disciple should listen.  As a woman, Mary would be expected, like Martha, to prepare hospitality for a guest.   Just as a Samaritan would not be a model for neighbourliness, so a woman would not sit with the men around the feet of a teacher.

Both stories exemplify how a disciple is to fulfil the dual command which begins chapter 10—love of God (Mary) and love of neighbour (the Samaritan).

 The Kingdom of God is a society without distinctions and boundaries between its members. It is a society that requires times for seeing and doing and also times for listening and learning at the feet of a teacher. 

Martha welcomes Jesus and his disciples into her house with generous hospitality, preparing a meal and serving them. Martha makes what seems like a very reasonable request to Jesus, but instead of sending Mary to help, Jesus lectures Martha about being anxious and distracted.  

Martha speaks only of herself. Martha doesn’t get the help she wants from Mary or the recognition she wants from Jesus. Instead, Jesus invites her to slow down. Busyness may be inevitable, but we can also use distraction as a way to avoid dealing with a problem; we can substitute busyness for real transformation. Maybe Martha didn’t really want to sit down and listen to what Jesus was saying. So often, Jesus said things that were challenging or difficult or annoying. Better to bide one’s time in the kitchen than have to re-think your opinions about Samaritans or tax-collectors. Whatever she really wanted; what Martha needed was to just stop. Sit down. Listen.  Stop doing and start listening.  

The world we live in is full of problems, problems we all want to fix. But sometimes we want to fix problems more than we want to understand them. The problems we are facing today don’t have easy fixes: how best to protect the environment?  How to protect ourselves while staying open and welcoming? All of these issues require careful, prayerful discernment — at least, they do if we are going to respond from a place of love and not fear.

Jesus’ call is to seek out God’s presence, to set aside the distractions of the world before we can best hear God’s voice. If you’re having a hard time finding God, go to those places where you know God lives. Come to church, sing the hymns, go to Holy Communion. Go outside and say thank you, even if you aren’t feeling thankful. Act with love, even if you aren’t feeling the love. And love will come to you.

Finding God among the poor is perhaps not as easy as in the beauty of nature or the peace of worship. But finding God among the poor is certain: for we know that God is always alive in the struggle for justice. We know that God lives among the marginalized, that God fights for the poor and upholds the weak. Like St Francis be among the poor, not to fix them, but merely to listen. To live with one another. To build community. Keep your heart open, and you will hear God’s voice there.

 Jesus is the true Son promised today by Abraham’s visitors (see Matthew 1:1). In Him, God has made an everlasting covenant for all time, made us blessed descendants of Abraham. The Church now offers us this covenant, bringing to completion the word of God, the promise of His plan of salvation, what Paul calls “the mystery hidden for ages.”

As once He came to Abraham, Mary, and Martha, Christ now comes to each of us in Word and Sacrament. As we say in this week’s Psalm:  Lord who shall dwell on your holy mountain? He who walks without fault he who acts with justice and speaks the truth.