C Cycle – 16^th Sunday in Ordinary Time 16

Lk. 10:38-42

I remember the first person I visited in a hospice facility.  I admit I was a little nervous and uncertain about what I would say to a person facing their own mortality.   What I was not prepared for was his concern about his failings as a youth would impact his being embraced by God.  He was concerned his sins were so grave, nothing else he did as an adult counterbalanced them.  He hoped he did enough to be acceptable to God.

When I heard those words, I was stunned because somewhere along the line we have failed to convey the message of Christ’s sacrifice and what it has achieved for us.  He was anxious and afraid, and my task became clear.  Ministering would involve repeating the words of Christ.  Words of healing and forgiveness. Words of welcome not rejection. Words of hope not despair.  Words that embolden us instead of words that frighten and create doubt.

There is a direct correlation between last week’s gospel and this week’s gospel.  Last week we heard the story of the Samaritan man tending to the stranger who was beaten and robbed. The most common message people hear in that gospel is how we are to be doing something to help others in need.  It is obvious in today’s gospel Martha saw a need. She acted instinctively and began to minister.

Jesus was there, the crowd was large and everyone was engaged, listening to Jesus.  We often overlook or deliberately the word of the psalmist tells us God does not desire our offerings and sacrifices.  God desires our hearts, our emotional center not our thinking center.  The problem Martha had with Mary was she believed the people gathered in her home needed to be served.  But she also believed Mary should have responded in the same way as she had. 

The problem was she judged what Mary was doing and saw it as Mary being unconcerned about serving Jesus.  Serving Jesus was important, and Mary was just sitting there, inactive.  Was her anxiety caused by the overwhelming crowd or was it a concern for Mary’s salvation?  The answer to that question is in the response of Jesu to Martha.  He simply points out her anxiety and tells her Mary has chosen the better part.  Is Jesus telling us we should neglect serving others and become mystics? Mystics who meditate day and night on the Words in the scriptures.?  It would seem Jesus is telling us a spiritual truth we need to take to heart.  Mary has chosen the better part but what is that part and how do we reconcile that with what we believe we should be doing?   

We are not called to be mystics, but we can certainly learn something from them. We can learn discipline, detachment from rituals and things we consider important for us to do.  We can learn what God considers important is not how many things we sacrifice in our attempt to grow in holiness.  We can learn what God desires us to sacrifice is our dependency on outward actions we believe are necessary to please God.  Mary chose to sit and listen.  She chose to let the words of Christ penetrate the depths of her heart and resisted the desire to become a busy body for Christ.  She chose to surrender self-will to do the will of God. 

God does not want us to quit serving others. Last week’s gospel told us that, but He does want our service to flow out of compassion not obligation.  If Martha’s service flowed out of compassion she would be focused on those in her home, not on Mary’s sitting at the feet of Jesus.  That gentleman in that hospice facility was like Marth.  He worried if he has done enough and was pleasing to God.  He wondered if he had chosen the wrong things to do to please God.  Paul tells us that Word of God penetrates us and reveals the intention of our hearts (Heb.4:12). If we take those words seriously then we must realize we are missing out on something extremely important for us to know we are worth His sacrifice on the cross. 

This gospel is revealing something critical, something we need to take to heart and to respond to by learning to do what Mary was doing – listening to Jesus. If we can begin to do that then we will not have to worry if we have done enough.

Jesus was clear when He told us only one thing is required and that is to learn all we can from Him and His words.  We need to immerse ourselves in allowing those words to penetrate our hearts and convict us.  That is what made Paul the Apostle an effective evangelist.  He spoke the words of Jesus and made them relevant to the people who heard them. So effective they cried out “what must we do.”

Repent and believe in the gospel which is what we need to do.  Receive Jesus in the sacrament is not enough. We need to immerse ourselves in the Word and allow those words to motivate us to surrender.