Word to the Wise
Sunday, July 21, 2019 - 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time - C
[Gen 18:1-10a; Col 1:24-28; Luke 10:38-42]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." [Luke]
The story of Martha and Mary follows closely on the parable of the Good Samaritan. The latter parable emphasizes the importance of reaching out in compassion to all those in need without regard to various categories of exclusion. It is a response to the lawyer's question about who is a neighbor in the second greatest commandment: You shall love your neighbor as yourself.
The story of Martha and Mary, it seems to me, responds to the first greatest commandment: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your being, with all your strength, and with all your mind. Martha and Mary seem to encompass both these commandments. Mary does express the priority of love of God, but Martha cannot thereby be excluded. If one needs to see this further, the evangelist Luke provides another parable later on, the Rich Man and Lazarus! It is not difficult to become so wrapped up in pious acts that we forget the cries of the poor.
The story of Martha and Mary has been used to compare active versus contemplative forms of religious life or to buttress conclusions from different ways of character analysis (Meyers-Briggs or Enneagram, etc), but I see it as a reminder of the two greatest commandments, both of which we are called to observe. AMEN