Sixteenth Sunday In Ordinary Time
Gospel:
Luke 10:38-42
A visit to the home of Martha and Mary begins as follows, “Jesus entered a village where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him.” We can assume that Martha and her sister Mary are the same Martha and Mary who had a brother named Lazarus in John 11. If this is correct, then the village is Bethany on the east slope of the Mt. of Olives, a bit over a mile east of Jerusalem. Luke notes that Martha had a sister named Mary. Mary’s “activity,” “She sat at the feet of the Lord listening to him speak,” while Martha was “burdened with much serving.” Her complaint seems justified, “Lord, does it not concern you that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving? Tell her to help me.”
Jesus’ response is not what Martha expected. He says, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and busy about many things. There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken away from her.” A good story, and the first part could be true to life in a home where two sisters are responsible for the housework. The second part however, Jesus’ response to Martha, does not seem so true to life. This indicates what is true of all parts of the gospel — this story is catechetical instruction. The first lesson might be that the values of what the gospels call “the kingdom of God,” can be quite different from the values imposed on us by social custom and family life.
Jesus frequently acts contrary to Jewish cultural norms of his time. He was alone in a house with women not related to him. A woman serves him. He teaches a woman in her own house. All these are contrary to the cultural norms of his people. Also at influence in Luke’s presentation of this story is the leading role of women in early Christianity. They sometimes hosted Paul and his companions in their homes and sometimes hosted the whole Christian community — house churches. Examples: Lydia of Acts 16:14-15; Prisca and her husband Aquila of 1 Cor. 16:19. There was also a prominent Deacon Phoebe of the church at Cenchreae, Romans 1:16. It is only fair and true to note that Paul, who calls Phoebe “our sister,” does not refer to her as a “deaconess,” but as a “deacon.”
The word “deacon” brings us back to the story of Martha and Mary. By the time Luke wrote his gospel, the Greek diakonein was a technical term for ministry in the churches. Luke uses the same Greek term to describe the work of Martha. “Waiting on tables” or hospitality, was from the beginnings of Christianity at least one of the works of the deaconate, as Luke tells us in Acts 6:1-6. “Waiting on tables” in Acts 6 centered on distribution of food to needy widows. Widows were enrolled by the churches into a kind of religious order or society if, among other activities, they had shown hospitality. Thus we conclude that Jesus does not reject Martha’s ministry, but by depicting Jesus upholding Mary’s “activity,” Luke proclaims that listening to the Word is the basis of Christian ministry.
Jesus’ openness with women and association with them was revolutionary. The kingdom of God broke into a prejudiced world. When we consider “normal” practice and teachings of some scholars of the time, in the following quotes, we see what Jesus and Christianity faced in elevating the role of women. “Of the empty-headedness that has come into the world, nine parts was given to women, one part to men.” “Many women: much witchcraft.” The custom of women preceding the corpse in a funeral procession symbolized their responsibility (Eve) for death. “Conversation should not be held with a woman, even though she be one’s own.” “The words of the Torah must not be handed over to women.” “The wife should not bear witness, nor instruct children, nor pray at table . . . .” In the synagogue women were kept behind a screen. A Greek-Jewish scholar, contemporary of Jesus wrote, “Among us the attitude of man is formed by reason, of woman by sensuality.” Flavius Josephus (1st century): “A woman is inferior to her husband in all things.” So let’s read and weep, then thank God for Jesus, the gospels, and Christianity.
First Reading:
Genesis 18:1-10a
The hospitality Martha offers Jesus in today’s gospel drew from the Old Testament another story of hospitality. While Martha knew who it was to whom she offered hospitality, Abraham unknowingly offered hospitality to the Lord God and two angels. It is just a bit amusing to envision this 99-year-old man running (as the story notes), bowing to the ground, and serving the three “men” while they ate a meal of choice beef, curds, and milk under a tree. Abraham is rewarded for his hospitality. The Lord says to this old man in the hearing of his 90-year old wife, “I will surely return about this time next year and Sarah will then have a son.”
Second Reading:
Colossians 1:24-28
This reading contains a profound statement of the usefulness of the unavoidable suffering which nature and age inflict on us. Paul writes of his own sufferings for the spread of the gospel, “In my own body I am filling up (supplying) what is lacking in the sufferings of Christ for his body, which is the Church.” Only St. Paul would have the nerve to claim that anything is lacking in the sufferings of Christ. But if it is true for Paul, it is true for us. God accepts our sufferings “that we may present everyone perfect in Christ.”
