Father Steve was a good friend of the family who would often come over to the house and visit when I was younger. He presided the weddings for my wife Susan and me, and several of my siblings, and he baptized many of my parents’ grandchildren. He almost always came over on Sunday afternoons and evenings because it was a tradition that my dad would pull out the charcoal grill and cook hamburgers every Sunday, rain or shine throughout the year. And Father Steve loved my dad’s hamburgers.
Dad would sit in his large recliner in the family room (not even Father Steve was going to take that from him) and Father Steve would sit in my mother’s chair. They would sit and talk, and eat and drink, and talk some more. Mom, on the other hand, would make sure that everything would be ready for dinner, that everyone would have plenty to eat, and then make sure that everything would be cleaned up properly afterward (she recruited us kids for that). She would be able to join in the conversations with Dad and Father Steve, but only after other things were taken care of.
More than once in these visits, the subject of Martha and Mary would come up, and it didn’t make Mom very happy. She knew how important hospitality is, to make guests feel welcome and comfortable. It’s not that she saw her hospitality as a chore and hated to do these things. She thoroughly enjoyed cooking for other people and took a great deal of satisfaction in looking after what needed to be done.
But Mom thought that this gospel passage implied that preparation and serving was a kind of second-rate method of serving the Lord, and that sitting and talking was “better.” To her it implied that the reward for “being lazy” would be greater than for other types of hospitality. Mom would tell Father Steve that whenever the story of Martha and Mary was read at Church she wouldn’t be there because she didn’t want to hear what she already knew Father Steve was going to say.
So in today’s Gospel passage we hear about Martha and Mary; Martha waits on Jesus by serving him and taking care of the needs around the house, while Mary sits at the feet of Jesus and listens to him speak. From the conversation that takes place between Martha and Jesus it seems that Jesus is saying that listening (like Mary is doing) is more important than the work Martha is doing. But as it happens so often in the Gospels, there is more meaning that lies deeper in the story than what we see on the surface.
Martha really is doing nothing wrong. In fact, she’s doing good. She’s waiting on the Lord, taking care of Him, serving Him. And if we look back to our first reading today, we see Abraham and Sarah busy serving and tending to the needs of their guests, who, by the way, is traditionally understood to be the three persons of the Blessed Trinity. So they were visited by God himself. So what is going on here with Martha and Jesus? Why does Jesus say to her that that there is need of only one thing and Mary has chosen the better part?
Part of Jesus’ response to Martha is noticing that she is anxious and worried about many things. Other translations say that she was distracted in her serving. In other words, her focus was not on Jesus, but on herself, and what she had to get done. She was letting other things get in the way of her service to Jesus. What is important here is not necessarily what Martha and Mary are doing while Jesus is their guest, but rather how they are doing it. And it’s not so much what Jesus says to Martha that’s important; it’s also what he does not say. When Martha tells Jesus to have Mary help her, Jesus only says that she is anxious and worried about many things. He does not tell her to sit and listen with her sister Mary. If Mary’s actions were more important than Martha’s, Jesus certainly would have invited Martha to stop what she was doing and sit down. But he doesn’t do that.
What if the situation was reversed? What if Mary had said, “Jesus do you not care that Martha is so busy in the kitchen she doesn’t hear a word you say? Tell her to sit down and listen!” Jesus might have told Mary she was anxious and worried about many things. Why? Because she was concerned over what someone else was doing (or not doing), instead of focusing on her own task. In this case, Martha was not making herself fully present to the Lord. She was more concerned about Mary. By the way, did you notice that Martha didn’t ask Jesus—she told Jesus what to do: “Tell her to help me.” She told God what he should do! Can you imagine that? Thank goodness we don’t do anything like that!
But what about Mary? What is she doing? She is simply adoring Jesus, reflecting on the words of Christ. She was fully attentive to Him, loving Him, and letting Him love her. How often do we take the time to place ourselves in the presence of Christ, and do nothing but adore Him? Did you know that you can come into the Church almost anytime, sit before the tabernacle (the true presence of Christ) and adore Him? We even have special times for exposition and adoration on First Fridays, Thursday evenings, and other special times for this special type of prayer.
This adoration can even be done during Mass, in how we listen to the words of Sacred Scripture and participate in the prayers and responses, and reflect during times of silence. But it’s easy to get distracted—anxious and worried about many things. Relationships, yard work, the car needs repaired, the kids are sick, problems at work, what that other person is wearing at Mass; the list can go on and on. But Jesus is calling us to sit with him awhile here at Mass, and simply be attentive to Him. That other stuff will still be there later today, tomorrow, next week. But we need to remember: the Mass is not something we do for God, but it’s what God does for us. We don’t do Him a favor by showing up on Sunday. Our presence at Mass doesn’t make Him any greater or give Him any more glory. When we are at Mass, it’s Jesus who desires to serve our needs, not the other way around. It’s God who does us a favor by inviting us here, and then giving Himself to us in the most intimate way imaginable in Holy Communion. And when we are able to be attentive to that and give ourselves back to him, then all that other stuff—while it doesn’t go away—becomes much less of a distraction and cause of anxiety.
But the problem is that many of us don’t take the time to simply “adore” Christ, because we feel that we don’t have the time, or that it’s a waste of time. This is a reflection of our culture today that says we have to be busy all of the time. We have to be productive, and see the results of our actions. When this happens, then we ultimately think we can generate supernatural life by our own efforts, and the tendency is to forget God altogether. The whole concept of adoring Christ is lost.
And this is what Jesus is telling Martha: “Martha, if you are so anxious and worried about serving that you never take the time to simply adore me, then the life of God will be lost in you.” But notice that Jesus doesn’t tell her to stop what she’s doing, sit down at his feet with her sister and listen to him. He wants to make sure that there is a balance. The challenge for us, then, is to learn to simply adore Christ. It’s not enough to say “I can adore Jesus and thank Him when I’m gardening, working around the house, or driving to work.” There are times for that. But the problem with that is that we become easily distracted, like Martha, and we lose our focus on Christ alone. We become anxious and worried about many things.
Just a couple chapters later in the Gospel of Luke, Jesus speaks to his disciples about anxiety. “Therefore I tell you, do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat, nor about your body, what you shall put on. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. … For all the nations of the world seek these things; and your Father know that you need them. Instead, seek his kingdom, and these things shall be yours as well. … For where your treasure is, there will be your heart also” (Luke 12:22-34).
I would like to suggest that we make the time and take the time for just Christ. Turn off the TV, put down the I-pads and cell phones, walk away from face-book and the computer, and give Jesus your time. Come to the Church and sit for awhile with Jesus. Take advantage of the opportunities when we have exposition and adoration. If possible, attend daily Mass when you can. Try coming early for Mass to prepare yourself for receiving the Body, Blood, Soul and Divinity of our Lord in Holy Communion; stay after Mass for awhile to give thanks for his gift of Himself to you. There are two beautiful prayers by Saint Thomas Aquinas—one for preparing yourself before Mass and the other for thanksgiving after Mass. There are copies of these in the pews. Please use them. You don’t have to do anything except give Him yourself and your time, and let Him love you.