Texts: Amos 8:1-12; Psalm 52; Colossians 1:15-28; Luke 10:38-42
Today we are given this great story from the Gospel of Luke to ponder. Mary and Martha are presented to us as two different models of discipleship, two divergent paths by which we faithfully love and serve the Lord. Of course, Mary is the exalted one, the one highlighted as choosing the better path. But wisdom demands that we never forget the importance of labor and work which Martha represents.
So the abbot called to one of his monks and said, “Give this brother a book and let him read, and put him up in an empty cell.”
By the time the ninth hour arrived (3 o’clock in the afternoon), the visitor who was reading began to look outside to see if the abbot would call him to dinner. After a while longer, he went out to find the abbot and asked him. “Did the brethren not eat today, father?”
“Oh yes, certainly,” replied the abbot. “They just had dinner.” “Well, then, why didn’t you call me?”
“You, of course, are a spiritual man,” said the abbot. “You don’t need this food which perishes. We have to work, but you have chosen the best part. You read all day, and can get along without food!”
The visitor was humbled and replied, “Forgive me, father.”
And the wise abbot replied, “Martha is necessary to Mary, for it was because Martha worked that Mary was able to be praised!” (from The Wisdom of the Desert by Thomas Merton, p. 36).
Another time among the Desert Fathers and Mothers in the 4th century, it was told that the famous Abbot called John the Dwarf once called his elder brother and told him, “I want to live in the same security as the angels have, doing no work, but serving God without intermission.” And so he stripped off all his clothes, left everything behind and walked out into the desert, unattached and free.
After only one week, John the Dwarf returned to his brother and knocked on his door. Before opening, the brother called out, “Who are you?” The reply came, “I am John.”
Then the brother answered, “John has become an angel and is no longer among men.” But John the Dwarf kept knocking and pleading to be let in. For a long time, the brother did not open the door, until finally he did so. But before he let John inside, he said to him, “If you are a man, you are going to have to start working again in order to live. But if you are an angel, why do you want to come inside?”
So John the Dwarf did penance and said, “Forgive me, brother, for I have sinned" (Ibid, p.41)
These fun, little stories from the ancient desert reflect the wisdom of the church that will not allow us to adopt an extreme position which negates the importance of either sister. Poor Martha! Her stature is humbled in this story, but we all know that her efforts are absolutely necessary after all.
So what then is the Gospel telling us through this story? We have to see this famous story of Martha and Mary as the other side of the coin along with the story of the Good Samaritan. These two are purposefully put together by Luke to give concrete expression to the summary of the law from earlier in Chapter 10: “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind; and your neighbor as yourself” (Luke 10:27).
In the Good Samaritan, we see the love of neighbor; in Mary and Martha, we see the love of God.
Both of these also fulfill the vision of Jesus from earlier in Luke when he said, “My mother and brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it” (Luke 8:21).
For Mary hears the word of God. It is Martha and the Samaritan who do it!
The apostle Paul stated that faith comes from what is heard, and what is heard comes through the word of Christ (Romans 10:17). To love the Lord our God with all our mind means that we hear Christ speak and then we have to think. God wants us to think carefully about how we live. Our task as disciples is, like Mary, to sit at the feet of the Lord, to listen carefully to his teaching, and to do our best to put this teaching into practice in our daily actions.
My friends, it’s not the easy way to live, but you and I are called to be diligent in thinking. We are promised that it is in fact the way to an abundant and full life.
For instance, my conscience will not allow me to use a gas-powered mower for our lawn. Now, I am not so vain as to stand here and say to you that Jesus told me not to do this! That would be ridiculous! But this conviction has come about as a result of thinking carefully in light of the Gospels.
Let me ask you: is it right that my vanity to have a perfectly manicured lawn, and my desire to avoid physical extertion, is a good cause for us to invade other nations to secure a good oil supply for the future? Or to drill holes in the bottom of the ocean? Because of our inability to control ourselves, we place so much of the world at great risk – both the natural world and human society! I know that we need oil for our society to function. I’m not that naïve. But the truth is that I DON’T need it for my lawn!
Truth be told, it is difficult at times to live as a Christian, to think with such vigilance about our actions. Last week, I had an appointment to have my teeth cleaned by my dentist. And during the cleaning, the hygienist asked me, “Do you use an electric toothbrush?” Of course, I couldn’t answer, with four of her fingers and a suction tube shoved in my mouth! But I shook my head no and she suggested that it really would be a good idea.
I didn’t give her my explanation when I finally had free use of my mouth again, but the truth is that we cannot do that! If all 6.85 billion people in the world used electric toothbrushes, then we would need to build more power plants just to power all of these brushes! (I actually researched this, and it would take approximately 22 Gigawatts of energy per year to power all of these toobrushes!)
No. We need to be smarter than that. When nearly one billion people today do not have access to reliable electricity at all, for me, this would be the selfish misuse of resources!
The point is this, my brothers and sisters: when we listen to what Jesus’ teaches, when we think about our lives in light of his teaching, we learn that self-interest can never be the primary measure for any of our decisions. To love my neighbor as myself means that I am willing, and able, to lay aside my own desires in order to consider the needs of others, whoever they might be. To love God with all my mind means that I am willing, and able, to consider carefully the effects of my actions upon others, whoever they might be.
So may God give us all grace to listen like Mary to the word of Christ, then to bring the practical wisdom of Martha, and the compassion of the Good Samaritan, to bear upon our decisions, so that we may think and to act as those who hear the Word of God and do it - as disciples of Christ in this world. Amen.
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