The Sixteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time, July 17, 2022

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.”

The story of Martha and Mary was often interpreted by the Fathers, and, later, very often by medieval writers, as describing the active and contemplative lives.  The active life was taken up by those believers in Christ who were called to remain in the world and to carry out their duties virtuously there.  Others were called to the contemplative life in monasteries.  While they would perform work there, the highly structured life allowed them to spend much more time in prayer than those living in the world.  This was thought to be the higher calling, since contemplation here on earth prepares a person for contemplation of the beatific vision in heaven.

St. Augustine had a very charming way of looking at this story that differed from this view.  He said that Martha wanted to feed the Lord while Mary wanted to be fed by the Lord.  He taught that the two women represent the Church in the present and in the future.  Martha represents the Church in the present day, receiving the Lord Jesus into her heart and laboring for him.  Mary represents the Church in the future, after the Judgment, when she will rest before the Lord and all labor will cease.  She will delight in the presence of her God.

Another way to look at this story is that Martha represents the Jewish people under the Law, and Mary as the Church under grace.  Both women wish to serve God.  One, Martha, believes that he is best served by performing the works of the Law such as circumcision, cleansing rituals, keeping the festivals, observing fasts, and so on.  The other, Mary, dispenses with them since, with the Lord himself present, the works are no longer necessary and in fact hinder the communion with him which he offers.  Martha, more precisely identified with the Jewish Christians who remained tied to the works of the Law, complains to the Lord that her sister is doing nothing.  This corresponds with early resentment against Gentile converts who were uncircumcised and did not follow the Law: “Tell her to help me!” brings to mind the council of the Apostles in Acts 15.  Peter’s answer after considering the matter proved decisive: “Now therefore, why tempt you God to put a yoke upon the necks of the disciples that which neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear?” (Acts 15, 15).  

“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.”  Martha is so tangled in the old Law that she has forgotten its purpose: to prepare the people for the Lord’s coming.  The Lord will not order Mary to go back to that which has already been fulfilled and surpassed.  It would be like trying to put new wine into old wine sacks, resulting in the loss of both.

We are also “anxious and worried” about many things.  We may so busy even with charitable work that we neglect to pray.  But unless we “pray always”, that is, continually, as St. Paul tells us to do, all of our best efforts will fall flat.  We can see the effects of the world’s insistence that we keep busy by going into our churches at any time during the day or evening when Mass is not being offered and note how empty they are of anyone praying.  The Lord of all creation sits enthroned in tabernacles while his people keep aloof.  Let us set aside the to-do lists in our lives to take “the better part” and not allow anything to seize it from us.