Saturday in the Sixteenth Week of Ordinary Time, July 29, 2023

The Feast of Saints Martha, Mary, and Lazarus

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.”

Formerly, distinct feast days were assigned for Saints Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, with Mary of Bethany identified as Mary Magdalene.  The calendar that resulted from Vatican II puts them together on the same day and assigns St. Mary Magdalene her own feast day.  All that is known for certain of these sisters and their brother is found in the Gospels: the present Gospel Reading, the account in St. John’s Gospel of the Lord Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead, and the feast held in their house for the Lord at which Mary anointed the Lord.  Later traditions in the East pass on that the three of them were set adrift in a boat without rudder or sail which eventually reached southern France.  The three separated once arrived and preached the Gospel, with Lazarus becoming the first bishop of Marseille.  Eastern tradition holds that Lazarus went off to Cyprus after the Resurrection due to threats by the Jews and he preached the Gospel there, being anointed bishop of the island by Saints Paul and Barnabas.  More probable is the report made by (I believe) St. Cyril of Alexandria (around the year 200) saying that Lazarus was so greatly affected by his sojourn in limbo before Jesus raised him that he never smiled again except on one occasion. 

The account preserved by St. Luke and used for today’s Gospel Reading shows us the house of these three saints.  Martha is hurriedly preparing (or supervising the preparation) of the midday meal, the main meal of the day.  Mary sits at the Lord’s feet as he teaches.  His Apostles are assuredly also present though Luke does not mention them.  Also, Lazarus is assuredly present as well, though he is not mentioned either.  The point of this little, homey, jewel of an account is not what the Lord is teaching Mary and the others, but to show that we should think less of what we can do for Jesus and more of what he does for us.

“Jesus entered a village where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him.”  The village, we learn from St. John, was that of Bethany, a short distance from Jerusalem.  Luke does not identify Martha is the friend of Jesus as John will in his Gospel because at this point, they have only just met.  Now, Martha “welcomed” him, that is, invited him to the midday meal at her house as though she were the primary owner.  More likely, Lazarus owned the house through the death of their parents, but such was the love and respect of the three children for each other that it was owned, in effect, mutually.  Now, this was a large house, from the details we find in St. John’s Gospel, and they were fairly wealthy.  They were also young: none of them is said to be married and St. John would certainly have named the widow of Lazarus in the story of his raising by Jesus if there had been one.  This would put them as not exceeding twenty years of age at that time.

“She had a sister named Mary who sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak.”  We should notice that Luke does not identify Mary of Bethany with the Mary of Luke 8, 2, “out of whom seven demons were cast”, whom he lists with other women followers of the Lord.  Mary of Bethany here places herself in the posture of a handmaid, a household slave, beside and at the feet of Jesus, alert and prepared to serve.  “Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him.”  The Greek has: “Martha, distracted” or “greatly troubled”.  Even with slaves, this meal would have required enormous work to prepare.  Perhaps Martha acted impulsively in inviting Jesus to her home, not realizing how many others would accompany him, and now found herself overwhelmed.  Finally, Martha saw that her sister was not going to leave the Lord to assist her as she normally would have helped her on any other occasion.  “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving?  Tell her to help me.”  Martha’s words sound abrupt, and they certainly are meant as a rebuke to Mary.  But we should not fail to appreciate Martha’s situation: she was desperate, and the whole meal was about to fall apart unless she had her sister’s help.

“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 has addressed a prayer to Jesus that he send Mary to help her.  Here we see how Jesus sometimes answers prayers.  He answers not with what we want but what would be best for us.  It is better, the Lord is saying, for Mary to listen to my words, for they bring eternal life.  It is also better for you that she remains with me so that you can see what is more important.  As for feeding me, I will feed you.  The Lord does not minimize what Martha is doing but showing that what Mary has chosen is the greater thing even than the eastern rule of hospitality in which the whole family comes together to serve the guests, invited or not.

We do not do God the favor of attending Holy Mass on Sundays, but it is he who provides hospitality to us.  And as important and necessary as it is to serve him in carrying out his commandments, in the end what this does is prepare us to receive the good things he has to give us.