Homily for the Week of July 18, 2010

Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, 2010

Genesis 18:1-10a Psalm 15:2-3, 3-4, 5 Colossians 1:24-28 Luke 10:38-42

Martha always gets a bad rap from today's Bible reading. In traditional interpretations of her story, she is said to be too preoccupied or anxious about the details of hospitality to attend well to her guest. Her sister Mary, by contrast, sits in rapt attention at Jesus’ feet, drinking in his every word. When Jesus declares that it is Mary who has “chosen the better part,” the message we are supposed to take away is that contemplation, rather than hospitality is the harder but better choice, and that no one can minister without first sitting and learning at Jesus’ feet. Finding the right balance between contemplation hospitality is a perennial challenge for most Christians.

Hospitality has always been — and remains — an important social requirement of Middle Eastern culture. How you treat strangers, how you greet people, how you welcome people into you home, how you serve people, all of these are very important. Failures in hospitality are perceived as insults. Breaches of hospitality on a high enough level could start a war.

Nomadic peoples had many enemies, and when strangers approached, the best thing to do was to treat them well so as to begin a relationship with respect. Abraham properly offered rest and food to the strangers coming out of the desert. They accepted his hospitality because, conversely, to refuse hospitality was itself an insult.

All was proper until the strangers asked Abraham where his wife was. Guests had no right to personal family information, and for strangers to ask about a man’s wife was tantamount to a threat. As startling as the breach of protocol was, Abraham’s response was also a startling break in protocol. He answered the question, which he should not have done! Why, we do not know, but the writer of Genesis called us to pay very close attention.

There are also serious breaches of cultural norms in today’s Gospel. Martha invited Jesus into “her” home. Women typically could not own property, so this was unusual. Jesus risked a scandal in accepting the invitation. A man was never to be alone with women without another man present. Then, Mary sat at the feet of Jesus, the posture which describes a disciple of a teacher. Women typically could not be disciples, but Jesus allowed it! Finally, families were never to bring guests into a family dispute. Martha not only brought Jesus into her dispute with Mary, she actually told Jesus to correct Mary! They were lucky it was Jesus they had invited into their home. Anyone else would have left immediately because of the insult and spread the word far and wide about how rude Martha and Mary were. These breaches are also Luke’s way of saying, “Pay attention!”

Our Gospel today must be seen in light of last week’s Gospel passage for they are part of the same story. Cultural norms were turned upside down on purpose. Luke wanted his readers to see that religious expectations were being changed by Jesus. But, not only should today’s Gospel passage be seen in light of last week’s, it should be seen in light of its placement within Luke’s Gospel. Luke tells us that Mary and Martha were dear friends of Jesus. Jesus was traveling to Jerusalem but stopped to visit his friends.

Listeners to Luke would have identified themselves with the lawyer from last week and with Martha this week — both are examples of knowing and following the Law. The lawyer clearly knew the Law, and he was even incredibly insightful about how to inherit eternal life. He combined two passages in Deuteronomy into one, combining love of God and neighbor. Jesus was impressed, but He also knew the lawyer was not really focused on inheriting everlasting life. He was focused on tripping up Jesus in a legal debate.

Martha was doing what was expected while Mary was clearly violating cultural norms. When Martha confronted Jesus about this and told Him to order Mary to help her with the work of hospitality, Jesus did not. Rather, He said, “Mary has chosen the better part.” What is the better part?

The lawyer was not focused on Jesus. He was focused on an agenda. Nor was Martha focused on Jesus. Though she was faithfully fulfilling the expectations of hospitality, she had forgotten why the protocols were important. They were meant to serve the needs of guests. Instead, she was focused on the expectations of hospitality. The “better part” was proper focus on Jesus and what He was teaching.

Abraham did not realize that the objects of his hospitality were actually agents of God and the means by which “the Lord appeared to Abraham.” Abraham went overboard with his hospitality. This was far beyond expectations, but it serves to tell us how generous Abraham was. He went beyond the minimum. He saw more than “expectations,” he saw real service. So, what is our focus? Serving Jesus or serving something else?