16TH SUNDAY IN ORDINARY TIME C
RIVALRY OR REALITY?
At first glance, the story of
Martha and Mary seems to be an obvious sibling rivalry (Lk. 10). Each of the
women wanted to show Jesus the hospitality of a Jewish home. Jesus was very
close to this family and so, often visited when he needed rest from his hectic
ministry of preaching and healing.
We easily dismiss Martha as a
woman who showed Jesus a merely external hospitality. Preoccupied with food and
drink, Martha wanted to fill the physical needs of a tired and hungry visitor.
Surely though, Martha’s busy-ness was a product of her deep love for Jesus. She
would not enslave herself with these physical preparations if Jesus were not
important to her. And Jesus did not demean Martha’s efforts. In the end, the
Lord just wanted Martha to be more comfortable, more relaxed in his presence
and to welcome him in her heart most of all.
We also easily extol Mary’s as
the one who showed Jesus an interior hospitality. What she lacked in culinary
expertise, she complemented with an availability and readiness to listen to
Jesus’ experiences and stories about his too adventurous life. She too, loved Jesus that nothing
else mattered to her except his presence.
Jesus enjoyed the companionship, the presence and the time Mary lavished
on him.
Instead of seeing in the sisters
a rivalry, we can see in them a mirror of reality. Each of us shows love in
different ways. The attitudes of the two women show our own ways of expressing
our love.
Some people, while not physically
or verbally expressive, show love through actions. Many parents are quiet but
they work in the fields the whole day to feed, clothe, and send the children to
school. Some children are not cuddly but happily help in the house or in the
business to ease their parents’ pain. Many people who work in faraway lands
cannot hug or kiss their families as much as they want to, but surely their
sweats and sacrifices say it all.
There are of course, people who
are more expressive of affection. They can verbalize their feelings. They can
make others feel their nearness, their support, their care. They can spend time
caring for the sick, attending to the elderly, baby-sitting children. They can
afford to leave behind many tasks so that they can focus on a single friend or
relative that needs their help.
With whom do we identify when it
comes to showing love? With Martha or with Mary? Let us ask the Lord that in
our own way of loving, we may focus on him and on our loved ones with sincere
love.
