SUNDAY, JULY 21
Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time

Genesis 18:1-10
Colossians 1:24-28
Luke 10:38-42

Friends, this little story of Martha and Mary which is our gospel for this weekend has a way of getting into our minds. Many people over the years, most of them women, have complained to me about this story. Most are offended at Martha or guess what they take to be an unfair assessment on the part of Jesus, but it’s a story that just bugs people and they ask lots of questions about it. It’s a very short simple story but it gets into people’s hearts and over the centuries it’s been interpreted in a whole variety of ways.

This weekend let me just offer you one of the interpretations of this story.

There is a very old tradition that associates this story with the active life and the contemplative life. So Martha who is worried about all the details of hospitality, she is bustling around the kitchen preparing a dinner, she is seen as symbolic of the active life. Martha who represents all people in the life of the Church who are actively engaged in various ministries, etc. Mary who seats quietly at the feet of Jesus listening stands for the contemplative life. Think of all the monks and nuns and scholars and contemplatives who spend their lives in quiet consideration of the things of God.

Now when Jesus tells to Mary that you chose the better part which won’t be denied, this has been read by some as Jesus’ valorisation of the contemplative life over the active life. Well, I think we can say something more important about this active-contemplative relationship. I think in the Bible it’s very visible and one of the basic principles is that listening has to come before acting. Now I am not denigrating action, not putting it down, but I see this as more of a chronological relationship. The trouble is that we act without attending to the Word of God. Trouble would always follow from that. In all the great figures in the Bible there is a moment of listening. What is the Lord saying? Once we know, then we are ready to act in a way that is congruent to God’s will. What gets people into trouble is that they act without listening, even with the best of intentions.

Think of King David in the Old Testament who wanted to build the temple. He is full of good intentions but then finally Nathan the prophet who said to him no, no, that’s not what God wants. And David, to his great credit, listened and then didn’t act. Or better, he did act in not building the temple. His action followed from contemplation. I think this is a very important principle for us to follow even today. We are not a very contemplative society. We are much more Martha oriented and that’s probably why a lot of people defend Martha. We are much more at home with that. We like people who are busy, bustling, active, etc. If someone asks you, ‘How you are doing?’ Most of us would respond with some version of how busy we are. How you are doing? Oh, I am doing this and this and this and the list goes on and on. Action is great but action without contemplation is problematic. Listen first then act.