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The couple we heard about in that first reading, Abraham and Sarah, welcomed three men to their desert tent not knowing they had welcomed God. And because they had shown such wonderful hospitality to these travelers, God—in the disguise of these strangers—promises them they will have a child. In time they did have a child and were delighted. It’s not quite that way in the gospel story of Mary and Martha that we just heard. Martha seems to be offering Jesus classic Middle Eastern hospitality by providing him the best she can offer. But, unlike Abraham and Sarah, Martha is not rewarded but, instead, she is corrected. 

Last Sunday’s gospel reading, if you remember, was about the Parable of the Good Samaritan. He is the guy who goes the extra mile to help the suffering man, down in the ditch, to a full recovery. After telling this parable, you would expect Jesus to praise Martha for she, too, seems to be going the extra mile in responding to Jesus’ needs, but he does not praise her. What’s going on here? And, what is this story saying to us in this time and in this place?

Perhaps the key to the Mary and Martha story actually lies in the story of the Good Samaritan. If you recall from last Sunday a lawyer, wanting to justify himself, told Jesus that he wanted to inherit eternal life, and that he was going to accomplish this through his own efforts. He then told Jesus–correctly I might add–that faith and salvation all come down to loving God and loving neighbour as your self. “As your self” is key. It means treating others as you, yourself, would like to be treated. Then he tells the lawyer the Parable of the Good Samaritan.

Jesus is a master storyteller. Like all good public speakers, Jesus knows his audience. He never uses canned speeches, a one-size-fits-all approach. With every parable he preaches, Jesus places characters in his parables that match at least someone in the audience. Jesus’ words are always targeted to his audience. In that gospel passage, the Parable of the Good Samaritan, Jesus makes sure there is a character that the lawyer will immediately relate to; the lawyer is Jesus’ targeted audience. 

The lawyer cannot image himself as the priest or the Levite, the two dingbats who passed by the suffering man in the ditch. The lawyer, being a good observer of Jewish law, certainly cannot image himself as the Samaritan, for Jews were raised, from childhood, to despise Samaritans. So, if the lawyer cannot relate to being the priest, nor the Levite, nor the Samaritan, who is left? The suffering man in the ditch. Jesus wants the Jewish lawyer to identify with the beaten up, half-dead man. “Love your neighbour as your self.” It is if Jesus is saying, “My lawyer friend, you are the suffering man in the ditch!” And if you are that person, how you would like other to treat you, in your moment of desperate need? The lawyer probably thinks to himself, “I would love if people would not walk by me. I would love if people would see me in my need and offer help.” Well, if that’s the way you would like to be cared for, then go and do the same for everyone else you meet. “Love your neighbour as yourself.” The lawyer, from last Sunday, learned that everyone he meets is his neighbour. If it’s true for him, it is true for us. 

Now, back at the ranch, back to the Mary and Martha story. A little context. This is Luke’s gospel. In Luke’s gospel, Jesus is on one, long journey to Jerusalem. To go to Jerusalem is to embrace, and not run from, the suffering and cruel death that awaits Jesus there. Jesus is surely the Suffering Servant. Jesus is the suffering man in the ditch, passed by everyone, and left for dead. With his heart heavy, because he knows it will not end well, Jesus makes a pitstop at Mary and Martha’s house before going on to Jerusalem. 

What does a person, who knows their life very soon will be cut short, need? Martha thinks that a dead man walking needs a spotless house, a perfectly cooked pot roast, and the best blueberry pie in all of Palestine. Are you beginning to see why Jesus corrects Martha and praises Mary instead? Mary sits at the feet of Jesus and says nothing. Instead, she listens. Firstly, she listens to Jesus, as probably the only person who cared that he was carrying so much suffering in his heart and had no one to share it with. Remember, prior to this, every time Jesus mentions going to Jerusalem to his apostles–every time he mentions suffering–they try to change the subject. Mary firstly listens to Jesus and, secondly, listens to her sister complain. Mary, in this story, is the Good Samaritan from last Sunday’s gospel reading. She knows what people’s needs are, and she responds.

Mary, as Jesus said, “has chosen the better part.” She discerned that one thing and one thing only was need, a listening ear, and she provided it. She knew what this particular situation called for, and she supplied it. It’s not a question of leading a balanced life, of always being 50% prayerful and 50% active. Sometime, you have to be 100% prayerful, and other times 100% active. That’s discernment. 

I often think of the Mary and Martha story when I’m visiting a dying patient in the hospital. I wish all my fussing, all my prayers, all my good intentions, could take away the terminal cancer that will finish them off soon. Yet, the best thing I can offer is a listening ear, like Mary did. I can’t take away their darkness, but nobody—surprisingly—has asked me to do so. What they have ask me to do is to sit with them in their darkness and just listen. As people get closer to death, they tend to speak less and less about the Blue Jays, the trip to Hawaii 20 years ago, and their high school graduation, or their career. They speak, instead, about matters of the heart—the stuff that really concerns them. They speak about fear of the unknown; they speak about meeting God face to face; they speak about mending riffs in the family; they speak about love, gratitude, and forgiveness. It’s not only people at the end of their earthly lives who walk around with heavy hearts; it’s almost everyone you will meet in the run of a week.

Who is my neighbour? was the question on the floor last Sunday. Mary got it right away, as she knew a neighbour is anyone in need. The lawyer and Martha eventually got it. Now it’s our turn. 

Fr. Phil Mulligan