Memorial of Saints Martha, Mary, and Lazarus
(Exodus 40:16-21.34-38; Luke 10:38-42)
The placement of Jesus’ encounter with Martha and Mary in
Luke’s gospel calls forth attention. It
follows the parable of the Good Samaritan in which Jesus commands help to the
suffering. If the Gospel of John is
correct in locating Martha and Mary’s home in Bethany, near Jerusalem, then
Luke has deliberately placed the vignette here because Jesus is a long way from
Jerusalem. Luke probably wants to
qualify in some way Jesus’ appeal to love God and neighbor.
Martha busies herself with serving. She seems to be concerned about the fineries
of hospitality. On the other hand, Mary
recognizes that the Lord Jesus, God’s greatest prophet, is present. With such a guest one needs to listen and not
to bother with details. Like the scholar
of the law who questioned Jesus to initiate the parable of the Good Samaritan,
Mary knows action follows listening to Jesus’ instructions.
Then why do we primarily celebrate St. Martha today and
secondarily St. Mary? We probably do so
because, as the gospel says, “…Martha welcomed him,” i.e., Jesus. We too must welcome him. He comes to us in the poor and needy, for
sure. But he especially comes to us in
the Eucharist where we can take Mary’s pose at his feet. We listen to him and then welcome him “under (our)
roof” as we say when we receive Holy Communion.
