Are you Mary or are you Martha? Or should we be both?

A reflection on the story of Mary and Martha for today. Written and spoken by Kieran J. O'Mahony OSA. 

www.tarsus.ie

Gentle piano music to close the meditation

Transcript

John’s Lane
D08 F8NW
20 July 2025 / 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Luke 10:38-42 (Mary and Martha)

Welcome
In all cultures, hospitality is highly valued, prized even. To say someone is hospitable is to be very complimentary. It is a joy to be welcomed and it is a gift to able to make people feel welcome. Different cultures celebrate hospitality in different ways and one of the pleasures of travelling is to enjoy hospitality in new, perhaps unexpected ways.

Topic
The world of the bible is no different. We can see it in today’s first reading and also in the Gospel of Mary and Martha.

Steps
As regards the Gospel, a few preliminary comments are in order. The Gospel of Luke offers many, many stories of meals and table sharing. In fact, this Gospel tells twice as many stories of such hospitality than do either Mark or Matthew. In a less reverential note, the Jesus of Luke must have been a few kilos overweight!

The Gospel of Luke is looking forwards, of course, to the Acts of the Apostles, where the breaking of bread is a key part of the community identity. The Gospel is also looking backwards to the ministry of Jesus. It is well known that Jesus used “open table fellowship” to give people an experience of the unconditional welcome of God to all. This was not unproblematic: like many traditions, the Judaism of the time had strict teachings on the kind of person you could share your table with. Among the “excluded” were public sinners and, of course, Gentiles. Jesus broke the rules on purpose, so that people could feel, so to speak, the hospitality of God, that is, God’s welcome, God’s love and God’s forgiveness. Building on that practice of Jesus, Luke could be called the evangelist of hospitality.

What about our present story of Mary and Martha? In the tradition, this story — unique to Luke — is often read as a contrast between the active and the contemplative life. Such a reading is somewhat anachronistic — Luke was writing long before the evolution of things like religious orders. Often too the story is read as one of reproof to one sister — and very often we feel closer to Martha who is making the effort. Perhaps we can try to hear the story as Luke intended it?

Luke knows that hospitality, especially perhaps in the Middle East — has a practical side — unless someone prepares and prepares well, the guest will feel not quite welcomed. On the other hand, if the welcome stops at the level of the material expression of hospitality, at the formal and so to speak external levels, then the welcome will have fallen short. Luke also knows that it is the encounter which counts so that when you meet someone you really do meet the person. When that happens, then both host and guest will be truly refreshed. So the contrast is not so much between two ways of being but rather a contrast between an incomplete and a complete welcome. The ultimate goal is not simply to serve the guest but to attend to the guest fully as a whole person, to connect, as we say today.

Conclusion
Such teaching works on different levels. It works on the everyday human level of hospitality: what counts is that we really do meet and connect. It works at the level of Christian gatherings: these gatherings work when we share each other’s experience, inner world and even longings of the heart. It also works on a high spiritual level: when we come before the Lord, in prayer or in worship or in nature,  it has to be with an open heart, and in a way an open life. Then we will have chosen the better part.

Prayer
Eternal God you draw near to us in Christ 
and make yourself our guest. 

Amid the cares of our daily lives, 
make us attentive to your voice 
and alert to your presence, 
that we may treasure your word above all else.

We ask this through our Lord Jesus Christ, your Son, 
who lives and reigns with you 
in the unity of the Holy Spirit, 
God for ever and ever. Amen.