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Homily for Tuesday of the 27th Week in Ordinary Time, Memorial of St. Francis of Assisi, 04 Oct 2022, Lk 10:38-42
I can sense in our Gospel today something going on between Martha and her younger sister Mary while in the company of Jesus—a kind of sibling rivalry. Why does Martha have to ask Jesus to tell Mary to help her? Why can’t she just say it directly to her sister, or ask to talk to her sister in private so she could get her to help out in the kitchen?
Obviously, they are both trying to do something for Jesus, trying to be good hosts. One is doing it by preparing some food in the kitchen; the other is doing it by engaging Jesus in a conversation, her way of entertaining the guest. It looks like Martha cannot make up her mind as to which one she prefers to do. Is she jealous that her sister seems to have chosen “the better part”?
Oh, but some people would rather do the cooking than the entertaining, especially if they are not the socializing type or are not good conversationalists. I wonder if these sisters had agreed before hand which part they would rather take. Sometimes, without realizing it, siblings can be acting out a kind of rivalry right in the company of their guest, and the guest is caught in an awkward position.
There are many instances of sibling rivalry in the Bible. Some of them had tragic endings, like Cain and Abel. Some started badly but ended happily—as in the case of Jacob and Esau, or the case of Joseph who was the object of his brothers’ envy for being their father’s favorite son. There is the story of two sisters: Rachel and Leah which also began as a story of rivalry. Their situation is aggravated by the fact that the younger Rachel, although she was the one Jacob really loved and wanted to marry, could not bear children. She was therefore thought to be sterile. The rivalry is finally healed when she herself gives birth to Joseph, the favorite son of Jacob. There is the parable of the prodigal son and his older brother who resents the fact that his father had welcomed back the wayward son.
I like the way Jesus is dealing with Martha in today’s Gospel. He reciprocates Martha’s straightforwardness with the same straightforwardness. First, he speaks about the “one thing” and the “many things”. I wonder if he meant the one goal of welcoming a guest and the many things related to this task. Among these tasks, one might get the more difficult part while another gets the easier part. One might get the not-so-pleasant part, and another the better part.
Ok, let’s presume Mary got the better part. Jesus is like a big brother who is teaching her not to “give up” but to “give in”. It’s Jesus’ way of telling her, “You’re not competitors; you are sisters. And you are both my friends.” That what matters most is the One thing necessary—that they both enjoy the company of their guest, with each one doing her part, and he assures her that he appreciates them both.
What Jesus is doing reminds me of that famous prayer attributed to the saint whose feast we celebrate today. To have peace, or to be instruments of peace, it matters that we do not seek, “so much to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved, as to love.” Why? Because it is “in giving that we receive, in pardoning that we are pardoned, and in dying that we are born to eternal life.”
