Gospel Lectio Divina for Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time - July 17, 2022
Come Holy Spirit, fill the hearts of your faithful and kindle in them the fire of your love. Send forth your Spirit and they shall be created. And You shall renew the face of the earth.
O, God, who by the light of the Holy Spirit, did instruct the hearts of the faithful, grant that by the same Holy Spirit we may be truly wise and ever enjoy His consolations, Through Christ Our Lord, Amen.
Jesus entered a village
where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him.
She had a sister named Mary
who sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak.
Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said,
"Lord, do you not care
that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving?
Tell her to help me."
The Lord said to her in reply,
"Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things.
There is need of only one thing.
Mary has chosen the better part
and it will not be taken from her."
Martha welcomed him
It’s tempting to judge Martha in this story. She’s the self-righteous type, right? She’s the one who wants everyone to notice the good she is doing. But in fact, Martha is the hospitable type. She values hospitality and doesn’t understand why her sister is not showing it. Martha welcomed Jesus. She was on the “welcoming committee”. Far from a bitter busy-body, she is simply making Jesus’ visit pleasant for him. Martha welcomed him. She put her best foot forward. Her personality and faith will shine later in John 11 when Jesus comes to raise her brother Lazarus from the dead. She says, "if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask." Jesus then asks if she believes in him, and she replies, “Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world." Her faith is not the problem. She has that. She also has a charitable and trusting heart. In the reading of Jesus’ meeting with Martha and Mary in their house, it’s important to point out Martha’s good qualities.
Tell her to help me
It’s also important to notice exactly what Martha did wrong. We can easily imagine Jesus’ mother, Mary, giving Jesus orders. There isn’t a time in Scripture that I can recall where she gives him an order, though. Even when she finds him in the Temple after three days, she simply says “Son, why have you treated us so? Behold, your father and I have been looking for you anxiously.” And at the wedding at Cana, she tells him, “They have no wine” but she doesn’t order him to do anything. She orders the waiters to “Do whatever he tells you.” Mary’s sister, Martha, on the other hand, orders Jesus to tell her sister to help her. There are many things wrong with that, but let’s focus on the fact that Jesus is God. If I expect God to do something and he doesn’t do it, there is always a good reason.
“you are anxious and worried about many things”
As am I! I’m anxious about my health, my job, how much money I make, all the other things I have to do. I’m even anxious about my faith, how much or how little I believe in God. I am anxious about many things when I do not put that one thing Jesus talks about first. I am anxious when I put other parts of my life before the better part.
There is a need for only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her.
There is so much truth and so much wisdom in these final sentences that I can only summarize it all. That “one thing”, the “better part” and the fact that it will not be taken from her are the subjects of books that could fill a library. One could say the entire spiritual tradition of the saints comes down to that one thing. Priests and religious have devoted their lives to that “better part”, leaving behind all other parts in their lives. What is that one thing? What is that better part? Some say it’s the presence of God. Others say it’s a relationship with God. Still others say it’s both. We can be in his presence without having a relationship with him. Can we have a relationship with him without ever being in his presence? Jesus’ presence in the Eucharist has been adored for ages, but many people have a relationship with him without even believing in the Real Presence, do they not? Here we have Mary in the presence of Jesus, sitting there beside him with the intent to strengthen her relationship. Many of us sit in his presence at church and don’t really work on improving our relationship with him. And some of us try to improve our relationship with him without spending time in his presence. Perhaps that is what Martha was trying to do. She was trying to draw closer to Jesus by serving him, which–in any other circumstance–would be fine, but when Jesus is there with her, the better thing is to just be with him.
I live with the hope of heaven, a time when we won’t have to separate our time serving God from our time with God, because we will always be in his presence. We will serve him with his angels and saints in the Church Triumphant, helping the Marthas and Marys of the world through our intercession. But while we are here on earth we need to find a way to balance our time between being in God’s presence, and serving him through the services we perform in the world.
Lord God,
Help me to not be a busy-body, but to know when to serve you. Help me also to not be idle in my worship, but to know when it is best to just be in your presence. Your presence is efficacious. It is our life source, the font of goodness and holiness. This will never be taken from us, if we abide in you and you in us. Help us to notice the better part, and to let your presence take precedence in our lives when we pray and when we serve others. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Was there ever a more appropriate passage for promoting the listening part of lectio divina? If you need an image of what it means to contemplate, picture Mary sitting at the feet of Jesus, listening to him and just being with him. If we ever need a reminder of where a wholesome spiritual life begins, let us go back to the source. Let’s just sit in his presence and listen to him.
Kilby is a freelance writer from New Jersey and managing editor of Catholic World Report.
