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Today’s
scripture readings focus us upon two of the many things I am very
passionate about: having friends over for dinner and eating good
food. Who doesn’t enjoy inviting guests, sharing a sumptuous
meal replete with adult beverages, and discussing all things family,
political, and religious with one another? Sure, these
discussions can sometimes lead to disagreements; but, as long as
everyone is wise enough to check their infallibility at the door and
keeps their wits about themselves by not imbibing in too many adult
beverages, a good time is guaranteed to be had by all!
It’s all about hospitality and
understanding what that requires.
As we all know, a good and life-giving
experience like a good dinner party doesn’t simply appear ex
nihilo (“out of nothing”) which is how God created everything.
No, because we aren’t God but are mere creatures of God, a
successful good and life-giving experience won’t emerge from
nothingness. As creatures and not the Creator, providing
visitors a first-rate party requires of us a lot of preparation and
hard work! Someone has to do the inviting. Someone has
to figure a menu out. Someone has to do the shopping.
Someone has to purchase the adult beverages. Someone has to
clean the house. Someone has to set the table. And,
someone has to cook. That’s a lot of work, but it’s all merely
preparatory, efforts directed toward getting everything in place for
moment when the guests to arrive at the appointed hour (or half
hour). And that’s to say nothing about all of the work
required once the guests arrive, so they have a good and life-giving
experience and, after the guests depart for home, all of the clean
up work to be performed before crashing into bed for a good night’s
sleep.
That’s one of the drawbacks of celibacy.
I have no one to blame but myself. But, as I’ve been reminded
time and again by many wives, “No, it’s not!” Whether that’s
true not, I’m sure most of us have “been there” and “done that” in
our efforts to accord our guests the best of hospitality.
But, in today’s gospel, Jesus seems to
put the kibosh on all of that work by chastising Martha for being
too busy doing too many things, each of which must be
completed if the invited guest is going to have a successful good
and life-giving experience in the home of Martha and Mary. I
believe the point Jesus is making is not that all of this work is
unimportant or unnecessary. Rather, there’s a danger in all of
that work: like Martha, we may forget to attend to our guests by
making all of what we must accomplish more important than
why we are performing all of that work in the first place.
Sure, working hard to ensure that our guests have a good and
life-giving experience is important. But, it’s not paramount
if we end up neglecting our guests.
One important point is that, like
Martha, when we decide to perform all of that work, we are making
practical choices which have important moral implications.
Jesus wants us, like Martha, to be aware of rather than forgetful of
those moral implications.
Focusing upon all of the what we
must accomplish each and every day, we oftentimes forget the why
which, for Jesus, is “the better portion” or “what truly matters.”
Sometimes we can become so preoccupied with accomplishing the
what that the why doesn’t matter or even factor into our
decision-making process. Soon, we develop a case of “tunnel
vision,” which really means that we’re focused more upon ourselves
and what we want to do rather than upon other people—and, in
this case, our guests—and their needs.
Oftentimes, it takes a tragedy to
liberate us from this vicious cycle of doing, and doing, and doing
more. It appears that only a tragedy has the power to compel
us to recognize finally that, despite all of the what we have
accomplished and perhaps all that we have yet to accomplish, we’ve
missed “the better portion”—what’s truly important in life—the
outcome of which we will never be able to reclaim.
Think of all of those spouses you know who’ve
come to this recognition only after the tragedy of having their
spouse walk out of the door never to return or suddenly die and be
carried out the front door by the undertaker? Think of all of those
children, like the prodigal son, who have chosen a life of
debauchery and sin and come to this recognition only after a parent
dies? How many of us have forsaken building friendships with people
and spending time with them because we’re “just too busy,” only to
come to this recognition when we find ourselves alone and with no
one who cares about us in our need because we never cared about
anyone in their need?
In contrast, Jesus praises Mary for “she
has chosen the better portion.” With their guest present, Mary
focuses her attention exclusively upon Jesus, taking time to be with
and to listen to him. For Mary, why the two sisters
invited Jesus to their house was of far more importance than all of
the what which had to be completed for Jesus to have a good
and life-giving experience as the special guest of Martha and Mary.
Mary made a moral choice, one that also has important moral
consequences.
The wise teachers of the Sufi religion have a proverb that describes
this trap pretty well: “Be not like a horse on a merry-go-round,
bound by bit and bridle, following a singular pathway, staring
straight ahead, and all the while missing the world as it circles
about you. Around and around you go without ever getting off and
experiencing the real world. And, should you find yourself on
this path, allow not your nose to deceive you into believing that
what you are smelling is the scent of roses and it’s
getting stronger and stronger.”
This points out another important trap
into which many of us can fall. Who is it that we are inviting
into our homes and are listening to when it comes to making
important moral choices, like Martha and Mary? The wise
teachers of the Confucian religion tell the parable of the man, the
boy, and the donkey to remind us of the importance of inviting the
right people into our homes and listening attentively to what they
have to say:
There was an old man, a boy and a
donkey. They were going to town and the boy was riding the donkey,
with the old man walking alongside.
As they rambled along, they
passed some old women sitting in the shade. One of the women called
out, “Shame on you, a great lump of a boy, riding while your old
father is walking.”
The man and boy decided that
maybe the critics were right so they changed positions.
Later they ambled by a group of
mothers watching their young children play by the river. One
cried out in protest, “How could you make your little boy walk in
the hot sun while you ride!”
The two travelers decided that
maybe they both should walk.
Next they met some young men out
for a stroll.
“How stupid you are to walk when
you have a perfectly good donkey to ride!” one yelled derisively.
So both father and son clambered
onto the donkey, deciding they both should ride.
They were soon settled and
underway again. They next encountered some children who were on
their way home from school.
One girl shouted, “How mean to
put such a load on a poor little animal.”
The old man and the boy saw no
alternative. Maybe the critics were right. They now struggled to
carry the donkey. And, as they crossed a bridge, the old man
and the boy lost their grip on the confused animal, who fell to his
death in the river below.
The moral of this parable is, of course,
that in trying to please everyone, we will never know what to do.
We will find it difficult to get anywhere and, in the end, we will
please no one, not even ourselves. Furthermore, we will
probably lose everything that truly matters in life, never to
recover it again.
Think of all those young people today
who invite everyone other than their parents into the home of their
private lives and listen to them, in effect throwing their parents
and their wisdom over the bridge and into the river below?
Think of all those young women who invite into the homes of their
female identity only those who proclaim women’s complete
emancipation from God’s law and men, in effect tossing that over the
bridge and into the river below? Think of all those spouses
who toss the words “I do” over the bridge and into the river below?
Of course, the problem is that these good things—parental wisdom,
the “genius” of the female, as Pope John Paul II called it, and
“what God has joined together”—are extremely difficult to recover
once they are so easily tossed over the bridge and into the river
below.
Martha and Mary invited Jesus into their home. But, Martha
chose not to listen to Jesus. Instead, Martha was too busy only
listening to herself. As bad a choice as that may have been, at
least Martha along with her sister, Mary, had invited the Son of God
into their home. This raises and important question: How do we
invite the Son of God into our homes each day? Can you identify
concrete and specific ways that, like Martha and Mary, you have
invited the Son of God into your homes each day this past week?
To the degree we have, today’s
scripture challenges us with another question: Are
we listening to what the Son of God is teaching us?
The gospel suggests that at least one-half of us—all
of the
“Martha’s” gathered here today—are too busy to do either and
grousing, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by
myself to do the serving? Tell her to help me.”
There is only one
thing!
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HOMILY
