If you are like me, you have a very busy, fast paced life. I calculated last weekend, that over a two-week period, I had 24 different liturgies, 19 different homilies to write, a funeral, numerous baptisms, a wedding, a Quinceañera, and different social gatherings, as well as my normally scheduled weekend and daily masses. I don’t know about you, but if I don’t check my planning calendar each day, I don’t remember what I am doing one day to the next. Even though Jesus lived 2,000 years ago in Ancient Israel, he lived a very busy, fast paced life as well. He was going from village to village, visiting people, teaching in the synagogues and answering questions, performing miracles and proclaiming God’s kingdom. But Jesus realized that he needed down time as well. Several times we hear of Jesus fleeing the crowds in order to find a quiet space to rest. We also hear of times in the Gospels when Jesus enjoyed the kindness and hospitality of good friends. We know that he had a warm, close friendship with the siblings Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. On their way back to Jerusalem, Jesus and his disciples passed through Bethany where they visited the home of Mary and Martha. I think of how here in the South, a good home cooked meal is a big part of welcoming people just as it was in Ancient Israel.
I really don’t think that the core of the Gospel today is that Martha’s actions were bad and that Mary’s actions were good, although that is how this Gospel is often interpreted. I see the core of the Gospel message today as being about balance and doing the right thing at the right time. Martha wanted to prepare dinner for her guests, knowing that if she just sat around conversing and visiting, the dinner wasn’t going to prepare itself. If we didn’t have the Marthas of the world, how much would get done? After the Spanish mass, the last mass we have of the weekend, a group of men and women come together mopping, sweeping, cleaning, and picking up garbage so that our church is put back together after a busy weekend of about 1,000 people worshipping at our church at our four masses. I am sure a lot of these men and women would like to be visiting and conversing with their friends after church, but they know that there is work to be done. And if I wasn’t busy writing homilies every day and going to meetings and visiting the sick, and instead spending my time in prayer, reading, and studying, the work of our parish wouldn’t get done by itself either. I don’t think that Jesus is faulting Martha for her service, since the passage just before this in the 10th chapter of Luke’s Gospel is the parable of the Good Samaritan, which was the Gospel reading we heard last weekend. Isn’t Martha being a neighbor in the Gospel story today? Isn’t it Martha who recognizes that Jesus is probably hungry, thirsty, and tired after his long journey? Martha has the gift of service and hospitality in her heart. And what a wonderful gift that is. And I really don’t think Jesus is faulting Martha for wanting to be a good neighbor or a Good Samaritan, for putting her faith into action.
I think that if was the spirit that Martha embodied in that moment that Jesus was calling out. She is encumbered by her serving. She is upset and anxious. If Martha had taken a personality test, she would be identified as having an extroverted, Type A, driven personality.
But, sometimes we have to slow down. Sometimes, we can be trying to tackle too much. Sometimes we are stretched too thin, and then we will burn out and then we will be no good to anyone. Having balance and simplifying our lives may be what God is calling us to do. I asked the other pastors in our ministerial association in Tupelo, and none of them are required to go on annual retreat or annual spiritual exercises like we priests are in the Catholic Church. And there is a reason that priests going on a retreat is each is a part of canon law. You may wonder why I’ve gone to Spain on pilgrimage these last couple of winters. That time of prayer, reflection, and walking with God helps keep me going as a priest. I didn’t realize until I left for Spain in January of 2015, that the last time I had a weekend off for personal time was in May of 2012, almost three years earlier, the last time I had gone to Spain. I had weekends away from the parish during that time, but they had been for mission appeals or serving as a spiritual director or doing some other kind of pastoral work. Any of us can become Martha. As irritated as Martha was getting in today’s Gospel, it did not appear that the joy of the Gospel was filling her heart at that moment, as the Gospel describes her as being burdened. Remember how Jesus tells us in the Gospel of Matthew that we heard on Thursday of last week in our daily mass: “Come to me, all you who labor and are burdened, and I will give you rest.”
Indeed, there are times when we have to bear down and make sacrifices and to give it our all. At the end of these last two weekends, after 7 liturgies each weekend, and working from early in the morning until late at night, you better believe I am ready to crawl into bed without an ounce of energy left. But it is a blessing for us to know when it is the time to bear down and then when it is time to rest and to enjoy. Remember, Jesus said that most important commandment is to love God with your heart, your soul, your strength, and your mind. And second is to love your neighbor as yourself. They come in that order. Our parish mission statement first says to love God, and then it follows that we are to love others. When we are centered on God, then our service and love can flow out of our faith. That is the way it is supposed to be for us as disciples of Christ.
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