Sixteenth Sunday In Ordinary Time, Year C: Martha And Mary

A journalist with Bon Appetit Magazine asked readers to submit examples of their worst dinner party experiences. A woman names Bea Stein wrote about how the candles on her patio table fell over and set the whole table on fire.

Another hostess had 50 guests coming over for brunch when the city water department had an emergency elsewhere on her block and had to cut off her water.

I wonder how Martha had the energy and skill to host a large group of people on short notice. Jesus entered a village where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him. As she rushed about making preparations, she noticed that Mary, her sister, wasn’t helping her. Where was she? She was sitting at Jesus’ feet, listening to him teach.

Verse 40 reads, “Martha, burdened with much serving…” The Greek word used here for “burdened; distracted” literally means “to drag all around.” She was stressed out! Author Anne Lamott has a great definition of fear that fits Martha’s state of mind. She says fear stands for “future event already ruined.” So, Martha brought her fear and stress to Jesus, “"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.”

Jesus is setting a boundary with Martha. If Martha has a problem with her sister Mary, she should take it to Mary directly. Jesus is refusing to be triangulated.

Martha is a saint, but theoretically, what if Martha had been playing the victim or being a false martyr? In the moral paradigm oriented by false victimhood, “moral worth is relative [and] dependent on something external” [Abigal Favale, Dignity or Victimhood? 11/16/18].

Being a false victim or being falsely persecuted “is boisterous because it must call attention to itself” in order to persuade anyone else [Wesley Walker, The Difference Between Martyrdom and a Victim-Complex, 01/25/21].

E.g., the train of thought is like this, “I am a follower of Christ, then I will be persecuted.”/ “I am persecuted.” / “Therefore, I am a follower of Christ.” The reality is that the person may simply have an abrasive personality or a character defect and it has very little to do with being a Catholic Christian. The logical error is this, “the consequences of [one’s perceived] Christian living cannot be used as verification of it.” [Nathan McCabe, Are American Christians Persecuted?, 05/25/2022].

Of course, there is real persecution: Jesus says, “Blessed are they which are persecuted for righteousness’ sake” (Matthew 5:10) or St. Paul, “all who live a godly life in Christ shall suffer persecution” (2 Timothy 3:12-13). Here is a formula to check if its real persecution or not: “If what someone else finds intolerable in you is your Christianity [or specifically your righteous, moral living], then you are persecuted for Christ’s sake.”

To be clear, “interpreting persecution or suffering as the sign of a Christian living is very different from allowing suffering to sanctify us.” [Nathan McCabe]. If the aforementioned strict formula does not check-out for what is real persecution, our Second Reading offers a huge consolation: “…in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of his body, which is the church” (Colossians 1:24). This includes everyday inconveniences, social or vocational duties, impoliteness, sickness, and many other experiences which can be united to the suffering of Jesus Christ and applied to what is lacking in his Mystical Body, which is the church.

Back to our Gospel:

Then Jesus says to Martha, “There is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her." Jesus is also implying that, in this life, our time is limited, but our demands are endless. This was not God’s design for human beings. In Genesis 2:2, it says, “By the seventh day God had finished the work he had been doing; so on the seventh day he rested from all his work.” We are not God and have to rest on Sunday even if all our weekday work is not finished. In fact, assuming that one is diligent in one’s work, Monday through Saturday, then leaving things unfinished in order to rest on Sunday is meritorious, especially for Type-A people, or very conscientious people. Sunday rest will protect such people from the process addiction of over-work or over-functioning or even co-dependency.

To illustrate: For more than a decade, British journalist Oliver Burkeman wrote an advice column for The Guardian newspaper. In his final column, he shared some lessons he’d learned over the years on the secret to living a happier life.

Here is an excerpt from his final article: ‘There will always be too much to do-- and this realization is liberating. Today more than ever, there’s just no reason to assume any fit between the demands on your time – all the things you would like to do or feel you ought to do – and the amount of time available…The only viable solution is to make a shift: from a life spent trying not to neglect anything, to one spent proactively and consciously choosing what to neglect, in favor of what matters most.” [Oliver Burkeman; Sept. 4, 2020].