One Thing You Need In Life

𝐎𝐂𝐓. 𝟕, 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟓: 𝐌𝐄𝐌𝐎𝐑𝐈𝐀𝐋 𝐎𝐅 𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐋𝐀𝐃𝐘 𝐎𝐅 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐑𝐎𝐒𝐀𝐑𝐘

𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝟏: 𝐉𝐨𝐧 𝟑:𝟏-𝟏𝟎

𝐑𝐞𝐬𝐩𝐨𝐧𝐬𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐏𝐬𝐚𝐥𝐦: 𝐏𝐬𝐚 𝟏𝟑𝟎:𝟏-𝟒, 𝟕-𝟖 “𝐈𝐟 𝐲𝐨𝐮, 𝐨 𝐋𝐨𝐫𝐝, 𝐦𝐚𝐫𝐤 𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐬, 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐝?”

𝐆𝐎𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐋: 𝐋𝐊 𝟏𝟎:𝟑𝟖-𝟒𝟐

𝑲𝒆𝒚 𝑽𝒆𝒓𝒔𝒆: “𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒔 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅𝒆𝒅. 𝑴𝒂𝒓𝒚 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒆𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒃𝒆 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒏 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒉𝒆𝒓.” (𝒗.42) 

         This is certainly an interesting narrative and the fact that it appears only in the Gospel of Luke will definitely create not only a lot of discussion but reflection as well especially if we ponder as to what was it that Luke wanted to point out in highlighting the difference in the way Martha and Mary played hosts to Jesus as he passed by the town of Bethany.

         Located some two miles from Jerusalem, Bethany was a favorite stopover of Jesus probably because of his friendship with Lazarus who was the brother of Martha and Mary. And on this day, Jesus passed by Bethany and Martha opened up her home for him.

         Based on Jewish custom, to open up a home is not only to welcome a guest but to entertain that guest and the fact that Martha opened her home to Jesus shows the degree of her respect for Jesus. Not only was Jesus a good friend of her brother but Martha knew she was welcoming an important person into her home, someone who has become popular with the people on account of his teachings and the many healing miracles that he has performed.

         And this is not going to be an ordinary day because Jesus doesn’t travel alone as he usually moves with his disciples in tow such that he always must find a home that will welcome them when they move from town to town as staying in an inn was out of the question.

         With the way this narrative was weaved we might be led into thinking that Mary was more spiritual than Martha which is of course wrong as Martha despite her being a busybody can also be regarded as a disciple as she opened her home which means that she was supportive of the cause that Jesus was espousing.

         As the story goes, Martha kept herself busy preparing the dinner table and what Jesus and the other disciples were to eat while Mary sat at the feet of Jesus listening to his teaching. By doing so, Mary also made herself a disciple of Jesus because “𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘵 𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘵” was a figurative way of describing a disciple in those days and we also see this in Paul who proudly claimed to have sat “𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘦𝘦𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘎𝘢𝘮𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘭.”

         This scene was also significant because when Mary sat at the feet of Jesus to listen to his teachings as the other disciples did, it effectively removed the distinction between men and women with respect to discipleship because women during the time of Jesus were not only exempted from the study of the law but were also discouraged from doing so.

         But as Mary listened to Jesus, Martha must have been rushing in her preparations that she was moved to ask Jesus “𝒕𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒕𝒐 𝒉𝒆𝒍𝒑 𝒎𝒆.” (𝒗.40) Some may view this as a sign of disrespect as it partook of a command to Jesus to tell Mary to help her.

         Jesus’ response may also be seen as a rebuke, but this was probably not the case because Jesus was a close friend of the family and thus it would also have been inappropriate for him to speak sternly to Martha who was hosting him such that his response was probably spoken with understanding and love.

         “𝑴𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒉𝒂, 𝑴𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒉𝒂 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒓𝒊𝒆𝒅 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒖𝒑𝒔𝒆𝒕 𝒂𝒃𝒐𝒖𝒕 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈𝒔, 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒊𝒔 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅𝒆𝒅. 𝑴𝒂𝒓𝒚 𝒉𝒂𝒔 𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒔𝒆𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒊𝒔 𝒃𝒆𝒕𝒕𝒆𝒓, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒊𝒕 𝒘𝒊𝒍𝒍 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒃𝒆 𝒕𝒂𝒌𝒆𝒏 𝒂𝒘𝒂𝒚 𝒇𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒉𝒆𝒓.” (𝒗𝒗.41-42)        

This is what Luke wanted to point out in this Gospel in that Mary has rightfully discerned that listening to Jesus and learning from the Master is far more important than anything else. Here, Mary simply showed that listening to Jesus is the highest form of respect as sitting at his feet is to give Jesus the honor that he deserves. It also provides us with the thought that we need to shift our priorities in order to listen and follow Our Lord.

         Many times, in our lives we are caught up with the many mundane concerns of housekeeping. Others lose themselves in the maze of life as they try to find their place in the sun searching for the gold at the end of the rainbow. In this Gospel we see two contrasting situations with Martha offering her labor to Jesus while Mary offers her time to listen to him.

         How about you? What is it that you have or are doing that you can offer to Jesus? Do you use the talent and gifts that he gave you? Do you render faithful service that is compatible with your position in the Church or Community? I was at one time like Martha. I looked forward to the weekends I can use to clean my stuff, our home, garage, my bookshelves, my files as this is the only free time I have.

         We were active in our ministry in the community, and we never turned down invitations to go on mission. But the time came when I felt I wasn’t going anywhere in my spiritual journey and when I sat down to discern, God impressed upon me the one thing that was lacking and that was an intimate time with him by pondering on his Word because at the end of the day, the Word is the one thing that we all need to guide us in our spiritual journey.

         It was a good thing that I found this out because to sit at his feet and listen provides us the impetus to obey what he is telling us and this is what Jesus wants from us in that we need to spend time listening to him. This was the “𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈” that Mary found and it cannot be taken away from her because it is at his feet that we can find peace and joy.

         In this gospel reading, Jesus is telling us to keep our minds off the world around us and spend a few moments listening to him. It’s like Jesus is telling us “𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚 𝐟𝐞𝐰 𝐦𝐢𝐧𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐬, 𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐧𝐞𝐫 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐚𝐢𝐭. 𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐚𝐦 𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐧𝐨𝐰 𝐢𝐬 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐭.”

Therefore, the question we need to ask ourselves now is can we be like Mary who found “𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐧𝐞𝐞𝐝𝐞𝐝.” Could there be something in this world that is more important than Jesus Christ? (𝘌𝘥 𝘔𝘢𝘭𝘢𝘺 - 𝘖𝘤𝘵. 7, 2025)