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.”
Fr.Barry/ The Sunday homily today is about Jesus and of His staying somewhere restful and welcoming for Him, with some of His traveling apostles.
First, let’s review the Gospel verses in their order of coming.
Jesus entered a village… we know the village place is Bethany. It’s on the road between Jericho and Jerusalem. We were on the same road with Jesus last Sunday in the Word, as He spoke about a familiar dangerous stretch on the road and the time when a Samaritan greatly helped out a beaten and robbed man to recovery. Now we are further up the road in a safe village. It has lodging awaiting for Jesus and his men to stay there.
Hey! Bethany is a familiar name to many of us. We have a beach resort of that name called Bethany Beach; a popular destination of some parishioners, along with its neighbor beaches of Ocean City and Rehoboth, along the Atlantic seacoast. Bethany Beach Delaware was given its Bible name due to it starting as a Disciples of Christ ocean retreat center. A hundred-and-a-quarter years ago that place was founded as a place for rest and retreat, named by a Christian man named H.L. Atkinson as “a haven of rest for quiet people.” A whole busy beach town is grown around it now, but still it is known for its quiet life, compared to its ocean neighbors. Just an added thing: Did you know that Rehoboth is also a name from the Bible? The source for the name is a verse in Genesis 26:22); describing an area, “Rehoboth” that in Hebrew meant “broad places.”
Anyway, Jesus is entering Bethany with the expectation of getting some food and lodging, as well as a bit of moral and spiritual support. It seems that He and/or one of His walking company knows a friendly house in the village, with the welcome mat out for Rabbi Yeshua, the Teacher.
Back to the text: Jesus entered a village where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him. She had a sister named Mary… OK–we also know of a brother of theirs named Lazarus, of whom is told about in other Gospel accounts. He is not mentioned here. He likely lives there, too. In this Lukan verse, it says that the house belonged to Martha. She“welcomed him.” She had a fairly nice and roomy house to offer. She was already a follower of the Lord Jesus; this was a certain way to be of help—give Jesus and company hospitality for their travels to and from the holy city of Jerusalem.
Next verse: (Mary) sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak. Martha, with much serving… well, Martha was busy at it, it’s meant to say. It’s a normal thing that she was because these two women ran something akin to our modern B & B, a Bed and Breakfast place for an overnight stay for Jerusalem’s pilgrim travelers.
Some religious sisters or communities today have a ministry in this hospitality kind-of-thing—to host Christian travelers. I have stayed recently since 2020 at Tampa, Phoenix and New York City rest houses—for a very reasonable fee, a Catholic welcome, and a nice breakfast. So, you can see the connection of this gospel to it—as Jesus and some apostles were staying at this Bethany house for rest and support. The workers or hosts at these places mostly are there to serve you, but sometimes you engage in some great company or conversation, due to its being set up for such possibilities. As an example, in Tampa, I made numerous such spontaneous friendships with the hosts and some other of the guests. (It turns out that I found hosts there who knew two people in Resurrection parish; whom they had served before there. I laughed and said: ‘Let’s call them up and surprise them that I am the next Resurrection person to wander in to the Catholic guest house!’ So, that is what we did. ‘Guess who this is and from where I am calling?’ I teased. It was FaceTime so they quickly saw it was me and the place. “I’ve been there too, numbers of times,” they said. “Enjoy their hospitality!”
In this Gospel, Jesus is welcome in to the Bethany house. He is sat down and now welcoming people to sit with Him for some teaching from Him, for some talking and His listening to them talk there, and for His getting to better know the people at the house. We can note, too, how Lazarus is not in this story, but mainly because it is a Lukan story about women and Jesus. A point of this gospel is that women were welcome to sit with Jesus, just like the men—it’s a change from the normal rabbi-disciple set up beforehand with the Jews. Luke’s gospel will highlight this side of things—in saying how, while not having women apostles, Jesus did welcome women disciples readily into discipleship. Martha and Mary are two of the best known. Mary Magdalene is another. Just so you know, Mary Magdalene’s saint day is this Friday and Martha’s is the Friday following.
Martha first surmised (wrongly) that Mary was kind of laying down on the job. What’s she doing sitting in the room?! There is cooking to be done in the kitchen!
Back to the text: Jesus entered a village where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him. She had a sister named Mary… OK–we also know of a brother of theirs named Lazarus, of whom is told about in other Gospel accounts. He is not mentioned here. He likely lives there, too. In this Lukan verse, it says that the house belonged to Martha. She“welcomed him.” She had a fairly nice and roomy house to offer. She was already a follower of the Lord Jesus; this was a certain way to be of help—give Jesus and company hospitality for their travels to and from the holy city of Jerusalem.
Next verse: (Mary) sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak. Martha, with much serving… well, Martha was busy at it, it’s meant to say. It’s a normal thing that she was because these two women ran something akin to our modern B & B, a Bed and Breakfast place for an overnight stay for Jerusalem’s pilgrim travelers.
Some religious sisters or communities today have a ministry in this hospitality kind-of-thing—to host Christian travelers. I have stayed recently since 2020 at Tampa, Phoenix and New York City rest houses—for a very reasonable fee, a Catholic welcome, and a nice breakfast. So, you can see the connection of this gospel to it—as Jesus and some apostles were staying at this Bethany house for rest and support. The workers or hosts at these places mostly are there to serve you, but sometimes you engage in some great company or conversation, due to its being set up for such possibilities. As an example, in Tampa, I made numerous such spontaneous friendships with the hosts and some other of the guests. (It turns out that I found hosts there who knew two people in Resurrection parish; whom they had served before there. I laughed and said: ‘Let’s call them up and surprise them that I am the next Resurrection person to wander in to the Catholic guest house!’ So, that is what we did. ‘Guess who this is and from where I am calling?’ I teased. It was FaceTime so they quickly saw it was me and the place. “I’ve been there too, numbers of times,” they said. “Enjoy their hospitality!”
In this Gospel, Jesus is welcome in to the Bethany house. He is sat down and now welcoming people to sit with Him for some teaching from Him, for some talking and His listening to them talk there, and for His getting to better know the people at the house. We can note, too, how Lazarus is not in this story, but mainly because it is a Lukan story about women and Jesus. A point of this gospel is that women were welcome to sit with Jesus, just like the men—it’s a change from the normal rabbi-disciple set up beforehand with the Jews. Luke’s gospel will highlight this side of things—in saying how, while not having women apostles, Jesus did welcome women disciples readily into discipleship. Martha and Mary are two of the best known. Mary Magdalene is another. Just so you know, Mary Magdalene’s saint day is this Friday and Martha’s is the Friday following.
Martha first surmised (wrongly) that Mary was kind of laying down on the job. What’s she doing sitting in the room?! There is cooking to be done in the kitchen!
Back to the text: Mary comments about her sister sitting at the Teacher’s feet– “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving?” The question she poses will set up how Jesus will do something surprising, and have the women not only serve Him at their house, but also receive from Him great honors! The answer from Jesus to Mary’s hot query is that He has welcomed Martha to sit by Him for teachings, like a disciple to Master, and that Mary is surely welcome to do so, too, for that relationship. Of course, Mary of Bethany did respond to Jesus’ invitation and became a woman disciple to Him.
The ministry of follower is open to men and women and even some other ‘surprising’ categories of peoples, such as teens (as the evangelist John had learned of his own call at a young age) or even Samaritans (as last Sunday’s gospel tells us or of the woman at the well and her whole village of Sychar—Samaria). Luke the evangelist highlights this open ministry aspect of The Lord. It’s a special message within today’s gospel.
I was thinking of this gospel in the context of Summer, as in the time we go off to get some rest and respite from the usual grind or grit of life.
While Jesus was not on a vacation in this Luke 10 Bible account, but in ministry travels, it still is a story of His wanting to get the rest and support He needed along the way. We hear of Jesus going off up the mountain to be alone, or staying at a place for rest, or getting back to Peter’s home in Capernaum for their recovery stops for rebound out to other villages, towns and outskirts to more ministry.
But Jesus rested, here and there. We can do so, too.
It’s nice to have a place to go to. Bethany House of Martha, Mary and Lazarus was such a place for Him.
In that message of encouraging people to get their breaks and retreats and time off or away, we can take the finish of this gospel in that vein.
Recall what Jesus said to get Martha to relax, and get this whole new way of doing things going. He said: “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is need of only one thing (presently, and) Mary has chosen the better part and it will not be taken from her.”
It is a message to us to let the Lord minister to us, even as we rest, and to get re-created in His care that way. Recreation is another word for re-creation. The Lord needs to get us to a restful stop with Him for His re-creating work to be ministered to us. His Spirit is ready for such renewal in us. He can even do it right in our homes as we rest: He did so for Martha and Mary.
There is my short focus on this visit of Jesus to this Bethany home and its three persons of hospitality. They care for Jesus, and more than just in this time, but He will care for them, even more so. One time, He even brought Lazarus alive from the dead, and lifted the hopes of Martha and Mary in God giving resurrection of the dead and eternal rest to His people.