Fr. Campbell’s article for July 18 Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time
Genesis 18: 1-10 Col 1: 24-28 Luke 10: 38-42
In Sunday’s gospel Jesus visits the home of Martha and Mary. While Martha is busy with all the details of having people in her home, Mary sits at the feet of Jesus and listens to him. Martha complains saying, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving? Tell her to help me”. Jesus tells Martha that she is “anxious and worried about many things” and that Mary has chosen the better part. Although the Martha in me wants to know what they had for dinner that night, the real question this scripture raises is how do we live an active life with all its demands while still being aware of God’s presence in the midst of that life? If we are to see and feel God’s presence it seems to me that there are two postures that we need to assume. The first is Mary’s posture in the gospel. She sits at the feet of Jesus. Sitting at the feet of a master is the posture of a student. All of us have been blessed at one time or another by having someone in our lives that taught us how to live a good life. Can you name that person and the lessons they taught? Who do you listen to today? What are the lessons they teach? Do those people bring you closer to God or drive a wedge in to that relationship? Can you learn from all people not just those with more degrees, more money or those who have their faces in the media? Can you learn from the difficult moments as well as the successful ones? The second posture is bowing. In the first reading from Genesis says “The Lord appeared to Abraham as he sat in the entrance of his tent, while the day was growing hot. Looking up, he saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them he ran from the entrance of the tent to greet them and bowing to the ground” he offered to prepare food for them. Although the passage begins with the phrase “The Lord appeared to Abraham” most scripture scholars tells us that Abraham did not recognize the men as being God’s messengers. In fact Abraham only realized this after they told him his wife Sarah would become pregnant and she did. Abraham left the coolness of his tent, went out into the midday sun, fell on the ground and bowed, then prepared them a great feast in the heat of the day. Abraham treated the three strangers in the same way he treated everyone. He bowed to them. He just assumed there was sacredness in them and he honored it. If we are to see God’s presence in our lives we need to reverence one another. This means that we see God in all people and we treat them accordingly. Each encounter we have, regardless of how inconvenient it is, is an opportunity to meet our God right there in the midst of that busyness. Many Eastern cultures have a wonderful tradition of bowing to others when they are introduced, in doing so they reverence the person. Who are the people we bow to? Do we bow to the cashier at the grocery store or the young person in the fast food drive thru? What about those who come into our lives that don’t speak our language? Abraham welcomed the strangers in the heat of the day when it was most inconvenient. Can we stretch beyond our comfort zones to reverence the God in others? Like Martha there are duties that each of us have to do each day. However if we follow the postures of Mary and Abraham we will find the blessings in the work we do.