'As they continued their journey he 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 (Lk. 10:38-42).”'
Jesus breaks with Jewish cultural norms in three ways; he is alone with women to whom he is not related, he allows a woman to serve him, and he teaches a woman in her own house. In early Christianity after Jesus ascended, women hosted churches in their homes. Jesus visited Mary and Martha and Mary was sitting at Jesus’ feet contemplating his words. Martha was focused on serving Jesus and maybe the other disciples, and anxiously asked Jesus to tell Mary to help her. Jesus did not tell Martha that her hospitality had no value. The point Jesus made was that everyone who follows him must listen to him. That is the better part.
Almighty God, in our strength we serve you and in our weakness we mercifully ask for your grace. Grant that we may contemplate your word and make it the better part of our lives. Help us not to be distracted by the vicissitudes of life as your word is the way to our salvation. This we pray through Christ our Lord. Amen!
References
Chiu, José Enrique Aguilar, et al. The Paulist Biblical Commentary. Paulist Press, 2018.
Faculty of the University of Navarre. The Navarre Bible: New Testament Expanded Edition. Expanded Edition, Four Courts / Scepter, 2008.
Brown, Raymond Edward, et al. The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. Upper Saddle River, NJ, United States, Prentice Hall, 1990.
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