BETHANY WOMEN (16th Sunday in Ordinary Time - Cycle C)

Homily for the 16^th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Cycle C)

Based on Lk 10:38-42 (Gospel), (First Reading) and (Second Reading)

From the Series: “Reflections and Teachings of the Desert”

BETHANY WOMEN

‘Martha, Martha,’ he said ‘you worry and fret about so many things’ (Lk 10:41)

The Gospel Reading for this 16^th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Cycle C)  is taken from Lk 10:38-42. It is the story about Martha and Maryⁱ. Foonote  ⁱ says “These two sisters reappear, with the same individual characteristics, in the story of the raising of Lazarus, Jn 11:1-44”.

Verse 38 of Lk 10 says: In the course of their journey he came to a village, and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house.

Parallel text is from Jn 11:1-2 that says:  There was a man named Lazarus who lived in a village of Bethany  with the two sisters, Mary and Martha,  and he was ill (v. 1). It was the same Mary, the sister of the sick man Lazarus, who anointed the Lord with ointment and wiped his feet with her hair.^a (v. 2).

Footnote ^a says  “It is unlikely that this is ‘the woman who was a sinner’ of Lk 7:37”.

Verse 39 says: She had a sister named Mary who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to him speaking.

Parallel text is from Lk 8:35 that says: And the people went out to see what had happened. When they came to Jesus, they found the man from whom the devils had gone out sitting at the feet of Jesus,^d clothed and in his full senses; and they were afraid. Footnote  ^d says “As a disciple sits, 8:38; cf. 10:39; Ac 22:3. Lk alone adds this detail”.

Verse 40 says: Now Martha who was distracted  with all the serving said, ‘Lord, do you not care that my sister is leaving me to do the serving all by myself? Please tell her to help me.’

Parallel text is from 1 Co 7:35 that says: I say this only to help you, not to put a  halter round your necks, but simply to make sure that everything is as it should be, and that you give your undivided attention to the Lord.

Verse 41 says: But the Lord answered: ‘Martha, Martha,’ he said ‘you worry and fret about so many things.

Parallel texts are:

1.       Lk 8:3 - Joanna, the wife of Herod’s steward Chuza, Susanna, and many others who provided for them out of their own resources.

2.       Mt 6:33 - Set your hearts on his kingdom first, and on his righteousness, and all these other things will be given you as well.

Verse 42 says: and yet few are needed, indeed only one.^j It is Mary who has chosen the better part; it is not to be taken from her.’ Footnote ^j says “Var. ‘but only one thing is needed’, ‘but only a few things are needed’, readings which make free with the text and deform the sense. In his remark Jesus rises from the material plane (“few things are needed”, i.e. for the meal) to the one thing necessary’, which is to listen to the word of God”.

Parallel text is from Jn 6:27 that says: Do not work for food that cannot last, but work for the food that endures to eternal life, the kind of food the Son of Man is offering^f you, for on him the Father, God himself, has set his seal.^g Footnote ^f says “Var ‘will offer’’; and Footnote  ^g says “The ‘seal’ that Jesus received at his baptism, namely the spirit, Mt 3:16+, who is the power of God operative in Christ’s ‘signs’. Cf Ac 10:38; Mt 12:28; Ep 1:13; 4:30; 2 Co 1:22.”

The First Reading is from Gn 18:1-10a. It is titled: The apparition at Memre^a.  Footnote ^a says “In its definitive form this ‘Yahwistic’ narrative recounts an apparition of Yahweh (vv. 1,3,10f,13,22) accompanied by two ‘men’ who, according to 19:1, are angels. As the variants of the Greek and Sam. prove, the text is frequently uncertain in its choice of singular plural. It would seem that the primitive tradition spoke only of three ‘men’ and was content to leave their identity mysterious. IN these three to whom Abraham addressed a single act of homage, many of the Fathers saw a foreshadowing of the doctrine of the Trinity, a doctrine that was revealed only in the NT”.

Parallel text is Jg 13:3 that says:  An angel of Yahweh^b appeared to this woman and said to her: ‘You are barren and have no child.^c Footnote ^b says “Cf 2:1; 6:11 and Gn 16:7+. In v. 22 the angel is identified with Yahweh as in 6:22-23” and Footnote ^c says “The text adds ‘you will conceive, and bear a son’, a doublet of v. 5a”.

Verses 1 and 2 say: Yahweh appeared to him in the Oak of Mamre while he was sitting by the entrance of the tent during the hottest part of the day. He looked up, and there he saw three men standing near him. As soon as he saw them he ran from the entrance of the tent to meet them, and he bowed to the ground.^b   Footnote ^b says “Not a religious act of adoration but simply a mark of respect. At first, Abraham sees his guests as mere human beings and welcomes them warmly; their superhuman character is only gradually revealed, vv. 2,9,13,14”.

Parallel text is from Heb 13:2 that says: And remember always to welcome strangers, for by doing this, some people have entertained angels without knowing it.

Verses 3 to 9 say:  ‘My Lord’ he said ‘I beg you, if I find favor with you, kindly do not pass your servant by. A little water shall be brought; you shall wash your feet and lie down under the tree.  Let me fetch a little bread and you shall refresh yourselves before going further. That is why you have come in your servant’s direction.’ They replied, ‘Do as you say’. Abraham hastened to the tent to find Sarah. ‘Hurry,’ he said ‘knead three bushels of flour and make loaves.’ The running to the cattle Abraham took a fine and tender calf and gave it to the servant, who hurried to prepare it.  Then taking cream, milk and the calf he had prepared, he laid all of them before them, and they ate while he remained standing near them under the tree. ‘Where is your wife Sarah?’ they asked him. ‘She is in the tent’ he replied.

Parallel text for verse 9 are:

1.       Gn 15:2-4 - “My Lord Yahweh’, Abram replied ‘what do you  intend to give me? I go childless…’^b (v. 2) The Abram said, “See, you have given me no descendants; some man of my household will be my heir (v. 3)” And then this word of Yahweh was spoken to him, He shall not be your heir; your heir shall be your own flesh and blood. Footnote ^b says “The original text is irrecoverably corrupt: ‘and the son of…(unintelligible word) of my house is Damascus Eliezer.” V. 3 gives the general sense. For the first time Abraham expresses misgiving”.

2.       Gn 17:15-21 - God said to Abraham: As for Sarai your wife, you shall not call her Sarai; but Sarah ^f (v.15). I will bless her, and moreover give you a son by her. I will bless her and nations shall come out of her, kings of peoples will descend from her (v. 16) Abraham bowed to ground,  and he laughed,^g thinking to himself, “Is a child to be born to a man who is one hundred years old, and will Sarah have a child at the age of ninety?” (v. 17).  Abraham said to God, “Oh, let Ishmael live in your presence!” (v. 18). But God replied: ‘No, but your wife Sarah will bear you a son whom you are to name Isaac. With him I will establish my Covenant,  a Covenant in perpetuity, to be his God and the God of his descendants after him (v. 19) For Ishmael too I grant you your request: I  bless him. I will make him fruitful  and greatly increased in numbers. He shall be the father of twelve princes, and I will make of him into a great nation (v. 20). But my Covenant I will establish with Isaac, whom Sarah will bear you at this time next year (v. 21).  Footnote ^f says “Sarah and Sarai are two forms of the same name, which means ‘princess’: Sarah is to be the mother of kings, v. 16”; and  Footnote ^g says “Abraham’s laughter is to be echoed by Sarah’s 18:12, and Ishmael’s 21:9 (See also 21:6); each is an allusion to the name Isaac, abbreviated form of Yshq-El which means ‘May God smile, be kind’ or ‘has smiled, has been kind’. Abraham’s laughter is a sign not so much of unbelief as of surprise at the extraordinary announcement; his mention of Ishmael, present heir-apparent to the Promise, is an implicit request for reassurance”.

Verse 10a says: Then his guest said, ‘I shall visit you again next year without fail, and your wife will then have a son.’

Parallel texts are:

1.       Rm 9:9 - The actual words in which the promise was made were: I shall visit you at such and such a time and Sarah will have a son.

2.       2 K 4:16  - “This time next year’  he said ‘you will hold a son in your arms.” But she said, “No, my lord, do not deceive your servant.

The Second Reading is from Col 1:24-28. Verse 24 says: It makes me happy to suffer for you, as I am suffering now, and in my own body to do what I can to make up all that has still to be undergone by Christ for the sake of his body, the Church. ^m Footnote ^m says “Lit. ‘all that is lacking from the sufferings of Christ…Church’. Jesus suffered in order to establish the reign of God, and anyone who continues his work must share this suffering. Paul is not saying that he thinks his own sufferings increase the value of his redemption (since that value cannot be increased) but that he shares by his sufferings as a missionary in those that Jesus had undergone in his own mission, cf. 2 Co. 1:15, Ph. 1:20+. These are the sufferings predicted for the messianic era, Mt. 24:8, Ac. 14:22, 1 Tm. 4:1+, and are all part of the way n which God had always intended the Church to develop. Paul feels that, being the messenger Christ has chosen to send to the pagans, he has been especially called on to experience those sufferings”.

Parallel texts are:

1.       Col 2:1 - Yes, I want you to know that I do have to struggle hard for you, and for those in Laodicea, and for so many others who have never seen me face to face,

2.       Mt 5:11 - Happy are you when people abuse you and persecute you and speak all kinds of calumny against you on my account.

3.       Col 1:28 - This is the Christ we proclaim, this is the wisdom in which we thoroughly train everyone and instruct everyone, to make them all perfect in Christ.

4.       2 Co 1:5 - Indeed as the sufferings of Christ overflow to us, so, through Christ, does our consolation overflow.

Verse 25 says:  I became the servant of the Church when God made me responsible for delivering God’s message to you

Parallel texts are:

1.       Rm 15:19 - by the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Holy Spirit. Thus all the way along from Jerusalem to Illyricum,^f I have preached Christ’s  Good News to the utmost of my capacity. Footnote  ^f says “The two extreme of Paul’s missionary journeys at the time of writing; whether he had actually entered Illyricum is disputed”.

2.        2 Co 3:6 - He is the one who has given us the qualifications to be the  administrators of this new covenant, which is not a covenant of written letter but of the Spirit; the written letters bring death, but the Spirit gives life.

Verse 26 says: the message which was a mystery hidden for generations and centuries and has now been revealed to his saints.

Parallel text is Rm 16:25 that says: Doxology^j Glory to him who is able to give you the strength^k to live according to the Good News I preach, and in which I proclaim Jesus Christ, the revelation of a mystery^l kept secret for endless ages… Footnote  ^j says “Most authorities place this doxology here, but in some it appears at the end of ch. 15 or 14; others omit. A solemn presentation, cf. Ef 3:20; Jude 24-25, of the main points of the letter; Footnote  ^k - Firmly grounded in doctrine and strong in Christian practice. Cf. 1:11; 1 Th 3:2,13; 2 Th 2:17; 3:3; 1 Co 1:8; 2 Co 1:21; Col 2:7; and Footnote ^l says “The idea of a ‘mystery’ of wisdom, v. 27; 1 Co 2:7; Ep 3:10; Col 2:2-3, long hidden in God and now revealed, v. 25; 1 Co 2:7,10; Ep 3:5,9f; Col 1:26, is borrowed by Paul from Jewish apocalypse, Dn 2:18-19+, but he enriches the content of the term by applying it to the climax of the history of salvation: the saving cross of Christ, 1 Co 2:8; the call of the pagans, v. 26; Rm 11:25; Col 1:26-27; Ep 3:6, to this salvation preached by Paul, v. 25; Col 1:23; 4:3; Ep 3:3-12; 6:19, and finally the restoration of all things in Christ as their one head, Ep 1:9-10. See also 1 Co 4:1; 13:2; 14:2; 15:51; Ep 5:32; 2 Th 2:7; 1 Tm 3:9,16; 2 Tm 1:9-10; Mt 13:11p+; Rv 1:20; 10:7; 17:5,7”.

Verse 27 says: It was God’s purpose to reveal it to them and to show all the rich glory of this mystery to pagans. The mystery is Christ among you, your hope of glory:ⁿ Footnote ⁿ says “Previously, when it had seemed (to the Jews) that pagans could never be saved, as salvation was restricted to ‘Israel’, pagans had seemed to be without a Messiah and consequently to be deprived of all hope, Ep. 2:12. The ‘mystery’ or secret of God that had now been revealed was that the pagans too were, and had been, all called to be saved through union with Christ, and so to reach eternal glory , cf. Ep. 2:13-22; 3:3-6”.

Parallel texts are:

1.       Col 3:4 - But when Christ is revealed – and he is your life - you too will be revealed in all your glory with him. ^b Footnote ^b says “Through union with Christ in baptism, 2:12, his followers already live the identical life he lives in heaven, cf. Ep 2:6+, but this spiritual life is not manifest and glorious  as it will be in the parousia”.

2.       Ep 2:12…do not forget, I say, that you had no Christ^g and were excluded from membership of Israel, aliens with no part in the covenants with their Promise,^h you were immersed in the world, without hopeⁱ and without God^j  Footnote ^g says “I.e. ‘you had no Messiah’; Footnote ^h says “The successive covenants madeby God with Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, David etc.; cf. Ex 19:1+; Lv 26:42,45; Si 44-45; Ws 18:22; 2 M 8:15; Rm 9:4’; Footnote ⁱ says “The pagans had many gods but not the one true God, 1 Co 8:5f”; and  Footnote ^j says “The wall separating the court of the Jews from the court of the pagans in the Temple, cf. Ac 21:28f”.

3.       1 Th 4:13 - We want you to be quite certain, brothers, about those who have died,^g so make sure that you do not grieve about them, like the other people who have no hope. Footnote ^g says “Lit ‘ we do not wish you to be ignorant, brothers, concerning the sleeping’. The euphemism was command in the OT., in the NT, and in Greek literature: the natural concomitant was to call the resurrection (to new life or from death) an ‘awakening’”.

Verse 28 says: this is the Christ we proclaim, this is the wisdom I which we thoroughly train everyone and instruct everyone, to make them all perfect I Christ.

Parallel texts are:

1.       1 Co 2:6 - But still we have a wisdom to offer those who have reached maturity;^c not a philosophy of our age, it is true, still less  of the masters of our age,^d which are coming to their end. Footnote ^c says “The ‘mature’ or ‘perfect’ (teleloi) are not an exclusive group of initiates but those who have reached maturity in Christian life and thought. Cf 14:20; Ph 3:15; Col 4:12; Heb 5:14”; Footnote ^d  says “Perhaps human rulers or government; more probably, the evil powers or demons that control the world, cf 1 Co 15:24-25; Ep 6:12. See also Lk 4:6 and Jn 12:31_; but the reference  is perhaps to both, the latter using the former as their tools”.

2.       Ep 4:13 - In this way we are all to come to unity in our faith and in our knowledge of the Son of God, until we become the perfect Man,^j fully mature with the fullness of Christ himself. Footnote ^j says “This does not refer primarily to the individual Christian. The sense is collective. It can be taken as referring to Christ himself, the New Man, the archetype of all who are reborn, 2:15+ or else ( and this sense is to be preferred) as referring to the total Christ, i.e., the whole body, 1 Co. 12:12+; made of head, v. 15; 1:22; Col 1:18, and the rest of the body, v. 16; 5:30”.

The episode of Martha and Mary (called here as the Bethany Women) in the gospel narrative for this 16^th Sunday in Ordinary Time (Cycle C) recalls the episode of Abraham and Sarah during the apparition of the three angels at Mamre as narrated in today’s First Reading.

Martha complains to the Lord Jesus Christ about Mary not helping her out with the kitchen works, while Mary sits all the while at the feet of the Lord listening to his words. In the First Reading, Sarah is being portrayed as a woman who is busy with the food preparation at the kitchen, while Abraham all the while converses with his three visitors at the entrance of his tents, leaving Sarah with all the food preparation. When the time came for the three men to give rewards for the couple’s generosity and hospitality, Sarah, who remained hidden at the kitchen, received most of the good blessings from the visitors even if she did not even shown herself to the visitors.

This incident convinces us  that the fruit of serving the Lord by listening to his teachings can in like manner be benefited by those who are preparing food and busy with kitchen work or serving  at table also.