Today the disciples who accompany Jesus have
disappeared from the scene. Jesus is alone with two women in their home in the
small village of Bethany. They adopt two different attitudes at his arrival. As
the homemaker, Martha, who is undoubtedly the elder sister, welcomes Jesus and
puts herself wholly at his service.
It is normal. According to
the mentality of the time, doing housework is exclusively the woman’s
task. But then the younger sister
Mary sits besides Jesus at his feet in order to listen to his Word. Her attitude is surprising since she is
occupying the place belonging to a “disciple,” something restricted to men. At
one point, Martha, overtasked and exhausted, feels abandoned by her sister and
misunderstood by Jesus: “Lord, do
you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving? Tell her to help me.” Why does he not order her sister to
devote herself to tasks appropriate for women and quit occupying the place
reserved for male disciples? Jesus’ reply is important. “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.” Jesus does not
criticize at any time Martha’s attitude of service, an essential duty of every
follower of Jesus, yet he invites her not to let herself be absorbed in her
work to the point of losing her peace.
And he gives the reminder that listening to his Word has to be everyone’s
priority, the women’s as well, and not some kind of a male privilege. It is
urgent today to understand and organize the Christian community as the place
where attention is given, first and foremost, to the welcoming of the Gospel in
the midst of the secular and pluralistic society of our day. There is nothing more important. Nothing more necessary. We have to learn to gather together,
men and women, believers and less than believers, in order to listen to and
share together the words of Jesus. This listening to the Gospel can be today
the “stem” from which is regenerated the tissue of our Church in crisis. If the
simple people know first hand the Gospel of Jesus, enjoy it and demand it of
the hierarchy, it will draw us all toward Jesus • AE
