July 21, 2013 9th Sunday After Pentecost

Luke 10:38-42

   38 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. 40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!"
    41 "Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but only one thing is needed.[a] Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."


“As strange and distasteful to some as it may seem, the place of women is not first and foremost the kitchen or serving room, but the same place it is for men, sitting at the feet of Jesus and listening to his word.”
Karl Allen Kuhn,  New Proclamation, Year C 2010  p. 147

“Don’t Just Do Something - Listen!”

It is easy to pick on Martha and praise Mary.  The problem with Martha was not all her good work, but that she was too busy to experience the moment and savor the specialness of what was happening.  She was distracted.

This is how we miss God present in our lives - by being too busy.

“We...need to practice the ‘art of no agenda’ - to live in such a way that we begin to respond to the rhythms of life around us rather than control or initiate all of them.  We must, in prayer, seek to be open to and content with whatever the days brings.  We must allow ourselves to be ‘interrupted’ for God visits in interruptions.”
Other Side, July-Aug ‘92,p.11

Take time to listen for the still small voice of God.  Be quiet and sit at the feet of Jesus; take time to do nothing.

 ”The question that must guide all organizing activity in a parish (and in a family) is not how to keep people busy, but how to keep them from being so busy that they can no longer hear the voice of God who speaks in silence.”  Henri Nouwen, The Way Of The Heart, p. 47

 Martha was busy doing something;  Mary was busy listening to Jesus.
It is easy to get caught up in being busy and not have time to listen.

“It is impossible to overemphasize the immense need humans have to be really listened to, to be taken seriously, to be understood.”  Paul Tournier

Children need to be listened to; husbands and wives need to be listened too (by each other); we need to know that God listens to us.

One thing is needful:  to listen and be listened too.  For it is in so doing that we discover the mystery of another person and the meaning of our lives together with each other and with God.  Don’t just do something.  Listen...listen...listen!