The Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time – July 20, 2025
We don’t know if Jesus’s arrival at Martha’s house was planned or an impromptu visit. Regardless, having a house guest always causes a disruption. We can choose to ignore them, or we can be good hosts, rearranging and even putting aside our daily tasks to attend to our guests.
We share our food, space, time, and resources to make sure they are comfortable. We open our lives to them, with our joys and worries, and we welcome and receive theirs.
Mary and Martha teach us how to respond when our lives are disrupted by God’s presence in the stranger on the road or friend dropping by.
Instead of pitting Martha against Mary, let us affirm that both were doing the work of discipleship. Both were hearers of the word and doers. Both offered hospitality by opening home, hands, ears, and heart to the Word. At times, disciples need to be ready to work behind the scenes in those jobs that don’t get much notice or praise; at other times, they need to sit still and simply listen. But at all times, we must strive to do that which is necessary for Jesus’s mission without anxiety or resentment, arrogance or superiority.
Both Mary and Martha teach us how to respond when our lives are disrupted by God’s presence in the stranger on the road or friend dropping by. Whether convenient or inconvenient, bidden or not bidden, God is present in our midst if we welcome God in.
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