Homily for the Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

The One Thing Necessary: Reflections on Martha And Mary

Rev. Marcel Emeka Okwara, CSsR

Homily for the Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year C

Church of St. Bridget of Minneapolis, MN

Sunday, July 20, 2025

In recent times, many people, particularly women, have found the story of Martha and Mary to be disturbing. In their defense of Martha, they say that Jesus’s assessment of her was rather too harsh, too unfair, and very critical. As you can see, the story is brief. Yet, it evokes strong emotions and sparks debate among Christians. Over the centuries, it has been interpreted in various ways. Today, let us examine the three major ways preachers and scholars have interpreted it. 

The first is a traditional interpretation that associates this story with the active life and the contemplative life. Martha, who was busy in the kitchen preparing dinner and worried that her sister was not joining her, is symbolically seen as the active life. And she stands for all the people in the life of the Church who are actively involved in ministry. On the other hand, Mary, who sits quietly at the feet of Jesus listening, stands for the contemplative life. She represents all the clustered monks, nuns, scholars, and contemplatives who spend their lives in quietude, in prayer, and consideration of the things of God. So, when Jesus said “Mary has chosen the better part,” some people see it as Jesus’ validation of the contemplative life over the active life. Is Jesus really throwing more weight for the contemplative life over the active life?

In the spiritual order or hierarchy, listening comes first before acting. The basic principle in the Bible is that listening to God comes first. You cannot embark on God’s mission unless you first listen and understand what he wants you to do for him. Don’t get me wrong. Action is important. I am not denigrating the active life. Throughout his public ministry, Jesus was very active. Chronologically speaking, our relationship with God always begins with God taking the first step. God does the work of election. From the lips of Jesus, we hear, “It was not you who chose me, but I who chose you.” So, God always takes the first step. God always speaks first. It is after we have listened and understood exactly what God says that we start acting. If we act before listening to God’s word, there will be trouble. Check all the great figures in the Bible, and you will notice it all begins with listening— what is the Lord saying? Once we understand what God is saying, then we are ready to act in a way that is in harmony with God’s will. In the Bible, King David wanted to build a Temple for God. But after seeking counsel from Nathan, the prophet told him that’s not what God wanted. And to his great credit, David listened and did not build the Temple.

We are not a contemplative society. We are not a listening society. Today, we are driven by the spirit of Martha. We are busy doing a lot of things. Some people become sad and bored because they think they are not active. It is probably the reason why many in our culture defend Martha. We like busy people, people who accomplish a lot, who are stretched in different ways. Ask someone how they are doing, and the response they give you sometimes is about how busy they are. Again, don’t get me wrong. The active life is good, but it must proceed from contemplation. Our active life must flow from our prayer life. 

The second interpretation is a standard reading of the story, which is the problem of one and the many. Addressing Martha’s anxiousness, Jesus says, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There is a need for only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, and it will not be taken from her.” In Latin, we hear that Mary has chosen “Unum Necessarium,” that is, the one thing necessary. In the sixth Beatitude, Jesus said, “Blessed are the clean of heart, for they shall see God.” What does it mean to have a clean heart? It is to be a single-hearted person! According to the great Danish philosopher and theologian, Soren Kierkegaard, “The saint is someone whose life is about one thing,” centered on God. I tell you, once your entire life is focused on the one thing necessary, although you are busy, there will be order and harmony in your soul. In this story, the problem is not that Martha is busy and Mary is not. The problem is that Martha is anxious and worried about many things. She is lost in the “many of her life.” Mary, on the other hand, is anchored on “the One.” When you wake up in the morning and have many things to do, are you finally about one thing? If not, you have Martha’s problem. But if in the many activities of your life, you can say you are about one thing, that all you are going to do leads to the glory of God, that all of it is an attempt to follow the will of God, then you are in a very good spiritual place and space. You are in the space of Mary. 

The third interpretation of this passage is more contemporary. It is made by the great Anglican biblical scholar, N. T. Wright, in a conference paper titled, “Women’s Service in the Church: The Biblical Basis.” According to N. T. Wright, the story of Mary and Martha is a powerful illustration of the “new creation” ushered in by Jesus, where traditional roles are redefined and everyone is invited to sit at Jesus’ feet and learn from him. One of the principal marks of Jesus’ teaching and ministry is the overturning of social norms and conventions. For instance, Jesus eats and drinks with tax collectors and sinners, which was shocking to the people of his time. As a pure Jew, Jesus associates with Samaritans and speaks openly to them. He relates kindly to Roman soldiers, hated by the Jews. He touches those who were considered ritually and religiously unclean. He heals on a Sabbath day. He did all these in the service of what he called “the Kingdom of God,” which is God’s way of ordering things. The new creation that Jesus is ushering in, the way God wants things to be, involves the radical inclusion of women in Jesus’ inner circle, which was practically unheard of by any rabbi at that time. In the course of his public ministry, Jesus speaks alone to the woman at the Well, who, interestingly, was a Samaritan. At that time, a man would only talk to a woman publicly if he were in the company of other men. Jesus forgave the woman caught in adultery. He also allowed the woman with hemorrhages to touch him, etc. More to it, before the rehabilitation of Peter and others, who were the first to come to the tomb of Jesus? Women! Who were the first to see the risen Jesus? Women! Who did Jesus first entrust the good news of his resurrection to? Women! Women were the first evangelists of the Resurrection of Jesus. “Mary Magdalene and the others are the apostles to the apostles.” 

What is going on here? In all these events, Jesus is letting us know the radical inclusion of women in his inner circle. The reason we miss this point is that we are more interested in what we call “Jesus’ unfair assessment of Martha,” and we are so disconnected from the social conventions of Jesus’ time. Jesus is in the home of Lazarus, Mary, and Martha. Martha is in the space conventionally reserved for women. She was in the kitchen preparing a meal, doing what women at the time were expected to do. As women occupy the space reserved for them in the kitchen, men will sit down in the main room and talk. And if a prominent rabbi or Pharisee were present, men would sit at his feet and listen to his words. By the way, this posture does not imply a kind of dog-like devotion or slavishness. “To sit at the teacher’s feet is a way of saying you are being a student, picking up the teacher’s wisdom and learning,” to become a teacher, a rabbi yourself. It is the attitude of a disciple to sit and listen to the teacher. But this was exclusively reserved for men. Only men would do this. For N. T. Wright, Martha was bothered for being left to do all the work, but the real problem was that Mary had the guts to ignore one of the most basic social conventions. She was anxious that Mary had the gall to take up position in men’s space. She has flouted the norm. And when Martha invites Jesus to intervene, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving? Tell her to help me,” what does Jesus do? He declares that Mary is right to do so. She is right to sit at the Master’s feet, “adore, gaze in admiration and love at the wonderful teacher.” What does this mean? Jesus is inviting Mary and all women to full participation in discipleship. To Martha and all the men in the room, Jesus said, “Mary has chosen the better part, and it will not be taken from her.” 

Don’t forget, the one who wrote this story is Luke, who was a companion of Paul. The Gospel of Luke has many of Paul’s themes. In one of his letters, Paul said, “In Christ, there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free person, there is not male and female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus” (Galatians 3:28). When we read these words today, we agree with St. Paul and say, “Of course.” But in the first century, that was a radical thing to say. It was a problem and trouble-seeking comment to make. Those were the basic social divisions at the time. It was clearly understood at the time that free men were more fortunate than slaves; Jews had a greater spiritual advantage over the Greeks, and men were considered superior to women. But in his ministry and teaching, Jesus and Paul say, “not so fast.” It is no longer part of the world that God is ushering in. That was in the past. In the Kingdom that Jesus brings, we are simply brothers and sisters. Everybody, rich or poor, outsiders or insiders, men or women, is invited to discipleship. And the decision to honor this invitation is the most important decision you will ever make in your entire life. You are invited into intimacy with Jesus Christ. The most important and the greatest decision you will ever make in life is to follow him. 

God bless you!