| July 22, 2001 Genesis 18: 1-10 + Colossians 1:24-28 + Luke 10:38-42 |
| The Old Testament reading today will not let us escape what we find in the Gospel. a story of hospitality. What we discover today in this part of the Journey to Jerusalem however is not just a lesson in hospitality, but another dimension of Discipleship.The lesson comes not just from word, but also from example.The stories of Jesus feeding crowds abound in the Gospel. His mandate to the apostles to: “Feed them yourselves” comes off the page into the face of those who always think someone else will or should take care of the hungry. The response of Jesus to the needs of those who came to him is never just “spiritual” He raises a dead girl, and tells the parents. “Give her something to eat.”All through the Old Testament, God is the Divine host who feeds and sustains those who wander the wilderness.Once in their promised land, they always remained sojourners and passing guests there in God’s eyes.Their prayer and their feasts celebrated the Table God had set before them. |
| In Jesus, Israel’s divine host became incarnate, and the Old Testament quality of hospitality was seen in the images he used for the reign of God as a banquet and in the way he himself was found at dinners, feasts, and banquets with sinners, pharisees, and folks like Martha and Mary. Yet, while Martha and Mary may seem to the host, it is, in the end, Jesus who feeds them with his presence and his word. |
| Disciples of Jesus, poor, joyful, merciful, and hospitable never forget that they are perpetual guests of a loving and divine host.As guests, our possessiveness and proprietary attitude toward this world’s goods and resources are kept in check.As disciples we are clear in our minds and hearts that it is the Word of God that really provides nourishment for us, and a life devoted to hear that word is first of all concerns.In some ways, Martha and Mary might be seen as one person – the person who received Jesus Christ.There is a balance proposed here: between doing and being, and the disciple knows the difference. |
| In an age and culture of work that glorifies the workaholic, and rewards with high praise (and low wages) those who revel in 60 and 70 hour work weeks, there is a serious challenge deep in this storyWork becomes an idol because it can produce the much sought after prizes or comfort, pleasure, and success.In the meantime, relationships disintegrate, not just the relationship with God, but between parents and children, but between spouses and neighbors as well. |
| An call to integration of work and play, or of act10n and prayer, is what disciples of Jesus hear in this Gospel walking with Jesus to Jerusalem.Having just told the story of Mercy in the Good Samaritan parable, he quickly reminds us that this discipleship is not all about doing, it is also about being. In this case, being hospitable, being good guests, and gracious hosts in spirit of Abraham and the style of Jesus. |