In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, one God, Amen.
I convince myself, dear brothers and sisters in Christ, of the meaning of today’s Gospel reading: it is better to sit at the feet of the Lord and learn from him than to serve food to others; ours, I tell myself, is a mystical religion, an esoteric religion, where the mere physical needs of others is secondary and what is mental, what is spiritual, is what counts. And in this opinion I have many on my side: Plato for one, along with many Gnostics, who back up my claim.
“And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being.” (Genesis 2:7) And this man, this creature made of earth, inspired—literally breathed into—by the Spirit of God, is presented first as a hungry being: he is set in Paradise and the Lord commands him saying, “Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat.” (Genesis 2:16–17)
And I turn back to my assumptions and realise they cannot be true: I must change, I must repent. Our Faith is incarnate, our Faith is practical, our Faith is truly human. For we remember the teaching of the Apostle James,
If a brother or sister is naked and destitute of daily food, and one of you says to them, “Depart in peace, be warmed and filled,” but you do not give them the things which are needed for the body, what does it profit?
James 2:15–16
So Martha was doing a good thing, serving others; “But,” the evangelist tells us, “Martha was distracted.” She allowed the serving to pull her away from her guests. Serving others—an important task, a vital task—was the means by which she was becoming detached from the Lord. And we can do the same. I serve someone, I do a good thing for them, but it becomes all about my own ego: “Look at me,” I call out, if only in my head, “I am being virtuous, I am doing a good thing.” And my service to others becomes a means by which I puff myself up rather than by which I meet the needs of the person before me.
“Martha, Martha,” the Lord speaks directly to her, “you are anxious and troubled about many things.” The Lord does not criticise her actions but points to the better way, the more perfect way, “one thing is needful. Mary has chosen the good portion, which shall not be taken away from her.” Martha needs to lay aside the cares of this life—not the service to others but the anxiety and troubles she has attached to it—lay them all aside that she may receive the King of All.
And in like manner the Lord speaks to you and he speaks to me. We may rejoice in doing good while still examining our motives, that we may love one another not for our own benefit but for the sake of the other. “A new commandment I give to you,” says the Lord, “that you love one another; as I have loved you,” which is to say without expecting anything in return, without the hope of personal gain, without expectation of any reward, laying aside our own anxieties and troubles, and in this way we truly may “also love one another.” (John 13:34)
My dear brothers and sisters in Christ, ours is a Faith of service to others while remaining rooted and secure at the feet of the Lord, of service to others without letting that serving get in the way of relating to them, of service to others without expecting reward. And if we do so, we will be truly disciples of the Lord, united to his death and so united to his resurrection, and heirs of his Kingdom and eternal life.
To our incarnate, crucified and risen Saviour Jesus Christ, who has shown us the way of perfect service, be all glory, honour and worship, together with his unoriginate Father and the All-holy, Good and Life-giving Spirit. Amen.
Brethren, the first covenant had regulations for worship and an earthly sanctuary. For a tent was prepared, the outer one, in which were the lampstand and the table and the bread of the Presence; it is called the Holy Place. Behind the second curtain stood a tent called the Holy of Holies, having the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered on all sides with gold, which contained a golden urn holding the manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant; above it were the cherubim of glory overshadowing the mercy seat. Of these things we cannot now speak in detail. These preparations having thus been made, the priests go continually into the outer tent, performing their ritual duties; but into the second only the high priest goes, and he but once a year, and not without taking blood which he offers for himself and for the errors of the people.
— Hebrews 9:1–7
At that time, Jesus entered a village; and a woman called Martha received him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving; and she went to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve you alone? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things; one thing is needful. Mary has chosen the good portion, which shall not be taken away from her.” As he said this, a woman in the crowd raised her voice and said to him, “Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts that you sucked!” But he said, “Blessed rather are those who hear the word of God and keep it!”
— Luke 10:38–42, 11:27–28