By Rev. Joanne Davies
“Take God and receive all that I have and possess, because in surrendering all to you, it will be purified and made whole and be mine in the best possible way because you and I will share what is rightfully precious to me.
You have given all to me. To you O God, I return it. All is yours. Dispose of it wholly according to your will. Give me only the grace to love you and to love all else in you, and that is enough for me.” From the Suscipe prayer expanded by Brian O McDermott SJ, Martina O’Shea and Barton Geger SJ
We need to receive in order to serve.
Christ has love for us and faith in us. Grace continues to redeem us throughout the journey of our life and empowers us to begin again when we falter. Grace is God eternally giving God away, for nothing except the giving itself. An invitation. Grace is life energy we sometimes need to learn to receive.
We need to receive in order to serve.
In our first reading, from Genesis, we see receiving and serving happening simultaneously, and loving promises of beginning again.
God shows up in the form of three travelers – who stand nearby, receive food, and speak a quiet but life-changing promise. A moment of hospitality in a desert tent. God comes near, in three almost ordinary figures. Without knowing who they are, Abraham runs to greet them, bows before them, and invites them into his tent. He offers water, food, and rest. His whole body, his household, and his home are involved in the act of welcome. He welcomes without knowing, responding with generosity and care, before any divine identity is revealed. This is not hospitality based on certainty or obligation, but a radical act of openness, exposure, and mutual vulnerability. Abraham risks comfort, security, and social boundaries to receive the unknown other – and it is this vulnerability that becomes the space for divine encounter. Here we see Faith is filled with the courage to remain open to more than we can imagine or understand. The hope God gives does not come despite our frailty – it comes through it. God’s promise to Sarah is spoke into a place of vulnerability.
God arrives waiting to be received. He does not arrive like thunder but waits to be welcomed. God sits. God eats. God speaks gently. This posture of God reveals the kind of relationship God desires. The relationship is based not on control of the unaware, but on receiving and giving of hospitality, awareness, openness, and the presence of someone feeling loved by God.
We see in the incarnation of Christ, someone who came not to domination but in humility; not in force of obedience – but in relationship to the sharing of an obedient loving response.
So what do we make of Martha…and Jesus interaction with her?
Full disclosure I have an abiding spiritual devotion and connection to Martha, just as I do to Miriam in the Hebrew Scriptures. The older sister, left to take charge, and who turns and faces God with her issues. Through contemplation and prayerful imagination, I have found they both teach me about love, relationship, and learning. About change and coming to know what is possible in the depths of my spirit where God knows me. And always about receiving love in order to serve. And giving of all the love I have that is me, in order to serve God wholly.
Neither Martha, nor Miriam, are a Mary of Bethany, who is soulfully deep in wonder, love and praise and unable to be distracted by the world around her. Or the work around her. She knows only Jesus, and the spiritual experience she has. She is prayer-filled loving and quiet. A listener. Martha is frustrated, wanting to make everything delightful and good for her friend Jesus’ visit. She also has the added issue of sibling frustration. Jesus knows all about Martha, he has a best friend relationship with her, as well as a wise companion relationship. So when she complains to him about the situation, he does not mince words. “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things, but few things are needed – indeed only one. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.”
There are many times in my life where I have felt Jesus telling me, not so much that I was distracted but to slow down and be… and not worry about that next thing. I am sure that will keep happening – in fact I count on it – that I receive all my fragility as beloved. This feeling and my eventual learning to listen has gifted me and grown my heart to know surrender. What is the better part? First Jesus will not have Mary reprimanded for being present to him, for listening and giving her complete attention. Second I truly think he wants Martha to slow down, enjoy the meal with her friend and share rest time. The work will eventually get done. Like an invitation into a God bubble.
The problem was not that Martha was serving and working and that this is somehow worse than sitting at Jesus’ feet. It is about being distracted and annoyed. Martha was focussed on the fact that her sister wasn’t helping. Rather than delighting in what she brings to her own deep relationship with Jesus, Martha was turned elsewhere from his presence. Jesus reveals himself fully to her with love, offering a gentle rebuke. Mary has chosen only God as her portion, and that will never be taken away. Let her be.
We can do right and good things but still be distracted by the wrong things. We can focus on rushing to the next thing, making everything perfect, laud work over rest and gather lists of the shortcomings of those around us instead of focussing on our own relationship with Jesus. But we can change as we accept the invitation and receive and serve.
In our faith relationship we can give and take within love and obedience though the navigation of both the contemplation and active of one thing… The seeking of God in our lives. Sometimes we slay dragons, and sometimes we recede into the quiet. At all times we can pray, ‘Give us only the grace to love you and to love all else in you.’ I know the same of Martha…for whom tradition says, in the later years, she stayed daily occupied in prayers and fasting while also being a dragon slayer, saving many.
…….further legend relates that Martha then went to Tarascon, France, where a monster, the Tarasque, was a constant threat to the population. The Golden Legend describes it as a beast from Galicia; a great dragon, half beast and half fish, greater than an ox, longer than an horse, having teeth sharp as a sword, and horned on either side, head like a lion, tail like a serpent, that dwelt in a certain wood between Arles and Avignon. Holding a cross in her hand, Martha sprinkled the beast with holy water. Placing her sash around its neck, she led the tamed dragon through the village.
There Martha lived, daily occupied in prayers and in fastings. Martha eventually died in Tarascon, where she was buried. Her tomb is located in the crypt of the local Collegiate Church.”
With thanks to workingpreacher.org and emilydeardo.com
