Martha and Mary are among the few early followers of Jesus whose names we know. That Christian tradition remembers Martha and Mary by name suggests their importance in the early Christian community. Tradition remembers many disciples only as anonymous members of groups and many others only by their affliction; for example, the woman bent over or the man with the withered hand.
In his gospel Luke names just 10 women and mentions 10 unnamed women as well as two groups of women — the women disciples from Galilee (8.2-3; 24.49,55-56; 24.1-10) and the women of Jerusalem (22.27).
Luke includes many more men in his narrative — 39 named men disciples, 40 unnamed men, and 27 groups of men, one the 5,000 men at the multiplication of the loaves. His gospel reflects the point of view of the community’s male leaders.
To be remembered by name makes people stand out. Perhaps tradition remembers Martha and Mary because their home was not only a place Jesus stayed during his lifetime but a house church, where after Jesus’ resurrection, Martha welcomed a community of disciples to remember his teaching and break bread as he asked. John’s gospel also remembers Martha for gathering Jesus, her brother, sister, and friends for a meal (John 12.1-2).
In Sunday’s gospel Mary seats herself at Jesus’ feet to listen to his teachings and Martha serves him. These two actions — listening to Jesus’ words and serving a meal — are the same actions that take place in the liturgy of the word and the liturgy of the eucharist at every parish Mass. Perhaps Martha and Mary represent two forms of ministries evolving in the Christian community at the time Luke wrote — preaching the good news and gathering the community to break bread.
Many women today value Sunday’s gospel because it is one of the few stories about women. However, sermons tend to erase the importance of Mary and Martha as named individuals and reduce them to types. Martha represents the active life, Mary the contemplative. Martha stands for doing, Mary for being. Martha represents works; Mary, faith.
- What roles do you imagine Martha and Mary play in this post-resurrection community?
- Describe sermons you have heard preached on this gospel. What have you valued in them?
- What has inspired or frustrated you in this gospel?
Luke sets Martha and Mary strangely against each other in Sunday’s short gospel scene. Rather than ask Mary directly to help, Martha asks Jesus to command Mary to help with the work of hospitality. Her request backfires. Instead Jesus chides her, “Martha, Martha,” for being too busy. He praises Mary for choosing the one thing necessary — hearing his word. In a positive interpretation, Jesus frees Martha from overburdening herself with service and hospitality — good news for contemporary supermoms.
However, a dangerous memory lurks in the silencing of Martha and the silent attention of Mary at Jesus’ feet. Although Jesus defends Mary’s right to be his disciple and learn at his feet as students do, she does not enter into dialog with her teacher. She never questions. She never speaks or preaches in this gospel. She models a passive, silent listening reminiscent of 1 Corinthians 14.34, which forbids women to speak in church.
The gospel characterizes Martha as distracted. The word suggests a woman too fussy about her house or too elaborate in her meals — a woman who hasn’t got her priorities straight.
What if we characterize Martha instead as interested and committed to many things and picture her trying to provide for those who gather at her house church, wanting to listen to Jesus teach, readying a meal that will include gathering the community and breaking bread.
- What if Martha is a pastor in this story, not a busy housewife?
Feminist bible scholar Elisabeth Schüssler Fiorenza suggests reading the conflict between Mary and Martha in the context of the conflict in Acts of the Apostles 6.1-6. In Acts, Greek-speaking widows complain they are not getting their fair amount of food.
The twelve call the whole Christian community in Jerusalem together and say, “It is not right that we neglect the word of God in order to wait tables.” They value the ministry of preaching over the ministry of serving the table. They then appoint seven men to serve the food daily to the community, creating the ministry of deacons. The word deacon means to serve. Interestingly, two of the first deacons — Stephen and Philip — quickly become preachers.
Luke’s gospel places Jesus’ visit to Martha and Mary during his historical ministry, A.D. 30. However, Martha addresses Jesus in the story not by name but by the post-resurrection title Lord. This detail reminds us that the community that first heard Luke’s narrative lived at least 50 years after Jesus’ death and resurrection.
The conflicts in the Martha and Mary story and in Acts suggest that official ministries are evolving in this community of the A.D. 80s. Seemingly, by the time Luke writes, the position of women in the Christian communities has become controversial.
Although Sunday’s gospel shows Martha offering table hospitality as Christians do at Eucharist and Mary listening to the Word, this scene effectively silences the ministries of both women. Jesus tells Martha to give up the ministry of her household, and perhaps her house church, and join her sister in preferring the better part — silent listening to Jesus.
Perhaps their ministries of word and table made Martha and Mary too memorable in the life of the early Christian community to forget. Perhaps they were so important that Luke uses the voice of Jesus’ authority to put them in their place, the same subordinate position women are transforming today.
- How do you participate in the Church’s ministries of word and table?
- Whom do you teach about Jesus?
- How do you help hold the community of faith together?
- What would happen if all the women in your parish withheld their service and leadership?
Should the Church ordain women as deacons as it did during its first eleven centuries? Pope Francis established a commission to study the question in 2016 that confirmed the past practice. Pope Francis appointed a second commission, currently studying the question. Many worry about opposition to such a change. What about you? Would you welcome permanent women deacons in the Church? In your parish? Search out Dr. Phyllis Vagano online or on YouTube to learn more. She was an American member of the first commission.