International Catholic Conference of
Guiding
Reconciliation - Luke 10, 38-42
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[Matthew 5-20-26][
Luke 10, 38-42][ Luke
11, 5-13][ Luke
11, 15-26]
[ Luke 11, 27-28][
Luke 17, 11-19][
Luke 11, 42-46][
Luke 11, 47-54]
Luke 10, 38-42
As Jesus and his disciples went on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha welcomed him in her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat down at the feet of the Lord and listened to his teaching. Martha was upset over all the work she had to do, so she came and said, « Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her to come and help me! »
The Lord answered her, « Martha, Martha! You are worried and troubled over so many things, but just one is needed. Mary has chosen the right thing, and it will not be taken away form her. »
| Meditation |
by Jean Debruynne |
How can we link the Gospel of today to the theme of reconciliation and peace?
Jesus is on his way, on the road, he is on the move and we too have decided here togo ahead. In order to start such process, we have to move, because reconciliation is to accept a change, a change of heart, a change in the way we look at things, a change in relationships. Jesus arrives to the village. Jesus doesn'twait for the village to come to him, it is he who goes to the village.
This also means that the process we
have decided to start will require an effort from each of us, will force us to
give up some of our ways of seeing, of saying, each of us will be asked to
accomplish an inner conversion.
We can already say, that at the end of this process we will not be the same
people as we were at the beginning.
When arriving to the village Jesus
is welcomed by Martha.
In fact Lazarus, Martha and Mary are old friends of Jesus, theyhave known each
other for a long time, and each time Jesus was in the area, he stayed with them.
The two sisters have two very
different attitudes.
Martha is very busy with all the preparations, the meals, the rooms, and during
this time Mary is in the sitting room, at the feet of Jesus, listening to his
words.
Let's disgress for a moment: the
sentence in the Gospel of St. Luke: « Mary who sat down at the feet of the
Lord » means something. It describes the attitude of a disciple. The one
who is seated at the feet of a master is a disciple. It means that Mary is a
disciple of Jesus. For Jesus, a woman can be a disciple. He invites women to be
disciples.
This is not Martha's task, and she is not happy about it and ask Jesus
« tell her to come and help me ».
We are confronted here precisely with the question of differences.
What Martha wishes for, is that everyone should be doing the same work, that
everyone should be together doing the same things.
And it is here, when refusing differences that often conflicts are born. What
Mary is doing was not recongnised at the time as being appropriate for a woman.
She had left the kitchen in order to become a disciple.
What Jesus grants Mary is the
capacity to assume a responsibility that for a woman is more important than the
one linked to pots and pans. And Jesus also recognizes that taking the
responsibility of being a disciple is not equivalent to doing nothing.
What this Gospel reveals is that there is not just one right way of beleiveng
of, existing, of living. It is very difficult to recognise the other as other.
One would like that the other should be the prolongation of oneself.
Jesus refuses to be the referee, he refuses to say to Mary « go and give a hand to your sister », he doesn't say to Marhta, that she should leave her pots and should come to listen to him. Jesus refuses to become a referee and resolve the conflict.
The real issue in reconciliation is
not to fo find out what should be done. The real issue is to be found in the way
things are expereinced, in real life.
One has always to go back to the essential question of the Gospel: what is the
meaning of it? What does it mean to be in the kitchen? What is the meaning of
listening to the word of Jesus? Both are not as contradictory as they seem.
Actually, Mary is the one who welcomes the word of Jesus, and Martha is the one
who welcomes Jesus.
The danger when conflicts arise, is
to act by comparison. But are we in tune with the message of the Gospel?
The way is not you and not me, it is the Gospel.
When Jesus says « Mary has chosen the right thing » and in the context of the period, when it was unimaginable that a woman could be a disciple, he gives her the right of listening to him and become a disciple of the word.
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