Patrick Comerford
We are in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar and today is the Fifth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity V, 20 July 2025). Later this morning, I hope to present at the Parish Eucharist in Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church, Stony Stratford.
Before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:
1, reading today’s Gospel reading;
2, a short reflection;
3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;
4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.
Luke 10: 38-42 (NRSVA):
38 Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. 39 She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying. 40 But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, ‘Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.’ 41 But the Lord answered her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; 42 there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.’
Christ in the House of Martha and Mary by Diego Velázquez (1630)Today’s Reflection:
Saint Luke’s story of the meal that Jesus has with his friends Mary and Martha is not found in the other synoptic gospels, and the only other parallel is in the Fourth Gospel, where Jesus visits Mary and Martha after the death of Lazarus.
So the meals Jesus has with Mary and Martha must be understood in the light of the Resurrection, which is prefigured by the raising of Lazarus from the dead.
For many women, and for many men too, the story of the meal with Martha and Mary raises many problems, often created by insights that may not have been possible to have at the time when Saint Luke’s Gospel was written.
Our approach to understanding and explaining this meal very often depends on the way in which I understand Martha and the busy round of activities that have her distracted, and that cause her to complain to Jesus about her sister’s apparent lack of zeal and activity.
These activities in the Greek are described as Martha’s service – she is the deacon at the table: where the NRSV says ‘But Martha was distracted by her many tasks,’ the Greek says: ἡ δὲ Μάρθα περιεσπᾶτο περὶ πολλὴν διακονίαν (‘But Martha was being distracted by much diaconal work, service at the table’).
Quite often, when this story is told, over and over, again and again, it is told as if Martha is getting stroppy about having to empty the dishwasher while Mary is lazing, sitting around, making small talk with Jesus.
Does Martha see that Mary should only engage in kitchen work too?
Does she think, perhaps, that only Lazarus should be out at the front of the house, keeping Jesus engaged in lads’ banter about the latest league match between Bethany United and Jerusalem City?
Is Jesus being too dismissive of Martha’s complaints?
Or is he defending Mary’s right to engage in a full discussion of the Word, to engage in an alive ministry of the Word?
Martha is presented in this story as the dominant, leading figure. It is she who takes the initiative and who welcomes Jesus into her home (verse 38); it is she who offers the hospitality, who is the host at the meal, who is the head of the household – in fact, Lazarus isn’t even on the stage for this scene, and Mary is merely ‘her sister’ – very much the junior partner in the household.
Yet it is Mary, the figure on the margins, who offers the sort of hospitality that Jesus commends and praises.
Mary simply listens to Jesus, sitting at his feet, like a student would sit at the feet of a great rabbi or teacher, waiting and willing to learn what is being taught.
Martha is upset about this, and comes out from the back and asks Jesus to pack off Mary to the kitchen where she can help Martha.
But perhaps Martha was being too busy with her household tasks.
I was once invited to dinner by people I knew as good friends. And for a long time I was left on my own with the other guest as the couple busied themselves with things in the kitchen – they had decided to do the washing up before bringing out the coffee … the wife knew that if she left the washing up until later, the husband would shirk his share of the task.
But being left on our own was a little embarrassing. Part of the joy of being invited to someone’s home for dinner is the conversation around the table.
When I have been on retreats, at times, in Greek Orthodox and Benedictine monasteries, conversation at the table has been discouraged by a monk reading, usually from the writings of the Early Fathers, from the Patristic writings.
A good meal, good table fellowship, good hospitality, are not just about the food that is served, but about the ideas and words shared, heard and listened to around the table too.
One commentator suggests that Martha has gone overboard in her duties of hospitality. She has spent too much time preparing the food, and has failed to pay real attention to her guest.
On the other hand, Mary has chosen her activity (verse 42). It does not just happen by accident. Mary has chosen to offer Jesus the real hospitality that a guest should receive. She talks to Jesus, and real conversation is about both talking and listening.
If she is sent back into the kitchen, then – in the absence of Lazarus, indeed, in the notable absence of the disciples – Jesus would be left without hospitality, without words of welcome, without conversation.
Perhaps Martha might have been better off if she had a more simple lifestyle, if she prepared just one dish for her guest and for her family – might I be bold enough to suggest, if she had been content for them to sup on bread and wine alone.
She could have joined Mary in her hospitality, in welcoming Jesus to their home and to their table; they could have been in full communion with one another.
In this way, Martha will experience what her sister is experiencing, but which she is too busy to notice – their visitor’s invitation into the hospitality of God.
One commentator, Brendan Byrne, points out the subtle point being made in this story:
‘Frenetic service, even service of the Lord, can be a deceptive distraction from what the Lord really wants. Luke has already warned that the grasp of the word can be choked by the cares and worries of life … Here the cares and worries seem well justified – are they not in the service of the Lord? But precisely therein lies the power of the temptation, the great deceit. True hospitality – even that given directly to the Lord – attends to what the guest really wants.’
Today’s Prayers (Sunday 20 July 2025, Trinity V):
The theme this week (20 to 26 July) in Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), is ‘Diversity in Sarawak’ (pp 20-21). This theme is introduced today with these reflections:
The Revd Canon Prof Patrick Comerford – Former Professor of Theology and retired parish priest in the Diocese of Limerick and Killaloe, Church of Ireland. Following five weeks travelling throughout the Diocese of Kuching in East Malaysia, Canon Patrick writes:
“Sarawak, on the island of Borneo, is the largest of the 13 states in Malaysia, spanning 48,000 square miles and about 3 million people. The Anglican presence on Borneo dates from 1848, when Thomas McDougall arrived in Kuching at the invitation of the Rajah of Sarawak. The chancel of Saint Thomas’s Cathedral, Kuching, was built by SPG (USPG) to mark more than 100 years of links between the diocese and SPG. A plaque above the lectern reads: ‘Borneo Mission Association, 1909-2015, For its memorial look around you.’
During my stay, I worshipped regularly in Saint Thomas’s Cathedral but also went on a whirlwind tour of various churches and chapels, mission stations and schools, throughout the Malaysian state of Sarawak. I was led by Father Jeffry, who leads churches in the mission area of Mambong. He was a most genial host. It was a privilege to see his ministry and mission, in urban and rural settings. Sarawak is a richly diverse place with Indigenous people groups, including the Iban and Bidayuh, making up almost half the population.
It was good for me to see at first-hand that the legacy of SPG and USPG’s work in the past has led to a truly incarnational local diocese. Sarawak is in a unique position to become a model for interfaith harmony and dialogue and for cultural and ethnic diversity and co-operation,” Patrick concluded.
The USPG prayer diary today (Sunday 20 July 2025, Trinity V) invites us to pray:
Lord God, we pray for the Church of the Province of southeast Asia, the Diocese of Kuching, and for the ministry and mission of the bishops, including the Right Revd Danald Jute, Bishop of Kuching and Brunei since 2017.
The Collect:
Almighty and everlasting God,
by whose Spirit the whole body of the Church
is governed and sanctified:
hear our prayer which we offer for all your faithful people,
that in their vocation and ministry
they may serve you in holiness and truth
to the glory of your name;
through our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
The Post-Communion Prayer:
Grant, O Lord, we beseech you,
that the course of this world may be so peaceably ordered
by your governance,
that your Church may joyfully serve you in all godly quietness;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Additional Collect:
Almighty God,
send down upon your Church
the riches of your Spirit,
and kindle in all who minister the gospel
your countless gifts of grace;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Yesterday’s reflections
Continued tomorrow
Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org
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