16TH SUNDAY YEAR C

HOMILY 16TH SUNDAY YEAR C

Fr. Tom Ritchie

There are two stories that Luke tells in his Gospel that are found nowhere else. One is Jesus relating the parable of the Good Samaritan and the other is the story of Martha and Mary as we have in the Gospel today. Both of these stories are telling us how disciples of Jesus behave. In the Good Samaritan story we learn that we must be people of compassion like the Samaritan having pity even on our enemy. And in the story of Martha we are taken a step further. It is not enough to have care and compassion such as Martha has in caring for Jesus. We must go further and sit at the feet of Jesus and listen to his words.

But there is something else in both of these stories that was not only amazing for the Jews, it was deeply shocking and for most just unacceptable. It was unbelievable that the hero of the story of the Good Samaritan should be a hated Samaritan. An enemy has been given by Jesus as an example to be followed.

And what Jesus said to Martha and Mary was equally shocking. When Martha saw her sister sitting at the feet of Jesus she knew what it meant. Her sister was saying by her action: “I am a disciple of Jesus and I am here to listen to him, to learn from him”. Martha told Mary to go to the kitchen where her place was as a Jewish woman because only men could be disciples. In Jewish writings we can read that the rabbis said: ‘It is better to burn the Torah, the book of the law, than to teach it to a woman”. But Jesus told Martha that while she was busy about many things Mary had chosen the better part and it would not be taken away from her. Jesus did the shocking thing of approving that Mary should be a disciple of his. He accepted her as equal to a man with equal rights to be a disciple.

There was more than one message in the stories Jesus told and in what Jesus did and said. In the story of the Good Samaritan Jesus challenged the Jews to accept all races as equal and in his dealings with Martha and Mary Jesus challenged the Jews to accept women as equals with men. And these stories challenged the early Church and they challenge us. In the early church it is evident that women had many positions of responsibility. But as time went on the male dominated cultures prevailed and for most of two thousand years women have been forced into inferior positions in most cultures where Christianity existed. Today the challenge of Jesus is being heard and Pope Francis is reminding us in so many ways that we are to accept and welcome everyone of different cultures, of different beliefs, women and men, Gay people, atheists, everyone.

The Gospel of today challenges us all to sit at the feet of Jesus and learn from him – to be his disciples. And it reminds us to accept everyone as equals especially women and men. It is wonderful to see that there has been growth in our cultures and in the church but we still have a long way to go to fulfil the challenge Jesus has given us.