Robert Barron - Are You Anxious and Worried About Many Things?
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Peace be with you, friends, on this 16th Sunday of Ordinary Time. Our Gospel is the ever- popular Martha and Mary Gospel. I say «ever-popular» with a tongue -in- cheek tone because, in my years of preaching, it’s one that tends to bother people a lot. I’ve heard more and more criticisms: «I don’t know what’s going on there, Father, explain that to me.» So we’ll get to Martha and Mary, but I want to focus first on Reading Number One, which is truly extraordinary from the Book of Genesis. It’s part of the cycle of stories about Abraham, and it’s really weird. It’s a weird story, and it has intrigued the tradition, both theological and artistic. In fact, one of the great icons of the Trinity is based on this scene.
And here’s how it opens: The Lord appeared to Abraham by the terebinth of Mamre. So Abraham is there; it’s a hot day by this tree, and he’s in a tent. It is said clearly that the Lord appeared to him. So God is making an appearance. Now, often in the Old Testament, God’s presence is mediated by the angelic. But now, listen: So he’s sitting at the entrance to his tent; the day is growing hot. Looking up, Abraham saw three men standing nearby. When he saw them, he ran from the entrance of the tent to greet them. And bowing to the ground, he said, «Sir, if I may ask you this favor, let me wait on you.»
All right, there’s a lot going on here in this strange little story. So we’ve been told already that the Lord’s appearing. How interesting that He appears in the form of three men or three angels! Huh, why three? Well, the Christian mind right away is intrigued by this, that God is somehow a play of three in one. Looking up, he sees them, and then he runs to greet them. Now, this is in some ways the key to the whole story. When God appears to you, you don’t sit around. You don’t wait till tomorrow. You don’t put it off because there’s something more important. No, you run. See, when the Lord is coming into your life, you don’t mess around. You don’t compromise. You run to the Lord.
But then, see, this is what I find so intriguing: He runs, he greets them, he bows. So again, this is an acknowledgment of the divinity of what’s appearing to him-bowing to the ground. That’s the attitude of worship. Okay, but this is what I find really interesting: He says, «Sir, if I may ask you this favor.» Why is he addressing three people, right? Why doesn’t he just say, «Sir»? There’s a weird play here of plurality: the three and the one, because we’re told the Lord appeared. So that’s the one God, but He appears in terms of these three men whom Abraham worships, so that’s appropriate to God. But then Abraham refers to them as «sir"-as one. Huh. Do you see now why the tradition saw in the scene something kind of weirdly interesting about the triune quality of God?
But then Abraham ran, he bowed, and then boy does he get going! He’s ordering his servants: «Let the water be brought. You may bathe your feet. Then rest yourselves under the tree. Now that you’ve come this close to your servant, let me bring you a little food. You may refresh yourselves. Afterwards, you may go on your way. Let me be of complete service to you.» That’s what he’s saying.
Now Abraham is a prominent figure. He’s a patriarchal figure. It was indeed part of ancient, you know, Middle Eastern hospitality to be kind to visitors that come upon you because in that desert culture, it was often a matter of life and death. Someone just, you know, comes upon you. They might have been wandering for days, and they need food and drink. So that’s understandable on a surface level. But the really interesting thing is the deeper level. If we are talking about a theophany here, a manifestation of God, what we’re seeing in all the moves and gestures of Abraham is the right attitude. Go, don’t delay!
Oh man, for our culture today, so secularized and about God, well, you know, I guess if that’s your thing. No, no, if you’re talking about God, you move, you act, and then you worship. That’s the right attitude. You don’t say, «Oh, God is, you know, one interest I have among many. Oh yeah, I like baseball, I like politics, I like, you know, my family, and I like God.» No, no, no, no. The right attitude toward God is worship and then radical service. Abraham is saying basically, «Look, my life is about You now. I mean, I’m not here to serve myself, make myself comfortable. No, my life is all about You.»
Speed, reverence, radical service. Does that make sense? Fellow believers, do a little searching moral inventory of your own spiritual life and you say, «Oh yeah, I believe in God. Oh yeah, God is so important to me.» Are all these moves on display in your life? Do you act, you move when the Lord has come near? You worship Him faithfully and regularly? «Oh yeah, God’s so important to me. When was the last time you went to mass?» «Oh, you know, 10 years ago.» Then you’re not taking God seriously.
«Oh God is the center of my life.» Well, how often do you serve God? Can you show me exactly how you’re giving your life to God? «Oh well, you know, I don’t really have time for all that.» Then you’re not serving God. Take Abraham here in the presence of these three men, angels, whatever you want to call them, as emblematic of the way we ought to be relating to God. All right, now the church gives us this reading as a kind of propedeutic to reading the familiar Martha-Mary story, and I think it does provide the right interpretive framework for this, again, controversial story. So we hear Jesus enters a village where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him. She had a sister named Mary who sat beside the Lord at his feet, listening to him speak.
Now right away, Abraham sees the Lord and he gets to it. He is completely devoted, dedicated. Well, that’s the attitude of Mary in this story. That’s what we’re meant to see: the Lord has come, Jesus! What do you do when Jesus presents himself to you? Well, you don’t mess around. You don’t say, «Well, I’ll get around to it. Well, let me take care of, you know, X, Y, and Z.» No, no, no. She’s about one thing. She’s focused on the Lord. Right? Then we hear Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said, «Lord, don’t you care? My sister’s left me by myself to do the serving. Tell her to help me!»
Now here’s the point where lots of people sympathize with Martha. «Hey, I get it. There’s Mary just, you know, she’s kind of horsing around there, and I’ve got this whole party to prepare, and I’ve got food, and I’ve got hospitality, and here I’m trying to do my job, and she’s… Come on, Lord! Tell her to help me!» Now listen to the Lord’s response. The Lord said to her, to Martha, in reply, «Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things. There’s need of only one thing. Mary’s chosen the better part, and it will not be taken from her.» Okay, can I tell you what I think this story does not mean? And especially with our first reading in mind, it doesn’t mean, «Oh, the contemplative life is better than the active life.»
You know, Mary stands for prayer and stands for liturgy and all this, and Martha stands for this kind of busy, active life, and the contemplative life is clearly superior to the active life. Now I know that interpretation has been given up and down the centuries. I don’t think that’s what it’s about. One of the signs is Abraham in that first reading, man, he’s fussing around with lots of hospitality, fetching water and preparing the meal, and he’s like Martha, isn’t he? He’s very involved in hospitality. So you say, «Okay, well, what’s at stake here? What is the issue?» Listen again to the Lord: «Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things.» All right, this is life, right? We can all identify with her.
Right now, as I record these words, I’m thinking about the day ahead of me, which has a lot to do with the governance of this diocese of Winona-Rochester. I’m thinking about a trip I have to make. I’m thinking about preparations I have to do for talks. I’m thinking about this meeting I have in Washington in about 10 days. Um, yeah, I’m anxious and upset right now about a lot of different things. Well, that’s life. The problem is when we become monomaniacally focused on all the little things that are preoccupying us. We’re split. We’re divided. We’re worried about this and that.
I’ve talked to you about the monkey mind, right? That leaps from branch to branch; there’s kind of a version of that. I’m worried and anxious about many things. Mary has chosen, and I’ve always loved the Latin of this, the unum necessarium. That means the one thing necessary. What’s that? God and the love of God. When God comes into your life, God makes Himself present. That’s what your whole life is about. Your whole attention should be focused on God. God, listen now, cannot become one of the many things that you’re worried about.
See, that’s a metaphysical mistake. If I say I’m worried about this, about that, about this person, that person, about this thing, this trip, and so on, and I’m worried about God, what have I done? I’ve made God into some being in the world. So, one of my many preoccupations, God, we say with Thomas Aquinas, is the sheer act of being itself. That’s to say that which creatively undergirds and gives rise to all of reality. He’s not one concern among many. God is the unum necessarium, the one thing necessary.
Now watch, when I am completely focused on God in this intense way, I’ve not left behind the many things. Rather, I place the many things in their proper context and framework. Martha is the splintered soul, the splintered self, and she’s flitting from flower to flower and from worry to worry, anxious and upset about many things. Mary has chosen the unum necessarium. So now she’s in a position to handle the many things. See, I’m not playing one off the other like that’s good, that’s bad. No. As Augustine said, love God and then love everything else for the sake of God.
Now you’ve got it. Now you’ve got it. Now you’ve brought Martha and Mary together. Love God, unum necessarium. God appears. You run. You worship. You serve. God is the one thing necessary. And in that very move, now all the many things I’m concerned about find their proper place. Look, we’re all sinners. And so what happens to us is, oh, I’m so worried about this, I’m so worried about that.
Now, now I’m worried about this. Oh yeah, and there’s that coming. And before I know it, I’m a basket case of nerves because wherever I look, there’s something to concern me. How about I’m focused on the unum necessarium? Okay? Only in God is my soul at rest. There’s the interior castle. There’s the place of peace. And from that serenity of soul, I can now find the right attitude toward all the many things that preoccupy me. I think that’s a way to read Martha and Mary together in light of Abraham, right? He’s fussing around with lots of activity, but all of it is grounded in his complete focus on God and the things of God. And God bless you.