Scripture Scribbles: July 20, 2025
the Gospel
Luke 10:38-42
Jesus entered 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.
Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said,
"Lord, do you not care
that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving?
Tell her to help me."
The Lord said to her in reply,
"Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things.
There is need of only one thing.
Mary has chosen the better part
and it will not be taken from her."
the scribble
How often do we have guests? How hospitable are we?
Today’s gospel reminds us that preparing for and serving our guests is a good thing. However, God wants us to look at the bigger picture. The main reason we’re having guests is because they want to be with us, isn’t it? By this, I mean they want to spend quality time with us by sharing meals, exchanging stories, updating one another about minor or major changes in one’s life, going somewhere together, and the like.
When we have visitors, I don’t think these people expect us to slave away in order to make them feel “welcome”. Mary felt that it’s more important to sit beside the Lord at his feet and listen to him speak. Mary most likely didn’t do anything else other than staying with the Lord for the most part. In the gospel, this girl acted like the perfect hostess because she was able to do the most important thing in Jesus’ eyes: she was there for Christ.
Martha, on the other hand, busied herself with serving their visitor. How many of us are Martha? How many of us are anxious about so many things when we’re expecting people to come over and when they’re already at our house?
Sure, keeping our place spic and span, cooking delicious dishes, serving hearty meals, and cleaning up afterwards are the common things that hosts do. However, if we do all these tasks, can we still have time to actually sit down, stop whatever we’re doing, and be with our guests completely, without multi-tasking?
Can we accommodate our visiting family or friends, without back and forth trips to the kitchen or thoughts on whether or not the turkey was cooked perfectly? Trust me, our visitors want to be with us, more than all the things we can provide for them during their stay. May we never, ever, lose sight of the essence of being a host.
Church time is indeed similar to hosting, only this time, Jesus is the host. During the liturgy, I’m certain that the Lord is always with us. The only question here is, are WE really present during the mass? And I mean no wandering from one thought to another.
Because for the Lord, being there is enough. It’s the role that nobody can take away from us, should we decide to take it. Being there means being present both in mind and spirit, specifically, when our visitors are talking. Like Mary, I hope we can truthfully be “present” for Christ. Because only then we can make Him feel incredibly “welcome”.
Today’s devotion was written by Edwina Yu
