PROPER 11, YEAR C

July 20, 2025

Saints Matthew and Mark, Barrington, R.I.

 

Genesis 18:1-4

Luke 10:38-42

 

Today’s readings highlight the theme of hospitality. In Genesis, we see Abraham and his wife Sarah preparing a meal for three mysterious visitors who stop by outside their tent at the oaks of Mamre—near the town of Hebron in today’s West Bank. In the Gospel reading from Saint Luke, Martha and her sister Mary graciously welcome Jesus and his disciples into their home as they arrive in their village during their travels.

 

By the way, the beautiful mosaic on the bulletin cover shows Abraham, Sarah, and the three visitors. In Jewish tradition, these three visitors are sometimes seen as angels. The Christian tradition takes it a step further by viewing them as a visible representation of the three Persons of the Holy Trinity: the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. As the story unfolds beyond today’s reading, one of the three visitors stays behind to talk with Abraham. The text explicitly names this visitor as “the Lord.” So, the traditional Christian interpretation might not be too far-fetched after all.

 

If this interpretation is accurate, it follows that the Jesus who visits Mary and Martha in the Gospel is the very same person as the second of the three mysterious visitors who appeared to Abraham and Sarah centuries earlier. In the Gospel, he’s the incarnate Son of God; in the Christian reading of the story in Genesis, he’s the Second Person of the Holy Trinity. So, the most profound connection between these two stories is that the same divine visitor appears in both. 

 

Both stories reveal intriguing similarities in their structure, beginning with the warm welcome given by the hosts. In each story, there are two hosts offering hospitality: on one hand, Abraham and Sarah; on the other, Martha and Mary.

 

In both cases, the hosts strive to make their guests feel at home. Abraham and Sarah lovingly prepare a meal of cakes, curds, milk, and a calf for their three visitors. Similarly, Saint Luke tells us that Martha is busy “with much serving,” preparing dinner not just for three but for thirteen—our Lord and his twelve disciples. These stories effectively emphasize the virtues of hospitality, which involves welcoming and caring for guests, whether they are friends or strangers.

 

In both stories, moreover, the visitors are not just passive recipients of the hospitality. They actively deliver a message or word to their hosts. In the case of Abraham and Sarah, this word takes the form of a promise of a miraculous birth of a son to a formerly childless couple well past childbearing years. In the case of Martha and Mary, Luke doesn’t tell us what Jesus is saying, only that Mary sits at the Lord’s feet and listens to his teaching. By doing so, she is fulfilling an essential part of Middle Eastern hospitality, which involves not only attending to the guests’ physical needs for food and drink but also giving personal attention to the guests themselves.

 

In both stories, one of the hosts voices an objection. In the verses immediately following today’s reading from Genesis, Sarah laughs to herself and scoffs at the ridiculous idea that, in her old age, she will still conceive and bear a son. And in the Gospel reading, Martha complains that the Lord doesn’t seem to care that her sister Mary has left her to serve dinner alone: “Tell her then to help me!” 

 

But in both cases, the objection is overruled. The Lord asks Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh? … Is anything too hard for the Lord? … I will return to you in the spring, and Sarah shall have a son.” Similarly, Jesus gently rebukes Martha with the words: “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.”

 

Ultimately, the core of both promises is the assurance of eternal life. Abraham and Sarah live in a time and culture that lacks any well-developed concept of a personal afterlife, so their only hope of living on after death is through their descendants. The Lord’s promise of a son, therefore, represents a promise of salvation and immortality.

 

Similarly, the Church has traditionally understood the Lord’s words, “Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her,” as pointing to the life of the world to come. In this understanding, Martha represents the active life of service and good works in this world, while Mary represents the contemplative life of prayer and adoration. Sitting at the Lord’s feet and imbibing his wisdom, Mary experiences a foretaste of heaven. And that is “the better part, which will not be taken away from her.”

 

But it would be wrong to conclude that the contemplative life is inherently superior to the active life. One key message of today’s readings is that welcoming guests and extending hospitality is entirely good, worthwhile, and praiseworthy. The author of the Letter to the Hebrews writes: “Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for thereby some have entertained angels unawares”—a clear reference to today’s Old Testament reading.

Martha’s problem is not that her work in the kitchen is less worthy than Mary’s sitting at the Lord’s feet, but rather that she’s “worried and distracted about many things.” This worry and distraction make her jealous and resentful. Many spiritual teachers in the Christian tradition have testified that even the most menial and mundane tasks, that might otherwise seem sheer drudgery, can become a form of prayer, as long as we keep our attention focused on the Lord and perform these tasks joyfully for His sake. Brother Lawrence wrote in his spiritual classic, The Practice of the Presence of God, of experiencing the highest levels of contemplative prayer while washing dishes, pots, and pans in the monastery kitchen.

 

Today’s readings remind us not to let worries and distractions prevent us from listening for the Lord’s voice, trusting His promises, and receiving His blessings. In a parish like ours, we have many opportunities for service. But the essential activity, that needs to stay at the center of everything, is what we’re doing together here and now: worshiping the Lord, listening to His Word, and receiving His gifts. Whether we kneel to pray, stand to sing, or sit to listen, we are choosing the better part, which will not be taken away from us.