If I were to ask you or anyone to name some differences between the ancient patriarchal societies like that of Abraham and Jesus day and the modern patriarchal societies like that which exists now in Saudi Arabia....I'm sure I would get at least a few correct answers. So too, if I asked for similarities between the two. Today I want to focus for a moment on one of those similarities, that of education. In both instances it was in Abraham and Jesus' days and in Saudi Arabia and other places today exclusively for men and NOT for women. Perhaps in such societies, there was and is a fear that a formal education for women might lead them to get ideas and if they get ideas they might imagine changes and if they get themselves and others motivated, some changes might happen, and then the patriarchy might be threatened.
So we witness in today's first reading Abraham entertaining celestial visitors while Sarah stays in the kitchen cooking and kneading rolls. And it seems we witness something similar in today's Gospel, as we find Martha doing the cooking and other thing........ BUT WAIT A MINUTE, the other person in this account from Luke (which is unique to his Gospel) is not a male sitting at Jesus feet, listening to him as disciples of Jesus' day did with the Rabbi's they chose. It is instead a woman. It is the sister of Martha, Mary.
No wonder Jesus was in trouble with many in the religious establishment of his day. According to the details of this account, there's no mention of other disciples there, or Lazarus, Martha and Mary's brother there or any male present, another hard pill to swallow some who heard of this happening or read about it later.
And then there's Martha not just doing her thing, details of hospitality, but actually taking the initiative to address Jesus, something women weren't allowed to do...... and look at Jesus, not rebuking her for doing so, but teaching her as he was teaching this other.....dare I say disciple...Mary.
And Martha must have been an awfully good listener....because in another story, this one in John's Gospel, Martha addresses Jesus again as he arrived after her brother Lazarus had died, and in that conversation she makes a great statement of faith.....some would argue greater than Peter's at Caesarea Phillipi...as she says "I have come to believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of the living God, he who is to come into the world.
It's really not hard to conclude that both Martha and Mary developed ideas and they got their ideas from their time spent listening to Jesus, as male disciples of that time did....... and these two women weren't the only ones. There's Mary Magdalene (whose saint day is this Friday) and Suzanna and Joanna and other women that the Gospels tell us were following Jesus and providing for him. There were no doubt women in the large crowd of people who listened to Jesus and then were fed by him with the loaves and the fishes along with the men. Finally let's not forget the woman at the well, who encountered Jesus and invited others, including, no doubt women, to come hear Jesus.
What does all this mean for the history of Christianity. It means many disciples of Jesus male and female who have come to know him and serve him. THANKS BE TO GOD! It has led to male and female being declared doctors of the Church. It has led to women as spiritual writers and spiritual directors. It has led most recently to Pope Francis saying this: "It is in dialogue with God, enlightened by prayer that the Christian woman continually searches to answer the Lord's call in the reality of her situation. This is a prayer that is always supported by the maternal presence of Mary." And I'd like to include one more quote from Pope Francis, who admittedly, like Jesus, faces more than a few critics who don't like the tone of his comments about various subjects, including about women. I think it's good to hear this quote in light of today's Gospel. "The very way in which Jesus considered women, shines a powerful light on a long road still to be tread, a road upon which we have only taken a few steps." "This road" Francis said is to be traveled with creativity and audacity."
And lest anyone conclude from this homily that I am suggesting or promoting anything specific in regard to women in the Church or in society, I not only will provide my homily on our website or hard copies for anyone who wants, to read it, I will close this homily with a quote from a woman, a well known woman who will be canonized a saint on September 6 of this year, Mother Theresa. It was spoken by her as an answer someone posed about the Church having women priests. She said, and I quote: "I don't think our Lord has chosen a woman to be a priest, because nobody could have been a better priest than Our Lady, and she remained only the handmaid of the Lord."
So we witness in today's first reading Abraham entertaining celestial visitors while Sarah stays in the kitchen cooking and kneading rolls. And it seems we witness something similar in today's Gospel, as we find Martha doing the cooking and other thing........ BUT WAIT A MINUTE, the other person in this account from Luke (which is unique to his Gospel) is not a male sitting at Jesus feet, listening to him as disciples of Jesus' day did with the Rabbi's they chose. It is instead a woman. It is the sister of Martha, Mary.
No wonder Jesus was in trouble with many in the religious establishment of his day. According to the details of this account, there's no mention of other disciples there, or Lazarus, Martha and Mary's brother there or any male present, another hard pill to swallow some who heard of this happening or read about it later.
And then there's Martha not just doing her thing, details of hospitality, but actually taking the initiative to address Jesus, something women weren't allowed to do...... and look at Jesus, not rebuking her for doing so, but teaching her as he was teaching this other.....dare I say disciple...Mary.
And Martha must have been an awfully good listener....because in another story, this one in John's Gospel, Martha addresses Jesus again as he arrived after her brother Lazarus had died, and in that conversation she makes a great statement of faith.....some would argue greater than Peter's at Caesarea Phillipi...as she says "I have come to believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of the living God, he who is to come into the world.
It's really not hard to conclude that both Martha and Mary developed ideas and they got their ideas from their time spent listening to Jesus, as male disciples of that time did....... and these two women weren't the only ones. There's Mary Magdalene (whose saint day is this Friday) and Suzanna and Joanna and other women that the Gospels tell us were following Jesus and providing for him. There were no doubt women in the large crowd of people who listened to Jesus and then were fed by him with the loaves and the fishes along with the men. Finally let's not forget the woman at the well, who encountered Jesus and invited others, including, no doubt women, to come hear Jesus.
What does all this mean for the history of Christianity. It means many disciples of Jesus male and female who have come to know him and serve him. THANKS BE TO GOD! It has led to male and female being declared doctors of the Church. It has led to women as spiritual writers and spiritual directors. It has led most recently to Pope Francis saying this: "It is in dialogue with God, enlightened by prayer that the Christian woman continually searches to answer the Lord's call in the reality of her situation. This is a prayer that is always supported by the maternal presence of Mary." And I'd like to include one more quote from Pope Francis, who admittedly, like Jesus, faces more than a few critics who don't like the tone of his comments about various subjects, including about women. I think it's good to hear this quote in light of today's Gospel. "The very way in which Jesus considered women, shines a powerful light on a long road still to be tread, a road upon which we have only taken a few steps." "This road" Francis said is to be traveled with creativity and audacity."
And lest anyone conclude from this homily that I am suggesting or promoting anything specific in regard to women in the Church or in society, I not only will provide my homily on our website or hard copies for anyone who wants, to read it, I will close this homily with a quote from a woman, a well known woman who will be canonized a saint on September 6 of this year, Mother Theresa. It was spoken by her as an answer someone posed about the Church having women priests. She said, and I quote: "I don't think our Lord has chosen a woman to be a priest, because nobody could have been a better priest than Our Lady, and she remained only the handmaid of the Lord."