Homily- Wed of the 17th Week of Ord Year
B/Memorial of Saint Martha- Fr. Udoekpo, M.
v Jer
15:10,16-21
v Ps
59:2-3,4,10-11,17,18
v John
11:19-27 Or Luke 10:38-42
Our Faith is in Christ, the Son of the Living
God!
“I have come to believe that you are the Christ, the Son
of God, the one who is coming into the world.” These are Martha’s, confession
of faith in Christ, whose (Martha) memorial we celebrate today. As a sister to
Mary and Lazarus whom Jesus raised from the dead, Martha was a welcoming person
and a very hard working woman, who cherishes her gifts of service and talents and
uses it for the benefit of the community.
In Luke 10:38-42, the alternate Gospel for today, we
learned she generously welcomed Christ to their home. While she was busy,
running around, perhaps cooking or preparing things to make Christ, the guest
comfortable, her complaint about her sister, Mary, a contemplative, whom she
noticed was welcoming the Lord differently, in her own way, as explained to her by
Christ.
The Martha of Luke
10 is that same Martha of John 11, who confesses that “she had come to believe
that Christ is the Son of the living God.’ This makes us believe that Martha, took Christ’s
words in Luke 10:38-42 to heart, that Mary, her sister had a gift and had
chosen her better part, which leads to faith as well.
In our faith communities, in the church we are gifted
differently. The foundation of our gifts and services to all, must be our faith
in Christ, in his resurrection, in the Son of the Living, God, the type of
faith expressed by Martha and other members of her family.
This also reminds us of the Prophet Jeremiah, a man of
great sympathy and empathy for his people, an intercessor, a mediator who has
been calling Israel to repentance these days( Jer 13:1-11), as well as appeal
to God not to forget his love and covenant with us, with Israel, his people,
Abraham’s seeds and descendants( Jer 14:17-22). Or, though, Jeremiah complaint
about his sufferings, rejections, pains, cursing the day he was born etc (Jer
15:10, 16-21), he never lost sight of faith in God at the end of the day.
In his days,
Jeremiah wasn’t the only prophets. There were others like, Habakkuk, Nahum, Zephaniah
and the rest of the 12(Hosea, Amos, Joel, Jonah, Obadiah, Micah, Haggai, Zechariah,
and Malachi) and Ezekiel. Or before him,
prophet like Isaiah of Jerusalem. Each of them came from different places, with
different talents and gifts. Common to them, like Martha and Mary, at the end
of the day was faith in God and the well-being of their community members.
As many as we are in the church in our various
communities (even here today at this worship) with different talents and gifts,
let us continue to appreciate one another.
Also as challenging as our individual and communal struggles these days
may be—in terms of the covid-19 and it ripples effects on our health, society
and economy, let us imitate Martha whose feast, faith and virtues we celebrate
today. Let us not lose sight of Christ the living God, who constantly watches
over us.
Reflection Questions
1.
We are gifted
differently. How do we use our gifts for the good of the community?
2.
Are you Martha, Mary,
or Jeremiah?
3.
What prevents us from
empathizing with members of our faith communities, in their pains and struggles?
