Fr. JC Maximilian

(The above picture of a stain glass window of Jesus, Mary and Martha, was taken by stainedglassphotography.com )

Is Jesus Christ the one Savior, the one Way, Truth and Life? Is He the one Lord of life and history? I certainly hope that all of you gave a resounding “yes” to both of those questions for He is our Lord and Savior; the Way, the Truth and the Life. With this being the case, then there is “only one” thing that is truly needed for a fulfilling, meaningful, and fruitful life, and that is to stay as close as possible to Jesus at all times.

Friendship with Jesus is the one thing needed to fill the deepest desires of our hearts. Yet, what is friendship? St. Augustine once commented, “I know what time is but if someone asks me to explain it, I no longer know what it is.” It is similar with friendship; it is often easier to intuit what friendship is than it is to explain it in words. The ancient philosophers described friendship as “one soul in two bodies.” St. Thomas Aquinas speaks of friendship as the love that wills the good of the other, a love of community, of treating one’s friend as oneself. At the heart of friendship is a common search for the Good and the True, and as the Book of Sirach says, “A faithful friend is a strong support; whoever finds one has found a treasure” (Sirach 6:14ff).

Today’s Gospel reading about Martha and Mary is often seen as examples of the active and contemplative life, or when considered with today’s first reading, to highlight the importance of hospitality. While both of these are very important lessons, I think that the readings are also meant to teach us about friendship, particularly friendship with Christ.

Jesus praises Mary because she has “chosen the better part.” More important than what we can do for Jesus is what we can BE for him, and what He can be for us. Remember, Jesus said that He did not come into the world to be served but to serve. By listening to Jesus, Mary was letting Him serve her, by being His close and intimate friend. That is “the better part.”

Martha was also a friend of Jesus; the Gospel of John makes it very clear that Jesus considered Martha, Mary and Lazarus very close friends, whom He loved much. However, Martha, in this episode, had a divided heart. She loves Christ Jesus, but she still depends on her own strength to earn His love in return. But there is nothing we can do to EARN God’s love; it is a grace freely given by God. Martha has not (at least not yet) learned that what matters is not what we can do for Jesus, but what He has done and wants to do for us. Jesus teaches Martha that the greatest thing she can do for him, the “one thing needed,” is to let Him rule completely over her heart; to take her place at His feet and listen to His words.

Mary made that choice. This is an important point; Mary CHOSE the “better part.” She chooses to submit to the Lord, to let Him be what He is for everyone – the one thing needed. Likewise, our task on earth is to also make a conscious choice for Christ Jesus. We need to choose to keep Christ first, to live FROM His love, and FOR His love, and then to shape our lives accordingly. Jesus offers us His Holy Spirit to be the one soul in many bodies. We need to choose to be a friend of Jesus.

St. Polycarp of Smyrna was a friend of Jesus. St. Polycarp was one of the early martyrs in the Church. In the middle part of the 2nd Century, during one of the waves of persecution against the Church, St. Polycarp was arrested and tried before the local governor. He was an old man, much revered as a bishop. The governor ordered him to renounce his faith in Christ Jesus. St. Polycarp answered, “I have served Christ for 86 years, and He never did me any harm, but much good; and how can I blaspheme my King and my Savior? Hear my free confession: I am a Christian.” As a result of his profession of faith, St. Polycarp was sentenced to be burned alive. However the flames failed to harm him. Many people witnessed how the flames encircled him by did him no harm. Finally one of the guards killed him with a thrust of a spear. From the pieced heart of St. Polycarp a dove flew out, a sign that Christ’s Spirit was in him. Out of his friendship with Christ, St. Polycarp helped to fill up, “what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of His body, the Church,” as we heard St. Paul say in today’s second reading.

The “better part” that we should all strive to seek out is to keep Christ Jesus first in our lives. Our highest priority should be keeping His friendship, and following His will should be our greatest desire. It will not always be easy to do. After listening to the Lord’s words, while sitting at His feet we have to go off and live them out. We must live according to the Lord’s standards, which are very different than those of the world around us. It means that when everyone else is cheating or “cooking the books” we must be honest. When others are gossiping and criticizing, we must always speak well of others. Being a friend of Jesus means governing our desires for pleasure when everyone else is just giving in to what they want and what feels good. It means staying faithful to our duties and relationships, always giving our best at home, at school, and at work, even when we get tired and when no one notices.

Most of all it means doing all things because we love Christ Jesus and we have chosen to follow Him. It is the grace of His friendship that strengthens us to follow His instructions. It is the grace of His friendship that makes following them worthwhile, and it is the grace of that friendship that will fill our hearts with the wisdom and joy that, as Jesus promised Mary, “will not be taken from us.” [Inspired by “Your Homily for the Sixteenth Sunday of Ordinary Time (C),” ePriest.com, 2007]