Mary The Queen Parish--Philippines

We are called to worship and service

Jesus was passing through a village on his way to Jerusalem. He stopped by the house of his good friends, Lazarus, Martha and Mary for a rest and probably to say good-bye because he knew that he would not be leaving Jerusalem alive.

Martha, having Jesus in her house, decided that she would treat Jesus and his disciples in a royal way. She calls to her sister Mary to help, but Mary decides to sit down for a moment at Jesus’ feet and listen to him.

Mary becomes so engrossed with Jesus’ words, she forgets all about helping her sister. So her sister has to work even harder. She becomes more and more upset and goes to Jesus and tells him that he should tell Mary to get up and get to work, helping her. But Jesus, sensing that Martha was so engrossed in her own idea that he needed a good meal, instead told Martha that Mary was doing right at that moment.

This story follows the parable of the Good Samaritan and together these two events in Jesus’ life give the Christian an example of how one should live one’s life.

Jesus is showing us very clearly the balance that is needed in one’s life of faith, the balance between worship and service. A balance between doing and listening. Jesus is pointing out very clearly that it is the responsibility for each of us to decide in each situation what we should do.

Last week it would not have been very appropriate for the Samaritan, upon seeing that man who had been robbed and beaten, to say first “I shall pray about this matter, then, I will act.” No. An act of worship was not needed at that moment, but Christian service, love and compassion were needed at that moment.

In Martha’s case, she decided that service was more important than worship, or listening or prayer. She did not understand the situation. Jesus did not need that much Christian service from Martha. What he needed, what he wanted was someone to listen to him, to pay heed, to share with him in the suffering that was going to come in Jerusalem.

We are caught in that same situation. The question we need to ask ourselves is, What must I do? What is needed in this situation? Is it service, or is it worship? There is a connection between being able to serve and worship.

Worship gives us the courage, the confidence, the conviction to be able to serve. During the worship we listen to the words of Jesus, we feel his presence, we become stronger in our own faith so that we might be able to share that faith with others.

We are called by this story of Mary and Martha to be both a worshiper and a server. We are called to commit ourselves again to a truly worshipful life that will be reflected in our service. Worship is more than a habit. It is an act of commitment. It is a conscious decision on our part to be in the presence of Jesus where we might be restored, made new, recreated for a life of service. But sadly, worship is seen by many as something to do, as an obligation to be fulfilled under pain of sin.

That is why on Sundays many Catholics stay outside the church and chat on their cell phones or with their friends while the Mass is going on. The lesson that we should carry home with us today is that as Christians, we are all called to be a worshipful people who serve in a world of brokenness.