Dear Friends,
Like
many of you, I have been in and out of many hotels, inns and conference centers
over the years. In every place I’ve stayed, the staff made a point of seeing to
my comfort. I know this because they have told me so. Hospitality is a
commodity that can be bought. We simply don’t go back to a city, hotel or
restaurant that has not been hospitable. When we talk about our trips or
experiences away, we often tell stories of hospitality offered to us.
But
hospitality is more than an industry or an impulsive kindness to strangers –
although it is certainly that.
Abraham
and his wife Sara in today’s first reading, practiced hospitality toward
whatever strangers passed by their tent. In this instance, the
strangers were messengers from God who left them with the remarkable news that
Sara would bear a son, Sara was well beyond childbearing years, but it was true
– and a blessing for all generations to come.
Today’s Gospel
is also a story of hospitality. Martha offered Jesus traditional hospitality at
the table. Mary offered hospitality to Christ’s message. Most of the
interpretations you and I grew up with pitted Martha against Mary. Who did the
more important thing? This divisive reading of the story tells the reader there
are winners and losers with Jesus.
But Jesus does
not chide Martha for her activity but for her anxiety. Anxious people cannot be
open and Jesus knows this. In naming Martha’s anxiety, Jesus releases her from
it. In the only other story where Martha figures strongly, it is she not Mary
who goes out to meet Jesus on the road near Lazarus’ tomb. It is she – Martha –
who names Jesus for who he is – the Messiah, the Son of God. Martha has
embraced a new discipleship: a new way of thinking and being. We learn from
Martha in this incident that hospitality means that not only is the door open.
But the heart is open and the mind is open.
The late Dutch psychologist/theologian
Henri Nouwen says:” Hospitality is the core of the Christian life.”
Think about the
ways neighboring countries to the north
and west welcome Ukrainian refugees from the war with Russia. Hospices welcome
the dying so that they may live out their days in a blessed place. Think of
children adopted into households where love awaits them.
It’s true that
prudence holds up a caution sign when the stranger or even a family member at
the door masks the demonic. But prudence does not destroy the need to extend
hospitality widely.
Once we become
clear that hospitality – openness to the other – in the name of God – is core
to our lives, then we can also recognize that we are guests in God’s world,
bound to one another by the mystery of God’s own hospitality to us.
May the sharing
of hospitality make a profound mark in our lives this summer.
~ Sister Joan Sobala
