Luke 10:38-42, 16th Sunday in Ordinary Time

My happy barkada of four religious and three lay people had dinner two months ago. Over dessert, our host started naming friends he considered mabait. “Itong si x, mabait na tao, ano? Parang si y, ang bait din.” We all agreed wit his list. We even threw in a name or two. As we went on, I noticed: a common characteristic in people we regarded as mabait was not just kindness but also meekness. I mean, did you notice this, sisters and brothers? When we think of mabait na tao, they’re not only kind, they’re also maamo, mahinahon, marahan. So, I asked: lahat ba ng mabait, maamo? Dapat ba meek ka para masabing mabait ka? Hindi ka ba mabait kung palaban ka, malakas ang personalidad mo, take-charge, what-you-see-is-what-you-get?

Whenever today’s Gospel story comes around, we often give Mary more credit than Martha, don’t we? If we even give Martha any at all. After all, Jesus himself said Mary chose the better part. Mary was mabait, maamo. Seated at Jesus’ feet, she drank in his every word, his every move. Martha? Palaban! Strong personality, nasa kusina, busy. But I get her. The more hands in the kitchen, the sooner they could eat, and the more time she and sister Mary could spend seated at Jesus’ feet. Martha and Mary were after the same thing. But that meal wasn’t going to cook itself. Someone had to do the work. Someone like Martha…who was palaban, malakas ang personalidad, take-charge, what-you-see-is-what-you-get.

And you know, sisters and brothers, our Church needs disciples like Martha. They might not fall on our list of mabait. But Christian Faith has grown far and wide thanks to disciples sitting at Jesus’ feet, yes, and disciples up on their feet, unsettling the dust, shuffling around to get the Lord’s work done. Yes, blessed are the meek for they will inherit the earth. But blessed are those who hunger and thirst for justice on that same earth, who speak out and protest, who demand and push for what is right and just. Sabihin nang hindi maamo si Martha. Pero hindi ibig sabihing hindi siya mabuti. Neither is she any less of a disciple than Mary. She was after the same thing Mary was! So, God bless the Martha’s of this world! May not be maamo, but still mabubuting tao.

No doubt, Mary was being a good disciple. She contemplated Jesus. She pondered him. She had no speaking parts. Tumahimik siya at pinagmasdan lang niya ang Panginoon, pinakinggan, pinakiramdaman. Para na rin siyang nanalangin, ‘di ba?

By the way, sisters and brothers, quiet contemplation is already prayer in itself—during which we silence our formula prayers, put down our rosaries,and stop doing all the talking. In contemplation, we gaze and listen, we feel and even smell the kind of person Jesus is as we read and remember him based on the Gospels. Contemplating is a sign of loving, did you notice? Not only have we done stuff for people we love, we’ve also quietly contemplated them. Our parents gazed in wonder at us while we slept when we were young. Lolo and lola marvelled quietly as they saw us play. You and I have watched our beloved eat. We’ve memorized their footfalls. We remember their scent. I remember just looking at mom while she dispensed medicine to customers in her botica. A thousand times, I had watched dad cook tirelessly for us in the kitchen. In both cases, I also contemplated how my life would’ve calamitously fallen apart if I lost either of them. Mary showed that loving is not just doing. Loving is contemplating, too, pondering. So, we hope the saying is true, that we become whom we contemplate especially when we contemplate the Lord.

Sisters and brothers, I have a question. Might we be slowly losing our capacity to contemplate? I mean, can you and I, or our children especially, can we still gaze at a sunset, for example, without taking 500 selfies? When we’re having tender moments with someone we love, can we still commit those moments to precious memory? Or must we shoot one more darn video? Can we just listen to leaves rustle when the wind blows, to crickets chirp at night, to waves break on the shore without cranking up Spotify? Kaming mga pari, nakakapagdasal pa rin ba kami na nakatanod lang sa krusipiho, an hour each day when we shut up for a change and let Jesus do the talking? Sisters and brothers, do we still ever say, “Thank God, peace and quiet. All is well”? Or do we instead go, “Wait. It’s too quiet. Something’s wrong”? Most importantly, do we still contemplate people we love? But how can we these days, if as soon as we’re together, our phones still rule, and we’re doom-scrolling? How deeply can we still love and serve the Lord and each other when we can no longer contemplate the more significant-than-ourselves?

So, on account of Martha: it’s not just the meek, the mabait, the maamo who make for mabuting tao and good disciples. The palaban, the feisty, the doers, they also play a crucial role in God’s Kingdom. On account of Mary: contemplating Jesus is a real expression of love and service. It is a prayer in itself. The attendant problem today is: how do we preserve the value of quiet contemplation when we’re hyper-wired, videophilic, and silence averse?

Sister and brothers, whether we consider ourselves as Martha’s or Mary’s, or both, an important thing to remember is that Martha & Mary did what they did for the Lord. It was never all about themselves. They did not compete for Jesus’ praise, pander for his attention, manipulate for his love. Pareho silang mabuting disipulo dahil pareho silang selfless. And this is a compliment to Martha and Mary while a gentle reminder and caution for us. Mabuhay ang mga maamo. Mabuhay rin ang mga palaban. Because Jesus of Nazareth was both.

*image from the Internet