Reading 1 Gn 18:1-10a
The LORD appeared to Abraham by the terebinth of Mamre,
as he sat in the entrance of his tent,
while the day was growing hot.
Looking up, Abraham saw three men standing nearby.
When he saw them, he ran from the entrance of the tent to greet them;
and bowing to the ground, he said:
“Sir, if I may ask you this favor,
please do not go on past your servant.
Let some water be brought, that you may bathe your feet,
and then rest yourselves under the tree.
Now that you have come this close to your servant,
let me bring you a little food, that you may refresh yourselves;
and afterward you may go on your way.”
The men replied, “Very well, do as you have said.”
Abraham hastened into the tent and told Sarah,
“Quick, three measures of fine flour! Knead it and make rolls.”
He ran to the herd, picked out a tender, choice steer,
and gave it to a servant, who quickly prepared it.
Then Abraham got some curds and milk,
as well as the steer that had been prepared,
and set these before the three men;
and he waited on them under the tree while they ate.
They asked Abraham, “Where is your wife Sarah?”
He replied, “There in the tent.”
One of them said, “I will surely return to you about this time next year,
and Sarah will then have a son.”
Reading 2 Col 1:24-28
Brothers and sisters:
Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake,
and in my flesh I am filling up
what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ
on behalf of his body, which is the church,
of which I am a minister
in accordance with God’s stewardship given to me
to bring to completion for you the word of God,
the mystery hidden from ages and from generations past.
But now it has been manifested to his holy ones,
to whom God chose to make known the riches of the glory
of this mystery among the Gentiles;
it is Christ in you, the hope for glory.
It is he whom we proclaim,
admonishing everyone and teaching everyone with all wisdom,
that we may present everyone perfect in Christ.
Gospel Lk 10:38-42
Jesus entered a village
where a woman whose name was Martha welcomed him.
She had a sister named Mary
who sat beside the Lord at his feet listening to him speak.
Martha, burdened with much serving, came to him and said,
“Lord, do you not care
that my sister has left me by myself to do the serving?
Tell her to help me.”
The Lord said to her in reply,
“Martha, Martha, you are anxious and worried about many things.
There is need of only one thing.
Mary has chosen the better part
and it will not be taken from her.”
There are three important facts in life that I want to call our attention to:
- In life, there will always be something wrong at every point. When we are happy because of something, something somewhere is also not as we want it to be. So there will always be something for us to worry about.
- There can never be an end to our needs. Whenever we achieve one, another need arises, we are in constant want. We are bound to want more and endlessly. This is another cause of worry.
- Our happiness does not ultimately rest in what we have, what we gain, gather or possess. Very soon we get used to what we have and are excited about and gradually it loses its initial attraction and then the search for happiness continues.
Understanding these three facts is a step towards inner peace and happiness. Let us see the implications of these facts against the readings of today.
Abraham had great wealth, he could buy anything money could buy but he had no child.
Message 1:
You can’t have everything in life.
Even when Abraham had a child, other problems came in. Consequently, we should learn to focus more and be grateful for what we have than what we do not have or what we have lost. We can never have all we want in this life.
Message 2:
God does not want us to be gloomy, heartbroken and aggressive because of what we lack. Abraham was childless but yet very warm and happy, kind and hospitable. His kindness, warmth and hospitality to strangers gained him the blessing he desired most at the moment.
Our needs and problems should not absolutely determine our character. Some men are aggressive when they are broke, some women have lost their godliness provoked by difficult in-laws, some bosses are hot-tempered and grumpy because of the problems in their private homes.
Some of us have lost our “sweetness” and become who we really are not because of the problems in our lives.
Sometimes we lose opportunities of blessings because we are too unhappy and uninspired to be good or kind to others.
St Paul says in the second reading, it makes me happy to suffer for you. In other words, I am suffering but I am happy. If we want to be happy and kind only when things are right, we may have more moments of sadness than joy.
Message 3: Choose your worries
Jesus told Martha in today’s gospel, ‘you worry and fret about so many things and yet few are needed…’ (μεριμνᾷς καὶ θορυβάζῃ – merimnas kai thorybazē).
That sounds more like Jesus is talking to us. Life will always give us enough to worry and fret about but faith and wisdom will help us to choose our worries. Life tells us to worry about the future, our children, grandchildren, job, finance, health, relationship, even our past, everything, we even manufacture problems, create fears and invent imaginary troubles.
Jesus is saying to me and perhaps to someone today, why go through all these worries when only these few things are needed and ultimately one:
- How to build and sustain a good relationship with God.
This is not about what we are doing for God (functionalism) and who we are before God.
- How best we can bless, help and inspire others while we have the time.
ULTIMATELY
- Our eternal salvation i.e. the eternal destiny of our souls should be our principal concern. Unfortunately, this is what we often think less about.
I leave you today with Matthew 6:33: “But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you” and Mark 8:36: “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?”
Sermon preached by Rev. Fr. Emmanuel Okami on July 21, 2019.