Was Mary a better disciple than Martha?

July 20, 2025

The Martha and Mary story in today’s Gospel always seems to be a source of disagreement among many Catholics/Christians.  For some Mary is a woman in advance of her times, who chooses to set aside traditional gender roles to do what she feels called to do.  For others, Mary’s behaviour is quite unacceptable, and Jesus’ defence of her equally so, because laziness or irresponsibility is being disguised as devotion - like those who say they will pray for you but will not move a finger - even if they could - to help you.

But, as I said recently to one of those who wrote to me about how she felt that Jesus was being unnecessarily harsh with Peter when he called him Satan, it would seem that we tend to take the Gospels as historical accounts per se, whereas in actual fact they are primarily proclamations of the Gospel message, built around a historical kernel.  So the Gospel writer is not focused on talking about HOW Jesus ought to have spoken to Peter or Martha as that is NOT the point of the Gospel narrative.  The author is trying to present a teaching, a proclamation of the Gospel, and so, as the Catholic Church teaches, the “sacred authors  selected especially those items that were adapted to the various circumstances of the faithful, as well as to the end which they themselves had in view … one Evangelist setting them in one context, another in another…” (Sancta Ecclesia 1964). 

So while we do need to interpret the Gospel passages as they could apply to us today, our first job is to explore what the author intended, and we can be quite sure that the author of Luke’s Gospel was obviously not exploring issues of gender justice, which,  while an important issue for us today, was not an issue that they were concerned with at all.  This is something that we must be wary about, as we often tend to superimpose our current sensibilities on passages written within a different context and with different goals in mind.  I have seen examples of this in many instances as for instance when there are those who oppose women’s ordination by asking:  “Didn’t Jesus choose only men to be his apostles ?  Doesn’t that mean that only men can be priests?”   if we accept that logic, one could equally well  ask: Didn’t Jesus choose only Jews as his apostles and disciples, and so shouldn’t only those who have Jewish ancestry be allowed to be priests in the community of those who follow Jesus???  

So back to Mary and Martha. We do know from John’s Gospel that Jesus loved Martha  (John 11:5) and it is Martha who expresses her belief in the Resurrection and not her sister Mary (John 11:22-27).  So it is clear that in the early Church there was clearly no downplaying of the discipleship of Martha as compared to that of Mary.

So how do we interpret this snippet of Jesus’ interaction with Mary and Martha?  As I have said in many previous blogs, we must always look at the context.  Just before this story, Jesus has ended his Parable of the Good Samaritan  (Luke 10;25-37)  by telling the one who questioned him: “Go and DO likewise”.  In other words he is telling the person that loving the Lord your God etc. is not enough, as one has to ACTIVELY love one’s neighbour.  And immediately after that teaching, we have the story of Mary and Martha, in which we get the apparently opposite  teaching, that Mary who is just listening to Jesus and not DOING anything, has chosen the right thing. Did the author of Luke’s gospel juxtapose these two stories, one immediately after the other, to tell us that there are two types of discipleship - and each is good in their own way?  

The story of these two, Martha and Mary, remind me of the Hindu insight that there are four pathways or methods (Margs or Yogas) to God (see also: Blind Devotion or Questioning Faith: October 22, 2023)  First, there is the Jnana Marg/Yoga or the pathway that focuses on knowledge  in the  pilgrimage to God.  Then there is the Karma Marg/Yoga or the pathway of selfless and desireless service to others, (similar to Martha’s in today’s Gospel) by which a person finds God.  Third, there is the Bhakti Marg/Yoga, or Path of love and devotion  (similar to Mary’s in today’s Gospel) through which a person finds his/her way to God. And fourthly there is Raj Marg/Yoga, which uses internal processes (controlling the mind and senses) to find God within oneself.   Of course one could use a combination of these methods on one’s pilgrimage to God, but a lot will depend on one’s own pre-disposition.  

Furthermore, according to me, if any of these Margs/Pathways are taken to an extreme, then there are dangers that can derail one’s pilgrimage.  Thus the Jnana/knowledge path can become a sterile intellectual exploration which was expressed in the probably apocryphal description of theologians in the Middle Ages who reportedly spent hours discussing how many angels could possibly dance on the head of a needle.  The Bhakti/Devotional path of course can lead to complete superstition and blind belief in the magic of certain ways of praying/rituals etc.  The Karma/action marg can easily lead to a headlong pursuit of constantly doing things without any reflection on why or where one is going with such actions.  And of course the Raj/Internal exploration path can lead into a way of being so absorbed in oneself that one forgets Jesus’ essential duty to love one’s neighbour.

So while the story of Martha and Mary are not intended by Luke to consider one approach a better or higher one than the other, the fact is that the various interpretations of this passage down the ages has tended to give importance to one over the other.  So in the Middle ages, this passage was used to suggest that a contemplative life (spending one’s days in meditation and prayer) was a higher form of discipleship than the activist type of discipleship. And this led to the emergence of what we know today as the cloistered religious life, where men and women would retreat into silence and isolation to spend their entire lives praying, and never coming out of their abbeys/convents for life.  Today, when the church has realised and taught that action for justice is essential to being Christian  (Synod of justice, 1970) , this form of contemplative life is quite significantly on the wane. In any case, we all probably choose paths that we are more comfortable with, but whichever one we choose, it is also good to wander a little into the other pathways at times, for that might help us balance our own approach with whatever we learn from these other approaches.  After all the garden of God offers us many ways to enjoy the presence of God, - sometimes by just resting under a tree and meditating, or enjoying the fragrance of a bloom, or actively working on planting a plant or a tree, or even getting a sudden insight like Newton did when an apple falls on us.

First Reading: Genesis 18: 1-10a

The Lord appeared to Abraham by the oaks of Mamre, as he sat at the entrance of his tent in the heat of the day.  He looked up and saw three men standing near him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent entrance to meet them and bowed down to the ground.  He said, “My lord, if I find favor with you, do not pass by your servant.  Let a little water be brought, and wash your feet, and rest yourselves under the tree.  Let me bring a little bread, that you may refresh yourselves, and after that you may pass on—since you have come to your servant.” So they said, “Do as you have said.”  And Abraham hastened into the tent to Sarah and said, “Make ready quickly three measures of choice flour, knead it, and make cakes.”  Abraham ran to the herd and took a calf, tender and good, and gave it to the servant, who hastened to prepare it.  Then he took curds and milk and the calf that he had prepared and set it before them, and he stood by them under the tree while they ate.

They said to him, “Where is your wife Sarah?” And he said, “There, in the tent.”  Then one said, “I will surely return to you in due season, and your wife Sarah shall have a son.”

Second Reading: Colossians 1: 24-28

I am now rejoicing in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am completing what is lacking in Christ’s afflictions for the sake of his body, that is, the church.  I became its minister according to God’s commission that was given to me for you, to make the word of God fully known,  the mystery that has been hidden throughout the ages and generations but has now been revealed to his saints.  To them God chose to make known how great among the gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory.  It is he whom we proclaim, warning everyone and teaching everyone in all wisdom, so that we may present everyone mature in Christ.

Gospel: Luke 10: 38-42

Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village where a woman named Martha welcomed him. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at Jesus’s feet and listened to what he was saying.  But Martha was distracted by her many tasks, so she came to him and asked, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her, then, to help me.”  But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things,  but few things are needed—indeed only one. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.”