Augustine, Sermo 103 (De uerbis Euangelii Lucae, Martha and Mary)

SERMON CIII. On the words of the Gospel of Luke, And a certain woman named Martha received Him into her house, etc. Chap. X, vv. 38-42.

CHAPTER ONE. — 1. Unity is commended. The words of our Lord Jesus Christ, which have just now been read out from the Gospel, admonish us that there is some one thing towards which we are to strain, while we labour amid the multitude of this world. But we strain [towards it] still as pilgrims, not yet abiding; still on the way, not yet in the fatherland; still by desiring, not yet by enjoying. Nevertheless let us strain, and let us strain without sloth and without interruption, that we may at some time be able to arrive.

2. Christ deigns to offer Himself to be fed. Martha and Mary were two sisters, sisters both not only in the flesh but also in religion; both clung to the Lord, both served the Lord, present in the flesh, with one accord. Martha received Him, as strangers are wont to be received. Yet it was a handmaid who received her Lord, a sick woman her Saviour, a creature her Creator. And she who was to be fed by the Spirit received Him Who was to be fed in the flesh. For the Lord willed to take the form of a servant, and, the form of a servant having been taken, to be fed in it by servants: by condescension, not by condition. For this too was a condescension, to offer Himself to be fed. He had flesh, in which He would indeed hunger, and thirst: but do you not know that in the desert Angels ministered to Him when He hungered (Matt. 4:11)? Therefore, in that He willed to be fed, He bestowed [a favour] on the one who fed Him. And what wonder, if by way of holy Elijah also He bestowed [a favour] on the widow, [Elijah] whom He had earlier been feeding by the ministry of a raven (1 Kgs. 17:6)? Had He failed in feeding him, when He was sending him to the widow? By no means. He had not failed in feeding him, when He was sending him to the widow: but He was disposing to bless a devout widow, through the service shown to His servant. Thus then was the Lord received, as a guest, Who came unto His own, and His own received Him not: but as many as received Him, He gave them power to become sons of God (John 1:11); adopting servants, and making them brothers; redeeming captives, and making them co-heirs. Yet let none of you perhaps say: O blessed are they who were found worthy to receive Christ into their own house! Do not grieve, do not murmur that you were born in times when you no longer see the Lord in the flesh: He has not taken that condescension away from you. When you did it to one, He says, of the least of mine, you did it to me (Matt. 25:40).

CHAPTER II. — 3. Both the office of Martha and of Mary are good: yet Mary's is better. — These few things we have said, for the time, about the Lord Who is fed in the flesh, but feeds in the spirit: let us come to the matter which I proposed, about unity. Martha, disposing and preparing to feed the Lord, was occupied about much ministry: Mary her sister chose rather to be fed by the Lord. She left her sister, in a manner, labouring about much ministry, and sat herself at the Lord's feet, and, being at leisure, listened to His word. A most faithful ear had heard: Be at leisure, and see that I am the Lord (Ps. 45:11 [46:10]). The one was troubled, the other feasted: the one was arranging many things, the other was gazing on the one. Both offices are good: but which is better, what shall we say? We have one to ask; let us listen patiently. What is better, we already heard when it was read, and let us hear it again as I recall it. Martha appeals to her guest, she lays before the judge the petition of a devout complaint, that her sister had left her, and so had neglected to help her as she laboured in her ministry. Though Mary does not answer, yet, she being present, the Lord judges. Mary preferred to commit her case to the judge, as though at leisure, and did not wish to labour in answering. For if she were preparing a speech in answer, she would let go her attention to listening. The Lord therefore answered, He Who did not labour in the word, because He was the Word. What, then, did He say? Martha, Martha — the repetition of the name is a mark of affection, or perhaps of an attempt to move her attention, that she might listen more closely; she is called twice, Martha, Martha, listen: You are busy about many things, but one thing is needful: that is, one thing is necessary. Not one work, as though a single work: but it is needful, it is expedient, it is necessary; and Mary had chosen this one thing.

CHAPTER III. — 4. One thing is necessary. — Think of one thing, my brethren, and see whether, in that very multitude, anything gives delight, except one thing. See, by God's favour, how many you are: who could bear you, unless you savoured one thing? Whence comes that rest amid so many? Give one thing, and there is a people: take away one thing, and there is a mob. For what is a mob, but a multitude in tumult? But hear the Apostle: But I beseech you, brethren. He was speaking to a multitude: but he wished all to become one. But I beseech you, brethren, that you all say the same thing, and that there be no schisms among you; but that you be perfect in the same mind, and in the same knowledge (1 Cor. 1:10). And in another place: Of one accord, of one mind, [doing] nothing through contention, nor through vainglory (Phil. 2:2–3). And the Lord to the Father, concerning His own: That they may be one, as we also are one (John 17:22). And in the Acts of the Apostles: But of the multitude of believers there was one soul and one heart (Acts 4:32). Therefore magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together as one (Ps. 33:4 [34:3]). Because one thing is necessary, that one supernal thing, the one where the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit are one. See that unity is commended to us.

Surely our God is a Trinity. The Father is not the Son, the Son is not the Father, the Holy Spirit is neither the Father nor the Son, but the Spirit of both: and yet these three are not three gods, not three omnipotent beings, but one omnipotent God, the Trinity itself one God: because one thing is necessary. To this one thing nothing leads us, unless, though many, we have one heart.

CHAPTER IV. — 5. The good of Martha, her ministry: the better part of Mary. — Good are the ministries [rendered] to the poor, and above all the service owed to God's saints, and devout attentions. For these are repaid, not given, as the Apostle says: If we have sown spiritual things for you, is it a great thing if we reap your carnal things (1 Cor. 9:11)? These are good, we exhort you to them, and in the word of the Lord we build you up: do not be slothful in receiving the saints. At times some, not knowing [whom they received], in receiving those they did not know, received Angels (Heb. 13:2). These things are good: yet what Mary chose is better. For the one has occupation from necessity: the other has sweetness from charity. A man wishes to meet [the need] when he ministers; and sometimes he cannot: what is lacking is sought, what is at hand is made ready; the mind is stretched in different directions. For if Martha were sufficient for those tasks, she would not ask her sister's help. Many things there are, diverse things, because they are carnal, because they are temporal: even though they are good, they are transitory. But what did the Lord say to Martha? Mary has chosen the better part. Not that yours is bad, but hers is better. Hear in what way better: Which shall not be taken away from her. From you the burden of necessity will one day be taken away: the sweetness of truth is eternal. What she has chosen will not be taken away from her. It is not taken away, but it is nonetheless increased. In this life it is increased, in the other life it will be made perfect, and it will never be taken away.

CHAPTER V. — 6. Martha's ministry tends towards Mary's rest. — But you, Martha, by your leave be it said, blessed in a good ministry, for that labour of yours you seek a wage: rest. Now you are busied about much ministering; you wish to feed mortal bodies, though they be [the bodies] of saints. But when you have come to that fatherland, will you find a stranger, whom you may take in as a guest? will you find one hungry, for whom you may break bread? one thirsty, to whom you may hold out drink? one sick, whom you may visit? one quarrelling, whom you may reconcile? one dead, whom you may bury? All these things will not be there: but what will be there? What Mary chose: there we shall be fed, we shall not feed. Therefore what Mary chose here will be full and perfect there: from that rich table, from the word of the Lord, she was gathering crumbs. For do you wish to know what will be there? The Lord Himself says of His servants: Amen I say to you, that He will make them recline, and will pass by, and will minister to them (Luke 12:37). What is to recline, but to be at leisure? What is to recline, but to rest? What is, He will pass by, and will minister to them? First He passes, and so He ministers. But where? At that banquet above, of which He says: Amen I say to you, many shall come from the east and the west, and shall recline with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob in the kingdom of heaven (Matt. 8:11). There the Lord feeds us, but first He passes over from here. For, that you may know it, Pascha is interpreted Passing-over. The Lord came, did divine things, suffered human things.

Is He still spat upon? is He still buffeted? is He still crowned with thorns? is He still scourged? is He still crucified? is He still wounded with a lance? He has passed over. And indeed the Gospel too speaks thus, when He kept the Pasch with His disciples. What does the Gospel say? And when the hour was come, that Jesus should pass over from this world to the Father (John 13:1). He then passed over, that He may feed us: let us follow, that we may be fed.