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When Boudreaux and Clotilde were first married, Boudreaux laid down the law. “I’m the MAN of the house! Starting tomorrow, I want you to have a hot, delicious meal ready for me the minute I walk through that door. Then, while I’m watching ESPN and relaxing in my lazy boy, you’ll bring me my slippers and then run my bath. And when I’m done with my bath, guess who’s going to dress me and comb my hair?”

Said Clotilde, “The funeral director.”

From our Gospel reading, it would seem that Mary has taken a few plays from Boudreaux’s play book. Sit and chat while Martha does all the work, which leads Martha to complain to Jesus, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.” Yet, Jesus’ response indicates that he does not view Mary’s inaction as laziness: “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.”

Based on this response, we could say that Jesus is making a point about active and contemplative ministry. Martha, running around could point to the busy Christian, always taking part in various ministries, but never stopping to sit at the feet of Jesus, like Mary, who represents the contemplative Christian. That is one who sees the work of the Christian person residing in prayer and time with God. But, if we all sat around navel gazing, nothing would get done; and if we all ran about all the time, we would never really engage God in the work of the soul. So, if our Gospel is not about Mary being lazy or the debate over active and contemplative Christians, then what is it about?

Martha is complaining about Mary not helping, but the real problem—in the words of my granny—Mary is acting like a hussy. That girl is out of line. Make her get up and help with (Lord forgive and protect me for saying this out loud) make her get up and help with “women’s work.” The problem is that Mary is acting like a man. The only time a woman might sit at the feet of a man would be in the bedroom with her husband, but out in public… hussy. Mary has broken cultural and social barriers. And not only is she acting like a man, but she is also acting like a disciple. One who sits at the feet of the rabbi and learns. Yet, Jesus isn’t just a rabbi, he is the Son of God, so what has Mary done? Mary has boldly come before Jesus, knelt before him, and entered into the very presence of God, hence, she “has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.”

Remember the Temple complex: the outer area was the Court of the Gentiles. This is the area that Jesus entered and demonstrated a little righteous indignation, flipping tables and throwing out money changers. Moving further in we come to the Court of the Women, then the Court of the Priests, where the sacrifices took place. Entering into the Temple itself you first come to the Holy Place and before you is a curtain. Behind the curtain is the Holiest of Holies where the Ark of the Covenant resides. With regard to the Holy Place and Holiest of Holies, Scripture says, “The priests go regularly into the first section, performing their ritual duties, but into the second only the high priest goes, and he but once a year, and not without taking blood, which he offers for himself and for the unintentional sins of the people.” Only once a year would someone enter into the presence of God, but when Jesus died: “There was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour, while the sun’s light failed. And the curtain of the temple was torn in two.” Mary sat at the feet of Jesus, she sat in the presence of God, and through his death, Jesus opened that same access to all who call on his name. As Jesus said, “Very truly, I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and bandits; but the sheep did not listen to them. I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved, and will come in and go out and find pasture.”

Mary was not the one who broke the barriers by sitting at the feet of Jesus. Jesus broke the barriers through his Incarnation. Emmanuel—God with us. Therefore, like Mary, we too can be bold, we can come into the very presence of God and sit as his feet, speaking to him and learning from him. As Paul said in his letter to the Hebrews, “Let us then with confidence… with boldness draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”

As my favorite passage of the Bible reads: “You have not come to what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest and the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them. For they could not endure the order that was given, “If even a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.” Indeed, so terrifying was the sight that Moses said, “I tremble with fear.” But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant.”

We’ve been given this tremendous access to the Creator of the Heavens and the Earth, so how do we enter? The answer is prayer and our Gospel reading can also help us to understand the kind of prayer that is needed. It is easier to understand this by looking at different types of communication that we practice, specifically, the difference between a text message and a phone call.

What I’ve discovered is that if I’m asking for specific information or giving it, text messaging and emails work just fine. “Do this.” “I’ll take care of that.” “6:30 works great.” But when it comes to actually having a conversation with someone… Well, I eventually give up on trying to make a point and give the person a call. And that’s just it, there is more to communication than words. There are words, inflection, emotion, etc. There is engagement. Martha had a text messaging conversation with Jesus. “Hey, Jesus. Tell my sister to help me with the chores.” She gave instruction. Mary, on the other hand, “picked up the phone” and entered into the presence of God. She engaged.

St. Thérèse of Lisieux writes, “For me, prayer means launching out of the heart towards God; it means lifting up one’s eyes, quite simply, to Heaven, a cry of grateful love from the crest of joy or the trough of despair; it’s a vast, supernatural force which opens out my heart, and binds me close to Jesus.” Prayer is an engagement of her spirit with the Spirit of God and drawing close, entering into the mystical presence of God.

We enter into this presence of God through prayer, but so often, we are like Martha: Jesus, do this and that. Jesus says to ask for anything, so this type of interaction is OK, but when it comes time to truly speak to the Lord and to listen to his teachings, then we must be still and sit at his feet. We must become like a disciple. We must become like Mary.

Let us pray:
The light of God surrounds us,
The love of God enfolds us,
The power of God protects us,
The presence of God watches over us,
Wherever we are, God is,
And where God is, all is well.
Help us Lord to enter into your presence,
Where we might sit at your feet
And find nourishment for our souls.
Amen.

The podcast is available here.

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A few weeks ago I told you about Alexa, the virtual assistant from Amazon.  She’s a bit like Siri on an Apple device.  Ask a question, she’ll give an answer.  Order something from Amazon and she’ll even let you know when it has arrived, but did you know that you can actually order from Amazon through Alexa?  Just say, “Alexa, order such and such,” and she will have such and such shipped to you. 

Well, Phil Brookman, the pastor at Memorial Road Church of Christ in Oklahoma City was talking to his 1,000 member congregation about this very feature and how you could order what ever they wanted.  As an example, he said, “Alexa, order toilet paper.”  And that’s where it gets even more fun.

Turns out that Memorial Road Church of Christ live streams their service through the Internet and on that day, one of their members was home with a sick child so she tuned into the broadcast.  She reports, immediately after Pastor Brookman said, “Alexa, order toilet paper,” she heard her own Alexa unit respond: “OK. I’ve added it to your cart.”  Pastor Brookman inadvertently ordered 60 rolls of toilet paper for his church member.  But wait, there’s more: having heard about the incident between services, Pastor Brookman tweaked his illustration.  Instead of saying, “Alexa, order toilet paper,” he said, “Alexa, donate $500 to the Memorial Road Church of Christ.”  (Source)

To that, I can only add, for those of you listening to the podcast of this sermon: “Alexa, donate $500 to St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church, 518 W. Randolph Ave, Enid, Ok 73701.”  I’ll keep you posted on how that works out.

Assistants: they come along in different forms.  There are Alexa and Siri who do pretty good for what they are designed to do.  They make life a bit easier.  When we ask for assistance, the reasons probably vary: we don’t know how to do something, we want help to do even more, or there is so much to do, that we can’t get it all done ourselves.  In the days of the Exodus from Egypt, Moses found himself in that last category.  There was too much to do, the people were being unreasonable, and he was pulling his hair out.  The Lord seeing this, provided him with assistants.

You’ll recall that as the Israelites were wandering in the desert, they began to grumble because they were hungry, so God gave them manna—bread from Heaven; however, they were not satisfied, so they started grumbling again because there was no meat for their pots.  Upon hearing this and fed up with the grumbling, Moses looked up to God and said, “Why have you dealt ill with your servant? And why have I not found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me?  Did I conceive all this people? Did I give them birth, that you should say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries a nursing child.’”  A few verses on:  “I am not able to carry all this people alone; the burden is too heavy for me.  If you will treat me like this, kill me at once.”  Just kill me. I can’t deal with these whiny people anymore.  But instead of killing him, the Lord gives him help.  The Lord says, “Gather for me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them, and bring them to the tent of meeting, and let them take their stand there with you.”  Because the burden was too great for Moses, the Lord gave him seventy assistants to lighten the load, and a part of the Spirit that was on Moses, was passed onto these seventy to help in performing the work and caring for the people. 

Moses was given seventy assistants because the burden of carrying all of God’s people was too much for him.  As we read in our Gospel, Jesus also called seventy to assist him.  Was this because, like Moses, it was too much for him?  Would he have been unable to accomplish the mission without them?  The answer is, of course, No.  Jesus alone accomplished the work he set out to do, and not just for a single tribe like the Israelites, but for all of humanity: “He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.”  Jesus alone carried the burden of us all on the Cross.  Yet, for the work of God to continue, others had to be enlisted, so the seventy were enlisted to go before Jesus and perform the work.  The seventy are not assistants as Moses needed them.  The seventy are apprentices, learning how to continue the work.  And what was the work?

From our Gospel, Jesus said: “Whatever house you enter, first say, `Peace to this house!’”  And then, “Whenever you enter a town and its people welcome you, eat what is set before you; cure the sick who are there, and say to them, `The kingdom of God has come near to you.’”  The work: proclaim peace—share with them that there is now peace between God and humankind.  The old sin brought on by Adam and Eve’s disobedience is being forgiven.  Demonstrate this peace to them by the healing of the sick and possessed.  Tell them that the Kingdom of God is near.  That just like God called to Adam and Eve as they hid in the garden, he now calls to us again.  He calls us into a life of holiness and righteousness with Him, made possible through His One and Only Son.

The seventy took nothing extra with them.  They were at the mercy of those they encountered.  Where Jesus is the Lamb of God, these seventy are Jesus’ enlisted chosen, his lambs of which he is the Shepherd, and as he did battle in the wilderness during the forty days following his baptism, he sends the seventy out into the wilderness, amongst the wolves, not to be devoured, but to proclaim this message of peace, forgiveness, and restoration.  As Jesus was successful, these seventy were also victorious.  “Lord, in your name even the demons submit to us!”

If it was as easy as saying, “Alexa, preach the Gospel to the ends of the earth,” then this work would be done.  But the Lord prefers a more personal touch.  He wants for us to go out and proclaim his message.  He wants us to have this passion for souls.  A desire to see others, not only enter into a relationship with Him, but to participate in this work of reconciliation between God and his children. 

In our Saints’ Book Club, this is one of the common threads that I’ve seen amongst all the Saints we’ve read about, this passion for souls.  A driving unrelenting desire, even beyond death, to bring others into the fold, whether through works or prayer.  The one we are currently reading, Thérèse of Lisieux says, “After my death, I will let fall a shower of roses.  I will spend my heaven doing good upon earth.  I will raise up a mighty host of little saints.  My mission is to make God loved… I want to spend my Heaven in doing good on Earth.”  

My friend St. Josemaría Escrivá writes, “We are children of God. Bearers of the only flame that can light up the paths of the earth for souls, of the only brightness which can never be darkened, dimmed or overshadowed. The Lord uses us as torches, to make that light shine out… It depends on us that many should not remain in darkness, but walk instead along paths that lead to eternal life.” (The Forge #1)  You are children of God.  You have been given a mission to bring light into darkness, to make God loved.  You are the seventy.

Immediately following our Gospel reading today, Jesus prayed, giving thanks to the Father for making these things known to his disciples, then he said, “Blessed are the eyes that see what you see!  For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.”  You have seen and heard what prophets and kings spent lifetimes searching for.  Jesus said, “The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”  But, don’t just ask the Lord to make others the laborers, have such a passion for souls that you ask him to make you one as well.

Let us pray: Father, hear our prayers for the salvation of the world. Grant Mercy to all souls that turned away from You. Open their hearts and minds with Your light.  Gather Your children from the east and the west, from the north and the south.  Have mercy O God on those who do not know You. Bring them out of darkness into Your light. You are our saving God Who leads us in our salvation. Protect us from evil.  We put the world in Your hands; fill us with Your love. Grant us peace through Christ, our Lord.  Amen.

The podcast is available here.

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As most are aware, freedom of speech was not a cherished commodity within the former Soviet Union and most all were afraid to speak out in public. One incident (true or not, makes the point): During his years as premier of the Soviet Union, Nikita Khrushchev denounced many of the policies and atrocities of Joseph Stalin. Once, as he censured Stalin in a public meeting, Khrushchev was interrupted by a shout from a heckler in the audience. “You were one of Stalin’s colleagues. Why didn’t you stop him?” Without hesitation, Khrushchev roared, ”Who said that?” An agonizing silence followed as nobody in the room dared move a muscle for fear of being implicated. Then Khrushchev replied quietly, “Now you know why.”

However, this fear did not stop people from speaking out in private or even making jokes. Armenia, a former state of the USSR, had Radio Armenia, a fictitious radio station, which was the setting of many jokes about the Soviet Union. Their slogan: “Ask us whatever you want, we will answer you whatever we want.” Example:

Radio Armenia was asked: “Is it true that the poet Mayakovsky committed suicide?”
Radio Armenia answered: “Yes, it is true, and even the record of his very last words is preserved: ‘Don’t shoot, comrades.’”

Another (this was during the time of Reagan):
Q: Is it true that there is freedom of speech in the Soviet Union, just like in the USA?
A: In principle, yes. In the USA, you can stand in front of the White House in Washington, DC, and yell, “Down with Reagan!”, and you will not be punished. Equally, you can also stand in Red Square in Moscow and yell, “Down with Reagan!”, and you will not be punished.

There are times when we are truly free and there are times, as in the former Soviet Union, when we know that our freedom has certain limits to it.

The same is true within our relationship with God (minus the threat of violence that we saw in the Soviet Union). The Apostle Paul teaches us, “For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’” And St. Peter writes, “Live as people who are free, not using your freedom as a cover-up for evil, but living as servants of God.” We are free from the captivity of sin so that we might worship and serve our God without fear and do so in holiness and righteousness.

Yet, there are times when we can act as though we are still captives in chains, even after Christ has set us free.

Harry Houdini, the famed escape artist issued a challenge wherever he went. He could be locked in any jail cell in the country, he claimed, and set himself free quickly and easily. Always he kept his promise, but one time something went wrong.

Houdini entered the jail in his street clothes; the heavy, metal doors clanged shut behind him. He took from his belt a concealed piece of metal, strong and flexible. He set to work immediately, but something seemed to be unusual about this lock. For thirty minutes he worked and got nowhere. An hour passed, and still he had not opened the door. By now he was bathed in sweat and panting in exasperation, but he still could not pick the lock.

Finally, after laboring for two hours, Harry Houdini collapsed in frustration and failure against the door he could not unlock. But when he fell against the door, it swung open! His jailer had forgotten to lock the cell!

Christ has set us free, but at times, we can still believe that we are chained. The result is that we look a good bit like the poor fella in our Gospel reading: “As Jesus stepped out on land, a man of the city who had demons met him. For a long time he had worn no clothes, and he did not live in a house but in the tombs… he was kept under guard and bound with chains and shackles, but he would break the bonds and be driven by the demon into the wilds.”

He was possessed, tormented by the demons. We too can be possessed, tormented by our own demons, those things that just won’t seem to let go of us. Those memories, sins, hurts, that follow us no matter where we go or what we do. They refuse to allow joy to be more than superficial. Just as we feel ourselves rising out of it, the devil reminds us of our past and pulls us back down.

The possessed man wore no clothes. Remember, back in the beginning, when Adam and Eve walked in the Garden, they were naked. Of this, Scripture says, “The man and his wife were both naked and were not ashamed.” But after they ate of the fruit, “the eyes of both were opened, and they knew that they were naked. And they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves loincloths.” And when God again walked in the Garden, they hid themselves from him. When God asked why they hid, Adam replied, “I heard the sound of you in the garden, and I was afraid, because I was naked, and I hid myself.” They were afraid. They were ashamed to appear before God, because of their nakedness, because of their sin.

Perhaps you’ve never had reason to, but I have felt shame for my sin to such an extent, that I didn’t want to pray. I didn’t want to have to come before God naked, in my sin. I don’t even want to look up, for fear that he will see my face.

Like the possessed man, haunted by his demons and running around naked, we too can be haunted by those sins that possess us and the shame we experience can drive us from God; and in the end, like the possessed man, through our fear and shame, we can find ourselves walking amongst the tombs, that is, walking as though we were still dead in sin, never realizing that we have been set free. We are Houdini, trying to break out of a prison that is already unlocked. And when Jesus comes to us and asks, ”What is your name?” We respond as the possessed man, “Legion.” We respond with the name of our own self condemnation. I am Legion. I am Sin. I am Pride. I am Lust. I am Greed. I am dead.

Why? Do you know what words you are least likely to believe coming from me, a priest? Perhaps I’ve shared this with you before, but during the Sacrament of Confession, following the confession and absolution (the assurance of God’s mercy and grace toward you), I will say to you, “The Lord has put away all your sins.” I would wager that most do not believe those words. “The Lord has put away all your sins.” And in our hearts, “If you say so Father, but we both know that’s not true.” The demon clings to us, we bow our heads in shame, and we declare, “I am Legion.” Captives even though we have been set free.

In John’s Gospel, Jesus told those who believed in him that if anyone practices sin, they are a slave to sin—that is, they are captives to sin, but that if they believed in the Truth, in Him, they would be set free, to which he adds, “If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” “The Lord has put away all your sins.” You have not been set free by the priest, you have been set free by the Son: the very Son of God and your name is not Legion. Your name is Child of God.

Following the Great Fire of London, late in the 17th century, St. Paul’s Cathedral, designed by Sir Christopher Wren, was completed. On one occasion Wren was making a tour of the work in progress. He came upon a man at work and asked him: “What are you doing?” The man said: “I am cutting this stone to a certain size and shape.” He came to a second man and asked him what he was doing. The man said: “I am earning so much money at my work.” He came to a third man at work and asked him what he was doing. The man paused for a moment, straightened himself and answered: “I am helping Sir Christopher Wren build St. Paul’s Cathedral.”

The locks and chains that bound you have been cast off. You are free to serve your God without fear. When you are asked your name, do not give some half hearted answer or act as one still captive, but straighten yourself and in complete faith declare, I am Child of God.

Let us pray:
From the depths of our hearts
we thank You, Dear Lord,
for Your infinite kindness in coming to us.
How good You are to us!
With Your most holy Mother and all the angels,
we praise Your mercy and generosity toward us,
poor sinners.
We thank You for nourishing our souls
with Your Sacred Body and Precious Blood.
We will try to show our gratitude to You
in the Sacrament of Your love,
by obedience to Your holy commandments,
by fidelity to our duties,
by kindness to our neighbor
and by an earnest endeavor
To become more like You in our daily conduct.
Amen.