Today’s readings offer us a contrast between two people visited by the Lord. The Lord comes to their homes, and we see two different reactions; I’m not speaking here of Martha and Mary, but of Martha and Abraham. Now, there are definitely differences between the way Martha responds to her encounter with Jesus, and the way Mary responds. But if we focus only on Martha and Mary, we may get the mistaken idea that Mary’s contemplation is superior to Martha’s service. But by comparing and contrasting Martha and Abraham, we can see the value of active service for God, but also how that service can take two very different paths. The first reading and the gospel parallel each other: In the first reading, the three men, representing the the Lord, visit Abraham and Sarah at their tent, their home. In the gospel Jesus visits Martha and Mary at their home. And both Abraham and Martha work hard to be hospitable to their guests. But there’s a big difference in the way they each of them provide that hospitality. Abraham is eager to serve his guests. In the heat of the day, he runs out from his tent to greet the strangers. He says, “Do me a favor and stay here and let me serve you.” Abraham is eager to demonstrate his hospitality. It’s a favor to him to serve them. It’s a favor to him to be able to bring them water, to bathe their feet. It’s a favor to him to bring them food. He’s so eager he can’t contain himself. He runs everywhere. He runs to greet them, he runs to Sarah and says, “Quick! Make some rolls!” He runs out to the field and finds a tender, choice steer and gives it to a servant who prepares it quickly. Everything in the story happens quickly. And finally Abraham himself waits on the strangers. For Abraham, this encounter with the Lord is a gift, a favor, an opportunity to eagerly serve. The encounter between Martha and the Lord is very different. In the gospel we see Martha burdened with much serving. For Martha, being hospitable to Jesus is not a favor, but a source of anxiety. She feels pressure to make sure things are just so. She needs help to do things the way she wants them done, but instead of directly asking Mary to get up and help, the way Abraham asked Sarah, she takes a passive-aggressive approach. She keeps working and working, hoping that Jesus will notice and say something. You can almost see her shooting dirty looks to Mary behind Jesus’ back. What Martha is doing is passing judgment on Mary. She judges that Mary ought to be helping her, and she’s upset when Jesus doesn’t notice. So she asks, “Lord, don’t you care?” But if she wanted a sympathetic ear, she’s not getting it from Jesus. It’s not the fact that Martha is serving instead of sitting that Jesus is concerned about; it’s that Martha’s anxious and worried about many things. What is she worried about? The gospel doesn’t say, but we can imagine: Is the food prepared properly? Does everyone have enough to eat? Does it taste ok? Is the table clean enough? In other words, she wants things to be perfect for Jesus. Part of it may be pride, part of if may be worry