Welcome to the Lord's table

Sixteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Year C

One of the most famous of all Russian icons by the great 15th century Russian iconographer, Andre Rublev, is a beautiful and compelling visual expression of the passage we’ve just heard in the first reading that describes Abraham’s hospitality to three travellers. Although the icon is most commonly titled by our Orthodox brethren as “the Hospitality of Abraham,” it is better known in the West as the icon of the Most Holy Trinity. How can we reconcile these two seemingly irreconcilable epithets? The first title seems to focus on the action of Abraham as the main actor, whereas the second focuses on the Three persons of the Most Holy Trinity. The most obvious connexion between these two realities is that the number of travellers whom Abraham welcomes, corresponds to the number of persons which make up the Divine Trinity. But is that all?

Very early on, Christian exegetes noted that even though there were three travellers who showed up at Abraham’s tent, when he prostrated before them, he addressed them in the singular as Adonai, “Lord,” a title which is used to address God in a most reverential way to avoid naming Him. Some commentators interpreted Abraham’s greeting to mean that one of the visitors was God, and that He was accompanied by two angels. However, the interpretation that became classic was that Abraham’s three visitors were the three persons of the Most Holy Trinity, whom he believed in as the One true God. There is a concise Latin dictum which captures this truth: “Tres vidit, unum adoravit” — He saw three, he adored one.

We can now see how the passage is not just a story of Abraham’s hospitality offered to his visitors, but more importantly, it is the hospitality offered by the three visitors, presumably the Most Holy Trinity, to Abraham. Yes, the theme of hospitality strings together both the first reading and the Gospel, but whose hospitality you may ask?

To find an answer to this riddle, it would be good to look at the first reading through the lenses of Rublev’s icon. The icon, being a window into the unseen world by using symbols from the visible world, shows us something amazing which we would normally miss in our reading of the passage from Genesis. In the famous Icon of this scene, the hospitality of Abraham, you can see the three figures sitting at the table, but you can’t see Abraham. The table is rectangular with four sides. Three sides are occupied by each of the angelic figures but the fourth side, the side closest to the viewer is empty. There is room at the table for another. That space is welcoming Abraham in, welcoming us in, to sit at the table with God, the Most Holy Trinity.

When Abraham gives them the water, who really gives the water of life? When Abraham refreshes them by washing their feet, who really makes who clean? And when Abraham offers them bread, who really gives the bread of life? If you can figure out this riddle, you are one step closer to enlightenment. I’ll give you a clue… it isn’t Abraham who is the giver of all gifts. This isn’t a story about ordinary hospitality. And neither is the Gospel reading too. It wasn’t Abraham who was really being hospitable. It was God, God giving Abraham the bread of life and the water of life and the washing of salvation.

And this is how we should read and understand the dynamics of the two sisters, Mary and Martha, in today’s Gospel passage. Our Lord is in the home of Martha and Mary, and the story seems to be another tale of misguided hospitality. Most people would just notice the obvious: Mary listens to Jesus but Martha is distracted by the tasks of the world.

But there is more to the story than meets the eye. First, Martha isn’t just distracted by the cares of the world. Luke says she is distracted by something very specific. She’s distracted by diakonia… ministry. It’s where we get the word “deacon”. Martha isn’t distracted by looking up the latest fashions nor busy pursuing a career like a 21st century modern woman. She’s distracted by something which is really important. Ministering to others. She was distracted, ironically, by her desire to serve. Distractions come in all forms – sometimes by things which seem blatantly frivolous and selfish, and sometimes even by the things that appear selfless.

Second, does the Lord actually criticise her because she is distracted by her work? Let us look at His words: “Martha, Martha,’ He said ‘you worry and fret about so many things, and yet few are needed, indeed only one. It is Mary who has chosen the better part; it is not to be taken from her.” His point—one of them, at least—is that hospitality does not consist in impressing our guests with how much we are doing for them, but in our willingness simply to be present to them and to listen to what they have to say. Martha, if you think about it, is doing exactly what Abraham was doing… offering the Lord some refreshment. The thing she has missed, is what the Lord really wants from her and from us… our love and our complete attention. This is what Mary does and what she is praised for. She allows the Lord to serve her with His teaching and presence.

Both of these apparently simple but exceedingly profound biblical stories offer a guiding word to Christians who yearn and thirst for hospitality, as we struggle to offer the warmth of hospitality to others. So, what should we do? Should we make like Abraham and Martha to scramble to serve our God who lives among us? No. Remember Mary who sat at the feet of the Lord. If you think the Christian faith is about doing enough to earn God’s love… then you’ve completely missed the point. The astounding paradoxical truth is this: we don’t serve God. God serves us. We don’t need to feed God. God feeds us. We don’t need to provide for God. God provides for us. We don’t need to protect God. God heals and holds us in our brokenness. We don’t need to sacrifice to God. God has already sacrificed Himself for us.

At this and every Eucharist, God invites us to the altar of His perfect sacrifice, to the meal which is a foretaste of the heavenly banquet, to have a seat at the table and share in the fellowship of the Most Holy Trinity. It is here where we will be fed, we will be refreshed, and where we are saved. As we nervously approach the altar, fully aware of our unworthiness, we hear the Lord who beckons to us, as how He had gently spoken to Abraham, Mary and Martha: Come… sit down… and taste. Fret no longer in what you can do but pay attention to what I can do for you. With me you will learn love. With me you will discover life. With me you will find a most welcoming eternal home.