thou hast pleasure in feeding bodies which are mortal, though they be the bodies of Saints;
but when thou shalt have got to that country, wilt thou find there any stranger whom thou
mayest receive into thine house? wilt thou find the hungry, to whom thou mayest break thy
bread? or the thirsty, to whom thou mayest hold out thy cup? the sick whom thou mayest
visit? the litigious, whom thou mayest set at one? the dead, whom thou mayest bury? None
of all these will be there, but what will be there? What Mary hath chosen; there shall we be
fed, and shall not feed others. Therefore there will that be in fulness and perfection which
Mary hath chosen here; from that rich table, from the word of the Lord did she gather up
some crumbs. For would ye know what will be there? The Lord Himself saith of His servants:
“Verily I say unto you, that He will make them to sit down to meat, and will pass by3325 and
serve them.”3326 What is “to sit down to meat,” but to “be still”? What is, “to sit down to
meat,” but to rest? What is, “He will pass by and serve them”? First, He passeth by, and so
serveth. And where? In that heavenly Banquet, of which he saith, “Verily I say unto you,
Many shall come from the East and West, and shall sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and
Jacob, in the kingdom of heaven.”3327 There will the Lord feed us, but first He passeth on
from hence. For (as ye should know) the Pasch is by interpretation Passing-over. The Lord
came, He did divine things, He suffered human things. Is He still spit upon? Is He still struck
429
with the palm of the hand? Is He still crowned with thorns? Is He still scourged? Is He still
crucified? Is He still wounded with a spear? “He hath passed by.” And so too the Gospel
tells us, when He kept the Paschal feast with His disciples. What says the Gospel? “But when
the hour was come that Jesus should pass out of this world unto the Father.”3328 Therefore
did He pass,3329 that He might feed us; let us follow, that we may be fed.
3325 παρελθων; transiens, Vulgate.
3326 Luke xii. 37.
3327 Matt. viii. 11.
3328 John xiii. 1.
3329 μεταβῇ; transeat, Vulgate.
894
On the words of the Gospel, Luke x. 38, ‘And a certain woman named Martha…