THERE'S SOMETHING ABOUT MARTHA
by Richard Burkard
When the Christian book Bad Girls of the Bible came out a few years ago, two things went through my mind:
1) This sounds like it should be a topic for "The Ricki Lake Show."
2) I have to check whether one particular woman is in there.
Which woman? The one identified in the New Testament merely as Martha, the sister of Mary. Many Bible preachers seem to portray these sisters somewhat like Goofus and Gallant, in the old Highlights for Children magazines -- with Mary usually winning the praise, while Martha gets the criticism. There was even a hit movie called There's Something About Mary, with Cameron Diaz as.... oh wait, she wasn't that Mary. (Giggle.)
But here's my point: Marthas have tended to get less respect in history, compared to Marys. Yet if we take a deeper look at the New Testament, we may find that's not quite fair -- and there's something about Martha, too. Perhaps it's something you've overlooked.
Scene 1: At home
We're introduced to the sisters in Luke 10:38-40: "As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made." (The Moffatt translation suggests in verse 42 that a meal was being prepared.)
My, this Martha sounds familiar - yet as far as we know, her last name was not Stewart. But seriously: have you ever felt like a Martha?
* If you're on a sports team, and considered the proverbial "go-to guy" or gal on the team, the one the coach and teammates count on to pull out a victory in the final moments - then you know what it's like to be a Martha.
* If you're on the job and do capable work, and the incapable ones around you know it and ask you to help pull their share of the workload - then you know what it's like to be a Martha.
* If you're in a home where you're burdened all day long, whether by energetic children or aging parents with Alzheimer's disease - then you know what it's like to be a Martha.
You may not realize feminists have a big problem with this passage in Luke. In her 1998 book Women in the New Testament, Bonnie Thurston writes: "Martha and Mary begin as equals, but then Martha asks Jesus to scold Mary [last part of verse 40] which places the women in a position of dependency on a male authority figure. In fact, many women identify with Martha and resent the fact that Jesus takes Mary's side in the dispute [verses 41-42]. And the outspoken woman in the story, Martha, who speaks up for herself, is silenced in favor of the subordinate Mary.... Even the way we refer to the story, as the story of Mary and Martha, subtly diminishes Martha."
Does this author have a valid point? Or should we do what so many preachers do - close the Bible right now, and declare Mary the winner by unanimous decision? If we take either viewpoint, you might be missing something about Martha. Let's stop and ask some questions about this passage:
1. Who opens the home for Jesus? Not Mary, but Martha (verse 38). As author Thurston notes: "To be received [KJV].... means both to be given hospitality and to have the mission one represents accepted. Martha embodies a positive response to the mission of Jesus...."
2. Who calls Jesus "Lord" in this passage? Mary doesn't. Martha does (verse 40). Quoting Thurston again: "Martha has a clearly christological faith."
3. So what's Martha's problem here? A misdirected effort once Jesus enters the house, mixed with some self-pity. She felt like - well, like a Martha. "Jesus does not criticize the form of Martha's ministry as much as the anxiety and agitation she feels in it...." says Thurston.
4. So should we conclude from this passage it's wrong to serve? No! In fact, the One-Volume Bible Commentary by Dummelow praises Martha as "busy, active.... a magnificent example of the virtue of hospitality." Some might liken it to a spiritual gift of being "able to help others...." (I Cor. 12:28) And a few Bible experts suggest Martha gained this virtue the hard way, as the wife of "Simon the Leper." (Mt. 26:6)
If the point is that serving is wrong, why does this passage immediately follow the parable of the Good Samaritan? (Lk. 10:25-37) After all, Jesus says later in Luke: "For who is greater, the one who is at the table or the one who serves? Is it not the one who is at the table? But I am among you as one who serves." (Lk. 22:27; see also Mt. 20:28 and Phil. 2:7) A 2000 Plain Truth Commentary pointed out Jesus was not only the host of the table, but the bread of life itself. That may explain why "the Master makes no criticism of Martha until she criticizes Mary." (International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, 1939, vol. 3, pg. 2005)
Perhaps it's the Martha in me - a person who roots for underdogs, from feeling so often like I personally am one - but I felt for some time that Martha received a raw deal. So it was a joy to pick up Max Lucado's 1995 book A Gentle Thunder and find he agreed with me. While we're not allowed to post an excerpt here, he says churches need "a hundred Marthas" for critical tasks ranging from the treasury to babysitting to construction projects. Take a Martha away, Lucado writes, and others will have to scurry to fill her shoes. (pg. 127)
Lucado's overall point is that people have different roles to fill in a congregation - and Marys and Marthas need each other, just as various instruments are needed in a band.
Scene 2: Near the tomb
We see the sisters next in John 11. "Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha.... Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus." (11:1, 5) HOLD IT! Why isn't Mary named here in verse 5? Commentaries say nothing about it, but Mary is named a second time in verse 2. We might theorize that Martha is named because she's older.
"And many of the Jews came to Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother. Then Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was coming, went and met him: but Mary sat still in the house." (11:19-20, KJV) Commentator Dummelow writes Martha displays "marvelous faith under the circumstances. She believes that Jesus can raise Lazarus, but dare not express the hope that He will...."
"Lord," Martha says in John 11:21, "if you had been here, my brother would not have died." It's a statement Mary repeats in verse 32. Author Bonnie Thurston wishes "we could hear Martha's tone of voice.... Is her statement one of fact or of chiding Jesus for allowing Lazarus to die?.... Martha's religious knowledge is evidence but incomplete." Yet a statement of faith follows from her lips in verse 22: "I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask." From a "bustling, impetuous person whose major interest was action.... [it] suggests some kind of conviction that Jesus would do something." (New Bible Commentary: Revised, 1970 ed., pp. 953-54)
In verses 23-24, Martha gives what we might call a "stock" comment of the day regarding someday seeing Lazarus again "in the resurrection at the last day." You've probably heard similar phrases at funerals and visitations. But in verse 25, Jesus goes beyond the cliche to the ultimately miraculous: "It was to Martha that Jesus first declared, 'I am the resurrection and the life....'" (The 20th Century Bible Commentary, 1955, pg. 431) To Martha, and not to Mary - but did Martha grasp the deep point the Lord was making?
"I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.," she replies in verse 27. Have you stopped to consider these words may be yet another act of service by Martha - perhaps without her realizing it? Author Kathy Coffey points it out in her 1996 book Hidden Women of the Gospels: "While other aspects of Martha's story are clearly told in the Gospel, her shining moment gets less coverage.... Martha.... gives Jesus precisely what He needs to journey to Jerusalem where his passion and death await."
In fact, one commentary has noted Martha calls Jesus by "three messianic titles" in the same sentence: Lord, Christ and Son of God -- "one of the most magnificent confessions of faith in the New Testament," writes another. Wouldn't you want to linger over that marvelous moment with Jesus..................................
But no. Martha can't linger. "And after she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside." (John 11:28) The Interpreter's Bible notes here: "Martha, with her usual unselfishness, broke away from him to summon Mary." Then the practical side of Martha resurfaces in verse 39: "But, Lord.... by this time there is a bad odor, for he [Lazarus] has been there four days." This may be a reminder that Martha's faith, though expressed well, was incomplete. After all, if Jesus had the power to resurrect her brother, He had the power to stop the stench as well!
Scene 3: A Tribute Dinner
If you had received new life as Lazarus had, you might want to offer a "thank-you gift" for the person who provided it. And so in John 12, Lazarus's home in Bethany is the scene of a dinner "in Jesus' honor." Mary marks the occasion by pouring expensive perfume on the Lord's feet. (12:3) And what was her sister doing? "Martha served...." (12:2)
"Of course she serves," the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia remarks (1939 ed., vol. 3, pg. 2006). "She always serves when there is opportunity. Waiting on guests, plate in hand, was the innocent delight of her life."
Don't be fooled by the simple phrase in verse 2. Author Bonnie Thurston notes: "....The verb 'served'.... comes from the same root as 'deacon.' It indicates that Martha has entered fully into discipleship by confession and active service...." Perhaps it's no surprise that the Roman Catholic Church considers Martha the patron saint of cooks.
We should insert here the possibility of a "Scene 4" involving Martha. The I.S.B.E. mentioned above notes there's a fragment of a second-century Coptic gospel, which claims she joined "Mary Magdalene and the other Mary" at the tomb, to discover the empty grave of Jesus (Mt. 28:1-11) -- but the Bible itself offers no confirmation of this.
Epilogue: Martha in Our Lives
Suppose Martha from long ago walked into your church congregation today. If you asked her what she learned from her experiences around Jesus, what would she say? We'd like to suggest three possible lessons:
1) Don't become weary in well doing. Her moment of exasperation with Mary showed her humanness - but she might quote the words of the apostle Paul, who went on to write: "....At the proper time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all people, especially to those who belong to the family of believers." (Gal. 6:9-10; we have a related article on this.)
2) Find a balance between service and worship. Paul appeals for both traits in his letter to the Philippians: "Help these women [different women from Mary and Martha] who have contended at my side in the cause of the gospel.... Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: rejoice!" (Phil. 4:3-4)
Max Lucado puts it simply and well: Marys should keep in mind service is worship -- but Marthas must keep in mind worship is service. And the best part is, God recognizes both of them.
Paul writes earlier about being a people "who worship by the Spirit of God, who glory in Christ Jesus, and who put no confidence in the flesh - though I myself have reasons for such confidence." (Phil. 3:3-4) As another commentary states it: "Our service to others must be in a relation of constant alternation or rhythm with our sitting at the Lord's feet and listening to his word...." (Interpreter's Bible, vol. 8, pp. 197-98)
3) Don't be afraid to openly state your faith. Martha wasn't afraid, not even in a time of grief and agony - and a time is approaching when "....at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father." (Phil. 2:10-11)
Thankfully, Martha did NOT make the list of Bad Girls in the Bible - and hopefully we've shown that's as it should be. The next time you hear a minister repeat the "Mary and Martha" story from Luke 10, then put Mary on a pedestal while consigning Martha to a sinner's scrapheap, keep our points in mind. Because there's something about Martha, too - several somethings, in fact, which aren't really that bad after all.
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© 2003 Richard Burkard, All Rights Reserved.