Twelve Extraordinary Women: Martha and Mary

Ehart has done a very nice piece about Martha and Mary here.

Mary and Martha were two sisters, along with their brother, Lazarus, who lived in Bethany. Reading the Scriptural accounts regarding this family, brings to our attention that Jesus cherished His friendship with Martha, Mary, and Lazarus.

In fact, resurrecting Lazarus four days following his death caused Jesus' enemies to become fixated on putting Him to death. Jesus' prior two resurrections were immediately following death, whereas Lazarus was resurrected four whole days after his passing. Lazarus had been dead long enough that his body had started to decompose and a stench of death permeated the tomb. There was no question that Lazarus had indeed died.

Perhaps the previous two resurrections were questioned by the Jews as to whether the victim actually had died, as they occurred immediately following death. Jesus arrived during Lazarus' funeral to raise him back to life. It clearly showed that He was indeed the Savior. His powers displayed that He was who He claimed to be, namely the Son of God.

Martha and Mary, although sisters, worshiped and devoted themselves to Jesus in conflicting manners. Martha, being a hostess by nature, draws a clear picture in Luke 10 as a meticulous servant. Have you ever hosted a gathering where you've wanted everything to be perfect? Have you wanted the guests to leave exclaiming, "What a beautiful meal she presented! What a fabulous hostess!"? Perhaps Martha was looking for praise regarding her honed qualities as a fine hostess.

Mary on the other hand sat at Jesus' feet and hung onto every word He said. Martha asked Jesus in Luke 10, "Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me."

Martha shows us much about her character in those two short phrases. As women, we often find ourselves worrying and fussing over the details, and the minor to major items that need to be done to make a task complete, such as a dinner gathering. Martha was no different. I'm sure she wanted the Lord's meal to be perfect.

One could actually wonder at this point if Martha was advocating a life of works over faith. Some commentators have actually supported this ideal while examining the two sisters' lives. Martha was exhibiting the desire to 'work' her way into the Lord's heart, whereas as Mary was actually showing her faith by sitting at His feet attentively listening to all that He had to say.

Personally, I don't think that is the case here. It might be a nice reminder to us that faith comes before works, but I don't think that Martha was 'working' for her salvation. To support my theory on this, I have to remember that Jesus knew the hearts of all men (or women, in this particular case). He vehemently rebuked the Pharisees and Sadducees throughout His ministry. He knew what was in their hearts. These Jewish leaders were so involved in the law and the following of that law, that they actually couldn't see Jesus fulfilling that law. They couldn't even begin to think of Jesus as their Savior.

Here in Luke 10, Jesus ever so slightly, but lovingly rebuked Martha. Notice that Jesus says, "Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her."

But in contrast, Jesus when rebuking the Jewish leaders used expressions such as "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites!", "Woe to you, blind guides...", and "Serpents, brood of vipers..."

Jesus knew what was in the heart of the Pharisees. He knew that they had ulterior motives, and they didn't even recognize Him for who He was, the Son of God. But Jesus knew what was in Martha's heart. He knew that she most certainly knew and acknowledged Him as the Messiah. Note her statement in John 12: 27, "Yes, Lord, I believe that You are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world."

I think Jesus knew that Martha had a pure heart. She was trying to serve him a wonderful, awesome meal, because she loved Him. It wasn't that she was trying to 'work' her way into the Lord's good graces, she was trying to honor him. Through her service to Him, she hoped that she would be able to express her appreciation and to glorify Him.

Mary, on the other hand, honored Jesus by sitting at His feet with an attitude of worship and meditation. When we see Mary again in Scripture during Lazarus' funeral, we view her sitting among the mourners. We can see that she was most likely not the one that had planned or made arrangements for her brother's funeral.

When Jesus arrived at the funeral, Martha ran out to our Lord to meet Him. Martha is definitely a person of action. Mary, on the other hand, had stayed with the mourners. She was so involved in the funeral and the mourning of her brother that she hadn't realized Jesus had arrived. Hence, again we see the differences between the two sisters.

The last Scriptural encounter we have with Martha and Mary occurs during a sizable dinner party at the home of Simon. Martha was acting as hostess at this particular gathering also. Mary showed her gratitude by anointing Jesus' feet with spinkenard. Already Jesus had enemies that wanted to kill Him, mostly spurred on by His resurrection of Lazarus. Upon seeing Mary anointing Jesus' feet with the expensive oil, Judas Iscariot made the final decision to betray our Lord.

Once again Martha is the servant, planning and arranging the dinner. Once again Martha is sitting at our Lord's feet, and worshiping Him by anointing Him for His upcoming crucifixion. One large difference in this particular situation is that Martha is not noted for asking the Lord to take notice of Mary's non-participation of the party details. I'm sure that Martha more cheerfully fulfilled her duties for this particular dinner as she was serving the Lord in her own fashion, not expecting Mary to serve in the same capacity.

These two women are fine examples of how we can worship Jesus in different capacities. Not every one is meant to serve, not everyone is meant to do the anointing, but it all glorifies the Lord.