Martha, Martha -- an example for us

I generally don't pay attention to all the minor feast days in the Christian calendar.  It's traditional within the church to designate certain days to remember people of faith from our past.  Persons who died martyr's deaths are typically remembered on the day of their deaths -- the day they went on to be with the Lord in glory.  Others simply have dates assigned by tradition.  We aren't the type to pray to persons from the past; we rely on the LORD God alone.  But we do recognize the lives of trust that our predecessors lived and we desire to emulate their confidence in Jesus.  Scripture urges us to ponder how they lived by faith (cf. Hebrews 11).  "Since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith" (Hebrews 12:1-2).

July 29 is the traditional day for remembering Martha of Bethany, sister of Mary and Lazarus, dear friend of Jesus.  We would do well to think about Martha's example as a believer.

I'm afraid what most of us remember about Martha -- and usually with disapproval -- is how she raced about in the kitchen when Jesus came to visit, and was frustrated that her sister wasn't helping her.  Luke 10:38-42:

Jesus came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him.  She had a sister called 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. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”

“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

Don't be too judgmental of Martha.  Jesus wasn't.  His words to her were a warm encouragement, not a stern rebuke.  Martha loved Jesus dearly and opened her home to him.  Who of you would not try to put your best meal on the table if Jesus came to visit?  So often so many of us need the reassurance of Jesus -- that we can quit all our racing around and just sit with him and listen to his message of hope.  We don't have to be the perfect accomplishers of all of life's little tasks.  We have a Savior who just wants us to be with him.

We would do well to remember another conversation between Martha and Jesus.  Martha's brother Lazarus became very ill and died ... and Jesus had not hurried to go to his friends when Lazarus was ill.  He came to Bethany finally after Lazarus had been in the grave for four days.  The evangelist John tells what transpired (John 11:20-27):

When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him ....

“Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died.  But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”

Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

“Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”

Jesus demonstrated his grace and his almighty power that day, summoning the wrapped corpse of Lazarus out of his tomb and back to life.

  

Martha demonstrated the rock-solid faith of a disciple of Jesus that day, not afraid to question her Lord in prayer (conversation) with him, and also firmly convinced of the reality of his gospel.  Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, who came into the world to give us resurrection and life.

Martha knew that about Jesus.  We know that about Jesus.  

Through Jesus "you believe in God, who raised him from the dead and glorified him, and so your faith and hope are in God" (1 Peter 1:21).

Image by Johannes Vermeer [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons)