Martha and Mary Revisited

I love Martha.  She has a servant's heart, she holds herself together, she's practical and not afraid to work.  And she's been preached "against" for as long as I remember.  There's no getting around that Jesus gently turned her attention to more important matters in Luke 10, but the whole picture seems greatly out of focus when John 11 is taken into consideration.

So here we are -  two sisters and a dead brother.  Both heartbroken.  Both mourning.  Both wishing the friend they love had been there four days earlier.  And Martha finds out he's on his way.

"Rabbi, if you had been here my brother would not have died."

And here's where her true faith comes through:  " But I know, that even now, whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee."

And with these words Martha was the first one to receive some of the most powerful words recorded in the Bible, "I AM THE RESURRECTION AND THE LIFE . . . "

Consider Mary now.  She's back at the house being consoled by a  bunch of people who get up and follow her to Jesus.  I don't know about you, but that tells me that Martha's being able to slip away unnoticed meant that she was holding it together.  The crowd gathered around Mary was trying to help the emotionally fragile sister from falling apart.  Or they were enjoying the show.

Think I'm being hard on Mary?  Look closer.  After falling at Jesus feet Mary said the exact same words to Jesus. "Rabbi, if you had been here my brother would not have died."

The Savior's response is dramatically different.  Instead of powerful words of comfort  he "groaned in the spirit, and was troubled."

Why would that be?  Why would Jesus offer powerful words of comfort to Martha and be troubled with Mary?

Because He knew where each was at in their spiritual progress.  Martha showed a mature faith.  Mary didn't show any faith at all.

OK, I'm going to jump off a theological cliff here and propose something radical . . .  Luke 10 happened after John 11.

It makes sense.  Jesus's gentle reprimand of Martha in Luke 10 wasn't that she was doing anything wrong . .  she had simply failed to notice that Mary finally got it!  Emotionally frail Mary's choosing that "good part" was the step of faith she had taken in coming to real  faith in the Savior, the kind that Martha had already demonstrated.  Mary later demonstrated her own faith in washing Jesus's feet.

There are Marthas in this world and there are Marys.  Some have strong faith, others struggle to come to faith at all. While the orthodox challenge to balance service with worship is a valid one, I personally think Luke 10 is more of a challenge to the Marthas of this world to be gentle and understanding of the Marys.

They are after all our sisters.