MARY AND MARTHA
38Now as they
went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed
him into her house.
39And she had a
sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching.
40But Martha was distracted with much serving.
And she went up
to him and said,
“Lord, do you
not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.”
41But the Lord
answered her,
“Martha, Martha,
you are anxious and troubled about many things, 42but one thing is necessary.
Mary has chosen
the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”
LUKE
10:38-42
COMMENTARY
This is the only
time these women are mentioned in the gospel of Luke, to then be mentioned
nearly 30 years later in the most developed gospel of John chapter 11.
By tradition and
inference, it is assumed these are Lazarus’ family, the same that was resurrected
in Bethany (John 11) which we get to know more deeply in the gospel of John, written
at the end of the first century.
In this occasion,
the woman called in Aramaic “Martha”, seems to have converted first to the preaching
of the Messiah, and invited Him into his own family house to share the gospel
with her loved ones.
Scholars think
Martha must have been either a widow or a single woman, since he lived only
with her sister and brother (If these are the same as in John 11), since no
mention of any other name of husbands, wife or children is made around them at
all.
As the one who
extended the invitation, Martha got busy preparing a meal for Lord Jesus,
possibly also his disciples and her own family, and she must have been so
occupied with this, that she complained to Jesus about her other sister Mary
who was placidly sitting near the Lord with others listening to Him, of how it
was possible that she alone was doing everything, and that Mary should come to
help her.
To this Lord
JESUS said that Martha, had invited Him into her home, but was busy doing
things of this world, instead of listening to Him, and therefore He would not take
that away from Mary who had chosen to do exactly what she was supposed to be
doing, listening words of eternal life.
IT IS NOT that
JESUS ignored the good effort of Martha, or that He was indolent towards the
workload of a good woman who was the first one that believed in Him and gave
Him lodging, that He answered like that to her.
If Martha invited
the Lord, she should have listened to Him first, before anything else; but if she
had decided to offer her service to feed them all, then she should not have
complained about that blessing. She could also hear and speak to the Lord any
other time from the days He had planed to stay in her home.
Regardless, the
point the Lord made to all of them and to us readers, is that the things of God
should take more importance in our lives than the things of this world,
regardless of how crucial they may seem to us.
This way, Jesus
also instructed Martha on this fact, so that she would understand that food
could have been served later, or that she would be rewarded in Heaven for her
altruistic effort (Matthew 24:45-46), but that to listen to the words of
eternal life was primordial to everyone there, at that time.
Omar Flores.
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