Martha

Service With a Smile

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Six days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served.  John 12:1

At the first time when Martha had Jesus in her home and she began to complain about her sister Jesus corrected her. Yet Jesus didn’t say, “Stop what you are doing and sit down with Mary!” Jesus said, “Stop being anxious in the midst of all your activity.”  Each of us have different days that lie ahead. Some will have a quiet day listening. Some will have pain, problems and unanswered questions to deal with. Some of us simply feel like we are drowning in busyness.

At their second encounter Jesus meets Martha outside of Bethany. She had sent for Him when Lazarus had been sick. Lazarus had grown weaker and weaker then died and Martha had buried him and wondered why Jesus had not come. In her grief-stricken state she met Jesus as He after He finally showed up saying what many of us tell God today, “If you had been here my brother would not have died!” But there in her sorrow, her brokenness and even a touch of anger Jesus gave her the words, “I Am the resurrection and the life!” Those words were given only to Mp1030030artha. They were the special message Jesus had just for her! So if you wish you could be more like Mary or Lazarus and even your best efforts seem a failure don’t give up. In each of our lives Jesus comes with the words we need. Mary hears them at the feet of Jesus. Lazarus listens quietly at His side and Martha smiles and remembers them as she sets the food on the table, filled with gratitude for all He has done!

 

 

Serving the Master’s Table

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Six days before the Passover, Jesus therefore came to Bethany, where Lazarus was, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served.  John 12:1

Mary gets all the good press in most of today’s Bible teaching but we need to remember that Jesus also loved Martha and Lazarus. Lazarus the faithful silent brother, Mary the quiet and shy listener, and Martha the enthusiastic servant, each held a special place in the great heart of our Master. If you are one who speaks their mind without pause and who wishes others would help out more because you are overwhelmed by your activities then you need to know that you are greatly loved by Jesus Christ.
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Just two days before the last supper and the cross Jesus was given a banquet apparently hosted by Martha though the Gospel of Mark tells us it was at Simon the leper’s house. Martha seems often to have been at the hub of activity.  Remember that it was she who first invited Jesus to her home in Bethany and served him while her sister Mary sat listening. Jesus lovingly takes us each as we  are. He doesn’t expect us who are like Martha to suddenly change into an eager listening Mary or a silent Lazarus. Yet in His acceptance Jesus does begin a sometimes painful work of transformation.

The Fragrance of the Perfume

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Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair. And the house was filled withoctober-04-assorted-001 the fragrance of the oil          John 12:3

While Hollywood has generally given us the impression that Mary was a young beautiful woman, that may not have been the reality. In that time even poor young beautiful women would have been married and Mary was not poor. While we do not know Mary’s age it seems possible that she and Martha were both widows, living with their brother Lazarus. That would give us an entirely different view than the film version. In this scene we meet a Mary who kept all her savings in that perfume jar. It acted as something of a retirement account. As she grew older with no marital prospects, no way to work or even the right to own property that perfume was all she had besides the kindness of her brother. She was presenting  that gift in a single defining moment as her worship and expression of love to the Lord Jesus.

As the fragrance filled the room people began one by one to realize how exorbitant and yes even a little crazy what Mary was doing really was! Her family and friends were shocked but silent. Then one by one the disciples, beginning with Judas,  began to protest. “Why wasn’t this sold …and given to the poor?”

But Jesus knew Mary’s heart and while she remained silently at His feet He defended her. Today we have little to describe how Peter or John, Andrew or Phillip worshiped, but Mary’s act remains as the Bible’s best example of how we should be after 2,000 years. In a way that costly perfume continues to fill each of our rooms with its fragrance!