Martha was a true friend of Christ, and I have barely made the effort to know Him – much less invite Him and His friends into my home…
I have been reflecting on the words of Martha when she spoke to Christ in the Gospels…
“A woman named Martha received him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving; and she went to Him and said, ‘Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.’ But the Lord answered her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things; one thing is needful. Mary has chosen the good portion, which shall not be taken away from her.’” (Luke 10:38-42).
These women, Martha and Mary were the sisters of Lazarus who Christ raised from the dead, and they were very good friends of Christ.
They were such good friends of Christ, that He very often spent time in their home. And He did not just arrive on His own, He was so comfortable with them that He was able to bring along others with Him and to use their home as a place not only to rest but also to teach His followers what would be required of them.
And in this particular exchange I have always focused on the message that Christ was delivering about what we should place importance on and how we should be more focused on God and prayer rather than anything else…
But this time when I read this story I found myself focusing on something else entirely… I found myself focusing on what Martha was doing when she came to Christ. She was telling tales. She was “dobbing” on her sister – so to speak. Now, this was a strong Jewish woman living in the Middle East twenty centuries ago. If she was anything like my mother or grandmother, she would have known that you must NEVER “air your dirty laundry in front of strangers”. And this means that she would never have spoken about a grievance like this in front of Christ unless she had a very close and intimate relationship with Him.
Now, if Christ were bad instead of good, He would have fuelled Martha’s resentment of her sister. He could have told her, actually Mary is quite lazy. And although she is right to listen to me right now, I know that at other times she is just unhelpful, and the majority of the work is falling on your shoulders. Perhaps – after all – that was the real situation behind the story and this incident that Martha was complaining about was just ONE small part of the story that needed to be addressed.
But the thing that I have focused on today is that Marth was so comfortable with Christ that she was able to talk to Him without barriers and He was able to correct her without hurt or hard-feelings. And this is only possible with GREAT LOVE in a family…
And I have been thinking about that today. For it seems that for all her faults, Martha was a true friend of Christ, and I have barely made the effort to know Him – much less invite Him and His friends into my home… And I guess, THAT is the whole point of the story after all…
For with prayer, I stand on Holy Ground where everything is clear. Here. At the Foot of the Cross.
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