I wonder if Martha Stewart was named for Mary’s sister in the biblical account from the gospels? I’ve never viewed Martha as a bad guy. Jesus did correct her but He corrects me too. He wanted her to stop fussing. A detailed account is found in John 11:1-44. Martha was probably a nice lady who took care of people and hosted great dinners, but we learn that Jesus wanted more for her. In the passage, Mary is identified as ‘that Mary who anointed the Lord with fragrant oil and wiped His feet with her hair’. Her action was viewed by Judas as a waste of oil/money. Have you ever felt skeptical of someone’s spiritual experience because it is not your own? My greatest skepticism was at a local evangelistic service, around 2000. I made a sincere effort to believe the new converts from the meeting claiming that they had gold teeth (or teeth with gold) that was not there before they converted. I know God can do anything but I could not find that miracle in the Bible so I dismissed it with suspicion. If you are one of those people please reach out and let’s have a chat. At that time, as a ‘faithful’ follower of Jesus, my family was quite strapped for money and gold teeth had never been mentioned in my prayer life. Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. Jesus’ disciples warn Him not to go to that region since the Jews tried to stone Him on the last trek. I’ve always pictured Martha as older and bigger than Mary without any evidence of that. Why was Thomas called the Twin? The account also gives us his name as Didymus, derived from Aramaic and Greek words meaning twin. I also read (and had never heard) that some think Thomas looked like Jesus but that seems farfetched. Martha shows great faith in telling Jesus that Lazarus would not have died if he had arrived sooner and then, “whatever You ask of God, God will give you”. In verse 27 she makes the most strait forward confession of Jesus being the expected Christ, the Son of the Living God. Next, Jesus calls for Mary. Martha met Jesus – Mary fell at His feet. Both believe but one shows more reverence. There is an unusual phrase here that Jesus was ‘groaning in Himself’. Is that describing His sadness at the loss of His dear friend? When Jesus asked that the grave stone be removed He just prays and thanks God for listening before anything else. Here is where the split decision happens again. Some see and believe and others see and disbelieve. That’s it. That is the world we live in today. So, here we are in the future, looking back at this amazing account and answering yes or no to faith in Jesus. Martha had faith different from Mary but in the same Jesus. Don’t kick yourself if you are one and not the other. Just be open to what Jesus has in store for you next and who created you and knows you best.
