Martha! Martha! ... Growing in her Faith, Lesson 2

Martha, Martha! … Growing In Her Faith

Luke 10:38-42; John 11:1-44; John 12:2

By Patsy Norwood  © 2024  All Rights Reserved!

Lesson 2

In lesson 1 we were introduced to Martha as she played hostess in her home to none other than Jesus.  We concluded that she did all the right things in making Jesus comfortable, but and there was a 'but', wasn't there ...

That's where we're going to pick up this week beginning with verse 39 ...

And she had a sister called Mary, who was also seated at the Lord’s feet, and was listening to His word.

Let's look at this verse closely and get a picture in our mind of what's happening from Martha's perspective.  Martha is playing hostess, likely moving around the house setting things in order for a meal and Mary, her sister is not helping.

40 But Martha was distracted with all her preparations; and she came up to Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do the serving by myself? Then tell her to help me.”

Can't you just see Martha getting more agitated as she works to get everything that she deems necessary done ... by herself ... with no help from Mary.

From Martha's point of view, Mary should have been helping her ... after all this was Mary's home and responsibility too!

Maybe inwardly Martha was wishing she could be sitting at Jesus’ feet with Mary, but then she would have also realized that somebody had to prepare the meal which would have fit with Martha’s ‘take charge, get it done’ personality.

It was a great day in Martha, Mary’s and Lazarus’ home when Jesus came for this visit, and I think we can safely assume that Martha was eager to please with the very best she could do.  So, she rushed and fussed and cooked and when she couldn’t stand it any longer, she marched herself into the Lord's presence and let all her frustration towards Mary and her seemly rude and lazy behavior burst out in one question … “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do the serving by myself?”

Can't you just hear the anger in that question or maybe the pleading?  She's not only complaining about her sister and casting her in a bad light, but she's insinuating that the Lord doesn't care about her!  It seems that she’s really worked herself into a tizzy!  She allowed herself to get caught up in her emotions instead of looking objectively at the situation.  She let her sense of being ‘wronged’ take priority in her heart.  In essence, she made this about herself.

And then she dares to tell the Lord to tell Mary to help her!!!

Let's just sit on this for a few minutes ...

Martha wants the Lord to call Mary out and make her do what she (Martha) thinks she (Mary) SHOULD be doing!

Martha, Martha, Martha … good and faithful Martha …

Can’t we all just see ourselves in her at times?

So focused on what we want …

So focused on what we think should be done …

So focused on our perspective of what’s going on …

So focused on the business of life …

That we momentarily forget the most important thing.

That’s where I’m going to leave you in this lesson, next week, we’ll see Jesus' response to Martha's outburst. 

I hope you’ve enjoyed today's lesson.  Don't forget to leave a comment and if you're enjoying this study, please share the link with other ladies who you think might enjoy it as well.

Until the next class …

patsy @ From This Heart of Mine

Sources used for this study:

Various translations of the Holy Bible

Various commentaries

Dictionary of New Testament Background, Editors: Craig A Evans & Stanley E. Porter

Archaeological Study Bible

All the Women of the Bible by Edith Deen

Daughters of Eve by Lottie Beth Hobbs

Halley’s Bible Handbook by H. H. Halley

Who’s Who in the Bible by Philip Comfort & Walter A. Elwell

Martha! Martha! ... Growing in her Faith, Lesson 1

Martha, Martha! … Growing In Her Faith

Luke 10:38-42; John 11:1-44; John 12:2

By Patsy Norwood  © 2024  All Rights Reserved!

Lesson 1

Martha is mentioned three times in the Bible and throughout this study, we’re going to look at all three instances.

Let’s start with Luke 10: 38-42, verse by verse, here we go …

Verse 38 … Now as they were traveling along, He entered a village; and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home.

This scene most likely took place during a short visit to Jerusalem at the Feast of Dedication and we know from last week’s lesson that the name of the village was Bethany and that it was located about 2 miles outside of Jerusalem.

Who are the ‘they’ mentioned in this verse?  In Luke 10:23, we see that Jesus’ disciples were with Him, did they accompany Him into the house of Martha, Mary and Lazarus or did Jesus’ steal away for a visit with this trio?  The Bible doesn’t tell us.

What we do know is that Martha welcomed Him into her home and that’s where we get our first glimpse of her in action.

I wonder how she welcomed Him.  Did she greet Him with a smile and kind words?  Did she offer Him the most comfortable place in her home to sit and rest?  Did she follow that with an offer of something to drink while He rested and she went to prepare a meal, or maybe she provided a bowl of water and cloth for Him to wash His feet which was the custom at that time.  Traveler’s feet were often tired, dusty and dirty as walking was a chief mode of transportation.  It was considered an act of hospitality to offer items to the traveler to clean his/her feet when one visited in a home.  As to how Martha actually greeted Jesus, we don't know, the Bible doesn’t tell us, but we can rest assured it was done in such a way that Jesus felt like He could continue coming back again and again.

It all sounds so warm and welcoming, doesn’t it?  All of those things are very good and hospitable, aren’t they?  From someone who does a lot of visiting and traveling, I can tell you that the hospitable hostess is quite the blessing and might I add, a gift from God.  So, I think we can all agree that Martha is doing what Martha should be doing at this point.

For some being hospitable comes naturally; for others it’s a skill to be learned.  I Peter 4:9 tells us to be hospitable to one another without complaint.  Being hospitable is a whole other subject to study that we won’t do here, but I hope you can see the importance it plays in growing God’s kingdom as we continue in our study.

Secular history indicates that Martha was the oldest of her siblings.  As we will see her actions indicate that she had a lot of the attributes of a firstborn child:  take charge (note that Martha was the first one to welcome Jesus into her home), diligent, maybe a little bit of a perfectionist, leader, reliable, conscientious, responsible and a list maker/planner to name a few.

Obviously, Martha was doing a good job in her role as hostess as Jesus visited their home often.  Martha was doing what she had most likely been raised to believe was her responsibility.  She was doing what she thought was expected of her and she was doing it well.  Jesus knew He had a warm and welcoming place to come to whenever He needed it so let’s give Martha a high five for providing this most important place of refuge for our Lord.

However, sometimes the path to growing our faith takes us down roads that can be a bit hard to travel.  It seems Martha is about to start down one of those roads.

We can safely assume that Martha was a believer, but she had some growing to do ... as we all do at one time or another.

That’s where I’m going to leave you in this lesson, next week, we’ll move on to verse 39 and begin there. 

How do you picture Martha welcoming our Lord into her home?  I mean, He wasn’t just anybody He was the promised Messiah!

I hope you’ve enjoyed today's lesson.  Don't forget to leave a comment and if you're enjoying this study, please share the link with other ladies who you think might enjoy it as well.

Until the next class …

patsy @ From This Heart of Mine

Sources used for this study:

Various translations of the Holy Bible

Various commentaries

Dictionary of New Testament Background, Editors: Craig A Evans & Stanley E. Porter

Archaeological Study Bible

All the Women of the Bible by Edith Deen

Daughters of Eve by Lottie Beth Hobbs

Halley’s Bible Handbook by H. H. Halley

Who’s Who in the Bible by Philip Comfort & Walter A. Elwell

Martha, Martha ... Growing In Her Faith!

Martha, Martha! … Growing In Her Faith

Luke 10:38-42; John 11:1-44; John 12:2

By Patsy Norwood  © 2024  All Rights Reserved!

Introduction

Martha is often looked upon as less spiritual than Mary her sister.   Can you be older, less emotional, and have a ‘take charge, seemingly no nonsense’ personality and still have a heart for God?  Did Martha … we’re about to find out!

Some people are natural dynamos of activity while others are naturally quiet.  In our study of Mary, Martha’s sister, we took a look at Mary’s seemingly quiet personality.   In this study of Martha, we’re going to see that Martha’s personality is seemingly quite the opposite, in fact we might file her under the personality type of ‘doers, shakers and movers!’ The good news is that God needs both personalities, both can be servants of God and He loves both!

I’ve titled this study, ‘Martha, Martha! … Growing In Her Faith’ because I feel like that’s what she did.  With that as our theme, we’re going to go on a journey to see how she did just that ...  grow in her faith.

Aren’t we all works in progress, aren’t we all growing in our faith?  If we’re not, we should be!  It's my prayer that as we take this journey with Martha that we learn from her and grow in our own faith as well.

We’re going to start this study with a refresher on the background, much of which is a repeat of our study on Mary.  I believe that if we know the background, we can better understand the context.  Let’s get started …

Introduction and Background

Bethany (located in modern day Palestine) was a small village just outside of Jerusalem.  In John 11:18, we learn that it was actually about 2 miles outside of Jerusalem on the southeastern side of the Mount of Olives. Today, we would refer to it as a suburb of Jerusalem.

Jesus passed through Bethany several times on his way to and from Jerusalem where our lady of choice for this study lived along with her two siblings, Mary and Lazarus. Did they all live in the same house?  Secular history seems to indicate that they did and if we take into consideration the events recorded in John (which we’ll do later in the study), it does appear that they all belonged to one household. 

Speculation is that Martha was older than Mary and was more practical and unemotional.  Mary, on the other hand, was younger, seemingly quiet, impassioned, and imaginative.  Speculation goes on to include that Martha likely was a widow and that Mary had never married.

Whether speculation is correct or not, it's clear we are dealing with two opposite personalities. 

Indications are that Martha, Mary and Lazarus were somewhat wealthy evidenced by their owning a family tomb and having the ability to purchase costly ointment.  It seems that they were well-known as well.  

To help us better understand the back story/background of this study, we need to take a brief look at the history of Jewish hospitality. 

The following was taken from the Dictionary of New Testament Background, Editors Craig A. Evans & Stanley E. Porter:

Following the exile, most Jews lived outside of the Holy Land, and many of these made pilgrimages to Jerusalem.   At least one of the synagogues in Jerusalem was built in such a way as to address this situation; in an inscription, Theodotus claims that he built ‘the guesthouse and the rooms and the water supplies as an inn for those who have need when they come from abroad.’

Roman roads were built in Palestine, and inns offering hospitality for a fee appeared soon thereafter (Luke 10:34-35; see also 2:7).  Yet the emphasis in Judaism remained on the exercise of private hospitality, especially to aliens and strangers (Deut 10:17-19), as an obligation that was enjoined by the Torah (Lev 19:33-34) and underscored by the depiction of Yahweh as the protector of strangers.  Hospitality was viewed as a byproduct of personal piety toward God, and Josephus’s depiction of the pious Essenes accordingly gave emphasis to their hospitality.

To practice hospitality, therefore, was worthy of praise, even self-praise (Job 31:32), whereas the failure to do so evoked condemnation (Job 22:7), especially in circles where hospitality was regarded as superior to fasting (Is 58: 6-7).  For models of hospitality and inhospitality, Jews of the Greco-Roman period drew heavily on the Old Testament.

Could this attitude towards hospitality have been the starting point of the relationship Jesus had with Martha, Mary and Lazarus.  We know that Jesus, along with His disciples made many trips in, around, to and from Jerusalem.  They needed places to sleep, rest and get refreshed.  To me, it almost seems like the perfect beginning, what do you think?

Next week, we’ll open our Bible to Luke 10: 38-42 and dive in.  I hope you’re as excited about this study as I am!

I hope you’ve enjoyed today's lesson.  Don't forget to leave a comment and if you're enjoying this study, please share the link with other ladies who you think might enjoy it as well.

Until the next class …

patsy @ From This Heart of Mine

Sources used for this study:

Various translations of the Holy Bible

Various commentaries

Dictionary of New Testament Background, Editors: Craig A Evans & Stanley E. Porter

Archaeological Study Bible

All the Women of the Bible by Edith Deen

Daughters of Eve by Lottie Beth Hobbs

Halley’s Bible Handbook by H. H. Halley

Who’s Who in the Bible by Philip Comfort & Walter A. Elwell