Luke 10:38-42; John 11:1-44; John 12:2
By Patsy Norwood ©
2024 All Rights Reserved!
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
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