Calling and Purpose 23—Martha—Yes, You are the Messiah

We meet Martha three times—described in the Gospel of Luke, Chapter 10, and the Gospel of John, Chapters 11 and 12.  When we first encounter her, Jesus has been busy selecting, training and sending out the 72 disciples, debriefing them, teaching, encountering opposition, and traveling.  He and some disciples arrive in Bethany and the text says “Martha opened her home to him” (Luke 10:38).

 Martha evidently had the gift of hospitality, and perhaps giving or maybe helps. Not just from this passage, but we see also in John 12 that Martha served dinner in Jesus’ honor—again in her home—just prior to his death.  She is likely aware of Jesus’ pace of life and ministry and His need for rest, nourishment, time inside her home.

 However, as the story goes, Martha gets called out for being the activist/achiever type—frantically racing about in order to provide the best for Jesus and His friends.  Martha, we are told, is “distracted by all the preparations that had to be made.”  Meanwhile, Mary, the contemplative sister, is sitting at Jesus’ feet hanging on His every word, apparently also oblivious to Martha’s frenzy.  Martha comes to Jesus and asks, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”

 Jesus’ response to Martha: “you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. [or but only one thing is needed.] Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

 It’s not that Jesus chastised Martha for hosting the meal or opening her home. Dinner still needed to be prepared. Martha likely still served Jesus and His friends, hopefully Mary joined in to help her clean up. But, perhaps Martha was able to take a breath, put things in perspective, slow down and appreciate Jesus’ presence.

 We then see mention of Martha just before her brother, Lazarus dies.  Jesus is in Jerusalem for the Festival of Dedication—encountering opposition to His claim to be the Messiah--and Martha and Mary send him word that their brother Lazarus is very ill. Jesus chooses not to go—for two more days--even though Bethany was less than an hour’s walk away.

 After the Luke story where preachers for decades have vilified Martha and revered her sister Mary, it’s interesting to note that John 11:5 mentions Martha (not Mary) by name:  “Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus.”  

 Martha hears that Jesus is finally on His way (Lazarus has been entombed for four days), and goes out to meet him, while Mary stays back. “Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died” (v. 31). Mary, in verse 32, says exactly the same thing.  However, Mary stops there.  Martha continues on in great faith even in grief:  “But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”

 Jesus tells Martha “Your brother will rise again,” and Martha answers with confidence “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”

 Then Jesus offers her one of His I AM statements:  “I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die; and whoever lives by believing in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

 And, Martha, in that moment, even overcome with grief for her dead brother, gives one of the greatest statements of faith we see in all of the Gospels:  “Yes, Lord,” she replied, “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.” In the midst of the swirling controversy over who Jesus is, Martha knows Jesus is THE ONE. 

 Martha has paid attention to Jesus—to His words, to His ministry, to His healing and miracles—enough that she proclaims Him Messiah.  God’s Own Son. Apparently, Martha isn’t always frantic.  In fact, she shows greater understanding than Jesus’ own disciples.

 Jesus then raises Lazarus from the dead to the great joy of the family but to the consternation of those who now double down on their plot to kill Him.  As a result, “Jesus no longer moved about publicly among the people of Judea. Instead he withdrew to a region near the wilderness, to a village called Ephraim, where he stayed with his disciples.”

 Then comes Passover.  Jesus comes out of hiding six days before the Passover and returns to Bethany—to the home of Martha, Lazarus, and Mary.  John 12:2 says “Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him.” We have no mention that Jesus corrected Martha for racing around preparing this time. Perhaps that one conversation with Jesus was all it took.  More likely, her awareness that Jesus was God in the flesh put things in right perspective for her.

·       What are your gifts?  Hospitality?  Giving?  Helps?  

·       How can you use those to serve others and give God glory?

·       Where are you focused on yourself, on the distractions or the preparations, to the exclusion of time with Jesus?

·       How can you develop and use your God-given gifts, live into your calling and purpose, and maintain perspective without burning yourself out?

 If you aren’t familiar with your gifts—which help give shape and substance to your purpose and calling, take the free online assessment.

 For more on these subjects, see the Gifts-Calling-Purpose blog.  Check out other resources and a six-week workbook at GodGiftsYou.com.

Shirley Giles Davis, author of the God. Gifts. You. Your Unique Calling and Design workbook, is a consultant, coach, facilitator who has worked with faith-based organizations, nonprofit agencies, and law enforcement leadership for over 30 years.  Shirley has been EquipConnectServe Director at First Pres Boulder since 1999.  She has worked with leaders and organizations in 47 of the United States as well as having clients outside the U.S.  Contact Shirley.