Mary and Martha, NOT, Mary or Martha
Who says, we’re either a Mary or a Martha? Why can’t we be the best of both? It’s like when we have our family get-togethers. I prepare and ready our home (kind hospitality). When we are through eating the meal, the men clear the table and do the dishes (sometimes daughter, daughter-in-law, niece help clear the table). But for the most part, the guys clean up. Don’t ask me how this tradition came about, it just happened. The best part is, I get to play with the grand-kids and nephews (building relationships).
Yesterday we learned that Martha kindly showed hospitality to Jesus. A very nice, positive thing for her to do. We learned that her sister Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard his word, placed herself in a position to understand Jesus. The word “also” has caught my attention. Could it be that Mary had been helping Martha until Jesus started to speak? Then “she (also) sat at his feet and listened“.
Let’s look at verse 40. “But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to him (Jesus), and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? bid her therefore that she help me.” Oh my, can you imagine tattling to Jesus about your sister?
The word “was”, in front of the word cumbered, is another one of those words that is hard to translate. It indicates continuous action in the past, just as the word “sat” in verse 39 did. The ‘Greek word for cumbered is “Perispao. It means distracted”. This could mean that being distracted was a lifestyle for Martha. This may not have been the first time Martha became distracted about much serving. Here, the ‘Greek word for serving is ” ‘Diakonia. Its meaning is: a form of labor that involves compassionate love in benefiting others.” The next part is very interesting. Martha says to the Lord, “don’t you care that my sister is not helping me to serve“? The ‘Greek word for serve in this instance is ‘Diakoneo and it means to wait upon, with the emphasis on the work to be done and not on the relationship between lord and servant. Next, Martha says to the Lord, “Bid her to help me”. Tell her to get up and do some of the work around here (I added that). ‘Greek translations from The Hebrew-Greek Key Study Bible
Here is a comment that I just now read: “A careful reading of the context shows us that Mary had been in the kitchen with Martha until Jesus started teaching. Note Martha said that her sister had left her alone to do all the serving.” Author Unknown
Today, ponder verse 40. Think about the above statement by the unknown author. The statement is very thought provoking, especially since the same thought came to my mind earlier. But, my focus is on the life of “The Disciple” and the lessons to learn from Jesus’ conversations with Mary and Martha.
For tomorrow write down your thoughts, according to what the Holy Spirit is revealing to you about Mary and Martha.
This entry was posted on Wednesday, January 6th, 2010 at 10:28 pm and is filed under Bible Studies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
