Martha and Mary

[Rose]

lessons to be learned from Martha's and Mary's statement to Jesus in John 11 and Martha's serving while Mary's listening to Jesus in Luke 10

 

[David]

lessons to be learned from Martha's and Mary's statement to Jesus in John 11 and Martha's serving while Mary's listening to Jesus in Luke 10

There are some good lessons there.

In John 11, both Martha and Mary said the same thing to Jesus: “Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died” ~John 11:21, ~John 11:32. That shows they both believed Jesus had power to heal. Their faith was real, but it was still limited by what they could see. They knew Jesus could have stopped Lazarus from dying, but they had not yet grasped that He had authority even over death itself.

Jesus corrected that by pointing Martha back to Himself: “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live” ~John 11:25. The lesson is that Christ is not only able to help before death comes. He is Lord over death after it comes.

In Luke 10, Martha was serving, but she was “cumbered about much serving” ~Luke 10:40. The problem was not service itself. Serving is good when it flows from faith. The problem was that Martha became distracted, burdened, and irritated while Mary sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. Jesus said, “Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her” ~Luke 10:42.

So the point is not that listening matters and serving does not. The point is that hearing Christ must come first. If we serve without sitting under His Word, even good service can become restless, proud, and frustrated.

Martha teaches us that activity for the Lord must never replace attention to the Lord. Mary teaches us that the best place to begin is at Christ’s feet, receiving His Word. Faith hears Him first, then serves from that place.

 

[Rose]

There are some good lessons there.

In John 11, both Martha and Mary said the same thing to Jesus: “Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died” ~John 11:21, ~John 11:32. That shows they both believed Jesus had power to heal. Their faith was real, but it was still limited by what they could see. They knew Jesus could have stopped Lazarus from dying, but they had not yet grasped that He had authority even over death itself.

Jesus corrected that by pointing Martha back to Himself: “I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live” ~John 11:25. The lesson is that Christ is not only able to help before death comes. He is Lord over death after it comes.

In Luke 10, Martha was serving, but she was “cumbered about much serving” ~Luke 10:40. The problem was not service itself. Serving is good when it flows from faith. The problem was that Martha became distracted, burdened, and irritated while Mary sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. Jesus said, “Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her” ~Luke 10:42.

So the point is not that listening matters and serving does not. The point is that hearing Christ must come first. If we serve without sitting under His Word, even good service can become restless, proud, and frustrated.

Martha teaches us that activity for the Lord must never replace attention to the Lord. Mary teaches us that the best place to begin is at Christ’s feet, receiving His Word. Faith hears Him first, then serves from that place.

I thought all along that Martha had a weaker faith than Mary's but having read the 2 chapters together shows that faith can mature: from serving Jesus to truly trusting Jesus.