Martha’s Redemption I

But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. Luke 10: 40a

My good friend Martha…I feel like we are close friends. I know her. I relate to her. I identify with her. I am her.

It never ceases to amaze me that the Word of God is as fresh and new today as it was so many centuries ago when it was first uttered and rendered eternal on paper. I firmly believe that the Lord put this passage about the famous sisters Mary and Martha in the Bible exclusively for women. God sure knows His beloved daughters. He knows we are the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. Regardless of race or nationality, I believe women around the world identify with the struggle presented in this portion of Scripture.

I’m not saying that men won’t find these verses useful; but they won’t really be able to identify as closely as women do with it. They would see the women around them in it as if looking at a family portrait. But I doubt they would be able to see themselves.

At any rate, in this scene we see Martha “distracted.” She was probably overwhelmed by all the work that needed to be done. She had gladly opened the doors of her house to the Lord; but she didn’t expect to have to take care of feeding and tending to all the visitors that had tagged along with Him. She certainly didn’t expect to have to take care of all the needed preparations by herself. I’m sure she thought she’ll have her dear sister to help her out. What does sister do? The smart thing…she finds a front row seat among the audience, right at the feet of Christ, and cares not about the minutia involved in taking care of mundane chores. Mary knew that being with Jesus was the “only” thing that really mattered.

Did that mean that the preparations were not needed? I don’t think so. Scripture points out the preparations “had to be made.” Someone had to do them. That someone was Martha. The problem was that Martha got lost in the mundane details of the event, and forgot to enjoy the actual event. It reminds me of family gatherings when we are so concentrated and worried about not burning the food and cleaning the house, that when family arrives we are cranky, tired and in such a bad mood that we don’t really enjoy the celebration. (Maybe it doesn’t happen to you, but it has happened to me more often than not : )

The thing is that Martha was “distracted.” Her eyes lost their focus, and the “one” thing that was important became a distant and blurry object. She only went to Jesus to complain about her sister and to ask Him for Holy vengeance. She knew He was the “only” one who could order Mary around. Martha plays the victim in front of Jesus and also tells Him what to do!



“Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” (Luke 10: 40b)



“Poor, poor Martha…I’ll go tell Mary, right away…” That’s what Martha was hoping to hear from Jesus. Instead, she got a reprimand and a rebuke that possibly caused her to go back into a quiet corner to sob and think alone.


“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” Luke 10: 41



Jesus did not have words of condescension for Martha. He did not play her little blame game. Of course not! He is Jesus! He knew exactly what Martha needed to hear and that’s exactly what He said. Martha needed a reminder of what is important so she can re-focus her attention onto it.

I believe Jesus also told her this because He knew she would think about it. After all, Marthas are planners, organizers, workers, thinkers. Women who identify with Martha in this passage do a lot of thinking in their daily lives. They keep lists. They check off lists. They create other lists when they are done with the previous one. They make lists for what’s coming. They make lists for what is happening. They even make lists about what already happened in case it happens again they can refer back to that list and not be caught unprepared! And list-making is just one example that illustrates how much of a thinker a Martha-type woman is.

Jesus knew she would think about this incident, so He told her what she needed to hear so later she would be able to readily recognize the truth.