Pentecost: Martha of Bethany

 Last week we looked at Mary of Bethany, sister to Martha and Lazarus. This week we meet Martha who so often gets a bad rap for being ‘too busy’ to ‘sit at Jesus’ feet.’ Martha was, really, doing the ordinary things that a housewife needs to do when there is a crowd in the house. She was preparing dinner and getting rooms ready for the guests to sleep in. She was ministering to Jesus and his friends.

I think it’s perfectly understandable that she was a bit testy about Mary just sitting with Jesus and the other men. Aside from the social restrictions mentioned last week, Mary truly wasn’t helping. The Very Rev. Kristi Maulden preached on this scene a few weeks ago. She suggested some alternative scenarios, including Jesus saying, “come on everyone, let’s help Martha.”

I wonder what might have happened if Jesus had said that. We’ve all been at family and church gatherings where the same sort of situation happens. There are the kitchen workers and there are the rest of the people sitting around and visiting. It never occurs to the kitchen workers to ask for help because they are busy and perhaps happily involved in making sure everything is perfect and the food is nice and hot. It also doesn’t cross the minds of those chatting and making everyone feel at ease to ask if there is anything they can do to help.

In fact, I suspect that those not in the kitchen have offered their help sometime in the past and been told “No, we have it all taken care of.” It’s simply sometimes easier to do it yourself than explain to someone else what needs done.

If Jesus had suggested that he and his disciples pitch in to help Martha get the food on the table and the beds made, I wonder what sort of chaos might have resulted. Perhaps it would have been a joyful time, or perhaps it would have caused more stress for Martha as she saw her wonderfully made plans being messed up.

Would she have said, “Oh no, the hummus doesn’t go in that bowl”? Or would she have let James use whatever he found? Would she have fretted that the wrong blanket was used on the special guest bed reserved for Jesus? Would she have rejoiced in the helping hands that got the meal on the table in record time, or would she have been appalled at the way it looked?

If you are a Martha, you know that you have trouble delegating tasks to someone who might do it differently (i.e. wrong). If you are a Mary, you are just as happy to not have to deal with the details of whether the fruit looks better in that bowl or on that platter.

We each have gifts. Martha’s gift was the hospitality of a homemaker. Mary’s gift was the hospitality of a listener. It’s fortunate we aren’t all alike or the table might never get set, nor would the newcomer feel welcomed because someone said ‘hello’ and asked where she was from.

The shared gifts of all of us is what makes the world work. When we try to force someone to do something they aren’t gifted at, we can both get frustrated.

Perhaps when she was less tired and frazzled from getting everything done, Martha was able to appreciate Mary’s gift of simply listening to Jesus. And maybe Mary was able to understand that Martha was just a little tired after baking all morning.

What gifts do you have that make you a Mary, or a Martha? Maybe sometimes you are one and sometimes the other…?

Pentecost: Mary of Bethany

 It was an ordinary day when Jesus came to the house of his friends Mary and Martha of Bethany. Ordinary, just like the days of the Season of Pentecost. As school preparations start, and the new school year begins, a new routine and new daily ordinary fall into place. Perhaps that’s what really happened in Bethany 2000 years ago.

We hear that Jesus arrived and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. That, in itself, is noteworthy. Martha is the head of the household and welcomes Jesus and his friends. It wasn’t her brother Lazarus or their parents. Then something even more extraordinary happens. Her sister, Mary, sat at the Lord’s feet, listening to what he taught. (Luke 10:38-39) That a woman would dare to sit in the company of men, and be taught by the rabbi was really counter-cultural. Mary was ushering in a new norm. She was setting the stage for a new ordinary. We talked about expectations earlier this month. The cultural expectation for Mary was to be a silent observer in the background, serving the men but not participating in their discussions.

Perhaps that is what makes her sister so sharp-tongued. Perhaps Martha is concerned about ‘what the neighbors will think.’ We’ll talk more about Martha next week. Today, we are looking at Mary’s actions and Jesus’ response to them.

Instead of sending Mary off to do ‘women’s work,’ he tacitly allows her to join the disciples by telling Martha There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her. (Luke 10:42)

Often the comparison is drawn between being contemplative and sitting at Jesus feet, vs. doing work. Mary was doing more than just sitting and adoring. She was listening and learning from Jesus. That gave her the ability to share the Gospel along with the men. A medieval French legend says that after the Resurrection, Mary and Martha arrive in southern France where they evangelize the population with Mary teaching, and Martha defeating a dragon with a cross and holy water!

Mary of Bethany is a woman of courage who can inspire us to step outside our normal, ordinary lives and take a step of faith. She heard and was inspired by Jesus. She set a new norm for her family.

What old normal, ordinary habits of study, prayer, work, life do you think have finished their useful life? Is God calling you into a new normal, even if it’s just a different prayer habit or taking a walk each day? Who knows where it will lead?

Walk With Jesus: Holy Week 2020-Wednesday

This week, I'll be posting a study: Walk with Jesus: Holy Week 2020. You can download the entire study, or just visit this page every day. (If you download the pdf, you should be able to print it 2 pages to a sheet (8.5 x 11) if you set it to landscape.)
We'll journey through Israel, pausing to read and reflect at various events of His life and ministry. These events took place at specific locations, so you’ll learn a bit about Israel in 30AD, too. There are questions to inspire you to meditate on your response to Jesus’ ministry and how that may be different this year due to self-isolation and social distancing. After completing the daily study, take time to reflect and journal on the questions. If you are doing this study with friends, share you insights with each other. Each session has an activity to do as well to help you move faith into action.
Close each session with the prayer in the lesson.

Opening Prayer

Lord Jesus, walk with me and open my heart to what you would have me learn from these lessons. Amen.

Power of Christ (Wednesday): Bethlehem & Bethany

Power can have many meanings and connotations. The people of Israel in Jesus’ time had good reason to fear the powerful, esp. the Romans. A soldier could coerce anyone into working. The average person had no rights. Beatings and death were common ways power was exerted. Currently, the Coronavirus has a certain power over our actions. It is also causing us to try new ways of doing things, so it is both good and bad.

Power is also positive. We need electric power to run our homes. The power of nature can awe us, even though it can be destructive. Jesus had spiritual power, which he used to heal and also to confront the religious establishment. It got him into trouble.

Do you think of Power as mostly a positive or negative thing? How about the Coronavirus?

The southern part of Israel, called Judea, was under control of the Roman procurator, Pontius Pilate. Rome had installed Pontius Pilate as procurator in 26CD to keep the fragile peace. His uses of power to keep order were hated by the Jews. It was in this area that Jesus performed his greatest works of power.

Read  Luke 13:1-9

Jesus uses the example of those killed by Pilate and by the disaster of the tower falling to urge repentance not revolt. How do you respond to evil in the world?

What good do you see could come from the current Coronavirus responses?

Bethlehem is a little town nestled in the hills five miles south of Jerusalem. It is closely linked to the capital. The name Bet Leven means House of Bread and the wheat grown here is used for the shewbread in the temple.

The nearby hills are home to the temple shepherds and their flocks. The little fat-tailed sheep that dot the hills provide lambs for the temple sacrifices. They must be entirely white, without any spot of another color. During lambing season, the numerous hill caves are used to shelter the ewes and newborn lambs from the chill spring winds.

Bethlehem is revered as the ancestral home of the family of David. No Hebrew child in Israel is unaware of the story of Ruth from Moab. This famous great-grandmother of King David came to Bethlehem with her mother-in-law, Naomi, after both women were widows. In obedience to the Law, she gleaned grain in the barley and wheat fields during the harvests. Here she met Boaz who offered her the protection of marriage.

Jesus was born in Bethlehem during the rule of Herod the Great. His birth caused a great tragedy in the area.

Read  Matthew 2:1-18

Being of the house of David was an honor to the ancient Jews. How much greater honor is it to be of the ‘house and lineage’ of Christ?

What harm do we do, knowingly or unknowingly, out of fear?

North of Bethlehem lies Bethany. This small village is almost a suburb of Jerusalem. The name means “House of Dates” because of the many date palm trees in the area. The branches are used to make the booths during the Feast of Booths (Succoth) every fall. The leaves are also used to make baskets and for thatching the roofs of the houses.

Scribes and some temple priests make their home in Bethany because it is so close to Jerusalem and the duties of the temple, without the dust and crowds of the larger city. Many wealthy families live in the estates in and around the town. 

Bethany was the home of Jesus’ friend Lazarus who he raised from the dead. This miracle was the catalyst that convinced the Jewish leaders that Jesus had to die.

Read  John 11:45-53

The priests were trying to protect the status quo. Is there something you are protecting?

Are you afraid, or do you have confidence in Christ at this time?

Take Action:

Prayer is a powerful activity. Use the Doxology and pray through the alphabet, adding 3 or 4 things for each letter that offer praise to God. For instance, for ‘A’:

Praise God from whom all blessing flow, praise God all [anteaters, anglers, angels, and albatross].

Praise God above you heavenly host, Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

(Then continue with ‘B’, ‘C’, etc.)

Prayer Today

 Lord Christ, I want you to be in charge of my life, but I can become fearful that you will ask too much of me, so I try to save my life just like the Roman and Jewish leaders did. Help me to trust you with my life. Amen.

Prayer for Wednesday of Holy Week

Lord God, whose blessed Son our Savior gave his body to be whipped and his face to be spit upon: Give us grace to accept joyfully the sufferings of the present time, confident of the glory that shall be revealed; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

Kingship of Christ

What words, thoughts, feelings come to mind when you think of “king,” “ruler,” “soveriegn”? What about the term “monarchy”?

The southern part of Israel, called Judea, was the homeland of the historic kings of Israel, starting with David. Although the kingdom divided into Judah in the south and Israel in the north around 922BC, the people still remembered the glorious days of David. Messiah, prophecied and longed for, would restore the Kingdom and usher in a new and glorious reign.

Even though the area of Judea was given by Herod the Great to his son Archelaus, Rome exiled the inept king to Gaul because too many riots and incidents of civil unrest plagued his ten-year rule. Rome installed a procurator to keep the fragile peace. Pontius Pilate was installed in the year 26CE. The Roman presence was hated and the Roman fortress of Antonia was a constant reminder of the Roman occupation, overlooking the Temple itself.

As Jesus moved into Judea, toward the capital, he knew he would be challenged. He confronted the priests and rulers of the people with his parables and was perceived as a threat to the status quo. Some of these conversations are found in Luke 20:1-41.

Bethlehem is where it all started, in a stable 30 some years earlier. It is not recorded in the Gospels that Jesus ever returned to Bethlehem, but the town was important to all Jews as the ancestral home of King David. It was also the prophesied birthplace of Messiah. Jesus’ birth there was a link to the lineage of David-the once and future king. (Matthew 1:1-18) This postcard image from 1886 is an artist's rendering of the town at that time.

Bethlehem is a little town nestled in the hills five miles south of Jerusalem. It was closely linked to the capital. The name Bet Leven means House of Bread and the wheat grown here was used for the shewbread in the temple. The nearby hills were home to the temple shepherds and their flocks. The little fat-tailed sheep were raised to provide the lambs for the temple sacrifices. The animals for the sacrifice had to be entirely white, without any spot of another color. During lambing season, the numerous hill caves were used to shelter the ewes and newborn lambs from the chill spring winds.

North of Bethlehem lies Bethany. This small village is almost a suburb of Jerusalem. The name means House of Dates and indeed there are many date palm trees in the area. Scribes and some temple priests made their home in Bethany because it was close to Jerusalem and the duties of the temple, without the dust and crowds of the larger city. Many wealthy families lived in the estates in and around the town.

Bethany was home to friends of Jesus-Lazarus and his sisters. It is not surprising that he stayed here while visiting Jerusalem. His raising of Lazarus offered proof of his supreme power and was a threat to the rulers of the day. (John 11:1-44 )45-53. This miracle was the catalyst that convinced the Jewish leaders that Jesus had to die.

During class this week we had a very lively discussion, especially about “protecting the vineyard” (i.e. church, tradition, faith). It is a struggle to know how to be ‘good stewards’ of the vineyard. The priests of Jesus’ time were trying to protect the faith and life of Israel. Caiphas prophecied, “it is expedient for you that one man should die for the people and that the whole nation should not perish.” In his efforts to maintain the peace with Rome and preserve the nation of Israel, he was willing to hand over this troublemaking rabbi to death. We talked about the difficulty of determining where, when, and how to stand up for God vs. trusting God to bring everything to the proper conclusion. What are your answers to these questions?

The parable of the vineyard was a warning to the religious leaders of Israel. Are there ways you try to protect you corner of the vineyard?


Being of the house of David was an honor to the ancient Jews. How much greater honor is it to be of the ‘house and lineage’ of Christ?


Where is Christ’s reign found in your ministry?

Next week we will look at the Passover and Last Supper.