We honor Martha both for her complete faith and for her cooking for twelve men who dropped in on her.

Friday, 7/29/16

Both St. Luke and St. John spoke of Martha in their Gospels, with St. Luke picturing her as so close to Jesus, and so capable, and so generous a friend that he could drop in on her with twelve men anxious to eat.

Luke pictured Martha as preparing the big meal all by herself while her sister Mary sat at the feet of Jesus, letting Martha do all the work. When Martha complained about this to Jesus, he said, “Martha, Martha, Mary has chosen the better part, and it will not be taken from her.”

The story is always told to show that praying is more important than anything else we can do. However, it might have been that Jesus was laughing over Mary’s being so true to her reputation as a spoiled younger sister that there was nothing anyone could do about her. She was free to pray any time at all, but she shouldn’t have stuck her sister with all the work.

In the Gospel, Martha’s brother Lazarus had lain three days dead in the tomb when Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life, whoever believes in me even if he dies shall live. Do you believe this?”

Martha believed it all the way, and she said, “You are the Christ, the Son of God, the one who is coming on to the world.”

The story leaves me envious of Martha’s complete faith?