Martha, Martha

How would you feel if Jesus showed up at your house?  And not alone, but with 10-12 of his friends, all of them tired and hungry from traipsing around the dusty countryside.

Christ in the House of Martha and Mary, Johannes Vermeer, before 1654–1655, oil on canvas (National Gallery of Scotland, Edinburgh) – Mary is seated at the feet of Jesus “"Almost all his paintings", Hans Koningsberger wrote, "are apparently set in two smallish rooms in his house in Delft; they show the same furniture and decorations in various arrangements and they often portray the same people, mostly women “ [Wikipedia

Reading from the Gospel according to Luke, at 8:00 mass, Friday, July 22, the Feast Day of St. Martha [i]:

Luke 10:38-42

38 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village[ii] where a woman named Martha opened her home to him.

39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said.

40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”

41 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things,

42 but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

The priest who said the mass (not one I recognized) delivered a glib and uncharacteristically humorous homily—more like a comedy monologue--beginning: “My name is Martha and I’m a workaholic.” He went on to portray Martha, and those like her back in that day, even into the present, whose role is to do the preparation and work for big events. In this case, the priest imagined her organizing the Sermon on the Mount. First, she (or someone like her) would have to reserve the venue. After all, the Mount may already have been reserved for another event. Then she’d have to print and distribute the flyers. And then make sure there were enough Porta-Potties for the assemblage and supervise their placement—neither too close nor too far from the crowd. And make sure that the Lord’s podium was visible to all and that the acoustics were good, etc.

It was Friday and the turnout for this particular early mass was pretty good—maybe 50-60. By the end of his monologue, the priest had everyone chuckling. Maybe we weren’t expecting the humor. His point was not exactly original: If you get distracted by practical necessities, however good your intentions, you might be missing something more important. [iii]

I had a strange emotional moment at the very end of his homily. I got a lump in my throat and started choking back tears; no idea why. It was entirely involuntary, similar to my reaction when I see and hear live bagpipers.

I wondered about three adjectives in the passage that seemed to me perhaps unduly modernized.

Distracted, verse 40

KJV gives “cumbered.” --nice word, but a bit obsolete.

Greek is περιεσπᾶτο, a verb (passive), “Was distracted”

Worried and upset, verse 41

KJV gives “careful” and “troubled.”

Greek is μεριμνᾷς (v. “be anxious”) καὶ θορυβάζῃ ( “and troubled” )[iv]

Far be it for me to put words in the Lord’s (or Luke’s) mouth. But these are all translations anyway, and if it were up to me, I’d go with preocccupied for περιεσπᾶτο, anxious for μεριμνᾷς, and disturbed for θορυβάζῃ.

With all that, I think the adjectives in each version give a fair approximation of how Martha was feeling, or at least how the Lord perceived her feelings, or at the very least how Luke interpreted the encounter:

What strikes me now, as I reflect again, is how Martha seemed not to be overawed by the Lord’s presence in her house. She felt familiar enough to him to express her feelings openly, even at the risk of his mild rebuke, which was in fact forthcoming.

What the scripture does not include is what Martha felt and thought after Jesus spoke to her. A modern woman, at least one of them who trained me back in the early 1970s, might consider the Lord’s remarks to be condescending or patronizing.

Here’s how I imagine the following verses:

43b And hearing the Lord’s words, Martha’s face did grow red from his reproach.

44b And she did grumble inwardly, and wax sarcastic, thinking: Well it is for sister Mary, who loungeth comfortably and soaketh up the Lord’s teaching. But she worketh not.

45b Meanwhile, there is much to do around this house to feed Him and His disciples. And no one but Martha, Martha to do the work. Indeed, it would be well if there were two Marthas, or even more.

46b Unless indeed our Lord were to work another of his miracles and have the dinner prepare itself, and then clean up afterwards.

[i] Also for her siblings Mary and Lazarus, much more about whom occurs elsewhere in Scripture.


[ii] Identified elsewhere as Bethany, about two miles from Jerusalem. Perhaps most famous as the place where Lazarus was resurrected by Jesus.


[iii] See also, for example, Mary and Martha Bible Story Teaches Us About Priorities (learnreligions.com)


[iv] I found a nice reference too online, with each Greek word defined: Luke 10:41 Interlinear: And Jesus answering said to her, 'Martha, Martha, thou art anxious and disquieted about many things, (biblehub.com)