For the Lazarus Family (John 11:5)
We do not know a great deal about the Lazarus family of Bethany. The Gospels provide us with little about them. But it seems clear that they were three unmarried adult siblings keeping house together. Probably not your typical Jewish family, but that is where Jesus chose to go whenever He came to town. John informs us that "Jesus loved Martha and her sister (Mary) and (their brother) Lazarus" (John 11:5, NIV).
Study the incident recorded in Luke 10:38-42. How do you see Jesus' handling of Martha? How, even here, do we see the loving compassion of Jesus being manifest?
Martha's request eminently seems justified. After all, the meal lay at the center of Eastern hospitality, and preparing it had to count for something. Perhaps too poor to afford servants, Martha in the kitchen needed help. In light of all this, Jesus' response to her comes across as uncharacteristically uncaring.
Perhaps the key to understanding it is to consider the wider dimension of Jesus' mission. For Jesus, nothing was ordinary, as His own parents discovered during the incident at the temple (Luke 2:48, 49). For Jesus, destiny hung upon every minute of His time with us; and in that context, kitchen work did not count, regardless of its importance.
Still, we misunderstand Jesus if we think He was unsympathetic to Martha. Quite the opposite is the case. The Gospels do not provide us with video clips of the incidents they report. We cannot see the face of Jesus as He responded to Martha. We cannot hear the pathos in His voice. Using our imagination, however; informed by what we know of Jesus elsewhere in the Gospels, we may picture Him rising from His place as He addresses Martha, affectionately calling her name twice. "Martha, Martha," He says, making His way to the kitchen, Mary following, "there's something infinitely more important than entertaining, and Mary has found it" (Luke 10:41, 42, paraphrase).
In what ways might you be in the position of Martha, so busy with the cares of this world that you forget what is really important? Most important, how can you tell if your priorities are not right?
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