In a fictional story I’ve considered writing, the three Bethany siblings—Jesus’ friends Mary, Martha, and Lazarus—would be the children of well-off olive oil merchants. Lazarus would become the prodigal son from the parable. Mary would become the woman caught in adultery, as well as the sinful woman who anoints the feet of Jesus. My fictionalized Lazarus and Mary would, at some point, be restored and saved by Jesus.
But what about Martha?
In my story, Martha is the good one, the responsible one. Martha remains true to her family’s beliefs. She stays and keeps the home, nurses her parents in their old age. Martha watches her siblings waste their inheritance and their lives. After her parents’ deaths, Martha becomes the family matriarch.
That is the Martha I would like us to encounter in this week’s Luke passage: the one who stayed, the one who held it all together. But also the one who Jesus described as “worried and distracted by many things.”
It is not, and never was: Mary good, Martha bad. His words about worry and distraction were not an indictment of Martha, nor of her desire to maintain order and decorum in her home. Jesus knows the depths of the people He encounters. Martha needed Jesus just as much as her siblings—just not for the same reasons. When He spoke those words to Martha in real life, He knew that she, like Mary, needed to be sitting in His presence.
His words to her were an invitation.
It’s the same one He offers us: You can set down your heavy load of excessive worries and numerous distractions, the “armor” you use to cover the real you. You’re safe with Jesus. You can take the risk of allowing Him to gently remove that armor.
You can rest in Him.
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PHOTO: “A Knight in Malta” by Pattie Orr
BONUS MATERIAL
Pause and listen to Twila Paris sing about the armor we wear: “The Warrior Is a Child” (with lyrics on the screen)
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Friday morning at 8:00 we will gather on Zoom** and at Our Breakfast Place for DaySpring’s Lectionary Breakfast. We share an hour of food, fellowship, Bible discussion, and—surprising to some—laughter and joy. Together, we encounter God.
Blessings,
Steve
**Zoom link (Zoom allows you to mute the camera and the microphone if you don’t wish to be seen or heard.)
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89947678414
SCRIPTURES FOR SUNDAY AND THE COMING WEEK
Amos 8:1-12
Psalm 52
Genesis 18:1-10a
Psalm 15
Colossians 1:15-28
Luke 10:38-42
Proper 11 (16) (July 20, 2025)
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