38 As they were traveling along, Jesus went into a village. A woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. 39 She had a sister named Mary. Mary sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to him talk.
40 But Martha was upset about all the work she had to do. So she asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work all by myself? Tell her to help me.”
41 The Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha! You worry and fuss about a lot of things. 42 There’s only one thing you need. Mary has made the right choice, and that one thing will not be taken away from her.”
Read Luke 10:38-42 in context and/or in other translations on BibleGateway.com!
While more than one of the four gospels shares about Jesus’ close friends Mary, Martha, and Lazarus, the gospel of Luke appears to share briefly about the first time Jesus met this group of adult siblings. In Luke’s gospel, we have a short passage that focuses in on the two sisters and how each of them has very different personalities.
But while reading this passage, I was amazed to notice a detail that is often completely overlooked. I have not ever seen this or heard anyone talk about it before. Luke tells us specifically that “As they were traveling along, Jesus went into a village. A woman named Martha welcomed him into her home.” (v. 38)
This is significant to pay attention to because I don’t think many women owned real estate at that time. Because none of the gospels share anything about these sisters having husbands, part of me wonders if they were single or widowed.
However, the specific detail is that Martha was the one who did the inviting. Martha typically gets picked on for playing the hostess role and for not ignoring the details to simply listen to Jesus, but we often miss the huge detail that if Martha had not invited Jesus into her home, neither one of these sisters may have gotten the opportunity to meet Him and become friends with Him.
In this passage, Martha is in some ways a hero, because she stepped out and invited Jesus and His disciples to stay with her. Mary gets to be the hero regarding setting priorities, while Martha is the hero for being the one to invite Jesus into her home.
Martha’s actions in this passage challenge me, because I am not naturally outgoing and am too shy to invite strangers (or even celebrities) into my home. I am more like Mary in that I can easily sit and simply listen to the conversations other people are speaking in and simply learn from what they are saying. If I were to invite others home, I might be Martha-like if no-one is paying attention to the details, but if someone else has the details under control, then I am happy to enjoy the company.
Perhaps the lesson for us in this passage is not just to prioritize well, but also to be open to inviting others into our lives. Both sisters display this big truth in their time with Jesus.
This thought was inspired by studying the Walking With Jesus “Reflective Bible Study” package. To discover insights like this in your own study time, click here and give Reflective Bible Study a try today!
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