Mary & Martha

Today the Church remembers two sisters who were friends of Jesus, Mary and Martha.  What we know of them comes directly from the Gospels.  One of the most familiar stories in found in Luke’s Gospel:

 

Now as they went on their way, he entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, ‘Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.’ But the Lord answered her, ‘Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.’ (Lk. 10:38-42).

 

In John’s Gospel we read of Martha’s deep faith at a time when she was in grief mourning the death of her brother Lazarus:

 

When Jesus arrived, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. Now Bethany was near Jerusalem, some two miles away, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them about their brother. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him, while Mary stayed at home. Martha said to Jesus, ‘Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask of him.’ Jesus said to her, ‘Your brother will rise again.’ Martha said to him, ‘I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.’ Jesus said to her, ‘I am the resurrection and the life.* Those who believe in me, even though they die, will live, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?’ She said to him, ‘Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.’ (Jn. 11:17-25).

 

Regarding Mary, in John we read:

 

Six days before the Passover Jesus came to Bethany, the home of Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. There they gave a dinner for him. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those at the table with him. Mary took a pound of costly perfume made of pure nard, anointed Jesus’ feet, and wiped them with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume. But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (the one who was about to betray him), said, ‘Why was this perfume not sold for three hundred denarii and the money given to the poor?’ (He said this not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief; he kept the common purse and used to steal what was put into it.) Jesus said, ‘Leave her alone. She bought it so that she might keep it for the day of my burial. You always have the poor with you, but you do not always have me.’ (Jn. 12:1-8).

 

Many Christian writers have seen Mary as representing contemplation (prayer and devotion), and Martha as representing action (good works, helping others); or love of God and love of neighbor respectively.  However, I think that Martha and Mary are for us a reminder that we are to lead a balanced life with both contemplation and action.

 

Let us pray:  Generous God, whose Son Jesus Christ enjoyed the friendship and hospitality of Mary, Martha and Lazarus of Bethany: Open our hearts to love you, our ears to hear you, and our hands to welcome and serve you in others, through Jesus Christ our risen Lord; who with you and the Holy Spirit lives and reigns, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

 

CALENDAR REMINDERS

 

St. Augustine’s Feast Day and the 130th Anniversary of the establishment of the parish is Sunday, 24 August.

 

Please remember everyone on our Prayer List, especially Lloyd Guidry and his family and Patricia Florence and her family, and all of those suffering in Syria, Israel, the Gaza strip, Iraq and the Ukraine.

 

Your servant in Christ,

 

Fr. Chester J. Makowski, Vicar

St. Augustine of Hippo Episcopal Church

Galveston, Texas 77550