Mark Bradford's Bible Blog

At the Home of Martha and Mary

³⁸As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. ³⁹She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. ⁴⁰But 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!”

This is one of three events recorded in the gospels that happened at Mary and Martha’s house. The other two are the raising of Lazarus from the dead (John 11:1-43, blog), and Mary’s anointing of Jesus (Mark 14:1-10, blog, John 12:1-10, blog). It seems logical to me that this was Jesus’ first visit of the three. Mary, Martha, and Lazarus were close friends and supporters of Jesus, so there may have been other visits before this that aren’t recorded, but of the ones that are, it makes sense to me that this happened first. Then later, Jesus came back and raised Lazarus, then after that, out of gratitude, Mary anointed Jesus with perfume.

Martha was busy with preparations for dinner. I imagine that Mary helped with the preparations before Jesus arrived, but when Jesus showed up, she only had eyes for him. The New King James Version adds the word also to verse 39.

³⁹ And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’^[a] feet and heard His word.

I don’t want to add too much weight to that one word, since no other translations I’ve seen have it, but there may be an implication in the original Greek that Mary did help with some of the preparations, at least part of the time, but she was not distracted by them the way Martha was. Martha was more focused on her work, while Mary was more focused on Jesus. Martha loved Jesus, and was doing her best to serve him, but she had forgotten what was really important; just being with him and listening to him. Martha was distracted by the preparations, but what was she distracted from? She was distracted from Jesus. It’s easy to get so busy working for the Kingdom that we don’t take time to simply be with Jesus and listen to him. Mary, on the other hand, sat at Jesus’ feet and listened to what he said. Lots of people are very busy working for God and the church but forget to spend time with Jesus, but I have yet to meet anyone who spends time with Jesus and fails to work for him. Our work for Jesus must flow from our time with him.

⁴¹“Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, ⁴²but only one thing is needed.^[f] Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

Are we worried and upset about many things, when only one thing is needed?

One thing I ask of the LORD,
this is what I seek:
that I may dwell in the house of the LORD
all the days of my life,
to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD
and to seek him in his temple. (Psalm 27:4)

I want to make sure I choose what is better. I have grown more spiritually in the past year and a half than in my whole life before that, and I believe it’s for one reason; writing this blog. I spend 90 minutes to 2 hours, sometimes more, on this blog each day, studying the Bible, learning about God, reading online commentaries and doing research. I’ve volunteered my time in the church my whole life, but all my years of work did not bring me closer to Jesus the way the past 18 months spending time studying the Bible has. I can tell you from my own personal experience that activity, even for God, will not bring you closer to him like simply spending time with him will. I will continue to be involved in ministry, but not at the cost of sitting at his feet, listening to him.

Mark Bible Jesus, Luke, Mary and Martha

The Death of Lazarus

¹Now a man named Lazarus was sick. He was from Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister Martha. ²This Mary, whose brother Lazarus now lay sick, was the same one who poured perfume on the Lord and wiped his feet with her hair. ³So the sisters sent word to Jesus, “Lord, the one you love is sick.”

⁴When he heard this, Jesus said, “This sickness will not end in death. No, it is for God’s glory so that God’s Son may be glorified through it.” ⁵Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. ⁶Yet when he heard that Lazarus was sick, he stayed where he was two more days.

This is one of the most well known miracles of Jesus. It has all the more meaning because these were good friends and supporters of Jesus. He and his disciples often stayed with them when they were in the area. But this fact did not alter Jesus’ focus. In fact, it may have allowed him to do what he did. This story shows graphically what I’ve been talking about regarding the twofold purpose of Jesus’ miracles. They were not primarily to show compassion, or to help those who needed it. They were to glorify God, and to help people believe. If Jesus’ main motive were compassion, he would have gone to his friends as soon as he heard the news. But he waited till Lazarus was dead, and put his friends through days of grief so that, ultimately, God would be glorified and those who saw the miracle would believe.

⁷Then he said to his disciples, “Let us go back to Judea.”

⁸“But Rabbi,” they said, “a short while ago the Jews tried to stone you, and yet you are going back there?”

⁹Jesus answered, “Are there not twelve hours of daylight? A man who walks by day will not stumble, for he sees by this world’s light. ¹⁰It is when he walks by night that he stumbles, for he has no light.”

¹¹After he had said this, he went on to tell them, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep; but I am going there to wake him up.”

¹²His disciples replied, “Lord, if he sleeps, he will get better.” ¹³Jesus had been speaking of his death, but his disciples thought he meant natural sleep.

¹⁴So then he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead, ¹⁵and for your sake I am glad I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.”

¹⁶Then Thomas (called Didymus) said to the rest of the disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with him.”

I’ve said before that I think Thomas gets a bad rap for wanting proof of the resurrection. This quote shows real courage on his part. I said earlier that Jesus’ friendship with Mary and Martha may have allowed him to wait till Lazarus died to go and see them. He knew that they trusted him, and he tested their trust. This is a classic case of God not giving someone a burden that he knows they cannot bear. He knew that Mary and Martha would continue to love and trust him, even after he allowed Lazarus to die. If he had not had that trust in them, he might have felt compelled to go and heal Lazarus earlier. But their faith made way for a greater miracle. Do we have that kind of faith? Can God trust us to wait on him and let him work in his time, so that he will receive the most glory?

Jesus Comforts the Sisters

¹⁷On his arrival, Jesus found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb for four days. ¹⁸Bethany was less than two miles^[a] from Jerusalem, ¹⁹and many Jews had come to Martha and Mary to comfort them in the loss of their brother. ²⁰When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home.

²¹“Lord,” Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died. ²²But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask.”

When Jesus finally arrived too late to keep Lazarus from dying, Mary could have reacted out of anger, frustration and grief. Many of us might have said something like, “Where were you? Why did you wait so long? You could have prevented this! Don’t you care about us?” That would have been an understandable human reaction under the circumstances. Have you ever been angry with God because he allowed something bad to happen? I have. But Mary didn’t react that way. Her faith was proved strong in difficult times.

²³Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

²⁴Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day.”

²⁵Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies; ²⁶and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

²⁷“Yes, Lord,” she told him, “I believe that you are the Christ,^[b] the Son of God, who was to come into the world.”

We can see from this conversation that Martha believed, like the Pharisees, in the resurrection of the body. Though what she was about to witness was not really resurrection, but revival, as Lazarus would eventually die again, Martha’s belief that God could raise the dead showed that she had faith that Jesus could do this. But the most important thing Martha said was her testimony of who Jesus is. She believed he was the Messiah, and because of that, nothing was impossible for him.

²⁸And after she had said this, she went back and called her sister Mary aside. “The Teacher is here,” she said, “and is asking for you.” ²⁹When Mary heard this, she got up quickly and went to him. ³⁰Now Jesus had not yet entered the village, but was still at the place where Martha had met him. ³¹When the Jews who had been with Mary in the house, comforting her, noticed how quickly she got up and went out, they followed her, supposing she was going to the tomb to mourn there.

³²When Mary reached the place where Jesus was and saw him, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.”

³³When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come along with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in spirit and troubled. ³⁴“Where have you laid him?” he asked.
“Come and see, Lord,” they replied.

³⁵Jesus wept.

³⁶Then the Jews said, “See how he loved him!”

³⁷But some of them said, “Could not he who opened the eyes of the blind man have kept this man from dying?”

It appears from this passage that Martha’s faith was greater than Mary’s or the other mourners. Jesus did not have a conversation about resurrection and belief with them, only with Martha. John, as Jesus’ friend, shows the human side of Jesus here. Jesus wept. He wasn’t weeping over the death of his friend. He knew what he was going to do. I think he was touched by the grief of those he loved. When I am at a funeral, I tend to be more affected by the grief of others than by the loss itself. I think that’s what brought Jesus’ emotions to the surface. Even though Jesus delayed his arrival, and did not prevent the death of Lazarus, that doesn’t mean he didn’t care. He did care, but he had a higher purpose which Mary and Martha did not yet understand. The same is true for us. When God delays, or doesn’t heal the person we think he should, it doesn’t mean that he doesn’t care. It means he has a higher purpose that we don’t yet see.

Jesus Raises Lazarus From the Dead

³⁸Jesus, once more deeply moved, came to the tomb. It was a cave with a stone laid across the entrance. ³⁹“Take away the stone,” he said.
“But, Lord,” said Martha, the sister of the dead man, “by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days.”

⁴⁰Then Jesus said, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?”

Martha’s objection is amusing to me. She had shown the greatest faith among them, and what does she object to? The stink! How often do we limit God’s power because of a silly concern over our comfort?

⁴¹So they took away the stone. Then Jesus looked up and said, “Father, I thank you that you have heard me. ⁴²I knew that you always hear me, but I said this for the benefit of the people standing here, that they may believe that you sent me.”

⁴³When he had said this, Jesus called in a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!”

To show the power and glory of God, and so that those who saw it would believe, Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead. It would be easy think that Jesus showed favoritism to Mary, Martha, and Lazarus because they were close. But compassion for their loss, and his, was never his primary motive, as we’ve seen. Mary and Martha’s faith and confidence in Jesus, and their love for him gave Jesus the opportunity to do something great in their lives. They got to see the glory of God. Whatever that means, I want to live in such a way that I get to see the glory of God.

Mark Bible Jesus, John, Lazarus, Mary and Martha, raising the dead

Jesus Anointed at Bethany

¹Now the Passover and the Feast of Unleavened Bread were only two days away, and the chief priests and the teachers of the law were looking for some sly way to arrest Jesus and kill him. ²“But not during the Feast,” they said, “or the people may riot.”

The Feast of Passover lasted a week, and thousands of pilgrims streamed into Jerusalem to celebrate. Every Jewish male that lived within 15 miles of Jerusalem was required to come to Jerusalem for Passover, but many more came from much farther away. The religious leaders had been trying to find a way to kill Jesus for some time now, but after seeing how popular he was with the crowds who were in the city for Passover, they decided to wait until after the festival. But then Judas provided a way to arrest Jesus discreetly during the Passover celebration. The chief priests and teachers of the law were the spiritual leaders of the people, but here they were plotting to kill an innocent man.

³While he was in Bethany, reclining at the table in the home of a man known as Simon the Leper, a woman came with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, made of pure nard. She broke the jar and poured the perfume on his head.

⁴Some of those present were saying indignantly to one another, “Why this waste of perfume? ⁵It could have been sold for more than a year’s wages^[a] and the money given to the poor.” And they rebuked her harshly.

⁶“Leave her alone,” said Jesus. “Why are you bothering her? She has done a beautiful thing to me. ⁷The poor you will always have with you, and you can help them any time you want. But you will not always have me. ⁸She did what she could. She poured perfume on my body beforehand to prepare for my burial. ⁹I tell you the truth, wherever the gospel is preached throughout the world, what she has done will also be told, in memory of her.”

John places this event at Mary, Martha, and Lazuras’ house. Perhaps Simon the Leper was another member of their family. Imagine living in a house where Jesus had healed one person of leprosy, and raised another from the dead! Mary and Martha were disciples and supporters of Jesus, though women were not allowed to “disciple” with a rabbi they way men were in that culture. Whenever Jesus and his group of followers were in Bethany, they stayed at this house, and Mary and Martha probably followed his group around when they could and provided for them on the road. Like a good observant Jewish male, Jesus made sure to eat the Passover meal in Jerusalem, but it’s great that before that he got to spend a last comfortable night or two in the home of loved ones.

John identifies the woman who anointed Jesus as Mary, Martha’s sister. We know from other accounts that she had a special devotion to Jesus, and seemed to understand things about him that his male disciples did not. How many times had Jesus told them that he was about to die, and still they didn’t listen? But Mary understood what was about to happen, and wanted to give Jesus a special honor.

Mary, Martha, and Lazarus must have been wealthy. They had a house large enough to keep that many people, and they had a jar of perfume worth a year’s wages! Judas, who was the disciples’ treasurer, led the criticisms of Mary’s act, so it’s likely that it was he who placed the value of the perfume at 300 denarii, the going rate for a laborer’s wages for a year. How much would a laborer’s wages for a year be now, in 21st Century America? $30,000? $40,000? Even if it’s only $20,000, can you imagine owning a bottle of perfume that cost that much? I can’t.

It was customary to anoint an honored guest’s head with oil when they visited your home back then. Mary took that much further. It’s likely that the jar of nard was a family heirloom, passed down from mother to daughter. Rather than dab a little oil on Jesus’ head, she anointed him like a king. And according to what Jesus says here, she was anointing his body for burial. Perhaps alone among the followers of Jesus, she understood what was about to happen, and was moved to do this for him. What are we motivated to do out of sheer love for and devotion to Jesus? What are we willing to sacrifice for him?

The disciples, led by Judas, according to John, objected to what Mary had done. They considered it wasteful. But they missed the point. It wasn’t that Mary couldn’t afford to pour out this family heirloom, to “spend” it all on Jesus. And as followers of Jesus, they must have given much to the poor over the course of Jesus’ ministry, since so much of his ministry was focused on helping the poor. This was a lame criticism. I think what their criticism was really about was that they knew exactly what Mary was doing. In that culture, they used perfume to anoint the dead in the grave to cover the smell of decay. After Jesus died, only the closest family members, like his mother, were allowed to anoint the body in the grave. This was Mary’s chance to offer her anointing beforehand, and she did it in the most extravagant way possible. The disciples had been trying to ignore what Jesus was saying about his coming death, and then Mary anoints him for burial right in front of them. This must have brought what Jesus had been saying to them home, and I think it’s possible that was the real source of their objection.

Jesus predicts in verse 9 that wherever the Gospel is preached, the story of what Mary did would be told in memory of her. The disciples all heard this, including Peter. As I’ve mentioned before, scholars consider Mark’s gospel to really be Peter’s gospel, since John Mark was a disciple of Peter. Mark wrote down the stories of Jesus that Peter told in his ministry, and those stories are what comprise the Gospel of Mark. Therefore, Peter was there, and heard Jesus say this. After Pentecost, Peter remembered this event, and told the story wherever he preached. Mark wrote it down and included it in his gospel. As a result, what Mary did is still remembered 2000 years later. Thus Jesus’ prophecy was fulfilled.

¹⁰Then Judas Iscariot, one of the Twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Jesus to them. ¹¹They were delighted to hear this and promised to give him money. So he watched for an opportunity to hand him over.

It’s interesting to me that this is the point where Judas decides to betray Jesus. There are lots of theories about why Judas betrayed Jesus after discipling with him for 3 years. I have a hard time believing that he was bad from the beginning. Some think he wanted Jesus to be a political messiah, and when it became clear to him that Jesus didn’t intend to pursue that, Judas betrayed him. That would seem to be supported by this account. After what had just happened, and after hearing Jesus talk about having been anointed for burial, maybe Judas realized sooner than the others what Jesus intended to do. Perhaps disillusioned that Jesus was not what Judas hoped he was, Judas betrayed him.

Whatever his motivation, the fact that one of the Twelve now offered to help turn Jesus over to the chief priests accelerated their plans, and Jesus’ plan to die during Passover, to be sacrificed as the ultimate Passover lamb for all of our sins, was set into motion.

Mark Bible Bible, Lazarus, Mark, Mary and Martha, Mary anoints Jesus

I’m starting in chapter 12 of the Gospel of John in hopes of getting to the resurrection story in chapter 20 for Easter. After Easter, I’ll go back and pick it up from the beginning.

Jesus Anointed at Bethany

¹Six days before the Passover, Jesus arrived at Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. ²Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him. ³Then Mary took about a pint of pure nard, an expensive perfume; she poured it on Jesus’ feet and wiped his feet with her hair. And the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.

Jesus is back at the home of his good friends, Mary, Martha, and Lazarus. As usual, Martha’s doing all the work. Lazarus, the former dead guy, is at the table with Jesus. What must it have been like to sit at the table sharing a meal with the one who raised you from the dead? But one day we will all do that!

I don’t know what nard smells like, or how intense it is, but it couldn’t be like the perfume we have today. Imagine pouring a whole pint of perfume on someone now. That would be offensive, and not for the reasons that Judas gives.

⁴But one of his disciples, Judas Iscariot, who was later to betray him, objected, ⁵“Why wasn’t this perfume sold and the money given to the poor? It was worth a year’s wages.” ⁶He did not say this because he cared about the poor but because he was a thief; as keeper of the money bag, he used to help himself to what was put into it.

John’s gospel is the most personal of all the gospels. When I read the Book of John, I always try to keep in mind that John was Jesus’ best friend. Judas betrayed Jesus, so it’s not surprising that John takes every opportunity to say what a bad guy Judas was. Mary, Martha, and Lazarus must’ve been rich. They had a jar of perfume worth a year’s wages? I can’t imagine that.

⁷“Leave her alone,” Jesus replied. ” It was intended that she should save this perfume for the day of my burial. ⁸You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.”

In that culture, they used perfume to annoint the dead in the grave to cover the smell of decay. The question is, if this jar of expensive perfume was being saved for Jesus’ burial, why did Mary open it now? I’ve heard that she somehow knew what was coming, and was annointing his body in preparation for burial, but I wonder. This was closer to the act of washing the feet, the act of a servant, that Jesus demonstrates later at the Last Supper. What could’ve been her motivation for doing such a thing?

⁹Meanwhile a large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was there and came, not only because of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. ¹⁰So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well, ¹¹for on account of him many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and putting their faith in him.

Crowds were coming to see Lazarus. This probably wasn’t the only time, though there may have been more people than usual this time because Jesus was there also. How many people want to talk to us and be near us, just because they know what Jesus has done for us?

The Triumphal Entry

¹²The next day the great crowd that had come for the Feast heard that Jesus was on his way to Jerusalem. ¹³They took palm branches and went out to meet him, shouting,
“Hosanna!”
“Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!”
“Blessed is the King of Israel!” ¹⁴Jesus found a young donkey and sat upon it, as it is written,
¹⁵“Do not be afraid, O Daughter of Zion;
see, your king is coming,
seated on a donkey’s colt.”

Jesus is obviously aware of the prophecy surrounding this event. He may even have been purposely fulfilling it by riding the colt. But what’s really interesting to me is that the crowd seems to be aware of it also. They are quoting scripture. They know that “Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!” is from Psalm 118, and that it refers to the Messiah. They are recognizing his kingship. By shouting “Hosanna”, they are essentially saying, “Save us from the Romans”.

¹⁶At first his disciples did not understand all this. Only after Jesus was glorified did they realize that these things had been written about him and that they had done these things to him.

¹⁷Now the crowd that was with him when he called Lazarus from the tomb and raised him from the dead continued to spread the word. ¹⁸Many people, because they had heard that he had given this miraculous sign, went out to meet him. ¹⁹So the Pharisees said to one another, “See, this is getting us nowhere. Look how the whole world has gone after him!”

Ever notice how often the disciples who wrote these books talk about how little they understood at the time? It just shows they were regular people like us. They too, looked back and thought, “How could I have been so stupid?” The Pharisees could see the writing on the wall. They knew that if they didn’t do something fast, this Jesus movement would get out of control.

Mark Bible Jesus, John, Lazarus, Mary and Martha, Mary anoints Jesus