Her story comes full circle, from burdened with busyness to beneficent in her service to the Lord.
This series of Bible studies seeks to retell the stories of women who were divinely called and empowered to do great things. Many of them rose to the occasion, and a few very famously did not. Often, the tragedies and triumphs in their lives are missed, and their stories are told from perspectives other than with the honor and dignity they deserve.
After excavating their narratives from millennia of obfuscation, now meet the freshly restored, valiant, vivid (and sometimes villainous) women of the Bible.
From Busy Bee to Bold Faith
Martha’s story is found in three places—first, in Luke, she is troubled that her sister has chosen to leave Martha with all the work of hosting a large party. But, the Gospel of John portrays a deeply spiritual woman of bold faith who is given some of the most blockbuster teaching in the whole Bible, and who is supportive of her sister.
This thirty-page book includes the retelling of Martha’s story, a fifteen-question Bible study, and link to a twenty-minute multi-media presentation of Martha’s account, revealing the spiritual maturity of a woman who at first was a product of her culture, but came to realize the freedom and stature women would have in the Kingdom of God.
I AM the Resurrection and the Life … Do You Believe Me?
Years and years ago, when I was in a high school writing class, we were asked to write our own obituary. I remember us all laughing nervously, it sounded so macabre! But it was the teacher’s sideways device to get us to write about our hopes and dreams. What did we hope people would say about us? In what ways would our lives matter? What were our strengths, our good points? What would we want to be remembered for someday?
And it made me wonder what Martha would have wanted to be remembered for.
Most of us remember the Martha depicted in Luke’s Gospel, the busy beaver who is reprimanded by Jesus, and chastened to be more like her spiritual sister Mary. Or, at least, that is the sermon I’ve heard many a time. But I do not think that is the Martha Jesus knew and knows to this day. Imagine, with me, a very different story.
The accounts we have about Martha give the sense she was the oldest sister to Mary and Lazarus, smart, capable, responsible, trustworthy, and solid—kind of like Miriam, Moses and Aaron’s older sister. No mention is made of Martha and her siblings’ parents, perhaps indicating both their mother and father had died. Yet all three siblings appear to have been living together. Perhaps they were all young singles, and their parents had recently passed away, before marriage contracts could be signed for the sisters. If Lazarus was the youngest, perhaps he was not yet old enough to make arrangements for his sisters, let alone for himself.
So Martha must have been the matriarch of their young household, a great responsibility for young shoulders, yet she stepped into it with confident authority. Now, her cultural role was being challenged by her sister, and soon Martha would learn that what Jesus has in mind for women goes far beyond the dishpan and dustpan.
Nearly forty free Bible studies on a woman in the scriptures are available through signing up to the newsletter below. What’s included:
- Access to all the Bible studies that have been made available so far.
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