Saint Mar
tha 29th July
Martha is mentioned in the Gospels on three occasions and is identified as one of a family circle, which included a sister Mary and a brother Lazarus. Clearly Jesus knew them well because their conversations were quite bold and familiar. She is named in the Gospels of both Luke and John. At least one commentator refers to Jesus as ‘a frequent guest’. This is a curious assumption as Our Lord conducted much of his ministry in Galilee, in the north of Israel, and Bethany, where Martha lived, was just outside Jerusalem - a considerable distance away.
Luke 10: 38-42 relates the best-known tale of Martha, on what appears to be the first visit Jesus made to her family home. Martha is preoccupied with her housework, presumably providing hospitality for their guests, and is frustrated that her sister Mary is not helping her. She implores Jesus to intervene but he gently rebukes Martha, telling her ‘Mary has chosen the best part of all’. In other words one can clean and cook at any time but at that very moment the opportunity to be at Jesus’s feet was unique.
Martha certainly learned from the experience, for when in John 11: 20 Jesus again approached their home, in response to the family’s plea to cure Lazarus from a serious illness, she was distressed that Our Lord had not arrived as quickly as expected. ‘If thou hadst been here, my brother would not have died,’ she said quite bluntly. Jesus knew that he was about to perform the miracle of raising Lazarus from the tomb and simply assured her ‘Your brother will rise again’. Martha immediately demonstrated her faith by responding that she knew he would be raised ‘on the last day’. Jesus replied ‘I am the Resurrection and the Life’, adding that no-one ‘who is alive and has faith shall ever die’, to which Mary firmly stated her belief that Jesus is the Messiah.
Martha is the patron saint of servants and cooks.
Branwen and Andrew Jones