Behold what manner of
love the Father has bestowed on us, that we should be called children of God! Therefore the world does not know us, because it did not know Him.
1 John 3:1
Do you have a sister or a brother? Are you close to them? This
week’s blog touches on the special bond that siblings hold. Jesus has siblings.
We’re his siblings. Can you imagine being perfect and having you as a sibling?
Yet Jesus loves us so much that even in all our imperfections He still gets in
there with us and does what a good big brother does. He fights our battles for
us.
This week we’re going to look at three siblings who were blessed
enough to be called friends of Jesus. As we look at these three people I’d like
you to think about which one of these three you’re most like. The oldest,
Martha, the middle child, Mary, or the baby, Lazarus. I don’t actually know
their birth order, but it just seems to me that since that’s the order they’re
listed in that’s the order they came in. It’s sort of like when Mama gets mad
she calls out the names of the kids in the order she birthed them until she
gets to the one who is causing her problems. My mother-in-law had ten kids. My
husband was ninth. She almost never called for him even if he did cause
problems. She was calm by the time she got to his name, which is why she told
our kids he was such a good boy, or maybe she was just tired. Maybe you’ll find
you’re more Martha and a little Mary, but hardly ever Lazarus.
There are three places in scripture that we find the story of this
family’s encounter with Jesus, so rather than going verse by verse, I’m going
to break it up, and we’ll look at it event by event as He deals with each of
them. First up, Martha-
Now it
happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman
named Martha welcomed Him into her house. And
she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. But Martha was distracted with much
serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister
has left me to serve alone? Therefore, tell her to help me.”
And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled
about many things. But one thing is
needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from
her.” Luke 10:38-42
This story has been used countless
times to reprimand busybodies who want to criticize people who they feel like
aren’t doing their fair share at the church function. “Sister So-and-so didn’t
help me wash the dishes, Pastor, aren’t you going to tell her to stop talking
to the people over there and get to those dishes?” Pastor turns and says those
immortal words, “Mary has chosen the better part…” and the Martha walks away
rolling her eyes because the dishes still aren’t getting washed and so she’ll
have to do them herself-again. Take heart, Martha, Jesus sees you washing those
dishes. He sees what happens next.
Marthas
are born for serving. It’s just in their nature. It’s a gift, but that wasn’t
her issue, and it wasn’t that which she was corrected for by Jesus. It was that
she was expecting Mary to be like her, and to think like her. In a sense it was
that she wanted Mary to understand what the need was and to meet it without
being told because that was what women at that time did. Mary wasn’t fitting
into Martha’s expectations. Maybe Martha had done a lot of throat clearing, and
finger waving, and finally, realizing she could not divert Mary from the drool
stare she had going on with Jesus. Martha finally had to shake her up and embarrass
her by interrupting and saying that all too familiar… “Don’t you see that I’m
doing all the work around here?” I often wonder if she was actually addressing
Jesus or simply expecting Mary to jump right up and get to it; after being
called out like that most of us would have jumped up and grabbed Jesus’ empty
dishes. But Jesus will have none of it.
He sees Martha’s gift of service, but He also sees Mary gift as well. He sees
she’s just as attentive, just in a different way. He tells Martha that Mary has
chosen…Mary made a choice. She chose to be at Jesus’ feet. He’s not going to
remove that privilege from her. Yet, the scripture doesn’t say that Martha sat
down, or that she went away sad. It just says that He said Mary chose the
better part. Martha had responsibilities that had to be met, and Jesus
understood that. He didn’t remove those from her, but He also didn’t insist
that Mary take them on.
Some
of us are called to tend to the temporal things, but it doesn’t make us any
less important to the Lord. Dishes need to be done. Food needs to be prepared. Hands need to be
about the cares of the physical body. “Then
the King will say to those on His right hand, ‘Come, you blessed of My Father,
inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: for I was hungry and you
gave Me food; I was thirsty and you gave Me drink; I was a stranger and you
took Me in; I was naked and you clothed Me; I was sick and you visited Me; I
was in prison and you came to Me.” Then the righteous will answer Him, saying,
‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You drink? When did we see You a stranger and take You in, or naked and clothe You? Or when did we see
You sick, or in prison, and come to You?’ And the King will answer and say to them,
‘Assuredly, I say to you, inasmuch as you did it to one of the least of these My brethren, you did it to Me.’ Matthew 25:34-40
We see more of Martha, and how she related to Jesus, in the Gospel
of John when we meet her brother, Lazarus. This passage reveals a lot about
these three individuals and Jesus’ relationship with them. It’s divided into His
encounters with each of them. So I’ll continue with Martha.
“Now
a certain man was
sick, Lazarus of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. It was that Mary who anointed the Lord
with fragrant oil and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was
sick. Therefore,
the sisters sent to Him, saying, “Lord, behold, he whom You love is sick.” When Jesus heard that, He said, “This
sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may
be glorified through it.” Now
Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus. So, when He heard that he
was sick, He stayed two more days in the place where He was. Then after this He said to the disciples, “Let us go
to Judea again.” The disciples said to Him,
“Rabbi, lately the Jews sought to stone You, and are You going there again?”
Jesus
answered, “Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks in the
day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. But if
one walks in the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in him.” These things He said, and
after that He said to them, “Our friend Lazarus sleeps, but I go that I
may wake him up.”
Then His disciples said, “Lord, if he sleeps he
will get well.” However,
Jesus spoke of his death, but they thought that He was speaking about taking
rest in sleep.
Then
Jesus said to them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. And I am glad for your
sakes that I was not there, that you may believe. Nevertheless let us go to
him.”
Then Thomas, who is called the Twin, said to his
fellow disciples, “Let us also go, that we may die with Him.”
So
when Jesus came, He found that he had already been in the tomb four days. Now Bethany was near
Jerusalem, about two miles away. And many of the Jews had joined the women around
Martha and Mary, to comfort them concerning their brother.
Now Martha, as soon as she heard that Jesus was
coming, went and met Him, but Mary was sitting in the house. Now Martha said to Jesus,
“Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now
I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.”
Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise
again.”
Martha said to Him, “I know that he will rise
again in the resurrection at the last day.”
Jesus
said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me,
though he may die, he shall live. And whoever lives and believes in Me
shall never die. Do you believe this?”
She said to Him, “Yes, Lord, I believe that You
are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.”
And when she had said these things, she went her
way and secretly called Mary her sister, saying, “The Teacher has come and is
calling for you.” John 11:1-28
The stage is set for Jesus’ great miracle, the one that
cannot be denied or explained away. Never in the history of mankind has a man
stepped out of the grave, and it’s about to happen, but before we get to that,
there is the exchange that Jesus has with His disciples. He first explains to
them that Lazarus’ illness with result in the glorification of God. How many of
us are willing to undergo a painful illness for the purpose of glorifying God?
Then He fills them in that Lazarus is dead so they must go to Bethany. The
disciples are assuming they’re heading to the funeral to comfort the family,
though by tradition they were arriving more than halfway through the observance
of Lazarus’ passing. Yet when we first read of this Martha is the first one
mentioned. Martha, whom Jesus loved, despite His rebuff about Mary choosing the
better part, it is Martha that is called by John as Jesus’ friend. What an
honor! If this is what washing dishes for Jesus will get me… load that sink!
The exchange between them is so tender, it could only
occur between two friends who truly love each other at a time when something so
devastating has happened. All pretense is gone at times like that. Martha is at
her most real with Him. The first thing she says, the first word out of her
mouth, shows she is in total submission to Him. She calls him “Lord.” The
equivalent of Master, King, Ruler over me. And she follows it up with a
declaration of her faith. “If you’d been here it wouldn’t have happened, but
even now You can fix it.” What great faith! It seems that while she was serving
she was also listening. Some people can multitask. Some people can walk and
chew gum. Some are Marthas and need to keep their hands busy so they’re ears
can focus in, because if they try to sit and listen all they do is think about
all the stuff around them that needs attending to, so they listen while they do.
Martha was listening all along.
Jesus sees her faith, and He gives the promise of
eternity to her. “I am the resurrection, and the Life...” Other than John 3:16
this is probably one of the most quoted verses in the Bible. This woman who
does things believes Jesus is going to do something, and she’s right! So she
goes to get her sister. Mary-
As
soon as she heard that, she
arose quickly and came to Him. Now
Jesus had not yet come into the town, but was in the place where Martha
met Him. Then
the Jews who were with her in the house, and comforting her, when they saw that
Mary rose up quickly and went out, followed her, saying, “She is going to the
tomb to weep there.”
Then, when Mary came where Jesus was, and saw
Him, she fell down at His feet, saying to Him, “Lord, if You had been here, my
brother would not have died.” John 11:29-32
There she is again, Mary, at his feet. She started out in
the house, but when she heard Jesus had come she left so suddenly that everyone
assumed she was going to mourn. The professional mourners went with her. They
went along assuming they needed to go and engage in their loud lamenting, as
was the custom. She went out not to the tomb but to Jesus. She says the same
thing that Martha said, without the profession of her belief that Jesus could
make it all better. She had been listening, yet for her it seemed too late.
Lazarus was dead, and not just died dead, but long since four days dead. She
wasn’t as comforted by His being there. Isn’t it interesting that she who had
been so intently listening had not gotten the whole message? She had chosen the
better part, but what had she done with it? It would come into play after Lazarus
returns to her. But at this moment, all she knows is pain, all she knows is she
loves her brother and he’s no longer there. Isaiah 53:3 says that Jesus knows
our grief. He feels it with us. He felt it with her as deeply as she did.
Therefore, when Jesus saw her weeping, and the
Jews who came with her weeping, He groaned in the spirit and was troubled. And He said, “Where have
you laid him?”
They
said to Him, “Lord, come and see.”
Jesus wept. Then
the Jews said, “See how He loved him!”
And some of them said, “Could not this Man, who opened the eyes of
the blind, also have kept this man from dying?”
Then Jesus, again groaning in Himself, came to the tomb. It was a
cave, and a stone lay against it. Jesus said, “Take away the stone.”
Martha,
the sister of him who was dead, said to Him, “Lord, by this time there is a
stench, for he has been dead four
days.”John 11:33-39
Finally, we arrive at Lazarus. Here is a man who
is the support of his sisters, the light of their lives, and it’s been
extinguished as far as the community can determine. Jesus is moved by his loss.
He sees not just the loss of this man from their midst, but how destitute this
leaves his sisters. This shows me several things about these people. First of
all, I would hazard to guess that Martha and Mary were not married, and for
what reason we could only speculate, which would mean that Lazarus was their
provider. I would also say that now, without his provision, there is no one
left to care for them. They are in the same position Ruth and Naomi were in,
and they need a redeemer to step in and provide for them. Hollywood would have
us picture these sisters as young women; but what if they weren’t? What if they
were older women, beyond child barring years? Then losing their brother would
really put them at risk. It would also explain a lot of the relationship Jesus
had with them. Seeing these women so grieved caused Jesus to grieve, to groan.
He wept. When the Bible says he wept this wasn’t a simple tearing. It’s
followed by the groaning. This was a renting of sobs the way a person does when
they learn of the death of a dear friend. It was not out of place. I’m sure it
brought all those around to tears as well because of the remarks they made
about how much Jesus loved Lazarus. This man was very well loved, by both man
and God.
Jesus said to her, “Did I not say to you
that if you would believe you would see the glory of God?” Then they took away the
stone from the place where
the dead man was lying. And Jesus lifted up His eyes and said, “Father, I thank You that You have
heard Me. And
I know that You always hear Me, but because of the people who are standing by I
said this, that they
may believe that You sent Me.” Now when He had said these things, He cried with a
loud voice, “Lazarus, come forth!” And he who had died came out bound hand and foot with
grave clothes, and his face was wrapped with a cloth. Jesus said to them, “Loose
him, and let him go.” John 11:40-44
We could say we’ve come to the end of the story,
but we haven’t. There is so much here to see, but I’ll draw your attention to
the most interesting part of it all. Jesus is talking to Martha again, because
she was worried about the stench, but there is no stench. He turns His eyes to
heaven and thanks His Father. Notice that he doesn’t ask for the resurrection.
He uses the past tense, “have heard me”. It’s already done. Lazarus is already
alive! Those there just need to be shown that he’s alive, so Jesus calls him
out of the tomb. The great miracle worked for so lowly a family of siblings.
Why? He did it for Martha— to fulfillment the expectation, for Mary so the
words becoming action, and for beloved Lazarus, who tasted death, so he could
have life.
What a great encounter, but it didn’t end there.
Then, six days
before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus was who had been dead, whom He had raised from the dead. There they made Him a supper; and Martha served, but
Lazarus was one of those who sat at the table with Him. Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard,
anointed the feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair. And the house was
filled with the fragrance of the oil. But one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot, Simon’s son, who would betray Him, said, “Why was this
fragrant oil not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” This he said, not that he cared for the poor, but because
he was a thief, and had the money box; and he used to take what was put in it.
But Jesus said, “Let her alone; she has kept this for the day of My burial. For the poor you have with you always, but Me
you do not have always.” John 12:1-8
Jesus returns one last time to visit with
these friends of, and how they must have rejoiced to have Him there. Notice
what positions they’re in. Martha is back to serving. Lazarus, is once again at
the table with him, and Mary…she is putting her faith in action, a memorable
action. She takes a pound of Spikenard, not a small amount which is all that
would be needed, but an entire pound, and anoints the feet of Jesus. Where else
would she be but at His feet? She gets criticized for it, but she loved him,
and so she was willing to extravagantly give to him. Jesus response to this was
that she was doing for him what she would have done for her brother. As her
brother, he was about to provide for her life--her eternal life. This last look
at the friends of Jesus is a picture of heaven for these siblings.
“Greater
love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends.”
John 15:13
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