The Hidden Surprise in the Story of Mary and Martha
Luke 10:38-42 contains a famous narrative involving Jesus, Mary, and Martha. This story is often used to talk about priorities; usually saying something to the effect that we should not be distracted with tasks (like Martha) and miss out on being with Jesus (like Mary). While this is true, there is more to the story. There is a “shock” or surprise in the story that Luke wanted us to see!
Before disclosing what really is going on in the passage, let’s unveil the kind of context that is key here: cultural context.
Let’s acknowledge that everything (literally everything!) is culturally mediated. This means that every truth we adhere to or communicate is filtered through a cultural lens.
The truth at the heart of any biblical passage is able to be transferred and applied to us today, but we have to understand the meaning of any passage through the cultural milieu it is preserved in. For this moment, simply understand that we cannot escape everything being communicated through cultural context, but we can learn to understand the cultural context of the speaker, and understand our own context, and then build a bridge between the two.
Let’s consider a modern example. Let’s say you lived in a third-world country with no connection to anything going on in America. If someone asked you if you ever hoped to see the “Super Bowl” you might be confused. You might even picture a really big bowl! But that is missing the point because the Super Bowl is something that is understood in a social and cultural context. Everything from the idioms we say (like “it’s raining cats and dogs”) to the events we participate in involves a culturally conditioned communication lens.
So, what does all of this have to do with Jesus’s interaction with Mary and Martha?
Let’s look at the passage.
38 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. 40 But 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!” 41 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things,42 but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:38-42, NIV)
Consider the Jewish context of the passage. Why would the underlined part be significant? You see, in the Jewish world of the first century, it was only the men who would be a disciple of a Rabbi.
Now, you might be asking yourself: “Where does he see the word ‘disciple’? It only says she sat at the Lord’s feet and was listening to what he said.” Exactly! That could accurately be interpreted as: “Mary was posturing herself as a disciple before the Lord.”
Paul even refers to himself in a similar way when he said he was trained “at the feet of Gamaliel” (Acts 22:3).
Most people would have sat in chairs, but disciples (if their Rabbi was present) would sit at their Rabbi’s feet. It was a posture of humility and even was a way of declaring to those around them that this person is who you are learning from. Luke brilliantly captures Mary’s posture in this part of the narrative. This was what made Mary’s action so shocking to Martha and even the men around her! It was going against the cultural norms of the day. Yet, Jesus seemed to have received her. And that is not surprising. We know Jesus had women disciples and there were even women apostles (e.g. Junia is referred to as an “apostle” in Romans 16:7). Nevertheless, this was an astounding feature of Jesus’s ministry. That is why Luke records Jesus saying: “Mary has made the right choice, and it will not be taken from her.”
Mary’s desire to be a disciple will not be robbed by the imperfect cultural norms of the day.
Fascinating! And traversing the cultural context aided in our comprehension of the passage.
If these sorts of insights interest you, then we highly recommend you go through Newbreak’s course How to Study the Bible, and there you’ll also receive a resource guide with suggested books and resources that’ll help you uncover more that is beneath the surface of Scripture. We hope to see you there!
I’ve never heard nor contemplated this story from this angle
It is such a beautiful meaning. We are to give up the whole world. He said let the dead take care of the dead. A true disciple gives up everything and follows after Jesus Christ,so beautiful.
It’s quite interesting to get to know the context of Bible stories. This is really helpful. Thanks
I first read about this angle in the story, Jesus feminist, and it makes complete sense. We often completely miss the cultural context as western readers!
Is there anything else to uncover in the book of acts 6
And if we are to give up everything we do so in the love of Christ. We are to always look up and keep our eyes on Jesus. If we are to serve we serve in love not on earthly things
Phenomenal insights on the impact of culture on understanding scripture.
I am looking forward to ordering New Brakes bible study course books
I appreciate the desire to contribute something new. However, the contrast made in the scripture isn’t that ‘Mary was seated, and Martha was standing’, but that Mary sat at the Lord’s feet, listening, while Martha was distracted. Notice that Jesus didn’t say to Martha, “Sit at my feet, be my disciple”, He said, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things…”
Too often, we want to get something ‘new’ out of the scriptures, that no one else has ever seen. It’s not about cultural context, it’s about devotion.
Two things can be true at the same time.
Mary was seated at Jesus’ feet, a place and posture reserved only for men in the first century. She was covering herself in the dust of her rabbi, an early Jewish statement that reflected the focus of the passage.
So what we are saying is in fact nothing new at all, but rather, quite ancient.
To your argument (which is not an argument or disagreement), Martha was indeed distracted and Mary was focused. Also true and a component of the passage. Two things can be true at the same time, and here we see exactly that.
Thanks for your insight.
In the history of King Solomon we learn there is a Right Time for Everything under the SUN.
A distracted person is acting “out of God’s timing”!
Servant hood is a godly thing which all of humility can practice! Martha’s hospitality INVITED Jesus in to house in the first place! Both women are the friends of the Lord. Mary choose the better part because she was choosing to let Him into her inner house you could say! Furthermore why get up and bake bread for THE Bread of Life??( When He is good!)
Really? This passage to me is making Martha to be wrong where it is in my opinion, leaving all the work to her makes Mary wrong. I wonder what everybody would’ve eaten if Martha had sat at Jesus feet, too. I have no doubt that she would have liked to.
Gail. Thanks for writing in. To be fair, I think there are a lot of angles people can see into this passage. We can break this down via exegesis and we can probably each see ourselves in varying characters of the scene. The Bible is replete with these opportunities. The focus of the passage however is to not miss Jesus.
I totally agree with you, If you look carefully at the text Jesus was not reprimanding Martha nor was he saying what Martha was doing was wrong. I believe there is something else we can learn from this passage. We need to not focus on what others are doing but remain serving and loving Jesus the way that we know how. This was the time that Mary chose to sit at Jesus feet, who’s to say that Martha at other times did not spend time with Jesus, and this was her way of worshipping Him. We all have our unique way of worship, however we need not to allow our busyness to stop others from sitting at his feet. What others do should not distract us from our time of worship because they are not doing what we are doing. All things have their time and place, they both could not be sitting at his feet serving him dinner one had to be doing one thing and the other had to be doing another thing. It’s called the body working together as a collective. Them collaborating together is what made this time with Jesus beautiful, not focusing on whos’ doing what and who’s not doing as long as Jesus was pleased that’s all that matters.
The Holy Spirit gave me the insight Katherine states years ago. I concur. Jesus said nothing to Martha until Martha accuses Mary, for what she perceived as, “unhelpful.” Jesus is not reprimanding Martha, but brings her attention to the fact that spiritual food is needed more so than physical. While both necessary, one has more impotance over the other. 0
Hi Gail, I agree , I feel we have misunderstood this passage , as I heard from prolific spiritual teacher. Jesus does not mean that the tasks in the kitchen are less important; we have to eat to survive! What I feel he was meaning was one needs to bring their sense of being-ness – their Christ consciousness into everything they do. So whilst Martha is left to cook the point Jesus is making is that she too can keep the sense of being whilst she attends to the task at hand. That’s the crux and our ‘work’ in this life – to go about all the necessaries of life whilst being present in Christ consciousness. Always being in a sense of ‘being’ while we do all the human things. We are human BEINGS not human doings … we need to always be mindful of that state of being .
Yes! You know how men are when they aren’t fed. Dinner was not going to cook itself! (It’s only now that I’m older and have raised a family that I can feel this way.)
This is all fine and good. But this is one of the scriptures I have struggled with for a long time. If Martha hadn’t done all the work–to prepare and serve all the food to Jesus and everyone else he was there–would he have done it? If Martha, like Mary, and also lay at the feet of Jesus and listened, nobody would’ve gotten fed. Nobody would had anything to drink; explain that. Because no Bible study I’ve ever been to will even touch that subject.
Angelina. I am not sure that’s the focus of the story (provision or miraculous provision). There are other passages where Jesus provides for others, but the focus here is not that. There is a lot we can focus in on here, from serving others to listening to Jesus, and others in between. Viewpoints are over the place. Maybe the easiest thing to see is this: don’t be so busy that you miss Jesus.
I know this lesson is about priorities, but yes to Martha! She obviously would have loved to among those sitting and listening but made being a host and a servant also a priority.
Remember that in the passage above, Martha is the host( opened her home to Jesus). So, naturally she is worried about feeding 15 people( assuming of course that the 12 disciples were with him plus Martha and her sister Mary.) In the story, there are two tasks available: feeding 15 people and feeding oneself with the word of God.Jesus said, there are few things needed or indeed only one…Mary has chosen the much better one, that is listening to the word of God. Jesus further said, it will not be taken away from her because word of God is “eternal food” while the food prepared by Martha is only “temporal food”.Jesus said he is the bread of life. Anyone who eats his flesh and drink his blood will have eternal life..
I am actually preaching/teaching on this subject this Sunday and this is fantastic. The cultural lense is so vital to understand the context of the story. While preparing and looking at the original language this reminder opened new insight. There was no time table to when they were to eat and Martha did the right thing and “welcomed” Jesus in. Jesus didn’t say Martha should stop serving but that she shouldn’t be anxious and troubled. Martha lost her focus on the why she was serving. Both of them approached the Lord like we should. Martha, as well, was a known and loved by Jesus (John 11:5) and was known by the disciples. So much depth to this story so thank again for sharing
Send over that link to your message and we will check it out. So good!
Good points here but the fact that Junia was a apostle is debatable. The textual critic Daniel Wallace claims that the greek is more of favor of ‘was known by the apostles’.
Loved the comments. I too remember the light of personal revelation while reading the familiar Luke 10:38: Martha’s gift of hospitality had created the opportunity for Mary to be blessed to sit at the feet of Jesus.
Picked out a few comments to pass along to a best friend who, like me, probably falls more into the “Martha” bucket. Consequently, for years I often struggled with the Martha/Mary comparison since I’d heard so many messages commending the “Marys” who choose the “better” part. Well, let me be a little transparent here. I am married to a “Mary“—and I mean a tenaciously Mary-hearted man. Early on A LOT of our life responsibilities fell on me. So, I REALLY wrestled with feelings of resentments towards his Mary-bent outlook.
Back in 2017 during one very long season of INTENSE difficulties in our marriage, I visited a friend’s church and heard a message regarding the Martha Mary passage. (I had actually stopped going to the fellowship we attended as a family because the unresolved conflicts were that divisive.) The gentle preacher pointed out that Martha had become offended by Mary‘s behavior. And that that offense had affected MARTHA’s relationship with Jesus. Talk about a message custom-made for me. I could hardly see the man after a while for the tears welling up and spilling out of my eyes. Needless to say, Holy Spirit touched the Word of God and forever “enlarged“ my perspective of these two souls.
Love it when this happens. Glad this could bless you in a moment of need.
I believe that Martha was actually preparing a place for the Lord’s presence. Her attention to the details of hospitality allowed others to sit at Jesus’ feet. I also find credence in the proposal that Jesus didn’t say anything to Martha until she tried to pull Mary away from where she was supposed to be.
The Lord showed me a correlation between this story and what happens week after week in churches across the land. There are many Marthas who work behind the scenes to prepare a place for God’s presence in our places of worship. Some of them handle the “less spiritual” things, such as helping you find a seat or making sure the bathroom is clean, and some of them spend time praying over and interceding for the service. Both are an important part of creating the atmosphere that invites and sustains His presence in our services.
I am an old woman and have loved this passage for all the insights above and I thank you. But may I humbly submit that Martha demonstrates she too was listening, learning, growing and leading with her own beautiful part! After her brother’s death, it was Martha who ran to meet Jesus with love and faith, while Mary remained inside with the mourners…not coming to Jesus with her sorrow. I love how the Lord subtly turns both women inside out through the necessary fire of suffering and grief so that human strengths and weaknesses are more clearly visible. Oh, but each of their gifts were visibly strengthened after seeing the glory of God! John 12:1-3 again highlights these two very different sisters as they uniquely glorify God growing in service to their Savior! Martha still ministering supper, now without complaint…Mary, now anointing Jesus’ feet!