Martha

Overview

Martha lived in Bethany with her siblings Mary and Lazarus, and Luke records that she welcomed Jesus into her house, an act of hospitality central to her character throughout the Gospels. On that occasion, distracted by much serving while her sister Mary sat at Jesus's feet listening, Martha complained to Jesus, who gently corrected her anxious busyness without dismissing her service. Later, when Lazarus fell ill and died, Martha went out to meet Jesus on the road before he reached the house, and in that conversation made one of the most direct confessions of Christ's identity in Scripture: 'I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God.' She then fetched her sister Mary. At the tomb, Jesus raised Lazarus, vindicating Martha's faith with the very resurrection life he had promised her. John later records Martha serving again at a supper in Bethany shortly before Jesus's crucifixion.