Saint Martha

The woman usually remembered only for bustling about the kitchen would be the one to make one of the boldest professions of faith in the whole Gospel, right in the middle of a grieving household, with the scent of death still in the air.

To understand Martha’s beauty fully, we have to walk with her, from a hospitable house always open, to the very stone of a tomb not yet rolled away.

Scripture does not record Martha’s birth, age or marital status. The sister Mary in this family — usually called Mary of Bethany to distinguish her — is a completely different person from Mary Magdalene, whose story is told elsewhere in this app.

Saint Luke tells how Martha warmly welcomed the Lord into her home. While Mary sat at the Lord’s feet, listening intently to every word, Martha was rushing about with all the serving — probably cleaning, lighting the fire, preparing every dish to receive an honored guest properly. Seeing she could not keep up, she came to the Lord and said, with a touch of resentment:

“Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her to give me a hand!”

How true to life that grumbling sounds. In any family, the one running the household has times of feeling alone and worn out from carrying everything, while others sit at ease. Martha did not hesitate to pour out her heart to the Lord, because she trusted him as one of the family, who understood and loved her enough not to be angry at a complaint.

The Lord was not criticizing her cooking or her service — he himself served all his life, and taught the Apostles to serve one another. What he wanted to remind Martha was only this: do not let the frantic busyness outside rob you of peace inside, making you forget the very presence of the honored Guest sitting right in your own home.

People can prepare every fine dish for a guest while their hearts are full of irritation, with not a moment of ease to sit down and talk with that guest. The Lord’s words offer something very practical to anyone who is busy: amid the countless tasks of family, kitchen and earning a living, keep some moments of silence for yourself to listen to the word of God, even just five or ten minutes.

Scripture does not tell us whether Martha took off her apron afterwards and sat down beside her sister. The Lord’s advice is left open, like a gentle invitation repeated to each of us, every new day.

When he reached Bethany, Lazarus had died and had been buried in a rock tomb for four days — long enough that no one could doubt the death was real, not some deep sleep. Many relatives and neighbors had come from Jerusalem to console the sisters. As soon as she heard the Master had arrived at the edge of the village, Martha got up at once and ran out to meet him, while Mary stayed sitting at home, too grief-stricken to rise.

Choking with tears, she poured out the regret that had built up in her heart: if only you had been here, my brother would not have died! But right after that bitter lament, a fragile hope flickered:

“But even now, I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.”

Jesus said: “Your brother will rise again.” Martha answered, still cautious: “I know he will rise again, on the last day.”

Jesus gently drew her from a faith fixed on a distant future to the One standing right in front of her:

“I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, even though they die, will live... Do you believe this?”

She said this while her brother’s tomb was still sealed, while the smell of death still seemed to hang in the air. Martha’s faith, then, was not a late thank-you after an obvious miracle had already happened; it was a complete handing over of herself, from the depths of grief, when there was no sign yet of any miracle.

When they came to the tomb, the Lord said:

“Take away the stone!”

Practical as ever, Martha objected: “Lord, it has been four days; there will be a smell!” That blunt remark shows a woman who faced the bare reality of death without illusions. Jesus gently reminded her: “Did I not tell you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?”

That short phrase sums up the beauty of a whole person. After so many great events, after the teaching and even an astounding miracle right in her own family, Martha was still Martha. The Lord did not make her change her nature, did not make her become someone completely different to prove she had

“matured”

in faith. She went on serving with the same capable, familiar hands, but now her service was full of peace, gratitude and deep love, with no trace of the irritation and resentment of the beginning.

Since ancient times, July 29 has been set aside to honor Saint Martha. By a decree of the Holy See dated January 26, 2021, the feast is now celebrated for all three siblings together: Martha, Mary and Lazarus. It is a beautiful decision: it honors the witness of a whole household that opened its door to the Lord, trusted him and stayed close to him all their lives, rather than singling out one person.

For Vietnamese Catholic women who bear the name Martha, she is a very close companion. She knows well the weariness of the daily meals, the nameless busyness of housework, and those times when the heart is in turmoil over things that seem very small in family life.