Martha
Patronage | butlers; cooks; dietitians; domestic servants; homemakers; hotel-keepers; housemaids; housewives; innkeepers; laundry workers; maids; servants; servers; single laywomen; travellers; Tarascon; Villajoyosa, Spain; Pateros, Philippines; Malagasang Segundo, Imus, Cavite, Philippines |
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Martha (
Etymology of the name
The name Martha is a
Biblical references
In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus visits the home of two sisters named Mary and Martha. The two sisters are contrasted: Martha was "encumbered about many things" while Jesus was their guest, while Mary had chosen "the better part", that of listening to the master's discourse.[3] The name of their village is not recorded, nor (unlike in John 11:18) is there any mention of whether Jesus was near Jerusalem. Biblical commentator Heinrich Meyer notes that "Jesus cannot yet be in Bethany,[4][5] where Martha and Mary dwelt [according to John's Gospel]".[6] But the Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges claims that it was "undoubtedly Bethany".[7]
As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. 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!"
"Martha, Martha", the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."[8]
In the Gospel of John, Martha and Mary appear in connection with two incidents: the raising from the dead of their brother Lazarus (John 11) and the anointing of Jesus in Bethany (John 12:3).
In the account of the raising of Lazarus, Jesus meets with the sisters in turn: Martha followed by Mary. Martha goes immediately to meet Jesus as he arrives, while Mary waits until she is called. As one commentator notes, "Martha, the more aggressive sister, went to meet Jesus, while quiet and contemplative Mary stayed home. This portrayal of the sisters agrees with that found in Luke 10:38–42."[9] In speaking with Jesus, both sisters lament that he did not arrive in time to prevent their brother's death: "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died".[10] But where Jesus' response to Mary is more emotional, his response to Martha is one of teaching, calling her to hope and faith:
When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home. "Lord", Martha said to Jesus, "if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask."
Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again."
Martha answered, "I know 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 will live, even though he dies; and whoever lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?"
"Yes, Lord", she told him, "I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world."[11]
As the narrative continues, Martha calls her sister Mary to see Jesus. Jesus has Mary bring him to Lazarus' tomb where he commands the stone to be removed from its entrance. Martha here objects, "But, Lord, by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days", to which Jesus replies, "Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God?".[12] They then take away the stone and Jesus prays and calls Lazarus forth alive from the tomb.
Martha appears again in John 12:1–8, where she serves at a meal held in Jesus' honor at which her brother is also a guest. The narrator only mentions that the meal takes place in Bethany, while the apparently parallel accounts in the Gospels of Matthew[13] and Mark[14] specify that it takes place at the home of one Simon the Leper. As the Catholic Encyclopedia notes, "We are surely justified in arguing that, since Matthew and Mark place the scene in the house of Simon, St. John must be understood to say the same; it remains to be proven that Martha could not 'serve' in Simon's house."[2] It is at this meal that a woman (Martha's sister Mary, according to John) anoints Jesus with expensive perfume.
Western traditions
In medieval Western Christianity, Martha's sister Mary was often equated with Mary Magdalene. This identification led to additional information being attributed to Martha as well:
Mary, Martha, and Lazarus are represented by St. John as living at Bethania, but St. Luke would seem to imply that they were, at least at one time, living in Galilee; he does not mention the name of the town, but it may have been Magdala, and we should thus, supposing Mary of Bethania and Mary Magdalene to be the same person, understand the appellative "Magdalene". The words of St. John (11:1) seem to imply a change of residence for the family. It is possible, too, that St. Luke has displaced the incident referred to in Chapter 10. The likeness between the pictures of Martha presented by Luke and John is very remarkable. The familiar intercourse between the Saviour of the world and the humble family which St. Luke depicts is dwelt on by St. John when he tells us that "Jesus loved Martha, and her sister Mary, and Lazarus" (11:5). Again the picture of Martha's anxiety (John 11:20–21, 39) accords with the picture of her who was "busy about much serving" (Luke 10:40); so also in John 12:2: "They made him a supper there: and Martha served." But St. John has given us a glimpse of the other and deeper side of her character when he depicts her growing faith in Christ's Divinity (11:20–27), a faith which was the occasion of the words: "I am the resurrection and the life." The Evangelist has beautifully indicated the change that came over Martha after that interview: "When she had said these things, she went and called her sister Mary secretly, saying: The Master is come, and calleth for thee."[2]
Eastern Orthodox tradition
In
Orthodox tradition also relates that Martha's brother Lazarus was cast out of Jerusalem in the persecution against the Jerusalem Church following the martyrdom of
Veneration
Martha is venerated as a
Feast days
The Latin Church celebrates the feast day Martha, Mary of Bethany and her brother Lazarus of 29 July.[19] The feast of Martha, classified as a "semi-double" in the Tridentine calendar, became a "simple" one in the General Roman Calendar of Pope Pius XII, a "third class feast" in the General Roman Calendar of 1960, and a memorial in the present General Roman Calendar.
The
Martha is commemorated on 29 July in the
Martha is remembered (with Mary and Lazarus) in the Church of England with a Lesser Festival on 29 July.[21]
Patronages
The Sisters of Saint Martha are a religious congregation founded in Antigonish, Nova Scotia, in 1894.[22]
Churches
A number of churches are dedicated to St. Martha including:
- Roman Catholic churches
- Europe:
- Église Sainte-Marthe de Tarascon in Tarascon, France;
- United States:
- Asia
- Australia:
- Anglican Communion:
- Canada:
- England:
- St Martha-on-the-Hill in Surrey
- Broxtowe, Nottinghamshire
- United States: St. Martha's Episcopal Church in:
- Methodist:
- St Martha's Methodist Church in Tring, Hertfordshire, England, United Kingdom
- Lutheran:
- St. Mary and St. Martha Lutheran Church, San Francisco, United States
Legends and myths
Golden Legend
According to legend, St. Martha left Judea after Jesus' resurrection, around AD 48, and went to Provence with her sister Mary (conflated with Mary Magdalene) and her brother Lazarus. With them, Martha first settled in Avignon (now in France). The Golden Legend, compiled in the 13th century, records the Provençal tradition:
Saint Martha, hostess of our Lord Jesus Christ, was born of a royal kindred. Her father was named Syro and her mother Encharia. The father of her was duke of
The Golden Legend also records the grand lifestyle imagined for Martha and her siblings in its entry on Mary Magdalene:
Mary Magdalene had her surname of Magdala, a castle, and was born of right noble lineage and parents, which were descended of the lineage of kings. And her father was named Cyrus, and her mother Eucharis. She with her brother Lazarus, and her sister Martha, possessed the castle of Magdala, which is two miles from Nazareth, and Bethany, the castle which is nigh to Jerusalem, and also a great part of Jerusalem, which, all these things they departed among them. In such wise that Mary had the castle Magdala, whereof she had her name Magdalene. And Lazarus had the part of the city of Jerusalem, and Martha had to her part Bethany. And when Mary gave herself to all delights of the body, and Lazarus entended all to knighthood, Martha, which was wise, governed nobly her brother's part and also her sister's, and also her own, and administered to knights, and her servants, and to poor men, such necessities as they needed. Nevertheless, after the ascension of our Lord, they sold all these things.[24]
St. Martha in Tarascon
A further legend relates that Martha then went to Tarascon, France, where a monster, the Tarasque, was a constant threat to the population. The Golden Legend describes it as a beast from Galatia; a great dragon, half beast and half fish, greater than an ox, longer than a horse, having teeth sharp as a sword, and horned on either side, head like a lion, tail like a serpent, that dwelt in a certain wood between Arles and Avignon. Holding a cross in her hand, Martha sprinkled the beast with holy water. Placing her sash around its neck, she led the tamed dragon through the village.[18]
There Martha lived, daily occupied in prayers and in fastings. Martha eventually died in Tarascon, where she was buried. Her tomb is located in the crypt of the local Collegiate Church.