A servant’s journey

Phil Cobb
Karen Fulton First Presbyterian Church Elder

Martha’s journey takes a strong, practical, world-centered woman as she moves toward the spiritual vision Jesus brings. Like all of us, she sometimes struggles and loses her way, moving one step forward and two steps back. Remarkably, although she ends performing the same actions she performs at the beginning, in her journey she has redefined the term “servant.”

Martha engages Jesus in conversation, sometimes seeking affirmation for her point of view (which may not be forthcoming), sometimes reacting without thinking, but finally, flawed as she is, she has the heart to be close to Jesus.

First seen in Luke, Martha feels she is not being respected for her serving and that her sister is wrong not to help her serve. Martha defines “service” as the household tasks that concern her. Jesus affirms Mary’s right to sit at his feet, he upbraids Martha for her worry and distraction, not for her work serving others. He implies that the worth of her service is concealed from her by her worry over it.

Martha’s first step on the journey is to re-see the possibility that she can lay down the worries and distractions and focus on the needful thing. She must come to value her work, the serving of others.

With Lazarus’ death, Martha focuses with her sister on the loss of their brother. Their words are the same. Both start in accusation and both move through their grief to another place. Martha’s path is verbal and visible to all of us.

We watch her as she moves on a journey from anger to acceptance, as she concludes that what matters is that Jesus is the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.

Her statement of faith is clear and heartfelt. It is somewhat disappointing therefore that when Jesus moves to open the tomb, Martha takes a step back. Jesus asks that the stone be rolled away from Lazarus’ tomb and Martha calls out “Lord there is a stench because he has been dead four days.”

Martha is operating once again by human rules. Lazarus has died. He has been entombed for four days; therefore, his flesh will have decayed and there will be a stench. Lazarus was human after all. These are the human rules.

But Jesus is not operating by human rules. He calls forth Lazarus from the tomb. Lazarus appears in his funeral bindings, but with no stench. And Jesus calls them (surely his sisters) to unbind him and to return him to life.

Martha gets to see with her own eyes what she has confessed with her words earlier. The power she is encountering is like nothing she has encountered before. It is transformative, and it changes her universe.

Martha’s final appearance occurs in John 15 at a Passover banquet for Jesus that is also a celebration for Lazarus’ rebirth. John 12:2 begins “Martha served.”

Martha utters no words of complaint this time. And the word “served” glows with meaning. Yes, she is serving the table with food. But she also “serves” in the sense of “carrying out, completing or fulfilling.” Like Jesus, she has entered into full servanthood.

She obeys the call to care for others, to provide nourishment and succor to those in need, to celebrate joyously and to work in the world as she is needed.