Love is a Given
In the gospels, we are introduced to some of Jesus’s friends. While not disciples or among the group that travelled with Jesus, Martha, Mary, and Lazarus welcomed Jesus into their home and their lives. They gave Jesus a place to stay and provided for His needs whenever He passed through their town. He was able to relax with them, rest in their home, and enjoy their company. Who were these people that Jesus called friends?
Martha’s story is primarily found in Luke 10 and John 12. In these passages, we find an older sister who was responsible, attentive, and eager to serve. She knew how to throw a party and what was needed to put her guests at ease. She and her family had the means to entertain well and to even give a banquet in Jesus’s honor that included all His disciples and other honored guests, and Martha ran the whole show. However, her attention to detail was both her best and worst quality. She went from serving attentively and proficiently to worrying and fretting - distracted from her focus on Jesus. When she asked Jesus to tell her sister to start pitching in, Jesus told her, “Martha, Martha … you are worried and upset about many things, 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 10:41-42 NIV). In this exchange, Mary was praised for sitting at Jesus’s feet. The fact remains, however, that she was no help to her sister. In Matthew 26 and John 12 we read more of Mary’s story.
While Jesus was in Bethany in the home of Simon the Leper, a woman came to him with an alabaster jar of very expensive perfume, which she poured on his head as he was reclining at the table. When the disciples saw this, they were indignant. “Why this waste?” they asked. “This perfume could have been sold at a high price and the money given to the poor.”
Matthew 26:6-13 (NIV)
At this dinner, Martha was serving, Lazarus was at the table with the guests, and Mary was again not doing what she was supposed to do (John 12:2). Mary was an outlier who sat when she should have served, and was extravagant when she should have been prudent. But Jesus praised her decisions. Mary’s decision to place such extreme, extravagant, outlandish value on Jesus and ignore her duties and disregard social norms was, according to Jesus, the better choice.
That leaves Lazarus. We know the least about him. According to John’s gospel, he became sick and died. We do not know the nature of his sickness, how long it lasted, what his profession was, or anything about his personality. We do know that Lazarus was Jesus’s friend, and after he had died, Jesus raised him back to life.
Knowing what we know about this small family that was part of Jesus’s life and ministry, this verse becomes rich with meaning: “Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus” (John 11:5 NIV). John presents this fact as an important detail to the story of Jesus raising Lazarus from the dead. Without this information, the story would not have the same effect and would not accurately present the events as they really happened. Martha and Mary were correct when they sent their message to Jesus, imploring Him to come and heal their brother: “So the sisters sent word to Jesus, ‘Lord, the one you love is sick’” (John 11:3 NIV). But Jesus loved not only Lazarus, but both sisters too. Jesus loved all three of them, each one of them. He loved Martha, who was domineering and given to worry, anxiety, and stress. He loved Mary, a nonconformist who failed to meet expectations and made others uncomfortable. And He loved Lazarus, a weak man who was sick, dying, and dead.
These overtly flawed people were among Jesus’s closest friends. Their stories are recorded in the Scriptures, read by generations of people, and through their stories, I see myself. I recognize my inability to fully rest and rely on God as my source and my goal. I see how many times I have let others down and have failed to be the help they needed. And I see my sickness, the sin in my life that drains me of my strength and purpose. But, “Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus.” This is a fact, a given we must keep in mind, no matter how the rest of the story goes. And Jesus loves me. Jesus loves you. The same Jesus who raised the dead and welcomed the broken still calls us His friends today.
Friend, I pray that together, we can grasp ahold of all that it means to be loved by Jesus!
I pray that out of his glorious riches he may strengthen you with power through his Spirit in your inner being, so that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith. And I pray that you, being rooted and established in love, may have power, together with all the Lord’s holy people, to grasp how wide and long and high and deep is the love of Christ, and to know this love that surpasses knowledge – that you may be filled to the measure of all the fullness of God.
Ephesians 3:16-19 (NIV)