some of those 'Seventy,' sojourning in the worthiest house at Bethany, had announced
the near arrival of the Master. Still, her bearing a ffords only indication of being drawn
towards Christ - at most, of a sincere desire to learn the good news, not of actual
discipleship.
73. See Levy, Neuhebr. Wörterb. ad voc.
74. Martha occurs, however, also as a male name (in the Aramaic).
75. The name Laazar (rz(l ), or Lazar, occurs frequently in Talmudic writings as an
abbreviated form of Elazar or Eleazar (rzaf(afl:)e).
76. Comp. St. Luke x. 38.
And so Jesus came - and, with Him and in Him, Heaven's own Light and Peace. He was
to lodge in one of the booths, the sisters in the house, and the great booth in the middle
of the courtyard would be the common living apartment of all. It could not have been
long after His arrival - it must have been almost immediately, that the sisters felt they
had received more than an Angel unawares. How best to do Him honour, was equally
the thought of both. To Martha it seemed, as if she could not do enough in showing Him
all hospitality. And, indeed, this festive season was a busy time for the mistress of a
wealthy household, e specially in the near neighbourhood of Jerusalem, whence her
brother might, after the first two festive days, bring with him, any time that week,
honoured guests from the City. To these cares was now added that of doing sufficient
honour to such a Guest - for she, also, deeply felt His greatness. And so she hurried to
and fro through the courtyard, literally, 'distracted77 about much serving.'
77. περιεσπατο .
Her younger sister, also, would do Him all highest honour; but, not as Martha. Her
homage consisted in forgetting all else but Him, Who spake as none had ever done. As
truest courtesy or affection consists, nor in its demonstrations, but in being so absorbed
in the object of it as to forget its demonstration, so with Mary in the Presence of Christ.
And then a new Light, another Day had risen upon her; a fresh life had sprung up within
her soul: 'She sat at the Lord's Feet,78 and heard his Word.' We dare not inquire, and
yet we well know, of what it would be. And so, time after time - perhaps, hour after hour
- as Martha passed on her busy way, she still sat listening and living. At last, the sister
who, in her impatience, could not think that a woman could, in such manner, fulfill her
duty, or show forth her religious profiting, broke in with what sounds like a querulous
complaint: 'Lord, dost Thou not care that my sister did leave me to serve alone?' Mary
had served with her, but she had now left her to do the work alone. Would the Master
bid her resume her neglected work? But, with tone of gentle reproof and admonition, the
affectionateness of which appeared even in the repetition of her name, Martha, Martha -
as, similarly, on a later occasion, Simon, Simon - did He teach her in words which,
however simple in their primary meaning, are so full, that they have ever since borne
the most many-sided application: 'Thou art careful and anxious about many things; but