The CBE Scroll

Comment by PS

August 8, 2008 @ 7:08 am

Jesus always responded with great kindness to true expressions of faith and rebuked, with kindness, those who showed something else.

These two stories show that we shouldn’t judge anybody, even Bible people, by just one incident. We are complex people who respond differently in different situations.

Comment by Hubert Edgar

August 8, 2008 @ 2:02 pm

I like to compare this to the incident in Mark 8:27-33 where Jesus asks His disciples who people say He is, then who they say He is. Peter gets the right answer, an answer very similar to Martha’s. Two differences stand out to me.

First, Jesus asks his disciples who He is. He asks Martha what she believes. In both cases He is asking for a comparison. The disciples are to compare who they think He is with who people in general think that He is. Martha is asked to compare a general eschatological doctrine of the resurrection with the specific question of her brother’s resurrection, a prophesied distant future with a current situation, a doctrine with a Person.

Second, two different things happen after their correct answers. With Peter and the disciples, Jesus talks about His own death and resurrection and ends up having to strongly correct Peter who denies His words. Martha next goes to get her sister, Mary. With Martha, we don’t know what was said directly after her answer. We don’t know if she and Jesus said anything more or not. We don’t know if Martha said anything more to Mary than that Jesus was there and was asking for her. I do note that she referred to Him as “the Master,” i.e. the one in charge. Two believers react in very human ways to death. Peter denies the coming death and Martha acknowledges the current death is in good hands.

I’d also like to compliment PS on her great answer. A problem that appears regularly in the exegesis of Scripture is that we treat incidents as stories instead of history. Stories are about characters. Jesus uses parables that are stories. History is about real people doing real things in real time. They are more complex than stories and not nearly as complete because so much information is involved in history. This radically alters how to read and interpret Scripture.

Comment by faith

August 11, 2008 @ 8:26 am

I was reading Ken Baily on Jesus and women. He also, like yourself, pointed out the fact that Martha recognized Jesus as the Messiah like Peter.

He noted that while we celebrate Peter’s declaration and attach great significance, we often miss Martha’s similar declaration.

Comment by Liz

August 11, 2008 @ 5:40 pm

Good point Faith (and Ken of course) we can all absorb these anomolies without realising it. I guess it depends on those who go before us and those whom we precede- lets make sure we highlight the statements and experiences of women in the bible and maybe the next generation won’t even notice but think it is ‘normal’

Comment by tiro

August 12, 2008 @ 12:44 pm

Such a timely and excellent subject jlp. Thanks for posting this one. As Faith noted, if we make a big deal of Peter’s declarations of faith, we should make an equally big deal of Martha’s declarations.

Comment by faith

August 13, 2008 @ 7:50 am

Then there is the woman at the well to whom Jesus first tells that he is the Messiah. i think when we fail to not such things… we minimize the women in the Biblical accounts. I had always assumed that women were not much mentioned or important in the Bible but found that they were very prominent, just not highlight as often or shown differently… not as disciples.

The woman at the well is often portrayed as looking for love in all of the wrong places but in reality is someone who had much knowledge about the messiah and was asking very intelligent questions. Could it be that she was a victim of the “any cause” divorce laws? Could it be that she was someone for whom Christ came to set free from the bondage of the day?

Perhaps she is a woman who was awaiting the coming messiah who would set the captive free and heal the broken hearted.

Comment by Christy

August 14, 2008 @ 7:54 am

I know there is some debate about the Samaritan woman being perceived either as a “loose woman”, an adulterous woman, or as a victim of an unjust system. As a victim, it is emphasized that Jesus, knowing her good heart, reached out to her and gave her dignity - thus, illustrating justice for downtrodden women.

I personally prefer to see her based on what facts were revealed. She once had 5 husbands. We don’t know why she had so many. Did they die, did they divorce her? But we do know that she was living with a man not her husband at the time of her meeting with Jesus. When Jesus deliberately brought up the topic of “her husband”, the Samaritan woman truthfully admitted that she didn’t have one. After this admission, Jesus went on to reveal His full knowledge of her disgraceful situation.

Rather than being an illustration of God’s justice, I see this encounter more as an example of God’s mercy and grace. Jesus gave the Samaritan woman the opportunity to “come clean” about her immoral lifestyle, and she did. Just because He didn’t tell her specifically to stop sinning does not imply that she had a good excuse for her illicit living conditions. If she did, why did Jesus ask her about her “husband” in the first place? He never even hinted that there could be any injustices which could excuse her actions.

It was necessary for the Samaritan woman to be honest with her Lord. She confessed her sins to Him and He received her confession. She was forgiven and not condemned. It was this cleansing that greatly impacted her and brought her into an personal relationship with Christ. She even used this testimony in the successful evangelization of her village.

To see the Samaritan woman as a victim rather than as a scandalous sinner, in my opinion, lessens the impact of the message being illustrated by this encounter. Jesus reached out to the Samaritan woman not because of her goodness but because of His goodness. Jesus saves sinners, no matter how vile, and transforms them into His glorious disciples. Those accepted by Christ are no longer condemned.

The Samaritan woman was specifically chosen by Christ to be His disciple, just has He specifically chose the twelve. All have sinned utterly. No one can boast. The only means that anyone is saved is by grace alone. Paul saw himself as the chief of sinners.

As a disciple, the Samaritan woman has the same access and status before God as the twelve. With God there is no partiality. We are equal members of the same spiritual family. To me that’s GREAT NEWS!

Comment by faith

August 15, 2008 @ 6:54 am

i like your take on the Samaritan, Christy.