SERMON VIII.

MARTHA AND MARY.

LUKE X. 38, 39.

NOW IT CAME TO PASS, AS THEY WENT, THAT HE ENTERED INTO A CERTAIN VILLAGE; AND A CERTAIN WOMAN, NAMED MARTHA, RECEIVED HIM INTO HER HOUSE. AND SHE HAD A SISTER CALLED MARY, WHICH ALSO SAT AT JESUS' FEET, AND HEARD HIS WORD.

THE characters of these two friends of Christ have always been deeply interesting to the readers of the New Testament. They are mentioned together in three places by the evangelists. The first is in the chapter of which the text is a part.

Martha seems to have been the head of the family, composed of herself, her sister Mary, and her brother Lazarus. That they were in easy, if not affluent, circumstances, appears from several incidents in their history. On the occasion mentioned in the text, it seems that Christ, and probably some, if not all, of his disciples with him, who went with him in his daily walks, were entertained by Martha at her house. The sudden entrance of so many strangers

imposed much care and responsibility upon the head of the household; and hospitality being a great study, and one of the most important of customs in the East, the mistress of the family had many things to think of and to do, especially for such a guest as she esteemed Christ to be. We may infer that Martha was a woman who took great pains with every thing which she did, and made much of every duty, and perhaps of every trouble; being of an anxious disposition, and yet a woman of great energy, of stirring habits, thorough, and ambitious to have every thing done in the best manner. So, as soon as her guests had entered the house, it may be without much previous notice, her whole soul was absorbed with entertaining them. The servants must provide water for the hands and feet of the guests; refreshments must be immediately set before them, and afterward a repast in the form of a regular meal.

But Martha was not content to let things proceed in a simple manner, with a word now and then to direct the course of affairs; but she laid herself out to do more than was necessary, and was 'cumbered about much serving.' In the midst of her anxiety to provide and arrange her entertainment, she missed her sister, and found that she was seated, according to the custom of inquirers in those days, at the feet of Christ, and was listening eagerly to his conversation.

The excitement and hurry of an important occasion are not favorable to a calm and equable temper, nor to deliberate and well-considered words; and Martha at this time, in an impatient and fretful mood, quite forgot the proprieties of life, and the kindness due to a sister, by appealing to her guest against that sister. Entering the room where Jesus and the company were sitting, with Mary at his feet, she said, "Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? Bid her, therefore, that she help me." Her wish was, that the guests should excuse them both until all needful preparations were made for the repast; her only care at Jesus' presence in her house being, What shall we provide for him to eat?

Not so with Mary. It was an inestimable blessing, in her view, to have the Saviour under her roof. She saw that he was neither famished nor weary; and so, instead of occupying herself with the thought of an entertainment, she took that opportunity to satisfy the wants of her soul, which hungered and thirsted after righteousness. Now she had found one who could resolve all her difficulties in religion, lead her to an established hope, satisfy her desire to know more of God and spiritual things, and comfort her with the consolations of religion. Suppose that her brother Lazarus were then travelling in Persia or India, and Christ were a friend who had just arrived from those parts, and had come to her house to tell

her that he had seen Lazarus. It would have been out of place for her to leave him before obtaining from him all the information which she so much desired, and leave him, too, to provide a feast, as though, all that he came for was to eat. Now, Christ had come into her dwelling to tell her of things transcendently interesting and important, in which her soul was wrapped up; and could she, should she, leave him, and think only of a handsome enter tainment at table? That would be disparaging to her guest; it would embarrass him to see that his coming had been the signal for such dismay and labor; it would be treating him as no visitor loves to be treated who comes for an important errand, or from love for his friends, and is not intent merely on being warmed and fed. At a proper time, no doubt, Mary would do her part toward providing a suitable entertainment; there would be a season in the visit when she might properly be excused, and when a due regard for him, whom she had engaged so long in conversation, might require her to leave him for a while. But Martha, from the time that he came into the house, was cumbered with her plans and labors to serve him as a guest; was taking no pleasure, and receiving no profit from him in the great concerns of her soul; and as the sorrow of the world worketh death, so worldly cares had a deadly influence on her feelings, and she wished that Christ, who knew what was due

to strangers, and how much needed to be done to prepare an entertainment, would send her sister to her household work.

"And Jesus answered, and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things."

Here we must understand Christ as referring to her general character and disposition. The idea, suggested even by some good men, that Christ meant to say that Martha was unduly anxious to provide many things for their entertainment, and that only one article of food was really needful, is, in the language of another good man and able critic, almost "unpardonable." The Saviour's concluding remark about Mary shows that he refers to the general disposition and choice. He says to Martha, twice repeating her name, for emphasis, Thou art careful and troubled about many things.' Every thing excites in you an anxious, troubled mind. You magnify every thing which you have to do, by disproportioned solicitude; and by being wholly absorbed in domestic cares and labors, are really losing sight of that one great thing, which alone is of real importance. The Saviour then approved of Mary's disposition, as of one who had placed things in their true light, and had chosen the good part which should never be taken away from her.

The characters of these friends of Christ, thus far,