Luke 10:38 Commentary and Bible Study

(Synoptics: Luke 10:38-42)We meet this family several times in the Gospels – here in Luke 10:38; in John 11 when the sisters call Christ to heal Lazarus; at the thanksgiving meal given in celebration of Lazarus being raised to life in John 12, and possibly in Matthew 21:17 and Mark 11:11 where the Lord’s hosts are not named.Bethany was less than 2 miles from Jerusalem – John tells us it was 15 stadia or furlongs (John 11:18); there are 2 furlongs in a mile – which made it a convenient place to stay near to the city. It was Christ habit to send ahead to places he intended to stay (Luke 9:52), and so it is likely that the sisters knew that he was coming to them. This also appears from Martha’s words, ‘my sister hath left me to serve alone’, which imply that there was preparation going on even before the guests arrived, and that Mary was involved in helping at that point. Christ was with his disciples, and there were others who had come up with the party from Galilee (Luke 23:55), so it could have been quite a large group who were looking for refreshments and accommodation in what was perhaps a sizeable house. There is no reason to think that the disciples were billeted separately. Martha receives them into her home, and the fact that it is called her home may indicate that she was the oldest of the three siblings who took charge. We can assume that this was before Lazarus was raised, since he is not even mentioned, and possibly this was the first occasion that Jesus had met the family. However we are not told this, and the familiarity of the entreaty ‘Martha, Martha’ may indicate otherwise. It is clear that both the sisters were believers – that is especially clear from John 11. The passage presents us, unusually, with a domestic scene in which the Lord is involved, but tells us nothing about the content of his teaching on the occasion. The entire focus is on the lesson drawn from the behaviour of Martha and Mary and Christ’s interaction with Martha. The lesson from the passage is the importance of valuing the word of God, and the teaching of Christ. That is to be valued above everything else, and the lesson is delivered in the gentle rebuke given to Martha.