Martha is on Point | Tim Henderson

Hey, friends. Good to be with you guys for the third time this morning. So this morning, we're gonna continue watching the final scene in the first half of John's gospel. Most recently, would have been two weeks ago because we did a little interruption for that movie about the bear in the tree. But most recently we've seen that Lazarus grew ill and died. Lazarus and his two sisters, Mary and Martha, some of Jesus' closest friends. And so after a delay, Jesus finally goes to be with the sisters and to grieve with them. So we're gonna watch this conversation that Jesus has with Martha. He'll talk to Mary next week, but this week he's gonna talk to Martha. And I really want you to pay the closest attention to Martha herself. I like Martha a lot. Sometimes her sister Mary gets all the love, but I think Martha was fantastic.

So there are three things that I want you guys to notice about her—attributes that I think are really worth emulating. Number one, Martha got things done. Number two, Martha was a good theologian. She was both a doer and a thinker. And then number three, you're gonna have to wait for. I think it's easy to miss how significant this moment is gonna be—not just in Martha's life, but in our life and in John's overall narrative. You're not gonna miss it, but I'm gonna make you wait for it.

Martha Gets Things Done

Number one: Martha knows how to get things done. I think Martha is probably best known for an event that Luke records in chapter 10. You might be familiar with this whole story where Martha and Mary are sisters, they live together, and they're having Jesus over. Jesus has come, and Mary is, as usual, at Jesus's feet. Literally, every single time you ever see Mary anywhere in the Bible, she's always at the feet of Jesus. Martha, as usual, is off doing something. In this particular instance in Luke 10, she's in the kitchen and she gets frustrated because she's doing all the work and Mary's just hanging out with Jesus. She's like, "Jesus, would you tell my sister to snap to it?" And in a disappointing moment for many people, I think, Jesus doesn't do what she asks. Instead he says:

Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better and it will not be taken from her. — Luke 10

Jesus is right, of course. The best thing that we can do is to be with him. Martha probably just by habit got caught up doing what she always does, which is whatever needs to be done. And I would presume that just when she was stuck in her usual mode of operating, she just missed it. She just forgot what was right before her.

However, somebody has to cook the food and set the table, and Martha is just doing whatever she needs to do—what she always does—which is whatever needs to get done. And you see that same personality here in John chapter 11. Take a look at verse 17. You can just tell the way these two sisters interact with the whole world around them.

Now when Jesus came, he found that Lazarus had already been in the tomb four days. Bethany was near Jerusalem, about two miles off, and many of the Jews had come to Martha and Mary to console them concerning their brother. So, when Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went and met him. But Mary remained seated in the house. — John 11:17-20

That is exactly the way these two interact. She hears he's coming and boom, she's out the door. Mary remained seated. Some of you, God bless you, are like Martha. You walk through the day just thinking, "Hey, here's an idea. How about if everybody just does what they're supposed to do, like right now?" Mary gets all the love, but God bless the Marthas of the world. I always feel defensive for Martha because Mary's the clear favorite. But I am grateful for people that work hard and meet deadlines and notice a problem before it even starts and move to bring a solution to it. You can tell that Martha feels the seconds slipping through her fingers and she makes the most of the time allotted. Some of you are like that. And so I would just like to thank you personally for making sure that the trains run on time, so all the slacker dreamy types can live in the efficient, functional world that you create. So many thanks to you.

Martha's inclination to get things done is not her only virtue, alright?

Some people want to do the next thing, and do the next thing, and do the next thing. They're not able to slow down their own internal clock to sit down long enough to read a book. Martha is skilled. Alright? She not only gets things done, but she's not so busy getting things done that she can't slow down, read a book, and pay attention.

And that is evident because this woman has picked up on a very important, but somewhat subtle clue in the Old Testament. There's a theological theme that runs through the Hebrew scriptures that is somewhat vague. By the time it reaches the New Testament, it's vividly clear. It pops and it's all over the place. But despite the fact that it is vividly clear in the New Testament, many, maybe most Christians are actually unaware of it. They don't know what Martha knows, even though she was functioning off much less information. It's subtle, it's infrequently mentioned, and yet she was on it, which I think is really impressive.

So, props to Martha for not just getting things done, but also for taking it upon herself to become theologically astute, for paying attention, for being learned in the scriptures, knowledgeable about what God has revealed. I just think, I love Martha. She's a great model for us.

So, listen to the insight embedded in this. Martha says to Jesus, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now, I know that whatever you ask from God, God will give you." Jesus said to her, "Your brother will rise again." Martha said to him, "I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day."

Now, Martha's hurting. We talked about this a couple of weeks ago. Martha and Mary are both going to reproach Jesus with the exact same phrase: "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died." She is disappointed. This has been a brutally difficult three or four days for her. And longer than that as Lazarus was sick. It's been a difficult time. And into her pain, Jesus says, reassuringly, "Lazarus' death is temporary. He will rise again."

Now, some people might hear that and realize accurately that what Jesus is saying is, "I'm gonna raise him from the dead in like twenty minutes." Martha does not assume that's what he means. And it's not because she's oblivious. It's because she has her theological categories in order. When Jesus says he won't be dead forever, he's gonna rise from the dead, she's like, "Yeah, I know. Nobody's gonna be dead forever. We're all gonna rise from the dead." She knew what God had revealed: that the day is coming when all who are in their graves will hear his voice and come out.

The True Payoff of the Gospel

Now, somehow, someway—I don't know exactly; maybe I should study the history of this because this kind of grates on me—for most Americans, their understanding of the payoff of the gospel is that when you die, you get to go to heaven, as if that's the end of the story. But that is not the end of the story. It's not the best part of the story. It is true that when Christians die, they do go to heaven. But that is a blip. That is a moment. That is not the end for which we are waiting.

The payoff of the gospel is at the end of the age. Jesus will return to the earth. He will restore all things and he will raise everyone from the dead—some to face judgment and others to live forever. Now, a church of the Holy Spirit, you might know that because I tend to talk about it a lot. But in your typical church across the country, even though this is absolutely bedrock orthodoxy, many, many, many Christians aren't mindful of it. "Oh, we die, go to heaven, and that's the end of the story." But it's not. Our resurrection—not just Jesus' resurrection, but our physical, bodily resurrection when he returns. You guys, it's all over the place in the New Testament. People don't see it even though it's there in plain sight.

But as I said, despite the fact that it is subtler, much less frequent in the Old Testament, Martha had wisely, astutely, carefully picked up on it. God bless this woman for developing good theology.

I want to show you—I mean, I don't exactly know what she's drawing on and all the things she's learned, but I'm gonna show you three passages from the Old Testament that are, in the beginning, very subtle, but increasingly becoming more and more explicit. This is what a faithful, attentive Jew would have been anticipating.

Old Testament Foreshadowing

The first one is in Job. Job is super early. It's not early in your page count, but Job is set in the midst of Genesis. So it's incredibly early. And Job knew, in the midst of his enormous suffering, that his ultimate rescue was gonna happen after he died and rose from the dead.

Here, this is from Job 19. Job says this:

I know that my redeemer lives and in the end he will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh, I will see God. I myself will see him with my own eyes. — Job 19:25-27

I and not another. How my heart yearns within me. You guys, that is incredibly early and incredibly prescient. Job is seeing the end of all things when his destroyed body is remade at the coming of Christ. He knows that he will stand on the earth and he will be standing with the embodied God who made all things, whom he simply calls his Redeemer. Maybe Martha was drawing from that. Or perhaps she was also aware of the things that Isaiah said, because as Isaiah ends up fleshing this out a little bit more, Isaiah talks about this in Isaiah 25, 35, 65, and into 66. Multiple times he goes after the ultimate result of the grace that will be shown to the redeemed, and the terrors that await those that are lost.

Here he is, this is chapter 25, he's anticipating what you will recognize as the wedding supper of the lamb. Alright. Look at this. Isaiah 25:6:

On this mountain, the Lord of hosts will make for all people a feast of rich food, a feast of well aged wine, of rich food full of marrow, of aged wine, well refined. And he will swallow up on this mountain the covering that is cast over all people. The veil that is spread over all nations.

Do you know what the covering is that is cast over all people? The veil that covers all nations? It's death. We are dying. Verse eight:

He will swallow up death forever and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the Lord has spoken.

You guys, Isaiah foresaw the death of death and a banquet for the people of God, for all of the people of God who had ever lived. That day lies still in the future. But probably the clearest mark of the resurrection that is coming to all of us is found in Daniel, in Daniel 12. As the scriptures become more clear, they drops hints—it really becomes pretty unavoidable by the time we get to Daniel 12, which says this. Verse one:

At that time shall arise Michael, the great prince who has charge of your people. And now shall be a time of trouble, such as never has been since there was a nation till that time. But at that time, your people shall be delivered and everyone whose name shall be found written in the book. And many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt. And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above, and those who turn many to righteousness like the stars, forever and ever.

Because that's literally the clearest statement in the Old Testament about the resurrection that is coming. Jesus is gonna unpack this, Paul unpacks it pretty significantly. And so in the New Testament, we get lots more information about this. But I'm telling you, in the Old Testament, there wasn't that much. I mean, I pretty much read you the heart of the heart of the thing. And Martha clued in, she figured it out.

And Jesus takes what however she learned it—Jesus takes what she says, her somewhat rare but spot on theology about the resurrection. And he not only affirms it, but he embraces it as being his very self. He does not just affirm that there will be a resurrection from the dead, but he clarifies that he is the resurrection and the life. You guys, Jesus is the slayer of death. It is his voice that will raise the dead. It is in Christ that all will be made alive.

Martha's Greatest Virtue

Which brings us to Martha's third, and I think, greatest virtue. Not only is this a woman who just knows how to get things done—she's not lazy, passive, sitting around waiting. She's activistic. She's gonna make things happen because things matter. Time matters. And she's got great theological instincts. She's paying attention. She's thoughtful. She's reading. She's learning. She's listening to what she's taught. She's piecing things together. She's remembering it all.

But more than that, I wonder if you can guess what her greatest moment is. If you think about John's gospel and what he is doing, you guys, the position he puts Martha in, in this narrative that he is painting, he gives her the seat of honor. Okay? So let's back up a second. John is crafting his gospel on purpose to show things, to organize things in a way that goes beyond what Matthew, Mark, and Luke have already said. Matthew, Mark, and Luke, they've already been written. They're already in circulation. They're known, they're understood, they're around here. John writes late. He's the fourth gospel in sequence of time of when it was written. He knows what everyone else has said. He knows the stories that are already bouncing around in the community. And so he sits down and he remembers his life with Jesus, these three years that he spent with Jesus.

John's the reason, by the way, that we know it was three years because he includes three Passovers. He gives us these markers that Matthew, Mark and Luke didn't really give us.

He looks through all these stories and he includes this one and he excludes that one. When he's all done, he's like, you guys, you have no idea how much material I had. There are so many stories that I could've included—I just didn't have enough paper. We wouldn't have enough time to tell you all these things. But I chose these particular vignettes, these moments, these signs throughout this first half. I chose these for a particular purpose.

His purpose as he's writing all this, and what he wants to show us—the storyline that he's chasing—is to draw our eye over and over and over again to this great investigation. There is one question that dominates John's gospel, in particular that dominates this first half of the book of signs. And that question is: who is this guy? Who is he? Who is he? Who is he?

Every chapter of John's book, he is writing this thing so that this is the question that was permeating the culture. You might remember in chapter one, Nathaniel, the soon-to-be disciple, he hears about Jesus from his friend Philip. Philip's like, "You gotta meet this guy." And he's like, "Come on. Can anything good come out of Nazareth?" He's super skeptical. He's like, "Maybe I'll come see, but I'm not about to be snowed by some yahoo from Nazareth."

In John chapter two, Jesus clears the temple and the Jews' primary question is: "Who do you think you are? What gives you the right to do this?" It's an audacious thing.

In John chapter three, the disciples of John the Baptist see that Jesus is baptizing. He is moving in on their turf and they're a little bit ticked about it. They're seeing his crowds get bigger while their crowds are getting smaller. And they want to know: who is this guy? We are here doing the important work of preparing the way for the Messiah. Who are you? He's the Messiah. Okay?

In John chapter four, the woman at the well has this interaction with him and it's so meaningful, so significant that she blows through these barriers. She goes back to her hometown, to the community where she's not generally welcomed or feeling safe. And she says, "Come see a man who told me all that I ever did. Could this be the Christ?" This is the question.

In John five, after Jesus heals a man on the Sabbath, he calls God his own father, making himself equal with God. And at that moment, this question turns into a capital charge. And for the first time really in John's gospel, the Jews settle on their answer. They know who he is. He is a criminal and a blasphemer. And so they determined to kill him.

In John chapter six, Jesus feeds the five thousand and when he does, it only continues to stir up the controversy. Some in that crowd say, "Oh, I got it. I figured it out. He's the prophet. He is the one that Moses talked about in Deuteronomy 18," which is a correct, albeit incomplete answer.

In John seven and eight, they go to the Feast of Tabernacles. And as John reports, just listen to this: the Feast of Tabernacles this particular year was dominated by, and I quote, "much muttering about him among the people." While some said, "He's a good man," others said, "No, he's leading the people astray."

John chapter nine is the most investigative investigation of all. It records all this hubbub around this healing of a blind man, and it is filled with observations like these. Some of the Pharisees said:

"This man is not from God for he does not keep the Sabbath."

But others said:

"How can a man who's a sinner do such signs?"

And there was division among them. Some said:

"We know that God has spoken to Moses. But as for this man, we don't know where he comes from."

And still others:

"If this man were not from God, he could do nothing."

In chapter ten, it is still the driving question. Many of them said:

"He has a demon and is insane. Why listen to him?"

But others said:

"These are not the words of one who is oppressed by a demon. Can a demon open the eyes of the blind?"

Martha's Answer

The question about Jesus' true identity is literally what the entire book is about. It is literally what human history is about. And friends, it is the single most important question in your life as well.

But Martha, unlike so many in John's narrative, does not ask this question. She answers it. She says in verse 26:

"You are the Christ, the Son of God."

Friends, this is literally the entire point of John's gospel. And it was Martha who answers it out loud. You are the Christ, the Son of God.

Here, in the final scene of the first half of the book, it is Martha who gives the definitive answer. This is a profoundly important moment. Lazarus is about to be raised from the dead. That will transition us into the final week of Jesus' life, which leads inexorably to his death and his resurrection.

And right here, the swirling controversy that has dominated the entire book up to this point—around which John has built his gospel, who is this guy?—is about to be answered. And Martha is the one who answers it.

With thanks to Martha, the question is answered. He is the Christ. Now listen, I hope that you work hard like Martha. She's fantastic. And I hope you read your Bible attentively, carefully discovering the treasure therein, including the treasure that the means by which we will be raised from the dead, and the end to whom we will be raised from the dead is Jesus himself. But, most of all, friends, I hope you answer the question that Martha answered. Who is he? And that you answer it correctly. Because this is what the entire game is about.

Complementarian Theology and Women in the Church

Let me point out one more thing here. I am a complementarian. Church of the Holy Spirit is a complementarian church. What that means is that we believe that the scriptures call men and women to play different complementary roles. In particular, we believe that the scriptures teach that God calls men to bear the primary burden of leadership in both the family and the church. Not exclusive, but primary. I think the biblical case for this is overwhelmingly strong. The elders of churches are to be men, families are ideally to be led by male female pairs with the primary responsibility falling to the men.

But some people draw mistaken conclusions from all that. Some have what I would characterize as a very unhelpfully over realized sense of what that means. And as a result, they may minimize the roles that women can play, should play, must play. And they can do that in ways that I think are significantly out of step with scripture. At Church of the Holy Spirit, we believe that the church suffers when those views are enacted.

The role that women played in the New Testament, and that women need to play today, is absolutely enormous. In John's gospel, the closest statement to Martha's came back in chapter four with another woman, the woman at the well. More tentative than our activist Martha, she asked rather than proclaimed: could this be the Christ? A little softer, but she was getting there, and she was early.

Friends, the resurrection of Jesus Christ was first witnessed by women. The resurrection of Jesus Christ was first proclaimed by women. Romans, which is the greatest thing that was ever written, was delivered to the Roman church and read to the Roman church by a woman named Phoebe. The first time that blessed book was ever heard out loud, it was in the soprano tones of a feminine voice. Lydia hosted a church in her home. Priscilla, along with her husband, taught the great Apollos. Romans 16—you guys read it, man. It is a who's who of dynamic women who Paul describes as fellow workers, hard workers, riskers of their lives, those for whom many are grateful, a great help to many people, outstanding among the apostles. And in John's gospel, the answer to the question—who is this guy?—was answered by a woman. Martha's declaration: you are the Christ, the Son of God, is every bit as significant as Peter's confession in Mark eight.

Now, Sloop and I, we believe that God's plan that the primary leadership of the church and the family would be reserved for men is a good plan. We are not remotely embarrassed by that plan. We rejoice that God has ordered all things according to his wisdom. We believe that he meant something when he made us male and when he made us female. We believe that he meant something in the complementary roles that he has given us. We each have roles, and our families and our church cannot possibly be what God intends them to be without the needful, brilliant, hardwrought, insightful contributions of the women.

And so, I hope that Martha will be an example for you, not just for the women, but for the women and the men. Because we should all be people who get stuff done, and we should all be people willing to do the work to develop good theology, to study the scriptures, to pick up on the nuances, notice things. God's word is filled with treasure, and it rewards diligent study. And we should be people who recognize who Jesus actually is. We should all love him and bow down before him. We should receive his gift of righteousness for he is the Christ. He is the Messiah. He is the royal son who has come to be made king.

And so, to the men and to the women both, I offer you Martha. And I really hope that she will be a helpful template for you, and that you will allow the spirit of God to develop in you her qualities as you walk with our gracious Lord.

Lord Jesus, we love you. We love you. We love you. We praise you. For you are the resurrection and the life. It is in you that the veil that covers the nations will be taken away. Which of us could defeat death, could kill it? You and only you, and you are the end of all things.

And, Lord, we thank you that in addition to the supreme grace of granting us eternal life for later, you give us good examples now. Lord, we know you are the example. You are the one that we are to follow. But honestly, Jesus, you are a tough act to follow.

And so we thank you for people like Paul who says, follow me as I follow Christ. For women like Martha who are worthy of being emulated. Lord, we thank you that you give us intermediaries to give us a little bit of a sense. What does this actually look like for me?

Would you help us to be like her, to work hard, to not sit around, but to make the most of the moments as they pass by, to study your word, to know what you've revealed, to believe it, to treasure it. And, Lord, most of all, I pray that we would not only know who you are, we get the right answer, we'd understand that you are the Christ, but like Martha did, we would tell others that everywhere we go, people would hear from our lips that you are the fulfillment of all things. You are the Christ. You are the Son. You are the King. So that they could know you too.

We love you. We praise you. We exalt you on this beautiful day. Amen.