As Jesus and His disciples were on their way, He came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him.
—Luke 10:38
Martha is another biblical character who often gets a bad reputation. Most retellings of her story skim over this verse and go straight to the part everyone remembers—Martha being worried and distracted because of all the preparations involved in having Jesus visit. People often think of Martha as shrewish, demanding Jesus make Mary help her.
Martha’s character goes much deeper than that, though. Focus on the last part of today’s verse. Martha opened her home to Jesus. She was the house owner, and as such, it was her responsibility to show hospitality. Furthermore, her actions show she knew who Jesus was and loved Him dearly. Thus, she put her best efforts into preparing the house for Him and cooking a delicious meal. Yes, Martha was easily worried and distracted, but she was also a hard worker with a generous heart who gave her best effort to everything she did.
Like Martha, we can sometimes feel as if our character is being summed up into one or two words, or that we’re being judged because of one incident where we didn’t act our best. We might even feel, as some Christians do, that Jesus loves us less because of it—that He openly favors the “Marys” of our world.
If you are more a “Martha” than a “Mary,” embrace this truth today. God made you to serve diligently and give generously, and He does not love you any less for being worried and distracted at times. Furthermore, He doesn’t love others any less because of their faults or judge their entire character based on one incident. Jesus sees and loves the whole person, just as we should.
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