This article is part of the series, Inheritance and Influence: Women of the Promise.

The narrative of Mary and Martha, women of Bethany, has often been defined by the conflict captured in Luke 10. In that text, the Bible reader sees the bustling hands of Martha versus the quiet heart of Mary. The lessons drawn from the conflict between Mary and Martha are valid and necessary. Yet, when we step back and view these women in light of John 11 and 12, the instruction in discipleship grows. Bethany is not a battleground between work and worship. It is the theological epicenter of the Gospel of John. The events are positioned precisely at the turning point where Jesus’s public ministry shifts toward his Passion. Mary and Martha stand as witnesses, whose responses to Christ lay the groundwork for the confessions of disciples today. Let us spend some time learning more about the inheritance and influence of these two women.

Mary and Martha are the focus of most discussions regarding discipleship and Bethany. However, there was a third disciple, their brother, named Lazarus. The scriptures tell us very little about Lazarus, other than the fact that Jesus loved him (John 11:5). Lazarus falls ill with an unnamed disease, and the disease causes his death. After waiting four days, Jesus returns from Judea to Bethany, and he is greeted on his approach to the city by Martha. Their exchange, captured in John 11:21-27, takes place outside of the city of Bethany.

Only Martha comes out to see Jesus at first. After she greets him, she immediately confronts Jesus with a true statement: If you had been here, our brother would not have died. (John 11:21) Martha’s statement is confrontational, but is based in belief. She immediately follows with a statement that she knows God listens to Jesus. He tells her that Lazarus will rise from the dead, and she agrees, knowing the truth of the resurrection. What takes place next, captured in John 11:27, is the heart of Martha’s devotion and theology. 

Martha begins her statement with the words “I believe.” “I believe” is a translation of the Greek perfect-tense word “pepisteuka.” The full meaning of the Greek word is best captured as “I have believed and stand firm in this belief.” Martha had a settled, permanent conviction that Jesus was the Messiah before the miracle of Lazarus even occurs. Her confession includes three elements: 1) that Jesus is The Christ, the long-expected Messiah, 2) that Jesus is the Son of God, that he is divine and has the power of God, and 3) that he is the embodiment of salvation. That he is the fulfillment of prophetic promise. The declaration that Martha makes in John 11:27 is a model for disciples and captures the theological truth of Jesus Christ.

After speaking her confession, Martha returns to the house and informs Mary that Jesus has arrived. Mary, and a group of Jews thinking Mary is going to the tomb to weep, go out to meet Jesus on the road outside of Bethany. Mary’s words are almost identical to Martha’s, but her actions are distinctly different. (John 11:32) Rather than a theological discussion, Mary’s reaction is one of grief and emotion. She falls at the feet of Jesus and begins to weep. Mary’s grief and lament cause deep distress in Jesus, leading up to John’s record that Jesus wept at the tomb of Lazarus. The ending of these particular interactions of Mary and Martha with Christ is Jesus’ resurrection of Lazarus from the tomb. However, the display of Mary’s faith continues into the next chapter of John.

In John chapter 12, Jesus is gathered in Bethany with Mary, Martha, Lazarus, and other disciples for a dinner. During this dinner, Mary famously anoints Jesus’s feet with spikenard and wipes them with her hair. Spikenard (nardos) was an imported, aromatic oil extracted from rare plants in the Himalayas. The estimated value of a pound of this pure oil was roughly 300 denarii—the equivalent of a full year’s wages for a common laborer. For a household in 1st-century Judea, such an asset often represented the family’s primary safety net or a treasured inheritance passed down through generations.

Famously, Judas Iscariot reacts strongly to this act of devotion from Mary. However, the detail Mary understood that the male disciples kept missing was Jesus’s impending death. Her anointing of Jesus was not merely an emotional and overzealous thanksgiving for the raising of Lazarus. It was a royal and priestly burial rite performed for the one she knew was the Messiah. Jesus’s response confirms the shared understanding between Mary and Jesus of what she has performed (John 12:7-8)

In the end, we see a synergy of influence with Mary and Martha. In John 12:2, it is recorded similarly to Luke 10 that Martha served the meal. However, in this instance, the friction, comparison, and anxiety present in Luke 10 are absent. Martha’s administrative and hospitable gifts are not discarded; they are anchored in post-confessional faith. Now the faith of Mary and Martha work together to praise God. Without Martha’s theological clarity, devotion risks becoming unanchored emotionalism; without Mary’s sacrifice, service risks becoming cold transaction. The inheritance and influence of Mary and Martha for the modern disciple is a reminder to have both a strong scriptural understanding of Jesus and a heart willing to serve God and others as part of our faith walk.