On this Wikipedia the language links are at the top of the page across from the article title. Harold Copping Jesus at the home of Martha and Mary 400. Mârtâ, “the mistress” or “martha stewart biscuits lady”, from מרה “mistress,” feminine of מר “master.

In the Gospel of Luke, Jesus visits the home of two sisters named Mary and Martha. The two sisters are contrasted: Martha was “encumbered about many things” while Jesus was their guest, while Mary had chosen “the better part”, that of listening to the master’s discourse. As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself?

Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “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 away from her. In the account of the raising of Lazarus, Jesus meets with the sisters in turn: Martha followed by Mary. Martha goes immediately to meet Jesus as he arrives, while Mary waits until she is called. As one commentator notes, “Martha, the more aggressive sister, went to meet Jesus, while quiet and contemplative Mary stayed home. When Martha heard that Jesus was coming, she went out to meet him, but Mary stayed at home. Lord”, Martha said to Jesus, “if you had been here, my brother would not have died.

But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask. Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again. Martha answered, “I know he will rise again in the resurrection at the last day. Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Yes, Lord”, she told him, “I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world. As the narrative continues, Martha calls her sister Mary to see Jesus.

Jesus has Mary bring him to Lazarus’ tomb where he commands the stone to be removed from its entrance. Martha here objects, “But, Lord, by this time there is a bad odor, for he has been there four days”, to which Jesus replies, “Did I not tell you that if you believed, you would see the glory of God? 8, where she serves at a meal held in Jesus’ honor at which her brother is also a guest. In medieval Western Christianity, Martha’s sister Mary was often equated with Mary Magdalene. Mary, Martha, and Lazarus are represented by St. John as living at Bethania, but St. Magdala, and we should thus, supposing Mary of Bethania and Mary Magdalene to be the same person, understand the appellative “Magdalene”.