» Bitter» – that is how many still label Martha of Bethany today. «Lord, do you not care that my sister leaves me alone to work?» she complains to Jesus in Luke’s Gospel (Luke 10:40). While she devotedly cares for Jesus and his disciples, her sister Mary sits with the guests and listens. But Jesus defends Mary and rebukes the energetic Martha. However, the image of the embittered housewife does not do her justice. John’s Gospel makes it clear: «But Jesus loved Martha» (Jn 11:5) and he had good reason to do so. It is she who opens her house to the itinerant preacher Jesus (cf. Lk 10:38) and is able to confess with confidence, even in the deepest sorrow for her deceased brother Lazarus: «Yes, Lord, I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is to come into the world.» (John 11:27)
