What a Friend They Had in Jesus!

      By Fern Horst

"Now Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus." (John 11:5)

We don't know what the circumstances were surrounding this household of siblings. It seems unusual that none of them were married. Some commentators speculate that Martha was a widow, since it seems she may have been the owner of their home, but there is no real evidence to support this.

This we do know: they were three individuals who opened their home and themselves to Jesus for friendship and fellowship, and who also seemed to recognize Him as the Messiah.

We can see the freedom they had in their friendship with Jesus in the first account we have of Jesus relating to them.* When Martha was scurrying around trying to get a meal ready when He was at their house, she became perturbed that Mary just sat there talking to Him, rather than helping her. The fact that she went to Jesus and asked Him to tell Mary to come help her, seems to indicate a closeness and freedom with Him that most people don't usually have with guests. And the fact that Mary felt free as a woman to sit there talking with Him to the point of neglecting her duties as a hostess, also indicates a closeness to Him.

And then when Lazarus became sick and died** we again see the freedom in friendship that Martha and Mary had in spilling out their hearts to Him. They both said to Him, "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died!"

Several times in the account of Lazarus' death the Bible mentions that Jesus groaned in His spirit, and that as He approached Lazarus' grave, He wept. The people observing His grief said, "Behold how he loved him!" It was evident to all that Jesus loved these three siblings, and they Him. It seems fitting that it was with Lazarus that Jesus first showed His power over death, when He raised Lazarus from the dead.

We have one more account of Jesus' visit to their home after Lazarus' resurrection.*** It was just a week before Jesus' own death and resurrection. He again ate a meal with them and we again see Martha's servant heart as she served the meal while Lazarus sat at the table eating with Him. And as before, we also see Mary's deep devotion when she took an expensive pound of ointment and anointed Jesus' feet with it, and then wiped His feet with her hair.

Not only is their close friendship with Jesus evident, but their faith in Him as their Lord is as well. We see it in Mary's sitting at His feet absorbing His every word, in Mary's and Martha's belief that if Jesus had been there Lazarus would not have died, and in Mary's anointing Jesus in preparation for His burial.

What a wonderful example Martha, Mary and Lazarus are to us! They show us how to have a close friendship with Jesus, how to go freely to Him about those things that trouble us, how to sit and listen to Him, how to put our trust in Him when we are in need, and how to pour out our devotion to Him lavishly.

May each one of us develop our relationship with Jesus so that we, too, can freely go to Him, freely worship Him, fully put our trust in Him, and say without reservation, "What a friend I have in Jesus!"

*Luke 10:38-42; ** John 11; ***John 12

© 2007 Fern Horst

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