Twelve Extraordinary Women by John MacArthur
Week 10: Chapter 9 — Martha and Mary: Working and Worshipping
Read Chapter 9 of Twelve Extraordinary Women. Primary passages: Luke 10:38–42; John 11:1–45; John 12:1–8.
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Martha and Mary have been set against each other for two thousand years — the doer versus the contemplative — but MacArthur argues that both women were growing in faith, and that the story is more complex and more gracious than the cliché suggests.
Discussion Questions
8 questions1.In Luke 10, Martha is busy with preparations while Mary sits at Jesus's feet. MacArthur refuses to caricature Martha as simply the Bad Sister. What does he say in her defense? Why is the rebuke Jesus gave her not a condemnation of service, but a correction of something more specific?
2.Jesus said to Martha, "You are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed — or indeed only one" (Luke 10:41–42). MacArthur argues that the problem was not Martha's activity but the state of her heart — anxious, distracted, and resentful. What is the difference between serving from love and serving from anxiety? Which characterizes your engagement with your responsibilities?
3.When Lazarus died, both sisters said the same words to Jesus: "Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died" (John 11:21, 32). Yet MacArthur shows that the same words came from very different places — Martha's from a place of theological wrestling, Mary's from a place of grief and prostration. What does the difference teach us about how people can say identical things to God with very different hearts?
a.Which response — Martha's wrestling or Mary's weeping — do you identify with more in your own dark seasons?
b.How does Jesus respond differently to each sister, and what does that tell you about His pastoral care?
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