What a thing to say to Jesus. Who would be forward enough to command the Lord to do something? Who comes to him with, not a request, not a petition, but an instruction?
“Lord, don’t you care…? Tell [Mary] to help me!”
When Martha gets upset with her sister, she, in front of, not just her sister, but others as well, boldly demands Jesus to tell Mary to help her. Jesus corrects her (gently) on her heart, but not for the way she spoke to Him. Somehow she had the idea that she could be that bold with Jesus. In a culture that seemed to limit a woman’s conversation with a rabbi, she spoke rather freely.
In fact, interestingly, Luke calls this home in which they are speaking: Martha’s house (Luke 10:38), raising her to prominence, even though it may have included Mary and Martha’s brother, Lazarus (John 11:1-3, John 12:2). That boldness of Martha later expresses faith in Jesus (John 11:20-27). Though not without doubt (John 11:39), she offers a powerful confession of His identity (v22, v27).
Sometimes an author just gets it right. Once in a while, a writer just nails the situation. I felt that way about a description Gary A. Rendsburg, professor of Jewish Studies, once wrote about the Bible. So, I quoted his apt characterization in enGendered, which I reproduce here, because it bears us such insight:
Open your Bible at random and you will notice something striking: Female characters abound. And it’s not simply a lot of women, it’s a lot of strong women. These women are the antithesis of what we might expect from a patriarchal society. They are not passive, demure, timid…but active, bold, fearless and assertive. They are also not what we would expect based on contemporaneous Near Eastern literature, in which women generally do not play leading roles in the narrative.
If you let that point sink in, you start to realize how unique the Bible is. You cannot find this in the Koran. Search for it in vain in the Veda’s. Or the Analects. The Bible’s writers consistently present women as strong, bold declarers, in great contrast to their denigration in the writers’ cultural context. Just what you would expect from people who understood women to be made equally in the image of God.
This is also the reason why egalitarians and complementarians can argue. For those unfamiliar with the terms, among Christians, egalitarians minimize gender distinction in relationship while complementarians emphasize it. Egalitarians can have sustained arguments with complementarians (and, given the culture’s sensibilities, will continue to do so), because the former have so much material in the Scriptures from which to draw, passages that show women highly esteemed.
If you want to draw your understanding of gender from the Bible, be sure that this equality is part of your picture. Make sure you make room for Martha’s boldness.