Mary and Martha are two sisters. From what we can glean from Scripture, the two sisters are very different. We can paint Mary as a people-oriented person and Martha as a task-oriented person. Thus, when Jesus came to visit their home, Mary, being Mary, honored her guest by sitting at His feet listening to Him. And Martha, being Martha, honored her guest by preparing food for Him. The relationship between the two sisters worked for a time; but it erupted into anger when Martha made the demand to Mary, “Why can’t you be like me?” Her actual protest was directed at Jesus, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself. Tell her to help me.”

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