St. Martha of Bethany in Her Kitchen (Detail) Serving Tray

St. Martha of Bethany (1st century) appears perhaps three times in the Gospels: preparing two (separate?) dinners (Luke 10:38-42 and John 12:1-3) as well as witnessing the raising of her brother Lazarus from the dead (John 11:1-45 passim). Admittedly, she seems somewhat prickly and no-nonsense in Luke where she rebukes her sister Mary for neglecting her household duties by sitting and listening to Jesus teach and in John where she chides Jesus for coming late to Lazarus’ funeral. But what hostess wouldn’t be stressed out by the appearance of at least thirteen extra guests for dinner even if they were Jesus and His Twelve Apostles? And what woman wouldn’t be stressed out by the illness and death of a beloved brother seemingly ignored by a dear friend of the family? St. Martha was only human and she is best remembered from the New Testament as the quintessential example of hospitality. + At the more celebratory dinner at Bethany in John 12:1-3, the author simply states: “and Martha served” (in Greek: καὶ ἡ Μάρθα διηκόνει...). Martha’s charism, her way to live out the Gospel in relation to the world around her, was to attend to her domestic responsibilities to family and friends to the best of her abilities out of love. Thus, she has come to symbolize the active life (vita activa) of religious communities and the laity. + The upper torso of St. Martha here has been extracted from the central panel of a triptych altarpiece painted in 1503 by an anonymous Middle Rhenish artist. This panel depicts the dinner mentioned in John 12:1-3 that took place in Bethany after the raising of Lazarus and just before Jesus arrived in Jerusalem on Palm Sunday. Donated by Canon Peter Lutren, the triptych still graces the Martha altar in the southern choir of the Church of Our Lady (Liebfrauenkirche) at Oberwesel, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. (See our Dinner at Bethany COLLECTION for the full image, additional information, and related items for purchase.) + While the saint’s figure is derived from the painting, the background comes from a Pixabay pic that has been repurposed and reworked resulting in a pastiche that is a Saints_Aplenty exclusive. + St. Martha is the third saint featured in our Apron Series. She is patron of single laywomen, homemakers, restaurant workers, cooks, and the hospitality industry in general. She shares a feast day with her siblings St. Mary of Bethany (not to be confused any longer with the Magdalene) and St. Lazarus on July 29. + Special Image Credit (extracted figure of St. Martha): Photo by Rolf Kranz of a public domain painting that is well over 100 years old from WikiMedia Commons (By Rolf Kranz - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=106002864).