The Good Man Jesus and the Scoundrel Christ

Mary and Martha

One day Jesus and some of his followers were invited to eat with two sisters, one called Mary and the other called Martha. Christ’s informant told him what happened that evening. Jesus had been speaking, and Mary was sitting among the people listening to him, while Martha was busy preparing the meal.

At one point Martha came in to rebuke Mary: ‘You let the bread burn! Look! I ask you to be careful with it, and you just forget all about it! How can I do three or four things at once?’

Mary said, ‘The bread is not as important as this. I’m listening to the master’s words. He’s only here for one night. We can eat bread any time.’

‘Master, what do you think?’ said Martha. ‘Shouldn’t she help me, if I’ve asked her to? There are a lot of us here tonight. I can’t do it all on my own.’

Jesus said, ‘Mary, you can hear my words again, because there are others here to remember them. But once you’ve burnt the bread, no one can eat it. Go and help your sister.’

When Christ heard about this, he knew it would be another of those sayings of Jesus that would be better as truth than as history.