Martha Martha - The Inspiration
In 2010, I’d taught my church group of teens on the awesomeness of God and wanted to contrast that with his intimate loving friendship. John’s gospel tells us that Jesus loved Martha, Mary and Lazarus and called them friends, so a perfect example.
It was during the preparation for this study that God began to highlight those little phrases and verses that the bible is packed full of, but we don’t generally notice, in the excitement of following Jesus’ next exploit or truth. Excited I began to make links, one of which was the frequency with which Jesus visited Jerusalem. Could this have been how they became friends in the first place, possibly through Simon the Leper who lived in the same village? Also Lazarus, Martha’s brother, played a crucial part in the timing of events in the Messiah’s own story. The depth and breadth of Martha’s story, and that of her sister and brother, began to unfold. Inspired, I set to work.
Identifying with Martha
Admittedly, in the early days there may have been an ulterior motive for writing Martha’s story, feeling that she had had a bad press based upon one scripture alone, and that Mary got a bit too much credit. After all, most people, if they know the story, identify with Martha, fewer with Mary.
Exploring the role of the women who followed Christ and played such and important, but understated place in his life, became fundamental to the way Martha’s story was told.
Of course, like all authors, I have drawn on the people and experiences in my own life.
Progress on the book
Progress on the book was slow at first. With two children, work and church my time was fully occupied. I had a lot to learn about Jewish customs, diet, clothing, the farming season and crops, weather patterns, topography and the general history of the period. Every stage required more research which was fascinating but time consuming. However, God had had a plan all along. Just before Christmas 2017, I was able to leave paid employment with no loss of income for our family. At last I would have more time to write!
Over the years my enthusiasm for the story never dimmed although there were plenty of times when quitting became very attractive, but somehow encouragement always came when it was needed. Until one day it became obvious that I had come too far to give up.
Rewrite after rewrite was done, chapters removed and others added, until finally Martha’s story, as never told before, came out of the shadows and into the light.
A blend of Bible, History and Fiction
Writing Martha Martha was much harder than writing fiction as the story had already been set in stone in the bible; to have credibility and integrity the ‘made up parts’ would have to hold to that truth. Each chapter has a full list of scriptures in the appendix so that the reader can verify these for themselves, if they wish.
The fun part of writing the book were the fictional details and back stories that bring the story vividly to life.
The most complex part of the task was linking it all together on a time-line which included the Jewish celebrations and seasons, giving the reader a clear order of events which is hard to understand from the way the Bible narrative is arranged.
A fresh look
Differences in the gospel accounts often give us a more complete picture of certain events, but being eye witness accounts, written sometime afterwards and according to the emphasis of the writer, they occasionally seem contradictory. As a story teller liberties have been taken with one or two of the more traditional views, but on good grounds, because it’s all true and helped to fit the pieces together.
Everyone has their own view and interpretation of scripture and not all will agree, but if Martha Martha compels the reader to pick up the bible and read the truth for themselves, my job is done; but above all it has been brought to life – because it really did happen.
Characters
At the beginning, it was daunting to have to characterise Jesus or Yeshua, as he is called in the book, but in the end he wrote himself. Why did I chose to call him by his Hebrew name and not the more familiar name of Jesus? Simply because a new label allows us to look with fresh eyes at something we know well. The Lord is Salvation whatever his name.
It is my sincerest hope that “Martha Martha”, Yeshua’s words to her at a bad moment in her life, will bring her story and the part played by the women who followed Him to vibrant life.