Martha of Bethany - Last Dinner

Last Dinner

Martha of Bethany

“Martha served.”
All I will be remembered for is my cooking.
My recipes have been passed on
from generation to generation,
and are now in my care.
My hospitality is my service to the Lord.
It is wrong to undervalue it.
Without my service,
there would have been no setting
for the dramas you now recollect every year.

That dinner was special…
There were no photos –
and I forget what we ate!
It was, however, the scene
of my sister’s sorrowing.
Her intuition confounded me.
She tended to him and I
tended to their witnesses.
This would become a story,
easily forgotten by most
and commemorated by others.

The smell of my fresh bread
and the aromas of the spices
disappeared when the nard was opened.
It was intoxicating and shocking.
I held my breath when I realized
what she was doing.
All I could think of was –
how right she was…
my sister – the prophet.

(John 12)

(C) 2017, A Koh-Butler