It is noteworthj' that Jesus in His quotation of Gn 2*^ does not follow the Heb. reading, in which «j hio of the LXX has no equivalent. Polygamy Is not excluded by the Hebrew, but is obviously inconsistent with the LXX statement, and even more so with the inference drawn from the passage by Jesus. It is from this point of view that one must approach the subject of divorce. (See Divorce).
3. Jesus, however, does not make Ttiarriage a supreme good. Rather is it one of those great goods of an imi^erfect age which are to be sub- ordinated to the supreme good of sharing in the Kingdom of God, i.e. eternal life. Yet at no point is the sanity of His teaching more in evidence than here. He Himself was unmarried, but He never counsels celibacy. He does not even take the mediating position of St. Paul (1 Co V- ^- ^^■*). In this particular, as in so manj- others. He is in such opposition to the Essenes of His daj- as quite to overbalance any of those superficial resemblances which have been discovered between His teaching and the a.scetic doctrines of that sect. At the same time, just because marriage, though a good, is one which mu>t pass with the present age, He teaches that in some cases it must be avoided. Mt 19^"^ speaks of tliose who have made themselves eunuchs for the sake of the Kingdom of heaven, i.e. who, because of exceptional circumstances, have l)ecome celibates. In certain other expressions He dis- tinctlj" recognizes the necessity for some among His followers to leave their families in the interests of a devotion to His cause (Mt 18■-^ Lk 14^"). These sayings, however, are not to be interpreted as in anj' way a prohibition of marriage, or as an eleva- tion of the unmarried state to a plane superior to tiiat of marriage. To draw such an inference is to misinterpret the entire tendency of His teaching, and to elevate into a controlling position His recog- nition of exceptional and particularly difficult situations in which one is compelled to practise a supreme self-sacrifice in order to remain loyal to a supreme ideal. The sayings are to be interpreted in accordance with those others in which Je.sus concedes the fact that the family circle is not proof against evil influences — sayings which aroused hostility against His followers (Mt lO^*^-, Lk
The Early Church under the influence of extra-Christian ideals moved along the line suggested by St. Paul towards the approval of the highest state of celibacy. Rev 14-' gives the highest honours to those men who have not been married. Clement of Alexandria (Strom, iii. 9. 63) refers to the unauthentic sayiny of Jesus preserved in the Gosjael of the Egyptians, ' I came to destroy the works of the female.' Similarly Clement (ib. 16) reports Jesus as having said, ' Eat every herb, but that which hath bitterness (i.e. maternity) eat not.'
A consideration of this teaching of Jesus leads naturally, therefore, to the genuinely Christian con- ception of marriage as a relationship which, though in the verj' nature of the case limited to the phj'- sical mode of existence, is yet sacred. The ascetic ideal is thus utterly lacking here as in all the teaching of Jesus, and in its jjlace is to be found all that is normal in the so-called Greek ideal of life, together with the ennobling Christian ideal of love. See, further. Adultery, Celibacy, Divorce.
Liter.^tcre. — Westcott, Social Aspects of Christianity ; Mathews, Social Teaching of .7e.s?(.s, ch. iv. ; Peabody, Jesus Christ and the Social Questwn, ch. iii. ; M. J. Savage, Jesus and Mod. Life, p. 162 ; "W. Cunningham, The Path towards Knowledge, p. 1 ; cf. also the standard treatises on the teaching of Jesus. ShAILER MATHEWS.
MARTHA (of Bethany, sister of Lazarus and Mary). — The name (nh")? 'mistress' or 'lady'), though unique in the Scriptures, is common in the
MARTHA
MARY
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Talmud.* She appears in the Gospel -story on three occasions: (1) when she entertained Jesus on His way to Jerusalem at the season of the Feast of Tabernacles ( Lk 10^"^-) ; (2) when Lazarus died and was revived by Jesus (Jn IP-*) ; and (3) when Jesus, on His way to tlie Passover from His retreat at Ephraim (Jn 11=^), was honoured with a public entertainment at Bethany in the house of a leading man named Simon the Leper (Jn 121-"= Mt 200-13 ^Mk U-«). Being a notable housewife, Martha was entrusted with the manage- ment of the banquet. See Anointing, I. 2.
The idea that the scene of this entertainment was Martha's house has given rise to the unfortunate surmise that Martha was a widow, Simon the Leper being her defeased husband. On the supposition that K'jpix in 2 Jn i- 5 is a proper name, the Greek equivalent of Matiha, 'lady' (Volmar), it has been sur- mised that St. John's 2nd Epistle is addressed to our Martha. This is ingenious but untenable, since (1) 'the elect Kyria' would be, notix>.-xTr, Kv^.o!(v.i), but Knp.a. Tr.lx'/.ixTr, (cf. 3 Jni); (2) the Epistle is probably addressed metaphorically to a church and not to an individual.
Martha and Mary exhibit a peculiarity fre- quently observable in families. They were, like the brothers Jacob and Esau, utterly- diverse in disposition and temperament. While Mary was impassioned and imaginative, Martha was un- emotional and practical. + When Jesus visited her house at the season of the Feast of Tabernacles, He found her busy preparing the festal cheer (see JNIary, No. 3). His arrival redoubled her housewifelj' solicitude, and it angered lier when she saw her sister seated at His feet and listening to His dis- course, leaving to her unaided hands tlie offices of hospitality. And when Jesus came to Bethany in tardy response to the sisters' appeal, ' Lord, behold, he wliom thou lovest is sick," Mary was in the darkened home overwhelmed with grief, but ^lartha had rej^ressed her emotion, and, when Avord was brought her that Jesus had been .sighted making His toilsome approach by the Ascent of Blood, the steep and robber-haunted road up the eastern slope of Olivet, she went out and met Him ere He entered the village. She gi-eeted Him calml}-, not without upbraiding for His delay ; and when He assured her that her brother Avould rise again, she took His words in her matter-of-fact way as a reference to the current doctrine of the resurrec- tion of the rigliteous at the last day, seeing in them merely a commoni^lace of pious consolation. Very diflerent was her sister's behaviour. When Martha returned home and told her that the Master had arrived and was calling for lier, she sprang up and ran to Him, and. in a passion of love and sorrow, llung lierself at His feet.