A day after Florence Li Tim-Oi left Gregory the Great chanting to himself in despair, we have a clash of two women, one Biblical and one modern. Martha of Bethany and Harriet Tubman are duking it out for a chance at Hilda of Whitby (and NO this is not a conspiracy to have these worthy women knock one another out of the bracket). To get to this point, Martha stomped on the "Little Flower," Therese of Lisieux while Harriet made quick work of Nicholas Ferrar.
This is the penultimate match-up of the Round of the Saintly Sixteen (we really do love that word) with the last battle taking place between Benedict of Nursia and Dorothy Day on Monday. Then we're on to the Elate Eight, aka the round of Saintly Kitsch. What will your Celebrity Bloggers dredge up? What distasteful and tacky saint-ware will see the light of day? Will the easily offended shun Lent Madness entirely? These are the questions that await us starting on Tuesday.
In the meantime we all face another weekend without Lent Madness and the inherent hollowness of despair.
Martha of Bethany
Martha, sister of Mary and Lazarus, testified to Jesus, saying “I believe that you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one coming into the world.” Despite all you may have heard about Martha, nowhere in the Bible does it actually say she does any cooking or cleaning. “Tasks,” yes. “Work,” sure. And though one might infer that these are domestic chores, that is an inference only, not to be found in Scripture.
This didn’t stop Irma Rombauer from putting Martha on the cover of the 1931 edition of The Joy of Cooking, “slaying the dragon of kitchen drudgery.”
The dragon part of the image actually has stronger literary connections to Martha than cooking does. According to the Golden Legend, after the Resurrection, Martha, Mary, Lazarus, and several others were persecuted and set adrift in the Mediterranean in a boat with no oars or sails which somehow ended up in Marseilles. Martha made her way to a region between Arles and Avignon that was besieged by “a great dragon, half beast and half fish, greater than an ox, longer than an horse, having teeth sharp as a sword, and horned on either side, head like a lion, tail like a serpent, and defended him with two wings on either side.” She stunned him with holy water (query: where did she get it?) and two sticks made into a cross. She dragged the bad boy back to town (either using her own hair or her belt) where he was killed. The dragon’s name was Tarasque, and the town Tarascon-Sur-Rhone was named for him. There’s an annual Fetes de la Tarasque the last week in June when the dragon is lured from his lair “accompanied by chevaliers” (query: what did they do to deserve to be there?).
Despite this feat of derring-do, Martha has a hard time shaking her domestic image. In Margaret Atwood’s novel The Handmaid’s Tale, “older infertile women whose compliant nature and domestic skills recommend them to a life of domestic servitude” are known simply as Marthas. Martha Stewart didn’t do her any favors either.
St. Augustine, however, notes that Martha’s work is important for Christians to emulate and that Jesus “did not say that Martha was acting a bad part.” Instead, this “necessary business” would someday be unnecessary, and “that part which is occupied in the ministering to a need shall be ‘taken away’ when the need itself has passed away.”
The Golden Legend conveys this understanding as Christ appears to Martha on her deathbed, saying, “Come, my well-beloved hostess, for where I am thou shalt be with me. Thou hast received me in thine harbour and I shall receive thee in mine heaven.”
Harriet Tubman
Harriet Tubman devoted her life to fighting for freedom -- whether leading slaves to Canada on the Underground Railroad, becoming a nurse, spy, and soldier in the Union Army, or fighting for the rights of women.
She described escaping into freedom in this way: "I looked at my hands to see if I was the same person. There was such a glory over everything; the sun came up like gold through the trees, and over the fields, and I felt like I was in heaven."
Harriet was rock-solid in her faith -- a necessity in the life she led. She would pray, "Oh Lord! You've been with me in six troubles. Don't desert me in the seventh."
Once, while in charge of several escaping slaves, Harriet led them to the next house in the journey, only to discover upon knocking that the previous owner had gone, and a stranger now lived there. Afraid that the new owner had sounded the alarm, she led the band of escapees to a nearby swamp, where they waited, and Harriet prayed, for over a day. At nightfall, Harriet saw a Quaker man pacing by their hiding place, muttering to himself, "My wagon stands ready in the next barn across the way, the horse is in the stable and the harness is on the nail." Harriet snuck out of their hiding place to discover everything just as the Quaker had said -- a fully stocked wagon with food, and a ready horse. They made it to the next stop, and freedom, in safety.
Harriet also had a gift for faith-based fundraising for her conductor work on the Railroad. One morning, she approached a well-known abolitionist in New York, and informed him that God had told her that he "had twenty dollars to give her to free the slaves." The gentleman was not convinced. Undeterred, Harriet staged a one-woman sit-in in his office. She sat down, and calmly, politely continued to sit throughout the day, as the man continued to do his business. People came and went, wondering who this determined black lady sitting in the corner could be, but by the time it was over, the gentleman had given sixty dollars to Harriet.
Of her work on the Railroad, Harriet said later, "I was a Conductor on the Underground Railroad for eight years, and I can say what most other conductors can't say; I never ran my train off the track and I never lost a passenger."
She explained her motivation thusly: "I had crossed that line of which I had been so long dreaming. I was free, but there was no one to welcome me to the land of freedom. I was a stranger in a strange land.
Vote!
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84 comments on “Martha of Bethany vs. Harriet Tubman”
These were both excellent write-ups and again I will be happy with whoever wins this round. I could vote either way but I am choosing Martha. I would be happy to "fuss" in the presence of Jesus even if he told me to sit down, shut up, and listen!
I am inspired by the saints and love reading the write-ups and the comments.
USA TODAY just did 2 great pieces on Harriet Tubman at: http://www.usatoday.com/story/dispatches/2013/03/15/harriet-tubman-national-park-state-park/1989411/
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/03/07/tubman-auburn-anniversary/1951195/
Check them out and then vote for Harriet!
Ooh! Thanks for these, Sharyn! It is a sad state of affairs that the US has been slow to recognize the extent of Harriet's contributions. Meanwhile, St. Catherine's, Ontario, has an annual celebration of her life, and a big monument. http://www.harriettubmancanada.com/tubman-2013-events.html
Hugely tough choice..had to close my eyes and vote..almost!! Been a Martha, friends w/Marthas/mother a Martha/had Martha teachers..so like all women, we know the archetype. But Harriet had a courage, faith, stamina..that Megan made so evident/fresh..Harriet got my vote. Thank you Lent Madness for a great time of learning!
This was an odd match up for me, and it is not easy to pick between to very different models of living in Christ. Martha being the one to see him as the Messiah, to actually have served Christ in her way. And then Harriet, who served Christ in serving those who are oppressed. I kept thinking on Isaiah 58.6:
"Is not this the fast that I choose:
to loose the bonds of injustice,
to undo the thongs of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke?"
My heart is with them both, but my vote is with Harriet this round.
Poor Martha of Bethany has a long history of losing to women who recognize that sitting can be the better portion.
Harriet out "Marthas" Martha. She didn't fuss with Jesus, rather rasied a fuss for Jesus with the enemies of the cross. The dragon she helped slay was a real dragon - slavery.
Casting a sympathy vote for Martha, but will be quite happy with a Harriet Tubman win.
(Here's a nice fresco of the raising of Lazarus: http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:SG_NT_Raising_of_Lazarus_Lippi_Memmo.JPG . I think that would be Martha standing in the center (as Mary weeps at Jesus' feet), making a point about decomposition or something.....)
I love the way Jesus and Martha look at each other with equal intensity. Marvelous.
Yes!
I respect her! 😉
I respect Martha, but not the add on legends.
Would our world be challenged more by Harriet than by Martha. My church is celebrating the year(s) of "radical hospitality". It's no question in my mind which woman took this practice to the greatest lengths at the greatest risk.
Oh, so hard! And as many have said, both write-ups so well written, making both women stand right there in front of us, fresh, alive, spunky and strong, full of Spirit. I'm glad to know more of Harriet, who (as somebody said) has always been rather two-dimensional--what an amazing person! But Martha's feast day is my birthday, so I'm forever partial; grateful for both of these hard-working (wonder-working!) saints, I vote for the lady from Bethany and Arles.
Today's matchup is Madness! Madness! I tell you.
I certainly admire Tubman and her accomplishments. But Martha models not only great faithfulness, but generosity and hospitality even as thinge became dangerous for Jesus.
Toughest choice yet....
Harriet Tubman has been a hero of mine since I was a child. I could not vote for anyone else.
For more on Tubman see: http://msmagazine.com/blog/2013/03/10/100-years-later-the-harriet-tubman-symposium/ Amazing woman.
FYI - The Tarasque, avec chevaliers:
http://prudencemdread.blogspot.com/2008/08/blog-post_9344.html
I'm in awe of Harriet Tubman's commitment and courage, and cast my vote for her. Talk about walking the way of Jesus--the Underground Railroad. It's fitting she is in the LM bracket this year as just this month we commemorated the centennial anniversary of death. I look forward to visiting the new Harriet Tubman national park at some point with my kids (re-posting here in case anyone missed the link in the comment above): http://www.usatoday.com/story/dispatches/2013/03/15/harriet-tubman-national-park-state-park/1989411/
I voted for Martha because without homemakers like her the Early Church wouldn't have lasted long. Martha gets a bad rap because of Luke, but what gets glossed over is that in John she makes the same confession as Peter does in the synoptic gospels. So my question is Pope Martha anyone? If the church is built on the faith of Peter's confession in Matthew, shouldn't it also be built on the faith of Martha's confession in John? Here is a post I wrote on Pope Martha and homemakers in the Early Church: http://www.shawnaatteberry.com/2013/03/15/pope-martha-anyone/
I like Martha too much to wish popedom on her, but I love your post and agree that she and Peter should be sharing credit for being among the first to 'get it', and to say so. I'd say the church already IS built on the faith of Martha's confession and her very practical exercise of ministry...where would we be without her and people like her? It just doesn't get talked about as much.
I must question the veracity of the painting on your website: "Christ In The House
Of Mary And Martha" by Vincenzo Campi. There's a pig hanging in Martha's well
stocked kitchen, and nearby is a lobster! Not to mention the way Martha is dressed...
You mean this one?
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Vincenzo_Campi_-_Christ_in_the_House_of_Mary_and_Martha_-_WGA03831.jpg
Good eye, Harlie!
They are all really, really white, too, and MAY not be in exactly authentic first century CE costume...but it is still a great painting. Not great 'history', but a great painting! She sure looks busy, don't you think? : )
Way busy! Talk about your "many tasks"...
For a simple, abused, unlettered woman, Harriet Tuman had faith unlimited and street smarts you wouldn't believe. As a nurse, she was reputed to have had more success in treating some diseases with herbs and root concoctions than medical doctors. As she said, she never lost a passenger on the trains she served as conductor and made it clear that deserters would never be allowed to be a danger to those she was leading to freedom. They clearly understood the alternative. Zion was her home on earth and in Glory. She gets my vote.
As much as I admire Harriet, I had to stay with my girl, Martha! Always been a favorite of mine!
Happy to vote for Martha today.
Harriet Tubman seems the obvious choice. But I was moved in the last round by other commenters who compared to Martha the women who wash the linens, arrange the flowers, cook the church suppers (although actually that's usually the men's group in our church :-)) and otherwise work behind the scenes so the rest of us can sit at Jesus's feet. Plus, I just love this strong, multi-dimensional woman that jumps off the pages of scripture, standing up for herself and being not just a servant but a friend to Jesus. Martha it is for me.
""God help me, I almost voted twice so I could vote for both of them. Didn't. Is suppose honesty is the best policy, but sometimes.....
Both Martha and Harriet have amazing strenghts. They were not shy. And, they Got Things Done----especially those Things-That-Needed-To-Be-Done.
I vote for Martha because she actually spoke with Jesus, and on two levels:
the everlasting dishes, and
The Everlasting.
Being the daughter, wife, and mother of engineers, I must refer my fellow Martha-lovers to the poem "Sons of Martha" by Rudyard Kipling. Google on it. It is worth a read.
Thanks for pointing this out! Loved it. It reminded me of my Dad, in fact - a lot.
Wonderful!
Well, I know this is the day for legends, but it made Martha much less realistic for me, and harder to identify with. I voted for her in the first round. As a resident of the Eastern Shore counties where Harriet Tubman lived and worked, my vote went to her today.
Finally decided to go with Martha the Dragon Slayer as she is the model for all who come after including Harriet.
My vote today goes to Harriet. Harriet was dealing with real people and real
problems. Her life wasn't facing images or living a legend. She faced death
and saved people lives so that God's vision could be lived by more real people.
No doubt Martha had a real life after her encounters with Jesus -- too bad it's lost to us and so embellished by legends.
My favorite book by Robtert Heinlein (Stranger in a Strange Land) vs my favorite woman in the Gospels---I see Martha's point but I have always been of the Mary-type: I'd rather sit and listen than put in sweat-equity. Cast my vote for Harriet. Wanted to vote twice but didn't.
Gotta support the unofficial patron saint of Altar Guilds.
Poor Martha. After 2,000 years, still no respect.
I relate to Martha, but many of my parishioners might have Harriet as a patron saint. In honor of women who struggle I vote for Harriet.