Saturday, January 25, 2014

Sat Jan 25th Todays News

Grants are necessary to support arts. Australia is not alone in the world in which the arts community has diverted public funds for left wing causes. It is not solely in the arts that funds are diverted to left wing causes. But the arts community is quite shameless about it. If you question it, you may be confronted with an attack "Back off, I'm an artist" and if you persist, your own credentials are questioned. What credentials do artists require? It is ok to question how public money is spent. It is understandable some might feel sensitive about their income. The lack of accountability, the apparent embezzlement and misuse of public funds is a threat to the art community. And it isn't artists who are defending it, but liars and thieves. Retaliation in the form of reduced funding is unlikely to hurt the thieves as much as it will hurt struggling artists reliant on the stream to further their skills. 
The issue was driven home for me when, having lost my career through ALP government corruption, I tried to start a back up career in the arts community. I have no visual arts talent, and my musical talent is best employed as a backdrop for Monsters Inc. But I can write and churn out video. I have attracted some 1.8 million hits between iCompositions and Youtube (the iComposition account was killed by corrupt AGW advocates). I made enquiries from others who were attracting grants and put forward a proposal. I was willing to produce a video on the issue of community and policing. My subject matter was the case of Nicola Cotton, a young, pregnant, post Katrina police recruit who was alone when she was ordered to apprehend a deviant. They fought, he got her gun and killed her with it, then waited to be arrested. My target was youth who were offside with police in the community, kids need to know about the work police do and sacrifices they make, and a dramatic kung fu interpretation showing Nicola's last day seemed to serve that purpose. Naturally, the project was refused funding. It apparently didn't address youth issues as well as a drug harm minimisation project. 
I made it anyway, without the dramatic recreation. One US based police remembrance group thanked me for it. I called it Picking Cotton. In working to establish a business, I am hoping to establish an independent production group that would produce local cultural material for video in High Definition (television ready) with a client licensing set up to produce income .. so an Ethiopian Pastor I know could produce material he could use in Ethiopia or in that community in Australia. I tell a producer friend of mine about it and they comment "But ICE (Information cultural exchange) already do that." Except, they fail. 
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Hatches
Happy birthday and many happy returns Kayley Ann Harris and Chantha Sok. Born on the same day, across the years, along with

Matches
Despatches
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Our grants aren’t meant to sponsor McCarthyism

Andrew Bolt January 25 2014 (7:33am)

The new McCarthyists should not be subsidised by taxpayers. Nor should fools unable to distinguish rational, conservative democrats from genocidal Nazi totalitarians.

Quadrant
’s Roger Franklin on the latest example of state subsidies being used by the far Left to police thought:

When such a featherhead is in a position of influence, able to advance or retard reputations and careers at the stroke of a pen, a closer look is warranted… In this instance the individual is Peter Minter. poetry editor and academic, whose pulpit for proclaiming on the moral worth of lesser mortals is that little-read and much-subsidised quarterly Overland, “the most radical of Australia’s long-standing literary journals.”
As singer, songwriter, poet and sometime-Quadrant contributor Joe Dolce noted on our website over the weekend, Minter informed him in writing and on the record that his verse would no longer be published in Overland, which just by the way of background was blessed with $399,000 in Australia Council grants between 2010 and 2013. The reason: his association with Quadrant. Dolce, who admits to voting Labor last September, was taken aback by Minter’s zeal in appointing himself Australian poetry’s blacklister-in-chief and, as the policy of exclusion sank in, by the thought that the policy might be at odds with the Australia Council’s goals, standards and procedures. He would seem to be right about that, going by the organisation’s mission statement in regard to literary journals:

“The Literature Panel aims are to encourage the writing and reading of Australian literature, to open up opportunities for our writers to earn from their creative work, and to keep the avenues of debate, discussion, analysis and criticism open.”
....Students of the left and its conceits will need no prompting to guess at Minter’s defence of his edict. Writing on the Facebook page of theatre critic, “best-selling author” and friend Alison Croggon, herself a recipient of $40,000 in 2013 from the Australia Council’s Literature Board, ... Minter in his prolix style laid out a case that might be summed up thus: Quadrant and Nazis, same thing really....

Peter Minter – “ Joe, let me end with a very simple (perhaps brutal) analogy....Let’s imagine we are in Germany in the 1930s. We are writing what we think are good poems, free of any overt political substance, and we decide to send them to the “Nazi Literary Weekly” for publication, because the poetry editor loves poetry and everyone thinks he is going to win the Nobel Prize and so they all suck up to him in order to gain the satisfaction of feeling that they are being ordained by the holy poet. The Big Poet publishes the poems and everyone feels nice. Nevertheless, and this is the crux, history will shine its irrevocable truth upon the poets who submitted their poems to the “Nazi Literary Weekly” and they will be forever stained by the association…
So you can say whatever you like about how wonderful it is to be published by [Quadrant poetry editor] Les Murray (those of us who know also know that this is not what it seems!!) the fact remains that those who choose to publish in Quadrant will be forever stained by the association (or by being published in Overland, depending on your perspective).
I believe in free speech, but observe that in law Murray may well have a case for defamation against Minter. But let Minter rant and strut and see Nazis under the bed if that makes him feel more heroic. At least he’s now getting read.
But the question for the Australia Council and Arts Minister George Brandis is whether taxpayers really hand over hundreds of thousands of dollars to a literary magazine so a McCarthyist can play such crude politics-by-association.  Is the national culture being enriched or constrained while we have a Minter as a gatekeeper?
UPDATE
More food for thought about our grants industry. Franklin mentions writer Alison Croggon. Turns out last year was another good one for the Croggon household, now with a second generation in receipt of Australia Council funding as well:
image
But I’m puzzled. How can an artist get a grant to start a “sustainable” career, but then a second months later? Did the career not turn out that sustainable, after all?
How many grants exactly is any one artist entitled to before we must expect them to find their own paying public or go without?
Eight years ago, after Alison Croggon had received her first four Australia Council grants (and others beside), I was pondering this very question and received a heated defence from Croggon, who protested:
I am one of those artists supported - as Les Murray says - in order to be paid now what otherwise posterity will owe me.
Posterity seems to be a slow payer in Croggon’s case. Or maybe she has an exaggerated estimation of what she is due.
If posterity finally decides that Croggon’s work isn’t actually worth that much at all, will we taxpayers get a refund? I’d like that money back so I can decide for myself which artists to support with my business.
UPDATE
Reader History with numbers:
Diana West has put numbers on Sen. McCarthy’s cases, there were basically all verified (and even more so).  Given the left is now the establishment and Sen. McCarthy really was fighting against subversion (see Gramsci’s teaching that subversion of institutions was necessary since the revolution had failed) it might be better to use terms like state sponsored ideological enclaves, tribal warfare, using public monies in neo-feudal war games.
Reader Correllio:
@alisoncroggan’s twitter profile says she’s also the ABC Online’s arts critic (as well as approved by the taxpayer funded McCarthysists at the Overland). And she still has her hands in our pockets for more?
Reader David:
I read Croggon’s her poem Small Things. Thought there was some irony in the lines “and those with flexible tongues they can look after themselves”. Those who win arts grants in Australia mostly do so mostly on the wording of their grant applications rather than their talent. In other words, arts grants tend to go to those who least deserve them.
Reader Lord Stockton:
I think 5 years support of 3 grants is sufficient for a ‘struggling’ but creative artist to get established. If they are not successful in that time maybe, just maybe, their creativity is not creative. As a taxpayer I believe the next struggling but creative artist needs the assistance not the failure.
Reader BoyfromTottenham:

Did I read that correctly - ms croggan justifies her multiple taxpayer handouts by saying “...in order to be paid now what otherwise posterity will owe me”? I am absolutely gobsmacked!! Why don’t we all get paid now for “what otherwise posterity will owe me”? Because in the REAL world, people don’t get paid until they do the work!! Luv a duck, these people and all those that support this obscene gravy train are beyond outrageous.
Reader Win:
Sixty thousand for the Croggan family and the Quadrant funding was reduced to twenty thousand by the Literature board. Who sits on the Literature board and what are their salaries?
Reader Bazza McKenzie:
Andrew, your reference to “McCarthyist” in this context perpetuates a leftist lie. Senator Joe McCarthy investigated US government officials who were communists, though usually concealing their affiliations, and aiding the Soviet Union at the expense of the US. Post the collapse of the USSR, Soviet archives confirmed his allegations.Yet McCarthy was hounded from the Senate by the usual leftist MSM and his reputation besmirched.
And before anyone yammers on about Hollywood blacklists, McCarthy had nothing to do with them. The investigation of communists in Hollywood was by the House UnAmerican Activities committee (McCarthy was a Senator, not a member of the House of Representatives). And as we have seen recently, most of the “blacklisting” in Hollywood is undertaken by its leftist powerbrokers.
Reader Viperous:
On the goodreads site, three of her books have about 30 editions printed and a fourth has 25. I’m sure that she can stand on her own two feet by now. Giving her a grant would be like giving Cate Blanchett a grant to fund a theatre company for her own amusement.
UPDATE
And to my arguments about arts grants - how many is enough, and to what purpose is our money being spent on Croggons - Alison Croggon offers the following reasoned responses:

image
I have no idea how I have defamed Croggon’s daughter - aged 24 - and if if can be explained to me I will of course apologise and retract. But so far I see only a how-dare-you touchiness from someone happy to take my money but offended at being asked to justify it.
Let’s start with a simple question that I as a taxpayer have a right to ask: how much taxpayers’ money has Alison Croggon received in arts grants? 
Here are some I know of: 1989 Victorian Council for the Arts Poetry Fellowship, a Victorian Ministry for the Arts fellowship, 1993 Australia Council Fellowship, 1995 Australia Council Fellowship, 2000 Australia Council Writers Fellowship, a 2004 Australia Council grant of $25,000, and a 2013 Australia Council grant of $40,000.  One biography states she received Australia Council grants to write full-time in 2004 and 2005.  She has worked for taxpayer-funded magazines, supplied scripts for taxpayer-funded theatre companies, written for the taxpayer-funded ABC and penned a libretto for a taxpayer-funded opera. Exactly how much of our money should go in grants to Alison Croggon before some bureaucrat decides enough - let Croggon now find her own audience and let some new artist sup at the taxpayer trough? 
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If things are rocky, blame Indonesia first

Andrew Bolt January 25 2014 (6:58am)

Cameron Stewart is right to suggest that if our relations with Indonesia truly are as rocky as some of the public posturing suggests, much of the blame actually lies with Indonesians:
When it was reported this week that 10 asylum-seekers claimed to have been burned and beaten by Australian sailors, Security Minister Djoko Suyanto, who is leading Indonesia’s response to the turnback strategy, immediately accepted their claims as gospel. This was despite having no proof of their unlikely story, despite the obvious motivation for the returned asylum-seekers to fabricate such claims, and despite strong denials from the Australian government and from two of the country’s most senior military officers.
Regardless, Suyanto’s spokesman Agus Barnas described the alleged case of mistreatment as “torture” by Australian sailors…
While the Australian government is careful about what it says publicly about Indonesia, there is growing frustration in Canberra over what many see as hypocritical posturing by Jakarta.
Last week, when Border Protection Command discovered several of its ships had accidentally entered Indonesia’s 12 nautical mile territorial waters in the course of turnbacks, Australia informed Jakarta of the breach, apologised profusely and ordered a formal review to ensure such a mistake is not repeated…
But what was lost in the resulting furore was that this mistake occurred through good intentions. The navy was trying to escort asylum-seeker boats as close as it legally could to the Indonesian shore to try to maximise their chances of a safe return.
Indonesia’s angry response was to accuse Australia of trampling on its sovereignty and to boost naval patrols in the areas where the breaches had occurred…
The irony is that Canberra has been wanting Indonesia to increase its naval patrols in these waters off southern Java for years, to help stop people-smugglers from launching their boats as well as to save the lives of asylum-seekers in distress on the high seas…
If the safety of returned asylum-seekers is genuinely worrying Indonesia, then it could simply give permission for Australian navy ships to escort asylum-seeker boats through its territorial zone all the way back to shore, guaranteeing a safe return each time.
Here’s an example of an Indonesian MP - Foreign Affairs Commission member Tantowi Yahya - making ludicrous claims to push his kick-Australia agenda:
TANTOWI YAHYA: I say many, many times that the asylum seekers are not Indonesians and they came to our territory without our knowledge and then their intention is going to Australia. So, as a matter of fact we don’t have anything - we don’t have anything to do with this except for the reasons of humanity...: Well, if you set aside the humanity reasons, the asylum seekers are not Indonesian, obviously. They were - and then their destinations is also Australia. So, in fact we have nothing to do with this.
Indonesia has “nothing to do with this”? Indonesia really has “nothing to do with” Indonesian boats with Indonesian crews smuggling in people from Indonesian territory, often with the connivance of corrupt Indonesian police?
This man takes us for fools.
UPDATE
On Catallaxy Files, a reminder to the anti-Abbott Left - so keen to hype up Indonesiam anger against our boat policies - that it is being used as Indonesia prepares to go to elections:
Partai Demokrat, GOLKAR, PKS, PAN, PPP and PKB coalition partner officials are cheerfully beating the ‘vote for us because we stand up to foreigners’ drum secure in the knowledge that Canberra will not say a word about it. And both benefit from the free publicity flowing from the Narrative. Reports of Indonesian warships going to the area, hysteria about turnbacks, the baseless ABC allegations of beatings and burnings all act to deter new customers for the transnational criminal gangs running the people smuggling trade. Both countries benefit from this.
What the left will refuse to understand is that their predictability makes them perfect for co-option, and so they and their Narrative have been co-opted by political operators vastly more worldly and sophisticated than they. As the left just knows itself to be morally and intellectually superior to both governments, they are unable to acknowledge this or to change their MO. Their worldview does not permit them to realise they are being played like a violin. 
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Other parts of the world laugh at our warmists screaming “warming”

Andrew Bolt January 24 2014 (6:26pm)

Global warming - propaganda

Warmists - from the Climate Council to Time magazine - treated last week’s heat wave in Victoria and South Australia as evidence of world-wide warming. Such deception is as typical and it is disgraceful, and worse is that so many media outlets seem to consider it their duty to promote it rather than expose it.
Meanwhile in the US:
The US east coast has been hit by the second major winter storm of the year, with up to 12in (30cm) of snow, strong winds and bitter cold forecast…
The storm comes two weeks after a weather pattern known as the polar vortex brought heavy snow and record low temperatures to the eastern half of the US.
In Thailand:
The unusually long cold spell across the North, Northeast and Central regions has killed 63 people in the past three months and Bangkok has suffered its coldest night in three decades. 
In Sweden:
Residents living in far northern Sweden woke up to a temperature of -41.2 C on Sunday as the harsh winter continues to bite across the rest of the country… The recorded temperature of -41.2 was a record for that region which is right on the Finnish border.
Dr David Whitehouse gives the context almost always withheld by the ABC and Fairfax newspapers:
In a joint press conference NOAA and NASA have just released data for the global surface temperature for 2013. In summary they both show that the ‘pause’ in global surface temperature that began in 1997, according to some estimates, continues.
Statistically speaking there has been no significant trend in global temperatures over this period… Given that the IPCC estimates that the average decadal increase in global surface temperature is 0.2 deg C, the world is now 0.3 deg C cooler than it should have been.
(Thanks to reader Michelle.) 
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Travel the globe! But where are Wally, Wenda and the two Wally Watchers?
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Oliver North could just as easily be talking about our soldiers here; https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MLOjIKt7wOk
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Please Melbourne hipsters, tell me your angst-ridden first world problems. FWIW, Southside beats Northside. But West is best.

http://www.theage.com.au/victoria/inner-norths-cup-of-cool-runneth-over-20140124-31e9i.html
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Pray for them
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Madu Odiokwu Pastorvin
Are You Waiting on God's Timing?
If I had to make a list of my faults, the first thing on the list would have to be “impatience.” I wish I was a more patient person, but I’m afraid it just isn’t in me to be that way. Does the Bible say anything about this? Colossians 1:11 says, Strengthened with all might, according to his glorious power, unto all patience and longsuffering with joyfulness.If you are waiting on God's timing,be patient.He never fails.....God bless you.
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GOD IS BIGGER THAN YOUR PROBLEM...
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PRAY.
Father,I thank You for meeting my needs according to Your riches in glory. I shake off heaviness today. I shake off worry and doubt, and I put on a garment of praise knowing that You are working things out for my good in Jesus’ name. Amen.
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And my God will meet all your needs according to the riches of his glory in Christ Jesus.(Philippians 4:19, NIV)
Know today that you have been empowered to accomplish every dream that God has placed in your heart. Oftentimes, the reason you have a huge obstacle is because you have a huge future. You may be facing a big challenge, but you’re a big person serving a big God. Know that no matter what you face, God will meet your needs. You are equipped, you are empowered, and you are headed toward victory in every area of your life.God bless you.
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Pastor Rick Warren
If you feel far from God, guess who moved?
Just start talking to him.
"The Lord is CLOSE to all who call on him." Psalm 145:18
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Giving is the highest level of living. 
"Remember our Lord Jesus said 'It's more blessed to give than to receive.'" Acts 20:35
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Important advice from God to Bible teachers:
"Ezekiel, let my words sink deep into YOUR heart FIRST. Listen to them carefully FOR YOURSELF! THEN go preach to your people..." Ezek. 3:10-11 I preach my sermon to myself first.
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Michelle Malkin 17
Hi everyone! Here's the MichelleMalkin.com newsletter for January 24th. Enjoy!

From the Blog

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce vs. America

When businesses get in the government handout line, it’s not a “public-private partnership.” It’s corporate welfare. Venture socialism. Whatever you call it, it stinks as much under Democrat administrations as it does under Republican ones...

Subway/Michelle Obama announce partnership to make kids hate lunch at places other than schools

Judging from the vomitous reaction I’ve seen from students regarding the school lunch standards that Michelle Obama prodded into existence, I’m not sure this is the wisest of marketing campaigns...

New York Times Magazine makes Hillary a planet

Behold the freaky cover of Sunday’s New York Times Magazine...

More From the Right Side of the Web

Michelle's Top Tweets

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And ... Our Hate Tweet of the Day

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Nice to see the tolerance patrol out to begin the weekend.
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Artist's concept of rover on Mars
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Events[edit]

Births[edit]

Deaths[edit]


Holidays and observances[edit]

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“Brothers and sisters, if someone is caught in a sin, you who live by the Spirit should restore that person gently. But watch yourselves, or you also may be tempted.” - Galatians 6:1
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Morning and Evening by Charles Spurgeon
January 24: Morning
"Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler." -Psalm 91:3
God delivers his people from the snare of the fowler in two senses. From, and out of. First, he delivers them from the snare--does not let them enter it; and secondly, if they should be caught therein, he delivers them out of it. The first promise is the most precious to some; the second is the best to others.

"He shall deliver thee from the snare." How? Trouble is often the means whereby God delivers us. God knows that our backsliding will soon end in our destruction, and he in mercy sends the rod. We say, "Lord, why is this?" not knowing that our trouble has been the means of delivering us from far greater evil. Many have been thus saved from ruin by their sorrows and their crosses; these have frightened the birds from the net. At other times, God keeps his people from the snare of the fowler by giving them great spiritual strength, so that when they are tempted to do evil they say, "How can I do this great wickedness, and sin against God?" But what a blessed thing it is that if the believer shall, in an evil hour, come into the net, yet God will bring him out of it! O backslider, be cast down, but do not despair. Wanderer though thou hast been, hear what thy Redeemer saith--"Return, O backsliding children; I will have mercy upon you." But you say you cannot return, for you are a captive. Then listen to the promise--"Surely he shall deliver thee out of the snare of the fowler." Thou shalt yet be brought out of all evil into which thou hast fallen, and though thou shalt never cease to repent of thy ways, yet he that hath loved thee will not cast thee away; he will receive thee, and give thee joy and gladness, that the bones which he has broken may rejoice. No bird of paradise shall die in the fowler's net.
Evening
"Martha was cumbered about much serving." - Luke 10:40
Her fault was not that she served: the condition of a servant well becomes every Christian. "I serve," should be the motto of all the princes of the royal family of heaven. Nor was it her fault that she had "much serving." We cannot do too much. Let us do all that we possibly can; let head, and heart, and hands, be engaged in the Master's service. It was no fault of hers that she was busy preparing a feast for the Master. Happy Martha, to have an opportunity of entertaining so blessed a guest; and happy, too, to have the spirit to throw her whole soul so heartily into the engagement. Her fault was that she grew "cumbered with much serving," so that she forgot him, and only remembered the service. She allowed service to override communion, and so presented one duty stained with the blood of another. We ought to be Martha and Mary in one: we should do much service, and have much communion at the same time. For this we need great grace. It is easier to serve than to commune. Joshua never grew weary in fighting with the Amalekites; but Moses, on the top of the mountain in prayer, needed two helpers to sustain his hands. The more spiritual the exercise, the sooner we tire in it. The choicest fruits are the hardest to rear: the most heavenly graces are the most difficult to cultivate. Beloved, while we do not neglect external things, which are good enough in themselves, we ought also to see to it that we enjoy living, personal fellowship with Jesus. See to it that sitting at the Saviour's feet is not neglected, even though it be under the specious pretext of doing him service. The first thing for our soul's health, the first thing for his glory, and the first thing for our own usefulness, is to keep ourselves in perpetual communion with the Lord Jesus, and to see that the vital spirituality of our religion is maintained over and above everything else in the world.
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Sisera 
[Sĭs'eră] - meditation, battle array or sees a horse.
1. Commander of the Canaanite army which held northern Israel in subjection. He was killed by Jael (Judg. 4:21, 221 Sam. 12:9Ps. 83:9). In his flight after battle with the Israelites under Barak, Sisera, overcome by fatigue, sought shelter in the tent of Jael, who treacherously slew him while asleep - the death prophesied by Deborah (Judg. 4:9 ). The most tragic aspect of the murder of Sisera is that of his anxious mother awaiting the return of her son. Jael's cruel act broke a mother's heart.
2. One of the Nethinims whose descendants returned with Zerubbabel (Ezra 2:53Neh. 7:55).
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Martha
The Woman Who Was More Practical Than Spiritual
Scripture Reference: Luke 10:38-41;John 11John 12:1-3
Name Meaning: As a Chaldee or Syriac word, Martha is the feminine of moro or more, meaning "lord," "master." We find this in the form maran in the well-known phrase Maran-atha, "The Lord cometh" (1 Corinthians 16:22). There are those who think that Kyria, translated "lady" in 2 John 1, is a proper name, the Greek equivalent of this word. Carpzov supposes that this Kyria was the same person as Martha of Bethany.
Family Connections: Of the history of Martha, the Bible tells us nothing save that she was the sister of Mary and Lazarus, and lived with them at Bethany. Some early writers have made Martha, the daughter, wife, or widow of Simon the Leper, and that on his death the house became hers, hence the reference to the house when the resurrection of Lazarus was celebrated (Matthew 26:6Mark 14:3 ). Others think that Martha may have been a near relative of Simon for whom she acted as hostess. But the narrative seems to suggest the home belonged to Martha and being older than Mary and Lazarus, she carried the responsibility of all connected with household affairs in a home where "Jesus found the curse of the sojourner lifted from Him, and, in reversal of His own description of His loneliness and penury, found where to lay His head." What strikes us forcibly is that after Jesus left His natural home at the age of thirty to enter upon His public ministry we do not read of Him returning to it for rest and relaxation. It was to the warm, hospitable home at Bethany to which He retired, for He loved the three who lived in it, Martha, Mary and Lazarus-in this order-which is something we do not read concerning His own brothers and sisters according to the flesh.
Martha and Mary seem to belong together in God's portrait gallery, just as Cain and Abel, Jacob and Esau do. Expositors also bracket the two sisters together, comparing and contrasting their respective traits. Martha, busy with household chores-Mary, preferring to sit before Jesus for spiritual instruction. Martha, ever active and impulsive-Mary, meditative and reticent. Truly drawn are the characters of these two sisters, Martha usually busy supervising the hospitality of the home, Mary somewhat indifferent to house work, anxious only to seek that which was spiritual. But we have no Scriptural warrant for affirming that the difference between the quiet, pious Mary and her industrious sister is that of the opposite of light to darkness. In the church there are vessels of gold and others of silver, but we are not justified in saying that the character of Mary is worked in gold and that of Martha in silver. These two sisters in that Bethany family had their respective, appropriate talents, and each of them served the Master accordingly.
George Matheson deprecates the effort to always bracket Mary and Martha together. Each figure stands for itself alone. These sisters have "both suffered from being uniformly viewed in combination, and the bracketing has been more injurious to Mary than to Martha. To say that Mary stands in contrast to Martha is true, but it is inadequate." Too often "Martha has been held up to fine scorn as a worldly-minded and jealous creature, and Mary exalted for an indifference to the duties of hospitality, concerning which, for aught that we know, she may at various times have been quite as zealous as Martha." Let us, therefore, take these female characters separately, and beginning with Martha note how she nobly fulfilled her mission in life.
The majority of the women of the Bible are revealed to us in passing hints. None of them are as fully pictured as we would like. But when we look at Martha it does seem as if her character is more fully revealed than that of many other females. Luke gives us our first glimpse of her in "a piece of writing which is one of the marvels of literature," as H. V. Morton expresses it. "There is not one word we could do without, yet the picture is complete, and framed, as it were, by a kitchen door. Luke tells it in ninety-eight words" (Luke 10:38-42 ). We have scattered evidence as to Martha's ability to care for Jesus and the saints in the practical ways she did. Her home at Bethany was one of the few of social standing and substance with whom Jesus was on friendly terms. The hospitality afforded Him, the supper of some pretensions Martha provided for invited guests, the number and quality of friends who gathered around the sisters in the hour of their deep grief, and the wealth displayed in the anointing of Jesus, all alike bespeak of affluence. When Bethany is referred to as "the village of Mary and her sister, Martha," the implication is that they were important figures in the community and that their home was the chief one in the village.
What, then, are the characteristics of Martha, the only Bible woman to have her name repeated, as Jesus did, when affectionately He said, "Martha! Martha!"?
She Was Most Hospitable
The first glimpse we have of Martha is that of one "given to hospitality," for we read she "received Jesus into her house"-her house, suggesting she was its owner. Then, when Jesus was sent for to hurry to the aid of her sick brother, Lazarus, we read that when Martha heard that Jesus was coming "she met Him," and bade Him welcome (John 11:20, 30 ). And the provision of that home meant much to Jesus. One day we have Him saying, "The Son of man hath not where to lay his head," but the next day, "He came to Bethany ... and Martha made him a supper." His lonely heart found in that loving, hospitable home a woman waiting to minister to His weariness and exhaustion, and from the swift-handed care of gentle womanhood Jesus received the physical refreshment He needed. Even when there was death in the home, the energetic and practical Martha dried her tears and went out to meet the Lord of life, leaving the mystical Mary sitting in the house still weeping. What a superb life-like touch that is! "Martha went and met Him: but Mary sat still in the house."
Knowing Martha as we do, we can be assured of this fact, that whenever Jesus visited Martha's home she never had any need to apologize for untidy rooms, a neglected household, or lack of necessary provisions. To her, home responsibilities were never a drudgery. Martha loved her home, was house-proud, kept it "spick and span," and was ever ready to entertain her divine Guest or others seeking a refuge beneath her hospitable roof. Eugenia Price expresses this aspect of Martha's character when she says-
The superb hospitality He found in Martha's home was extremely important to Him. No one enjoyed her cooking more than He enjoyed it. No one found her spacious home more beautiful, more inviting. But always He had the real issues in full view. He could not be distracted from them, even by His tired body and His human need of Martha's services.
She Was Meditative
We do not read the record of Martha and Mary aright if we think that the former did all the serving, and the latter all the sitting. Too often, we think of Mary as the meditative one, and Martha as the practical one. But the next glimpse we have of Martha shows us that she was found at Jesus' feet-"which also sat at Jesus' feet, and heard His word." So both sisters studied in the College of the Feet. Conversely the phrase, "she has left me to serve alone," suggests that Mary joined her sister in the reception of Jesus, and worked with her for a while but betook herself to her place at Jesus' feet. We must not for a moment feel that Mary thought serving beneath her, or that Martha had the idea that sitting was beyond her spiritual capacity. Both sat before the Master, but while Mary thought that listening was better, Martha felt that feeding Jesus was just as necessary as waiting upon His word. Martha's practical service on His behalf was inspired by what she had heard from His lips and came of her love for Him. As George Matheson puts it-
Every article on Martha's table was constructed out of sympathy, built of the fibres of her heart. The feast which she devised was the fruit of solicitude for Jesus and would have had no existence apart from that solicitude.
She Was Guilty of Complaint
Luke, who must have gone with Jesus to the house, noticed that "Martha was cumbered about much serving." The word "cumbered" means "distracted." It is God's will "that we attend upon the Lord without distraction" (1 Corinthians 7:35 ). But being the one who managed the household and served, Martha found herself drawn hither and thither by conflicting cares. She loved Jesus and wanted all in the house to do their best for Him. So we have her double complaint, with the first part of it directed to Jesus Himself, "Dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone?" The next half of the complaint was a command, "Bid her therefore that she help me." This means that if Jesus were still speaking to Mary sitting at His feet, her somewhat vehement complaint must have interrupted our Lord's calm demeanor while conversing with Mary. It irritated Martha to see Mary, cool and idle, while she was busy getting the meal ready for the visitors, and most likely their accommodation for a night or so.
It may have been that Martha was "secretly vexed with herself as much as with Mary, that the latter enjoyed the privilege of hearing Jesus' word seated at His feet, while she could not persuade herself to do the same for fear that a varied enough repast should not be served up to Him." It was as if Martha had said to Jesus, "Lord, here am I with everything to do, and this sister of mine will not lay her hand to anything; thus I miss something from Thy lips, and Thou from our hands-bid her, therefore, that she help me."
Martha would not presume to call her sister away from Jesus to help. In her vexed state of mind she included Jesus in her rebuke, and asked Him to release Mary from the season of meditation to help out with practical duties.
She Was Rebuked by Jesus
In our Lord's answer to Martha's complaint there was no condemnation of her activity, for He must have appreciated her warmhearted, practical management of the household. He knew that she was seeking to entertain Him with her best, and so lovingly warned her of the danger of forgetting amid her many cares the one thing needful. In the repetition of her name, Martha! Martha! there is an affectionate reproof. The only other example of a twofold utterance of a name during our Lord's ministry was when He said, Simon! Simon! (Luke 22:31). From glory He said Saul! Saul! ( Acts 9:4). Following His repetition in which there was a gracious blending of kindness, sadness and surprise Jesus went on to remind Martha that she was careful and troubled about many things but that one thing was needful-the good part Mary had chosen and which He would not take away from her.
Jesus did not tell Martha that she had neither part nor lot in Him, or that she was allowing the cares of this life to choke the seed. He recognized that she was working for Him, but reminded her that she was permitting her outward activities to hinder her spiritually. Because of wrong emphasis regarding her necessary labor, her inner communion with her Lord was being hindered. In her restless activity Martha felt that her sister carried "her quiet, peaceful, faith-engendered mysticism" too far. H. V. Morton says that in our Lord's reply to Martha's complaint there can be traced a play of ideas, and that His words can be interpreted-
Martha, Martha, you are busy with many courses when one dish would be quite sufficient. Mary has chosen the best dish, which shall not be taken away from her.
The term "careful" refers to inward worrying anxiety. Martha was mentally solicitous, anxious with a divided mind which is forbidden (Matthew 6:22-311 Corinthians 7:32). "Troubled," means disturbed, distracted outwardly about many things or dishes. Fausset comments that "Much serving has its right place and time (1 Thessalonians 4:112 Thessalonians 3:121 Timothy 5:14), but ought to give place to hearing when Jesus speaks, for faith whereby the good and abiding portion is gained, cometh by hearing" (Romans 10:17). The "good part" Mary chose was bias in the direction of that which is spiritual.
She Was Loved of the Lord
In a marvelous way John takes up where Luke leaves off, and with his skillful brush fills in the details of the character study of Martha the "practical." First of all, the "apostle of love" tells us that "Jesus loved Martha, Mary and Lazarus." How different were their personalities and temperaments, yet Jesus loved each of them with an equal love! He had a human heart enabling Him to love those who loved and cared for Him. So all three in that Bethany home had a place in His heart, and were embraced in His holy kindness. Such a love must have knit those sisters and their brother more closely and tenderly together than did even the bond of natural affection. Knowing all about Martha, Jesus loved her, and she in turn ardently loved Him and shared His confidence and became the recipient of a sublime revelation of her Lord.
She Was a Woman of Deep Sorrow
Sickness and death shadowed that loving, hospitable Bethany home. Lazarus fell sick, and his sister sent word to Jesus, "Behold, he whom Thou lovest is sick." Jesus did not hurry to Bethany but abode where He was, and by the time He reached Bethany Lazarus had been in his grave four days. Was He indifferent to the call and grief of Martha and Mary? Loving them, how could He be? He wanted them to learn that His delays are not denials; that He knows the exact moment to display His power. He knew that this was a death that would result in Him being glorified as the Son of Man (John 11:4).
While many of the Jewish friends came to comfort grief-stricken Martha and Mary, they eagerly awaited the coming of the divine Comforter Himself and as soon as they heard He was on the way, Martha dried her tears and went out to meet Him, leaving Mary sitting disconsolate in the house. As soon as Martha met Jesus she uttered a rebuke in her usual blunt fashion, "Lord, if thou hadst been here, my brother had not died." Then uncovering the real depths of her soul she hurried on to say, "But I know, that even now [with my dear brother in the grave] whatsoever thou wilt ask of God, God will give it thee."
What unbounded faith and confidence in her Lord's omnipotence she had! A most remarkable conversation on the Resurrection followed between the Master and Martha. Immediately Jesus healed her broken heart by assuring her that her brother would rise again. No explanation of His delayed arrival was given. Jesus began right away to unfold the truth He meant both His delay and the death of Lazarus to convey.
A desolate heart now, in the presence of the Prince of Life, expressed its faith in a resurrection of the dead in "the jubilee of the ages," as Martha knew the ancient Hebrew Scriptures taught. What she was not prepared for was the revelation that the One before her was the Resurrection and the Life. Jesus sought to lead the thoughts of Martha away from her dead brother to Himself, the One in whom the yonder becomes the here. Martha thought of the resurrection of her much-loved brother as a far-off event, but Jesus asserts His claim to be in Himself the power by which the dead are raised. Martha's reply provided the Master an occasion to present one of the most outstanding statements in the Bible as to His deity, power and authority-"I am the resurrection and the life." How astounded Martha must have been as she listened in awe to the tremendous truths flowing from the lips of Jesus. When He challenged her with "Believest thou this?" she uttered a remarkable confession of faith which some professed Christians today, alas, cannot subscribe to-
"Yea, Lord: I believe that Thou art
The Christ,
The Son of God,
which should come into the world."
Although Martha could not fathom the depths of the Master's revelation of Himself, she believed and implied three well-known titles to Him who loved her-
The Christ-The One of whom glorious things had been predicted as the anointed prophet, priest and king.
The Son of God-A confession of His deity, for this is a title pertaining not to His office or position, but to His nature and Person as the Only Begotten of the Father.
He that should come into the world-This was a common description among the Jews of Him who was at once the heart of prophecy, the object of the aspirations of all illuminated and reborn souls, and the desire of all nations (Haggai 2:7Matthew 11:3).
With her heart stilled by the mighty and mysterious message of the Master, and yet more by the calm majesty of His presence, Martha confessed her faith, and while she did not fully understand the depth of her own words, the Lord's Resurrection from the dead enabled her to understand in some measure why He came into the world. Leaving Him after such an overwhelming experience, Martha went back to the home and called her sister "secretly," perhaps for fear of the Jews. This precious touch reveals how concerned Martha was for the safety and cause of Him who had done so much for her. Mary was told that the Master asked for her, and rose up "hastily" and went to Him.
'Tis love that makes our willing feet
In swift obedience move.
Meeting Jesus, she fell down at the feet she had loved to sit at, and between her sobs repeated the complaint of Martha, "Lord, if thou hadst been here my brother had not died." Mary was in no way behind her sister in her love for her departed brother (John 11:19), her faith in the Lord Jesus (John 11:21), and in her belief in the final resurrection. The tears of Mary and of the mourning Jews moved the sympathetic spirit of Jesus, and affected by such sorrow He groaned in His spirit ( John 11:33, 38). The groaning here was possibly an innner indignant feeling over the mockery of sorrow of the Jews whom He knew would try to kill Lazarus after his resurrection (John 11:47; 12:10), as well as kill Jesus also (John 11:53). It was this hypocrisy that stirred His spirit to anger so intense that it caused nerve and muscle and limb to tremble beneath its force. Then came the spectacle of "A God in Tears," for we come to the shortest verse in the Bible, "Jesus wept!"
How true it is that in every pang that rends the heart, the Man of Sorrows shares a part! Here was the evidence of His humanity.
At the grave Martha gives vent to her feelings again, and implied by her statement that as her dead brother's body had passed to corruption, it would be terrible to see him thus. But the miracle happened and the glory of God was manifested. Jesus uttered the all-commanding word, and Lazarus came forth, with a body fresher than it had been for years. Thus Jesus justified His claim to Martha of being "The Resurrection," not merely able to raise the dead, but also the Life-Power conquering the death-power in its own domain. The great I Am is the Resurrection for in Himself He has the keys of death. Then when He spoke of Himself as "The Life," He gave utterance to one of the most profound expressions in the Gospel (John 14:6). He is Life-the primal, all-originating, all-comprehending, everlasting life. It is in Him we live.
She Was a Joyful Woman
What tears of joy both Martha and Mary must have shed as they embraced their brother risen from the dead! That physical miracle resulted in spiritual miracles, for many believed on Jesus. The last mention of Martha was at the supper in her home to celebrate the resurrection of Lazarus, and as usual she was active and served. While the guests were seated at her hospitable table, Mary anointed the feet of Jesus with costly spikenard, but Martha raised no objection. She acquiesced in her sister's preparatory act associated with Christ's own burial. For all that we know Martha may have had a large share in the purchase of the precious ointment, which Judas Iscariot thought was being wasted. While the service of Martha was the same, her spirit was blessedly changed. She was no longer "distracted" over her tasks, nor mentally anxious and outwardly bustling, but calm, trustful and in full agreement with her sister's act of love and devotion to the Master. At last Martha, too, has chosen that good part which could not be taken from her. It is more than likely that Martha was present with the two Marys and other devout women at the cross and then at the empty tomb of the Saviour, and joined them as a herald to the disciples that Christ was risen indeed (Matthew 28:1-11).
What are some of the lessons to glean as we think of the life and character of Martha? One of her noblest acts was to open her home to Jesus and entertain Him. She little knew at the beginning of His visits that He was the Son of God with power, and when we receive Him into our hearts as Saviour we do not know all there is to know of His majesty and power. Eternity alone will bring us the full revelation of why and what He is.
Further, Martha represents those dear religious women who allow themselves to be distracted overmuch with their home cares and obligations. Some are all Martha, and no Mary. Others are all Mary and no Martha. The happy combination is that of Martha and Mary, the practical and the spiritual making possible the glory of the commonplace. The church requires both the Marys and the Marthas for both are necessary to complete the Christian character (1 Timothy 4:13-16James 1:25-27 ). From the records we have considered we surely learn, do we not?-

1. To sit at the feet of Jesus and learn of Him.
2. To keep so-called secular service in its right place, conscious that both serving and learning are duties, and in both we should honor God.
3. To trust the Lord with our cares, responsibilities and sorrows knowing that He is able to undertake for us. If His help appears to be delayed we must remember that He is never before His time, and that He never lags behind.
4. To offer our best to Him who broke the alabaster box of His own body that heavenly forgiveness and fragrance might be ours.
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Today's reading: Exodus 9-11, Matthew 15:21-39 (NIV)

View today's reading on Bible Gateway

Today's Old Testament reading: Exodus 9-11

The Plague on Livestock
1 Then the LORD said to Moses, "Go to Pharaoh and say to him, 'This is what the LORD, the God of the Hebrews, says: "Let my people go, so that they may worship me." 2 If you refuse to let them go and continue to hold them back, 3 the hand of the LORD will bring a terrible plague on your livestock in the field-on your horses, donkeys and camels and on your cattle, sheep and goats. 4 But the LORD will make a distinction between the livestock of Israel and that of Egypt, so that no animal belonging to the Israelites will die....'"

Today's New Testament reading: Matthew 15:21-39

The Faith of a Canaanite Woman
21 Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and Sidon. 22 A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him, crying out, "Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly."
23 Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and urged him, "Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us."
24 He answered, "I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel."
25 The woman came and knelt before him. "Lord, help me!" she said.
26 He replied, "It is not right to take the children's bread and toss it to the dogs."
27 "Yes it is, Lord," she said. "Even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table."
28 Then Jesus said to her, "Woman, you have great faith! Your request is granted." And her daughter was healed at that moment....

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