"The Sons of Martha" is a poem written by

Rudyard Kipling Joseph Rudyard Kipling ( ; 30 December 1865 – 18 January 1936)''The Times'', (London) 18 January 1936, p. 12. was an English journalist, novelist, poet, and short-story writer. He was born in British Raj, British India, which inspired much ...

. It is inspired by the biblical story of

Jesus at the home of Martha and Mary Jesus at the home of Martha and Mary, in art usually called Christ in the House of Martha and Mary, and other variant names, is a Biblical episode in the life of Jesus in the New Testament which appears only in Luke's Gospel (), immediately af ...

. It celebrates the care and dedication of workers – engineers, mechanics, and builders – to provide for the safety and comfort of others. "The Sons of Martha" was written in 1907 and was adopted by the author in 1922 to be part of the Ritual of the Calling of an Engineer performed by Canadian engineers at their graduation. In the Bible story,

Christ Jesus ( AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Christianity, central figure of Christianity, the M ...

visits a home where two sisters,

Mary Mary may refer to: People * Mary (name), a female given name (includes a list of people with the name) Religion * New Testament people named Mary, overview article linking to many of those below * Mary, mother of Jesus, also called the Blesse ...

and

Martha Martha (Aramaic language, Aramaic: מָרְתָא‎) is a Bible, biblical figure described in the Gospels of Gospel of Luke, Luke and Gospel of John, John. Together with her siblings Lazarus of Bethany, Lazarus and Mary of Bethany, she is descr ...

, live. Mary sits at the visitor's feet to listen to him while Martha races about attending to the hospitality until her patience runs out, and Martha calls on Jesus to direct Mary to help her. Jesus chides Martha for her mundane concerns and tells her: "Mary has chosen what is better".

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Sons of Martha Poetry by Rudyard Kipling 1907 poems Mary of Bethany