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Biblical Characters and the Enneagram: Images of Transformation
In what has been described as a 'breakthrough book,' three Vancouver Island authors have produced a volume that will be keenly read by students of both personality and religion. Biblical Characters and the Images of Transformation explores the personalities of a whole range of Biblical figures through the lens of the Enneagram, an ancient system for understanding personality. The result is an exploration in self-awareness and a fresh look at the many compelling and insightful stories and people found in the Bible. In the book, 18 biblical 'characters' are presented as models of transformation, personal growth and spiritual development, showing how the habitual masks we have all unconsciously learned to wear can be revealed as pale and unsatisfactory imitations of our original inner beauty. The book shows how these stories of transformation can lead us to embrace our real selves and discard the sham substitutes of our fabricated personalities.
320 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 2002
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December 1, 2019
Interesting read. I like how the authors use the Psalms as prayers "in the spirit of" the examined Biblical character. It adds an exclamation point to every Biblical example of a personality type because each Psalm perfectly matches the person's journey with God.
That written, I don't agree with all of the typing. For example, Joseph the Dreamer (Genesis, not Jesus' stepfather) seems to be a 7 who grew into applying healthy 7 and 5 traits with the grace of God (rather than starting out as an unhealthy 5 who expresses a roller-coaster journey of healthy-unhealthy 5 traits along the way as the authors speculate). Luke is a better example of a 5. Mary Magdalene could be a 4, but she is definitely not all of the New Testament Marys (minus Jesus' mother) rolled into one as the authors claim to complete their 4 profile of her.
Also, I'm discovering that how people interpret the story of Martha and Mary of Bethany in Luke 10 tells me everything I need to know about their relationship with Jesus - whether or not they accept God's judgment about things, situations, and people...or if they want to make themselves the judge.
Here's the story:
Luke 10:38-42 NLT -
As Jesus and the disciples continued on their way to Jerusalem, they came to a certain village where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. Her sister, Mary, sat at the Lord’s feet, listening to what he taught.
But Martha was distracted by the big dinner she was preparing. She came to Jesus and said, “Lord, doesn’t it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me.”
But the Lord said to her, “My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her.”
Here's some of what the authors of this book say about this story:
"That Martha of Bethany can be considered as an Eight might come as a surprise to people who only think of her as the woman in the kitchen, busy preparing a meal while her sister Mary sat and listened at the feet of Jesus. To them she might appear to be more like the Two, ready to serve and to give. However, in this story, and especially in the story of her meeting Jesus after her brother Lazarus dies, we can see in her a confronter and a challenger, someone who readily moves out against others. She operates from her Body centre, and has difficulty using her Feelings centre effectively in her encounters. For these reasons, she is discussed here as an Eight...
[Martha's] Eight characteristics of perseverance and intensity arouse in her a passionate desire that justice be done.
Mary, on the other hand, simply sits at the feet of Jesus and listens to him. Many if not most interpretations of the story set up a hierarchy between Martha and her sister Mary in which Mary comes out holding "the better part" (Luke 10:42). While Martha is regarded as useful and even essential for the living of our ordinary lives, she is also often used to represent the active life which is assumed to be inferior to the contemplative. This assumption needs serious questioning, for it accepts the notion that the body is inferior to the mind and heart...
The role of Mary who only listens is not enough...
Metaphorically, this tells us that Martha's challenge is to rest and listen, while Mary's is to get up and help out in the kitchen. Spiritually, the two sisters can represent two aspects of one person. Like the yin and yang in Eastern practices of balance and wholeness, we aspire to have both live in us." - Authors, pp. 154-157
Here's what "I" (God's Spirit in me) say about both:
Jesus literally tells Martha that Mary has chosen to do "the only one thing" that is important. It reads this way in every translation. This is not an "interpretation". He doesn't say that Mary needs to switch with Martha or help Martha for "balance". People who refuse to accept this judgment that Mary chose to do "the only one thing" that matters are basically saying that God is a liar and He's wrong. They don't want to accept what He is saying to them about their inner "Martha" (control freak). There's only ONE WAY to "interpret" (correctly comprehend) this story. Every other way is wrong. Period.
In other words, Martha is wrong, Mary is right, and God is not going to enforce Martha's way with Mary (which would "take away" Mary's free will to literally follow Jesus!).
Beware people who argue even after God's judgment has been given against their way. Even Martha (temporarily) accepts Jesus' judgment of her. How do we know? There's no argument from her. He effectively shut up her complaint.
(Although, clearly, she hasn't learned her fundamental life lesson because the next time we see her in John 11, she's still making herself "the judge" even as she's proclaiming her faith in Jesus as the Messiah. This time, she's implying that He should've shown up sooner to save her brother her way instead of God the Father's way.)
So people who decide to appeal/override Jesus' decision in their "interpretation" of this story to get "justice" for "Martha" are really telling Jesus - and us! - that they don't agree that just listening to Him is the correct choice. They're resisting the message to *them* about what they need to change about their own self-centered (non-Christ-centered) attitudes and priorities.
This one section is so problematic that it casts a shadow over everything else that's helpful in the book for me; now I know that the authors' flesh, not the Holy Spirit, was on the throne and holding the pen while writing this book. When interpreting anything (especially Scriptures), WE SHOULD ALWAYS START WITH LISTENING TO WHAT GOD SAYS ABOUT IT.
Jesus has transformed me from operating out of a "Martha mindset" to a "Mary mindset". So now I constantly have to deal with unrepentant "Marthas" who insist that I stop focusing on, obeying, following, etc. Jesus and focus on, obey, follow, etc. them instead. Several years ago, I served food in church with a prophetess literally named Martha (😆). She was very controlling and bossy. If we didn't do things exactly her way, she screamed and had a fit. She also snapped at her husband (a reverend) when he tried to get her to leave the food pantry area to attend the marriage counseling class that was obviously THE ONLY ONE THING for her to do in that moment. For all of our sanity.
So I quickly prayed 🙏 about it. God's equally quick response: the next week, Martha came in to "serve" (boss everyone around); she had a neck brace on, talking about she fell down from "vertigo". I laughed to myself because I heard God say that He pushed her down (with the spirit of confusion) so she "lost her balance" and fell. After that, she started attending the marriage counseling classes held at the same time as the food service in another part of the church. Her "stiff-necked" attitude miraculously improved! She no longer insisted that everyone serve the food her way. Hallelujah! 🙌 What was the root issue? She enjoyed being known and praised as a good cook, so she wanted to "rule" over the food area.
Several months ago, I met her identical twin for the first time. As soon as Martha introduced her sister to me, I started 😂. Her name is...Mary. And she's the most peaceful person ever. I asked them if they're like the Martha and Mary in the Bible.
Martha to me: "No!"
Mary's eyes and GOD to me: "Yes."
Me to GOD: 😉
God does this a lot: literally puts me in a situation that mirrors the Biblical situation and tells me exactly what He thinks about it. Serving the food with Martha back then was the ONLY WAY that God would feed me - physically and spiritually.
If you're interested in reading about the Enneagram from a Christian perspective, then I recommend "The Road Back to You" by Ian and Suzanne. Those authors correctly interpreted this Mary and Martha story and even called it "hackneyed" (😂) yet "useful" for Twos to read...because Martha is an unhealthy Two (which resembles an unhealthy Eight while stressed - the only type of situations that we see Martha in). I agree (see my Goodreads review for details). Also, God says that, like Martha's sister Mary, I am a reformed Two (regardless of what the human-created online test says). ✌😉
JESUS: "Look beneath the surface so you can judge correctly." (John 7:24 NLT)
Another example of how these authors try to "re-interpret" or override what is clearly meant in the Bible and, therefore, forfeit their claim to wisdom:
"The woman is not shouting at Jesus personally but shouting out her request for mercy and her distress because her daughter is "tormented by a demon" (Matthew 15:22), a common way of interpreting any mental or physical illness of the time." (p. 164)
This is not an "interpretation". The Bible clearly states and demonstrates that most illnesses (physical, mental, emotional, etc.) are due to sin and/or demonic possession, so healing involved restoring people's faith in, and connection with, JESUS, whereas now people try to "psychologize" the effects of demonic activity in the body and mind. If you cast a demon out of a sick person in Jesus' name right now, you'll see that the person's illness suddenly "disappears" and they are "magically" healed. In seconds. 👇
Mark 3:13-15 NLT
- Afterward Jesus went up on a mountain and called out the ones he wanted to go with him. And they came to him. Then he appointed twelve of them and called them his apostles. They were to accompany him, and he would send them out to preach, giving them authority to cast out demons.
Matthew 8:14-17 NLT
- When Jesus arrived at Peter’s house, Peter’s mother-in-law was sick in bed with a high fever. But when Jesus touched her hand, the fever left her. Then she got up and prepared a meal for him.
That evening many demon-possessed people were brought to Jesus. He cast out the evil spirits with a simple command, and he healed all the sick.
This fulfilled the word of the Lord through the prophet Isaiah, who said, “He took our sicknesses and removed our diseases.”
I would recommend that people who read this book also read the source material for deeper revelation. Using psychological models to interpret Scriptures rather than using Scriptures to evaluate our psychology places the model above Scriptures. The greater revelation is in the "God-breathed" Scriptures (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
In Matthew 10 and Luke 12, Jesus quotes Micah (7:6) about how families will be split based on relatives' conflicting responses to Him. In Matthew 13, Mark 4, and Luke 8, Jesus describes the different responses to God's word - even among believers!
Back to Martha and Mary. In reading all of the Scriptures concerning them, we can see that Mary underwent a major spiritual transformation, which Jesus repeatedly praised in public. It's not a stretch to deduce that Martha wants to be publicly praised for her meal preparation and service like Mary is publicly praised for her sacrifices and genuine receptivity to JESUS. Like jealous, self-serving, thieving, backstabbing Judas (means "praise"!) who also criticized Mary, jealous Martha may have tried to subvert, override, and/or steal Mary's honor with her demand for Jesus to tell Mary to "help her" (follow her lead) in the kitchen. Which types do this and why? That's where the Enneagram fun should begin! 😉
Proverbs 31:30-31 NLT
- Charm is deceptive, and beauty does not last; but a woman who fears the Lord will be greatly praised. Reward her for all she has done. Let her deeds publicly declare her praise.
Mark 14:3-9 NLT
-
Meanwhile, Jesus was in Bethany at the home of Simon, a man who had previously had leprosy. While he was eating, a woman came in with a beautiful alabaster jar of expensive perfume made from essence of nard. She broke open the jar and poured the perfume over his head.
Some of those at the table were indignant. “Why waste such expensive perfume?” they asked. “It could have been sold for a year’s wages and the money given to the poor!”
So they scolded her harshly. But Jesus replied, “Leave her alone. Why criticize her for doing such a good thing to me? You will always have the poor among you, and you can help them whenever you want to. But you will not always have me. She has done what she could and has anointed my body for burial ahead of time. I tell you the truth, wherever the Good News is preached throughout the world, this woman’s deed will be remembered and discussed.”
Luke 7:36-50 NLT
- One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to have dinner with him, so Jesus went to his home and sat down to eat. When a certain immoral woman from that city heard he was eating there, she brought a beautiful alabaster jar filled with expensive perfume. Then she knelt behind him at his feet, weeping. Her tears fell on his feet, and she wiped them off with her hair. Then she kept kissing his feet and putting perfume on them.
When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know what kind of woman is touching him. She’s a sinner!”
Then Jesus answered his thoughts. “Simon,” he said to the Pharisee, “I have something to say to you.”
“Go ahead, Teacher,” Simon replied.
Then Jesus told him this story: “A man loaned money to two people—500 pieces of silver to one and 50 pieces to the other. But neither of them could repay him, so he kindly forgave them both, canceling their debts. Who do you suppose loved him more after that?”
Simon answered, “I suppose the one for whom he canceled the larger debt.”
“That’s right,” Jesus said. Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Look at this woman kneeling here. When I entered your home, you didn’t offer me water to wash the dust from my feet, but she has washed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You didn’t greet me with a kiss, but from the time I first came in, she has not stopped kissing my feet. You neglected the courtesy of olive oil to anoint my head, but she has anointed my feet with rare perfume.
“I tell you, her sins—and they are many—have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love.”
Then Jesus said to the woman, “Your sins are forgiven.” The men at the table said among themselves, “Who is this man, that he goes around forgiving sins?”
And Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
John 11:1-44 NLT -
A man named Lazarus was sick. He lived in Bethany with his sisters, Mary and Martha. This is the Mary who later poured the expensive perfume on the Lord’s feet and wiped them with her hair. Her brother, Lazarus, was sick. So the two sisters sent a message to Jesus telling him, “Lord, your dear friend is very sick.”
But when Jesus heard about it he said, “Lazarus’s sickness will not end in death. No, it happened for the glory of God so that the Son of God will receive glory from this.”
So although Jesus loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, he stayed where he was for the next two days. Finally, he said to his disciples, “Let’s go back to Judea.”
But his disciples objected. “Rabbi,” they said, “only a few days ago the people in Judea were trying to stone you. Are you going there again?”
Jesus replied, “There are twelve hours of daylight every day. During the day people can walk safely. They can see because they have the light of this world. But at night there is danger of stumbling because they have no light.”
Then he said, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but now I will go and wake him up.” The disciples said, “Lord, if he is sleeping, he will soon get better!”
They thought Jesus meant Lazarus was simply sleeping, but Jesus meant Lazarus had died. So he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. And for your sakes, I’m glad I wasn’t there, for now you will really believe. Come, let’s go see him.”
Thomas, nicknamed the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let’s go, too—and die with Jesus.”
When Jesus arrived at Bethany, he was told that Lazarus had already been in his grave for four days. Bethany was only a few miles down the road from Jerusalem, and many of the people had come to console Martha and Mary in their loss. When Martha got word that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him. But Mary stayed in the house.
Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask.”
Jesus told her, “Your brother will rise again.” “Yes,” Martha said, “he will rise when everyone else rises, at the last day.”
Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. Do you believe this, Martha?”
“Yes, Lord,” she told him. “I have always believed you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who has come into the world from God.” Then she returned to Mary. She called Mary aside from the mourners and told her, “The Teacher is here and wants to see you.”
So Mary immediately went to him. Jesus had stayed outside the village, at the place where Martha met him.
When the people who were at the house consoling Mary saw her leave so hastily, they assumed she was going to Lazarus’s grave to weep. So they followed her there.
When Mary arrived and saw Jesus, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
When Jesus saw her weeping and saw the other people wailing with her, a deep anger welled up within him, and he was deeply troubled.
“Where have you put him?” he asked them. They told him, “Lord, come and see.”
Then Jesus wept.
The people who were standing nearby said, “See how much he loved him!” But some said, “This man healed a blind man. Couldn’t he have kept Lazarus from dying?”
Jesus was still angry as he arrived at the tomb, a cave with a stone rolled across its entrance. “Roll the stone aside,” Jesus told them.
But Martha, the dead man’s sister, protested, “Lord, he has been dead for four days. The smell will be terrible.”
Jesus responded, “Didn’t I tell you that you would see God’s glory if you believe?”
So they rolled the stone aside. Then Jesus looked up to heaven and said, “Father, thank you for hearing me. You always hear me, but I said it out loud for the sake of all these people standing here, so that they will believe you sent me.”
Then Jesus shouted, “Lazarus, come out!”
And the dead man came out, his hands and feet bound in graveclothes, his face wrapped in a headcloth.
Jesus told them, “Unwrap him and let him go!”
John 12:1-11 NLT
- Six days before the Passover celebration began, Jesus arrived in Bethany, the home of Lazarus—the man he had raised from the dead. A dinner was prepared in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, and Lazarus was among those who ate with him.
Then Mary took a twelve-ounce jar of expensive perfume made from essence of nard, and she anointed Jesus’ feet with it, wiping his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance.
But Judas Iscariot, the disciple who would soon betray him, said, “That perfume was worth a year’s wages. It should have been sold and the money given to the poor.”
Not that he cared for the poor—he was a thief, and since he was in charge of the disciples’ money, he often stole some for himself.
Jesus replied, “Leave her alone. She did this in preparation for my burial. You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.”
When all the people heard of Jesus’ arrival, they flocked to see him and also to see Lazarus, the man Jesus had raised from the dead. Then the leading priests decided to kill Lazarus, too, for it was because of him that many of the people had deserted them and believed in Jesus.
That written, I don't agree with all of the typing. For example, Joseph the Dreamer (Genesis, not Jesus' stepfather) seems to be a 7 who grew into applying healthy 7 and 5 traits with the grace of God (rather than starting out as an unhealthy 5 who expresses a roller-coaster journey of healthy-unhealthy 5 traits along the way as the authors speculate). Luke is a better example of a 5. Mary Magdalene could be a 4, but she is definitely not all of the New Testament Marys (minus Jesus' mother) rolled into one as the authors claim to complete their 4 profile of her.
Also, I'm discovering that how people interpret the story of Martha and Mary of Bethany in Luke 10 tells me everything I need to know about their relationship with Jesus - whether or not they accept God's judgment about things, situations, and people...or if they want to make themselves the judge.
Here's the story:
Luke 10:38-42 NLT -
As Jesus and the disciples continued on their way to Jerusalem, they came to a certain village where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. Her sister, Mary, sat at the Lord’s feet, listening to what he taught.
But Martha was distracted by the big dinner she was preparing. She came to Jesus and said, “Lord, doesn’t it seem unfair to you that my sister just sits here while I do all the work? Tell her to come and help me.”
But the Lord said to her, “My dear Martha, you are worried and upset over all these details! There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her.”
Here's some of what the authors of this book say about this story:
"That Martha of Bethany can be considered as an Eight might come as a surprise to people who only think of her as the woman in the kitchen, busy preparing a meal while her sister Mary sat and listened at the feet of Jesus. To them she might appear to be more like the Two, ready to serve and to give. However, in this story, and especially in the story of her meeting Jesus after her brother Lazarus dies, we can see in her a confronter and a challenger, someone who readily moves out against others. She operates from her Body centre, and has difficulty using her Feelings centre effectively in her encounters. For these reasons, she is discussed here as an Eight...
[Martha's] Eight characteristics of perseverance and intensity arouse in her a passionate desire that justice be done.
Mary, on the other hand, simply sits at the feet of Jesus and listens to him. Many if not most interpretations of the story set up a hierarchy between Martha and her sister Mary in which Mary comes out holding "the better part" (Luke 10:42). While Martha is regarded as useful and even essential for the living of our ordinary lives, she is also often used to represent the active life which is assumed to be inferior to the contemplative. This assumption needs serious questioning, for it accepts the notion that the body is inferior to the mind and heart...
The role of Mary who only listens is not enough...
Metaphorically, this tells us that Martha's challenge is to rest and listen, while Mary's is to get up and help out in the kitchen. Spiritually, the two sisters can represent two aspects of one person. Like the yin and yang in Eastern practices of balance and wholeness, we aspire to have both live in us." - Authors, pp. 154-157
Here's what "I" (God's Spirit in me) say about both:
Jesus literally tells Martha that Mary has chosen to do "the only one thing" that is important. It reads this way in every translation. This is not an "interpretation". He doesn't say that Mary needs to switch with Martha or help Martha for "balance". People who refuse to accept this judgment that Mary chose to do "the only one thing" that matters are basically saying that God is a liar and He's wrong. They don't want to accept what He is saying to them about their inner "Martha" (control freak). There's only ONE WAY to "interpret" (correctly comprehend) this story. Every other way is wrong. Period.
In other words, Martha is wrong, Mary is right, and God is not going to enforce Martha's way with Mary (which would "take away" Mary's free will to literally follow Jesus!).
Beware people who argue even after God's judgment has been given against their way. Even Martha (temporarily) accepts Jesus' judgment of her. How do we know? There's no argument from her. He effectively shut up her complaint.
(Although, clearly, she hasn't learned her fundamental life lesson because the next time we see her in John 11, she's still making herself "the judge" even as she's proclaiming her faith in Jesus as the Messiah. This time, she's implying that He should've shown up sooner to save her brother her way instead of God the Father's way.)
So people who decide to appeal/override Jesus' decision in their "interpretation" of this story to get "justice" for "Martha" are really telling Jesus - and us! - that they don't agree that just listening to Him is the correct choice. They're resisting the message to *them* about what they need to change about their own self-centered (non-Christ-centered) attitudes and priorities.
This one section is so problematic that it casts a shadow over everything else that's helpful in the book for me; now I know that the authors' flesh, not the Holy Spirit, was on the throne and holding the pen while writing this book. When interpreting anything (especially Scriptures), WE SHOULD ALWAYS START WITH LISTENING TO WHAT GOD SAYS ABOUT IT.
Jesus has transformed me from operating out of a "Martha mindset" to a "Mary mindset". So now I constantly have to deal with unrepentant "Marthas" who insist that I stop focusing on, obeying, following, etc. Jesus and focus on, obey, follow, etc. them instead. Several years ago, I served food in church with a prophetess literally named Martha (😆). She was very controlling and bossy. If we didn't do things exactly her way, she screamed and had a fit. She also snapped at her husband (a reverend) when he tried to get her to leave the food pantry area to attend the marriage counseling class that was obviously THE ONLY ONE THING for her to do in that moment. For all of our sanity.
So I quickly prayed 🙏 about it. God's equally quick response: the next week, Martha came in to "serve" (boss everyone around); she had a neck brace on, talking about she fell down from "vertigo". I laughed to myself because I heard God say that He pushed her down (with the spirit of confusion) so she "lost her balance" and fell. After that, she started attending the marriage counseling classes held at the same time as the food service in another part of the church. Her "stiff-necked" attitude miraculously improved! She no longer insisted that everyone serve the food her way. Hallelujah! 🙌 What was the root issue? She enjoyed being known and praised as a good cook, so she wanted to "rule" over the food area.
Several months ago, I met her identical twin for the first time. As soon as Martha introduced her sister to me, I started 😂. Her name is...Mary. And she's the most peaceful person ever. I asked them if they're like the Martha and Mary in the Bible.
Martha to me: "No!"
Mary's eyes and GOD to me: "Yes."
Me to GOD: 😉
God does this a lot: literally puts me in a situation that mirrors the Biblical situation and tells me exactly what He thinks about it. Serving the food with Martha back then was the ONLY WAY that God would feed me - physically and spiritually.
If you're interested in reading about the Enneagram from a Christian perspective, then I recommend "The Road Back to You" by Ian and Suzanne. Those authors correctly interpreted this Mary and Martha story and even called it "hackneyed" (😂) yet "useful" for Twos to read...because Martha is an unhealthy Two (which resembles an unhealthy Eight while stressed - the only type of situations that we see Martha in). I agree (see my Goodreads review for details). Also, God says that, like Martha's sister Mary, I am a reformed Two (regardless of what the human-created online test says). ✌😉
JESUS: "Look beneath the surface so you can judge correctly." (John 7:24 NLT)
Another example of how these authors try to "re-interpret" or override what is clearly meant in the Bible and, therefore, forfeit their claim to wisdom:
"The woman is not shouting at Jesus personally but shouting out her request for mercy and her distress because her daughter is "tormented by a demon" (Matthew 15:22), a common way of interpreting any mental or physical illness of the time." (p. 164)
This is not an "interpretation". The Bible clearly states and demonstrates that most illnesses (physical, mental, emotional, etc.) are due to sin and/or demonic possession, so healing involved restoring people's faith in, and connection with, JESUS, whereas now people try to "psychologize" the effects of demonic activity in the body and mind. If you cast a demon out of a sick person in Jesus' name right now, you'll see that the person's illness suddenly "disappears" and they are "magically" healed. In seconds. 👇
Mark 3:13-15 NLT
- Afterward Jesus went up on a mountain and called out the ones he wanted to go with him. And they came to him. Then he appointed twelve of them and called them his apostles. They were to accompany him, and he would send them out to preach, giving them authority to cast out demons.
Matthew 8:14-17 NLT
- When Jesus arrived at Peter’s house, Peter’s mother-in-law was sick in bed with a high fever. But when Jesus touched her hand, the fever left her. Then she got up and prepared a meal for him.
That evening many demon-possessed people were brought to Jesus. He cast out the evil spirits with a simple command, and he healed all the sick.
This fulfilled the word of the Lord through the prophet Isaiah, who said, “He took our sicknesses and removed our diseases.”
I would recommend that people who read this book also read the source material for deeper revelation. Using psychological models to interpret Scriptures rather than using Scriptures to evaluate our psychology places the model above Scriptures. The greater revelation is in the "God-breathed" Scriptures (2 Timothy 3:16-17).
In Matthew 10 and Luke 12, Jesus quotes Micah (7:6) about how families will be split based on relatives' conflicting responses to Him. In Matthew 13, Mark 4, and Luke 8, Jesus describes the different responses to God's word - even among believers!
Back to Martha and Mary. In reading all of the Scriptures concerning them, we can see that Mary underwent a major spiritual transformation, which Jesus repeatedly praised in public. It's not a stretch to deduce that Martha wants to be publicly praised for her meal preparation and service like Mary is publicly praised for her sacrifices and genuine receptivity to JESUS. Like jealous, self-serving, thieving, backstabbing Judas (means "praise"!) who also criticized Mary, jealous Martha may have tried to subvert, override, and/or steal Mary's honor with her demand for Jesus to tell Mary to "help her" (follow her lead) in the kitchen. Which types do this and why? That's where the Enneagram fun should begin! 😉
Proverbs 31:30-31 NLT
- Charm is deceptive, and beauty does not last; but a woman who fears the Lord will be greatly praised. Reward her for all she has done. Let her deeds publicly declare her praise.
Mark 14:3-9 NLT
-
Meanwhile, Jesus was in Bethany at the home of Simon, a man who had previously had leprosy. While he was eating, a woman came in with a beautiful alabaster jar of expensive perfume made from essence of nard. She broke open the jar and poured the perfume over his head.
Some of those at the table were indignant. “Why waste such expensive perfume?” they asked. “It could have been sold for a year’s wages and the money given to the poor!”
So they scolded her harshly. But Jesus replied, “Leave her alone. Why criticize her for doing such a good thing to me? You will always have the poor among you, and you can help them whenever you want to. But you will not always have me. She has done what she could and has anointed my body for burial ahead of time. I tell you the truth, wherever the Good News is preached throughout the world, this woman’s deed will be remembered and discussed.”
Luke 7:36-50 NLT
- One of the Pharisees asked Jesus to have dinner with him, so Jesus went to his home and sat down to eat. When a certain immoral woman from that city heard he was eating there, she brought a beautiful alabaster jar filled with expensive perfume. Then she knelt behind him at his feet, weeping. Her tears fell on his feet, and she wiped them off with her hair. Then she kept kissing his feet and putting perfume on them.
When the Pharisee who had invited him saw this, he said to himself, “If this man were a prophet, he would know what kind of woman is touching him. She’s a sinner!”
Then Jesus answered his thoughts. “Simon,” he said to the Pharisee, “I have something to say to you.”
“Go ahead, Teacher,” Simon replied.
Then Jesus told him this story: “A man loaned money to two people—500 pieces of silver to one and 50 pieces to the other. But neither of them could repay him, so he kindly forgave them both, canceling their debts. Who do you suppose loved him more after that?”
Simon answered, “I suppose the one for whom he canceled the larger debt.”
“That’s right,” Jesus said. Then he turned to the woman and said to Simon, “Look at this woman kneeling here. When I entered your home, you didn’t offer me water to wash the dust from my feet, but she has washed them with her tears and wiped them with her hair. You didn’t greet me with a kiss, but from the time I first came in, she has not stopped kissing my feet. You neglected the courtesy of olive oil to anoint my head, but she has anointed my feet with rare perfume.
“I tell you, her sins—and they are many—have been forgiven, so she has shown me much love. But a person who is forgiven little shows only little love.”
Then Jesus said to the woman, “Your sins are forgiven.” The men at the table said among themselves, “Who is this man, that he goes around forgiving sins?”
And Jesus said to the woman, “Your faith has saved you; go in peace.”
John 11:1-44 NLT -
A man named Lazarus was sick. He lived in Bethany with his sisters, Mary and Martha. This is the Mary who later poured the expensive perfume on the Lord’s feet and wiped them with her hair. Her brother, Lazarus, was sick. So the two sisters sent a message to Jesus telling him, “Lord, your dear friend is very sick.”
But when Jesus heard about it he said, “Lazarus’s sickness will not end in death. No, it happened for the glory of God so that the Son of God will receive glory from this.”
So although Jesus loved Martha, Mary, and Lazarus, he stayed where he was for the next two days. Finally, he said to his disciples, “Let’s go back to Judea.”
But his disciples objected. “Rabbi,” they said, “only a few days ago the people in Judea were trying to stone you. Are you going there again?”
Jesus replied, “There are twelve hours of daylight every day. During the day people can walk safely. They can see because they have the light of this world. But at night there is danger of stumbling because they have no light.”
Then he said, “Our friend Lazarus has fallen asleep, but now I will go and wake him up.” The disciples said, “Lord, if he is sleeping, he will soon get better!”
They thought Jesus meant Lazarus was simply sleeping, but Jesus meant Lazarus had died. So he told them plainly, “Lazarus is dead. And for your sakes, I’m glad I wasn’t there, for now you will really believe. Come, let’s go see him.”
Thomas, nicknamed the Twin, said to his fellow disciples, “Let’s go, too—and die with Jesus.”
When Jesus arrived at Bethany, he was told that Lazarus had already been in his grave for four days. Bethany was only a few miles down the road from Jerusalem, and many of the people had come to console Martha and Mary in their loss. When Martha got word that Jesus was coming, she went to meet him. But Mary stayed in the house.
Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that God will give you whatever you ask.”
Jesus told her, “Your brother will rise again.” “Yes,” Martha said, “he will rise when everyone else rises, at the last day.”
Jesus told her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Anyone who believes in me will live, even after dying. Everyone who lives in me and believes in me will never ever die. Do you believe this, Martha?”
“Yes, Lord,” she told him. “I have always believed you are the Messiah, the Son of God, the one who has come into the world from God.” Then she returned to Mary. She called Mary aside from the mourners and told her, “The Teacher is here and wants to see you.”
So Mary immediately went to him. Jesus had stayed outside the village, at the place where Martha met him.
When the people who were at the house consoling Mary saw her leave so hastily, they assumed she was going to Lazarus’s grave to weep. So they followed her there.
When Mary arrived and saw Jesus, she fell at his feet and said, “Lord, if only you had been here, my brother would not have died.”
When Jesus saw her weeping and saw the other people wailing with her, a deep anger welled up within him, and he was deeply troubled.
“Where have you put him?” he asked them. They told him, “Lord, come and see.”
Then Jesus wept.
The people who were standing nearby said, “See how much he loved him!” But some said, “This man healed a blind man. Couldn’t he have kept Lazarus from dying?”
Jesus was still angry as he arrived at the tomb, a cave with a stone rolled across its entrance. “Roll the stone aside,” Jesus told them.
But Martha, the dead man’s sister, protested, “Lord, he has been dead for four days. The smell will be terrible.”
Jesus responded, “Didn’t I tell you that you would see God’s glory if you believe?”
So they rolled the stone aside. Then Jesus looked up to heaven and said, “Father, thank you for hearing me. You always hear me, but I said it out loud for the sake of all these people standing here, so that they will believe you sent me.”
Then Jesus shouted, “Lazarus, come out!”
And the dead man came out, his hands and feet bound in graveclothes, his face wrapped in a headcloth.
Jesus told them, “Unwrap him and let him go!”
John 12:1-11 NLT
- Six days before the Passover celebration began, Jesus arrived in Bethany, the home of Lazarus—the man he had raised from the dead. A dinner was prepared in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, and Lazarus was among those who ate with him.
Then Mary took a twelve-ounce jar of expensive perfume made from essence of nard, and she anointed Jesus’ feet with it, wiping his feet with her hair. The house was filled with the fragrance.
But Judas Iscariot, the disciple who would soon betray him, said, “That perfume was worth a year’s wages. It should have been sold and the money given to the poor.”
Not that he cared for the poor—he was a thief, and since he was in charge of the disciples’ money, he often stole some for himself.
Jesus replied, “Leave her alone. She did this in preparation for my burial. You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.”
When all the people heard of Jesus’ arrival, they flocked to see him and also to see Lazarus, the man Jesus had raised from the dead. Then the leading priests decided to kill Lazarus, too, for it was because of him that many of the people had deserted them and believed in Jesus.
October 19, 2023
I found this book so powerful. The teachings are organized in the hornevian triads - assertive, compliant, withdrawn. Characters from the Bible are used to teach each type. I finished it with a much deeper understanding of myself and those around me.
April 6, 2024
So good! Read it slowly. Love the connection of the EG with the Bible characters. Best book I’ve read recently our connection with all 9 numbers as a path to spiritual transformation.
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