That's how I've always taken it. He speaks to her by name, in a soothing and entreating (but not, I think, patronizing) way; he identifies and acknowledges her feelings of stress and worry; and then he offers to lift that burden from her, by encouraging her to sit and rest and focus on the spiritual instead of wearing herself to a frazzle over her social obligations.
We also know from other passages that Mary, Martha and their brother Lazarus were close friends of Jesus -- he wasn't saying these words to a stranger, but to a woman he knew well and with whom he had a positive relationship.
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2007-06-04 02:09 am (UTC)We also know from other passages that Mary, Martha and their brother Lazarus were close friends of Jesus -- he wasn't saying these words to a stranger, but to a woman he knew well and with whom he had a positive relationship.