Mary, Martha, and Lazarus of Bethany are described in the Gospels according to Luke and John as close and much-loved friends of Jesus. Luke records the well-known story of their hospitality, which made Martha a symbol of the active life and Mary of the contemplative, though some commentators would take the words of Jesus to be a defense of that which Mary does best, and a commendation of Martha for what she does bestneither vocation giving grounds for despising the other.