Only One Thing is Needed
Luke 10:38-42. So much has been written about Martha and Mary that probably not much new can be said. But looking at these two ladies does give us a good picture of choices we have, and what the Lord desires from and for us.
Evidently Martha was the older sister and it sounds like she was the owner of her house. To her credit, when Jesus came to her village, she opened her home to him. There were many people who did not open their homes to Jesus but Martha was willing to do that and set about preparing a meal for Jesus and his disciples. Now that would be a crowd to feed; 13 of them! No wonder Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. I can empathize with her.
Jesus said, "Martha, Martha." That's like a parent saying your first name, middle name and last name with emphasis. That meant you had better stop what you were doing and listen real good because you were probably in trouble. In other words, "Listen up."
Jesus told her that she was troubled or worried about many things. Perhaps there was more going on in Martha's life than this one incident. The root meaning of the word "troubled" is "a crowd." In other words, many things were crowding in on Martha, making her feel frustrated, overwhelmed and upset. Not just getting ready to feed this crowd of men. Sounds like our modern life, doesn't it? There can be so many things that we need to get done that we feel overwhelmed and don't take time to do what is best; sitting at the feet of Jesus.
Mary, on the other hand, dropped everything and sat down at the feet of Jesus and listened to what he had to say. It was highly nontraditional in that time for a woman to be taught. Aren't you glad Jesus is not traditional? Just about everything he did went cross-grain to the way the Pharisees thought things should be. Jesus commended Mary for choosing to do this and said it was the better choice.
Jesus told Martha that in spite of her bustling around and being upset about things, only one thing was needed. And that one thing was spending time with Jesus and listening to him. He said the better thing that Mary had chosen was not going to be taken away from her. What we do with Jesus is far more important than what we do for him. He wants our love and fellowship and out of that will be born what we do for him. The relationship that is formed by spending time with Jesus is something nothing can take away.
So, what are our choices? Be busy, busy, busy and not have time to really listen to what the Lord would say to us. Or sit at his feet and listen to his voice; have fellowship with him. Then we will be better prepared to do the "doing."
Only one thing is needed.
Tomorrows Bible Reading - Exodus 8, Luke 11, Job 25, Job 26, I Corinthians 12
God is good all the time,
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