One thing is necessary
WFH – working from home, how well do we get on with it? Some people love the opportunity to avoid the commute and work in the comfort of their own house, and may get more done at home. But for others it’s more difficult – children interrupting the zoom meeting, the noise around us, the pressure of being always on-call! Many things can distract us from what we need to be doing and what really matters to us.
Someone in the Bible had many distractions and couldn’t focus on the most important thing.
Luke 10: 38-42 describes to us two sisters - Martha and Mary. The Lord had come to visit them in their home in Bethany. They were His friends whom he loved (John 11:5). And Martha welcomed Him into the house and was determined to honour the Lord and to do all that she could to prepare a meal for Him.
After Jesus had arrived, Mary came and sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to His teaching. She was drinking in all that He was saying. She had put other things on hold so she could listen to Him. Martha on the other hand was busy preparing. The disciples were probably there as well -there were a number of guests. Middle Eastern standards for hospitality were high. There was much to do and it started to exasperate Martha that her sister wasn’t helping. She was trying to do all these things, and huffing and puffing, and Mary seemed to be just sitting there.
And Martha eventually complains to the Lord Himself, ‘Lord do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.’ She is complaining to the Lord about Mary, but it is also an implied criticism of Him. Now we may feel a certain sympathy for Martha. Isn’t there a need to be practical? Just before this Luke records the Parable of the Good Samaritan. This man went out of his way to help a person in need. The priest and the Levite passed by on the other side, we can see through those who make piety an excuse to be of no practical help. Didn’t Martha have a point?
But the Lord is the searcher of hearts - He needs Martha to see what the real priority is here. The Lord Jesus came to this world ‘not to be served but to serve and to give his life a ransom for many’. He came to be the Saviour, He came to bring the good news of His kingdom, to call us to follow Him. The most important thing Martha could be doing was listening to the words of life that He spoke.
“As lockdown is gradually eased we look forward to many things we can do again. But let’s not forget that one thing is necessary - to know Christ and to love Him more”
The Lord replied to her tenderly: ‘Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things…’ How often can we be like that – I’ve got this to do, and that to do, so many things. There is a warning here not about flagrant sins but about all the legitimate cares and concerns of this life that can weigh us down and distract us from what is really important.
In contrast to the many things that Martha is concerned about, Jesus tells her ‘one thing is necessary’. At that time the one thing that she needed to do was to listen to Him.
‘Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her’.
Mary was listening to His word, she cherished that as the best thing she could do. ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that comes from the mouth of God’.
And the Lord gives a promise to her, this will not be taken from her. The Lord keeps His sheep and leads us into green pastures and provides food for our souls. We can still hear Him speak through His word, and know His presence with us - that will not be taken away. We have it to hold onto.
The Lord has given us the means of grace in His word, in the sacraments, in prayer – those means by which we can know Him and grow to love Him more. Mary’s choice is an instructive example to us of choosing what’s most important, sitting at the feet of the Saviour and listening to Him.
As lockdown is gradually eased we look forward to many things that we can do again: seeing one another, resuming normal activities, our calendars being full once again. But let’s not forget that one thing is necessary, one thing is vital: to know Christ and to love Him more.
‘But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus’. (Phil. 3: 13-14)
