Context is everything. Social media has not learned this and even the news media rips words from their context and they say something different than what is meant. Jesus is on the road. He is heading toward His final destination – to Jerusalem and the cross. The village of Bethany was about two miles east of Jerusalem. It is clear that Jesus is taking His time to get there. Unlike the Samaritan village in chapter 9 that rejected Jesus, Bethany welcomed Him. Mary and Martha were followers of Jesus. Martha invited their house to Jesus and, as any good host, was seeing to the needs of her guests by preparing a meal.
Mary was sitting at the feet of the Lord Jesus. She was focused upon His word. Her posture is not accidental. It is the stance of those who learn in submission to their teacher. Martha wanted to pay attention to the word of the Lord but she was distracted. It was her house. These were her guests. There was much to be done. She had a meal to prepare and no freezer to draw from or microwave to make it easy. Perhaps an animal had to be slaughtered, a fire prepared, meat roasted, and bread made. It was not a small deal. Martha was a generous soul. In Luke 8 we are told that she gave the disciples from her supplies all they needed. Martha was bearing this burden alone and she was upset by it.
She interrupted Jesus and asked Him to admonish Mary for not helping her sister. “Lord, you surely care that my sister has left me alone to serve so tell her to help me!” She expected Jesus to say that He did care and He would tell Mary to help. She had no conception that Jesus would respond otherwise. She was shocked by how Jesus responded. Now be careful here. Jesus does not rebuke her. This is the same Jesus who just spoke about the Good Samaritan and He is not about to suggest that anyone should be indifferent to the needs of others. So gently, our Lord addresses her. “Martha, Martha! You are anxious and troubled by many things but of only one thing is there need.”
Mary has chosen the good portion – food for the body has to be made and eaten day after day after day until you die and several times a day. But the food for the soul that Mary has chosen cannot ever be taken from her and will be with her to everlasting life. Mary is not better than Martha. Mary did see what Martha, consumed by all her busyness, did not see. Now Jesus invites Martha to see and choose with Mary the better portion. To have now that which is eternal.
There are many Marthas in our world today and perhaps many in our congregation and probably many who used to be here and are no longer. The world is filled with stress and anxiety, with fear and worry, with uncertainty and despair. Anyone who has lived through the last year and has not found themselves overcome and overwhelmed by the things we have endured is a better person than I am. Our lives are a mess of obligations and duties and of troubles and trials. So often the only thing we long for is time alone without having to think of what is on the news or trending on Facebook or tweeting on Twitter. We don’t want the phone to ring or people to come to our doors. We may not be Mary or Martha but Jonah who wants to hide from God and everybody.
The world around us presses us with the insistence that if we are not happy, there is something wrong. The drug companies insist that if we are not pain free, something is wrong. The financial gurus tells us that if we are not socking away money for dream vacations and retirement, something is wrong. In the end, we fear we are wrong. We are like children who pin our happiness to a new toy or like whiners who cry about every hangnail or the jealous who wish we could go to where the Facebook friends have gone and post the pictures of our leisure. Perhaps we are like Martha but fretting not about food but about life and all its busyness. Then comes the Church with all its activities and it seems like the Church is pressing us and making demands of us just like every other group. What can we do?
Jesus had already chosen the one thing needful. He was headed to Jerusalem and the cross. He stopped along the way but He would not be moved from the future that waited for Him in betrayal, suffering, and death. Because He knew that in this obedience unto death would come forgiveness and life for the Mary’s of this world and the Martha’s and everyone in between. Mary caught a glimpse of this and knew that her future lie being near the Word of God. What seemed indifference to the things of the household and the world was not. It was the wisdom of faith that recognized where her future and life were to be found. In Jesus alone.
This story is not about Bible study but about Jesus. He is the story of the Bible, its author and its plot. We do not study the Bible to find out things but to know Him of whom the law and the prophets and the writings testify. We read, learn, and inwardly digest this Word not as a book to be learned but as the Savior to know, to trust, and to love. He is the focus. He is the Word. He is the story in the Word.
His is the obedient life that has been counted as your righteous clothing. His is the death of your sin once for all. His is the life that opens the grave and gives hope and promise to us in the constraints of our mortality. His is the future prepared for you and for all who love His appearing. Because He lives, you live. Because He loves you, you love Him and love one another. Because He forgives, you are reconciled to God and reconcile yourselves to one another. He is the one thing needful. And we know Him through the voice of His Word.
Like all of us who get caught up in the affairs of the moment, Martha wanted to sit at the feet of Jesus. But she felt she could not. She had too much on her plate. Our Lord loved Martha and refused to rebuke her generosity in opening her home and giving herself and her things to Jesus. But He also loved her enough to point her to the one thing needful that served her and will serve us everlasting life. It is the Lord, speaking through His Word and feeding in His Holy Supper. He is the Word that accomplishes salvation for us and He is the bread that satisfies our hunger and need forevermore.
Sunday morning is not simply one more thing on your busy schedule. It is the only thing needful in a world of extraneous things that have no lasting value. He is the Word who speaks life and hope and forgiveness into your ears. He is the Bread who feeds you everlasting life. There is nothing more important or urgent that Christ and His grace sufficient for all your needs of body and soul here and sufficient to deliver you to everlasting life.
This is not a story about priorities. God knows we might need a good lesson in making better choices about the priorities in our lives. Jesus is not one thing among many but the only thing needful. You were His focus in life, in the suffering of the cross, and in the glory of the resurrection. For you, for the joy of your salvation, He endured it all, set His face to Jerusalem, and was determined to do all that was necessary that you might be His own and live under Him in His kingdom forevermore. As a people so loved, can we love Him any less? Amen.
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