restWednesday, September 2
Only One Thing
Scripture
"As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, 'Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!' 'Martha, Martha,' the Lord answered, 'you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed—or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.'"
— Luke 10:38-42
What it means
Martha invited Jesus in, so the hosting was her idea in the first place. Receiving a teacher then meant hours of cooking and serving. Mary sat at His feet, which was the place of a student with a teacher. Nobody sends her away from it, not even when Martha asks for exactly that. Jesus did not tell Martha her work was wrong. He said that she was the one worried and upset about many things, when one was needed. That one thing is Himself, sitting in her house and speaking. Mary's good portion is that time with Him, and Jesus says nobody will take it from her. The scene stops there, and Luke never tells us what Martha did.