Only One Thing Is Needed Lessons From Mary and Martha

Luke 10: 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 only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her." Luke 10: 38-42

This powerful story tucked away at the end of the tenth chapter of the Gospel of Luke contains many truths for us as Christians. Many lessons to remember and keep in mind as we walk with the Lord. As we progress through the story consider that we are both Mary and Martha in our lives after salvation. We are two sides of the same coin. We are a dichotomy which is defined as:

Division into two mutually exclusive, opposed, or contradictory groups

How we balance these mutually exclusive sides of ourselves will help determine who we become in Christ. Too much of either will always come at the expense of the other and both are vitally important.

Starting with Martha, we see that Martha is representative of our service unto the Lord. She is our work, for Christ. Sometimes we can think that because our salvation is not based on works, that works are unimportant but that is not true:

What good is it, my brothers, if a man claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save him? Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to him, "Go, I wish you well; keep warm and well fed," but does nothing about his physical needs, what good is it? In the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead. James 2: 14-17

Our Christianity requires something of us. It means that we can no longer look at the injustice and pain in the world the same way. Faith is absolutely crucial for our development of relationship with God but without action to show the world that faith, we become an end to our own means.

Martha understood this. Martha was all about her service unto Christ. She was very busy making all the preparations that needed to be made with Christ visiting. Is her service needed? Absolutely. Someone had to prepare everything. Is our service needed today to further the Kingdom of God? Absolutely. Someone has to work to spread the Gospel. But look at how the Bible describes the extent to which Martha was preparing. It says that she was distracted, by all of the preparations. Jesus Christ was visiting her home and she became distracted nonetheless by the work that had to be done! One of the biggest lessons we can take from Martha in this story is we should never allow our work for the Lord to distract us from the very presence of God. Were her preparations important? Yes but not at the expense of her relationship with Jesus.

But God has more lessons for us from Martha in this story. Not only does Martha become distracted but she actually becomes self-righteous and indignant. The Word tells us this was her home and she at some point got frustrated that her sister was not helping her prepare. She does not address Mary but instead she actually rebukes the Lord! Her first comment to Jesus is that He does not care! Her second comment is actually an order to Christ to tell her sister to help her! The use of the exclamation point and the language used gives us some insight into the tone Martha must have taken. She felt put upon and that led her to feel indignant and self-righteous. In her eyes, she was correct because she was the only one doing the work, while her sister just sat at Jesus feet.

We can also get like this in our service unto God. We lose sight of for whom we are doing the service. We serve in ministry, maybe multiple ministries. We serve dutifully and diligently. We can pour our hearts and energies into our service. Maybe because of how long we serve or maybe because of poor relationships or leadership, we can be easily hurt. Maybe we can feel that too many other people are laying at the feet of Jesus not helping us. This can then ultimately lead us to feel bitter about our service and possibly even doing in begrudgingly. But God warns us about this:

Remember this: Whoever sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and whoever sows generously will also reap generously. Each man should give what he has decided in his heart to give, not reluctantly or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. 2Corinthians 9: 6-7

Now, the principle of sowing and reaping is often used to discuss tithing but it applies to all giving unto God; including our service. In fact, a few verses down in this passage from Paul's letter to the Church at Corinth he says:

Because of the service by which you have proved yourselves, men will praise God for the obedience that accompanies your confession of the gospel of Christ, and for your generosity in sharing with them and with everyone else. 2Corinthians 9: 6-7

Paul is also talking here about their service and confession of the Gospel. We need to approach our service unto God with the same humility that we approach Him with. If we forget this we can make the mistake Martha makes here and actually begin to blame God or think that He does not care. God loved us and saved us while we were still dead in our sins. We do not engage in our service unto Him for any self-serving motives. Our only motivation should be to further His kingdom. It is difficult because we war against our own flesh. Our flesh wants to feel appreciated. Our flesh wants to be acknowledged maybe by our Pastor or our Ministry Leader. But Jesus cautioned us about this:

"Be careful not to do your 'acts of righteousness' before men, to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. Matthew 6: 1

Jesus knew what was going on in Martha's house that day. He knew that Martha was becoming distracted and then indignant. His response to her should give us all some pause. First, He needed to call her by name twice! Martha was so busy in her service to God she did not hear Him call her name the first time! After calling her name the second time, Jesus finally got her attention. Then He lets her know exactly what her problem is. Martha was worried about a great many things. Her worrying leads her to then be upset over a great many things. This is the nature of worry. It feeds off of itself. It is the same with fear and anxiety. The worry breeds more worry and the anxiety breeds more anxiety. The end result is an inappropriate reaction, in Martha's case - she gets upset. Maybe we get angry or maybe depressed. Maybe we get indifferent or apathetic. All because of allowing our worry to breed more worry. What did Jesus teach us about worry?

Who of you by worrying can add a single hour to his life? Matthew 6: 27

But there we can be too. Our Martha dominating our lives. Always working for the Lord but never sitting at His feet. Never slowing our lives down enough to just listen to Him. More worried about the minute details of a ministry than the relationship we have with the lover of our soul. More upset if something goes wrong in our ministry than if something is wrong in our relationship with Christ. Martha loved God just as much as Mary; she just became numb from the work she took on. As a friend once preached, she developed a noisy spirit. Her worry led to upset and her upset led to her actually blaming God and claiming He did not care. She knew what she had to do in that house that day but forgot what she needed. Jesus next words reminded her that she only needed one thing. That one thing was her relationship with Him.

Jesus is saying the same thing to us today. The world needs our service. The church needs our service. Our service takes our faith and puts it into action but there is only one thing that we personally need. That is our relationship with Jesus. Is Martha's service wrong? Absolutely not. But Mary chose what was better. The message from Jesus here could not be clearer. Our relationship with Jesus has to be more important than our service unto Him. Not that you sacrifice one for the other but that we remember that Jesus in our life is our priority. Our walk must be our priority.

That is what Mary represents in this story; our walk with Christ. Mary represents our relationship with Jesus. Mary doesn't hear the bustle in the kitchen. She doesn't see the work going on around her. She is focused intently on the Lord, at His feet, listening. What a beautiful picture of how our relationship with Christ should be. Mary chose the better thing. Not the right thing; the better thing. Martha is not wrong; she just allowed her service to affect her walk.

And that is the true admonition in this story. We cannot confuse our service to God and our walk with Him. It happens all the time in churches as people are hurt in ministry and leave the church. Somewhere we left Mary behind in our pursuit of Martha. Why is Jesus making this point in the Gospel of Luke? The key is the final sentence of the story:

but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her." Luke 10: 42

Beloved, only one thing is needed Jesus Christ. Mary chose what is better because it will not be taken away from her. The truth is that no matter how important our ministries are, they will all fade away in time. No matter how vital our service is, it can always be taken away from us. But no one can take away our relationship with Christ.

For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 8: 38-39

That is quite an impressive list! Most of these things would be able to separate us from our ministry but none of them can separate us from Christ. Only one thing can put distance between us and Christ; ourselves. If we feel that God is somehow farther away from us, I can guarantee you I know who moved and it wasn't God. Sometimes the world pulls us away. We can get tied up in the demands the world puts on us and our relationship with Christ diminishes. Instead of lying at His feet, we get up and leave the house. This story shows us though that our service can also pull us away.

We can be so busy working for God that we have no relationship with Him. As important as our ministry unto the Lord is, nothing is more important than our relationship with Him. That is the needed thing. That is the better thing. No one can take it away from us. The things of this world will all fade but our Creator will always be there, waiting for us to curl up at His feet and just listen to Him.

Reverend Anthony Wade June 18, 2009