NYUBF | New York UBF

Luke Lesson 36 (2009)

ONLY ONE THING IS NEEDED
(More Mary, Less Martha)

Luke 10:38-42
Key Verse: 10:41,42

“‘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.’”

A standard piano has about 200 strings. A typical concert piano has over 240 strings. The piano makes a beautiful sound only when the strings are properly tuned and tightened. Without proper tension, there can be no beautiful sound at all. Too much pressure and tension on the strings can also cause the piano to crack and will destroy its sound. In today’s passage, we see that Martha was worried and upset because she was distressed by so many things. She was making a lot of noise, like a broken piano. But her sister Mary was peaceful, joyful and thankful. She was making beautiful music, like a concert piano. In fact, Jesus said that Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her. We learn that we have to be More Mary and less Martha. The story of Mary and Martha in today’s passage, however, is not about two women; it’s about the essence of discipleship.

Look at verse 38. “As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him.” The village where Martha and Mary lived was a small town called Bethany, just on the outskirts of Jerusalem, less than two miles away. Although the author Luke didn’t mention where this event took place, he frequently mentioned Jesus’ decisive trip to Jerusalem where he expected to be rejected by the elders and crucified. As we have studied in the previous passages, Jesus had been repeatedly telling his disciples about his upcoming suffering and death so that they might prepare their hearts and minds. Yet, they wouldn’t listen to him. Now on the way to Jerusalem, Jesus and his disciples stopped by Martha’s house, where Jesus taught his disciples an invaluable lesson about true discipleship.

According to John’s account, Jesus and Martha, her sister Mary and their brother Lazarus had a special bond of love. (Jn 11:1-2) It seems that the siblings’ parents had already passed away, and Martha was the oldest of the three. As we read the passage, we get the impression that Martha was an aggressive, outspoken and domineering lady. Perhaps she was not only an excellent cook and but also a versatile person. We can imagine that before Jesus arrived at her home, she made everyone clean and decorate the house. She wanted everything to be perfect. When we invite guests to our home, the hostess, my wife, not only works hard but also has absolute authority to order people around. She buys a huge amount of groceries. I have to carry them all. The house has to be clean and everything should be in order. Otherwise, you get in trouble. You don’t want to show your guests that you are unprepared.

We don’t know exactly how many guests Martha had in her house that evening. Obviously, the Twelve were with him. It was also possible at least some of his seventy two disciples followed him there. Every Sunday women coworkers in our church take turns to prepare lunch for about 150 people. Can you imagine cooking spaghetti for 150 people? Since Martha regarded Jesus as the most distinguished guest, she might have prepared not just a regular meal but an elaborate dinner for him. Perhaps, she thought that the better prepared she was, the better service and joy she could offer to Jesus. She was very excited about it. But as she went on with her preparations, she became very anxious and worried about many things because her mind and heart were so preoccupied by all kinds of things so that she could hardly breathe. She also needed a lot of helping hands to make the dinner invitation successful. But her sister who was supposed to help her wasn’t even in the kitchen. Where was she? What was she doing?

Look at verse 39. While Martha was busy with dinner preparations in the kitchen, Mary was in the living room, sitting at Jesus’ feet and listening to Jesus’ words. As she listened to Jesus’ words, she nodded her head, sipping tea. Martha thought, “How selfish she is!” Mary should be aware that her sister Martha needed her help badly. But she seemed to be completely ignoring her busy sister Martha by sitting at the Lord’s feet, listening to what he said. How did she end up sitting at Jesus’ feet? Normally, in Jesus’ time, Jewish rabbis didn’t permit women to do this. Perhaps, when Jesus arrived at her house, she brought water to wash his feet, according to the custom of the time. Then as Jesus started teaching his disciples, she was captivated by his words. By the words of Jesus, her soul was enriched, her faith was strengthened and edified and her spirit grew strong. No doubt, Jesus talked about his upcoming suffering and death on the cross for the forgiveness of sins, which his disciples didn’t like to hear about. But Mary was different. She paid attention to his words and began to see the mystery of the kingdom of God. In fact, she was the only one who really paid attention to what Jesus had to say. The disciples didn’t want to hear some of Jesus’ teaching. Martha was too busy to listen to him.

Look at verse 40. “Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made.” We could imagine that she was getting upset about the fact that she was left to do all the work by herself. Virtually everyone in the room could hear the deep sigh of Martha and the clanging of the pots and dishes as she was getting angrier by the moment. When nobody seemed to care, she said to herself “Enough is enough” and came to Jesus and complained to him, saying, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!” Perhaps, she even cried, saying “I want to listen to your words too. But I can’t because you guys left me to do all this.” If any of you were in Martha’s shoes, how would have you reacted? She not only rebuked her sister but the Lord Jesus, demanding him to change his attitude of tolerating her sister’s wrongdoing. What a mess she made! Her idea to prepare an elaborate dinner for Jesus was an excellent one. Her sense of responsibility and hardworking spirit was admirable. But after inviting Jesus into her home, she neglected him as she prepared the meal that Jesus didn’t necessarily need. And now she was so worried and upset that she threw a temper-tantrum and ruined the joyous atmosphere of the dinner. Although her anger and temper-tantrum were understandable, they were not excusable.

How did Jesus respond to her anger? Read verses 41 and 42. “‘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.’” Although Jesus did not respond to her anger with anger, he gently helped Martha see that it was she who was in the wrong, not Mary. What was her problem?

One of her problems is that she didn’t know that she had a problem. Martha accused both Mary and Jesus of doing wrong against her, thinking that her dinner preparation was the most important part of the evening. When she didn’t get enough help, she began to accuse others and even Jesus based on what she was doing. She blamed everyone for her being overwhelmed. She saw herself as being completely innocent. She was blind in her own zeal to serve. How often we become like Martha! Of course her dinner preparation was important. If both Martha and Mary were at the feet of Jesus, who would have prepared the meal for the guests? Martha was not wrong to want to serve the dinner, but her attitude in serving was wrong. She was serving but she did not have a serving attitude. She was doing the right thing with a wrong attitude. So someone may have commented, “Martha works hard like the devil.”

In fact, her problem was that she was so disturbed and worried about so many things that she lost her thankful and joyful heart. Instead of serving Jesus, she ended up disturbing Jesus and annoying everyone at the dinner table. So what’s the point of doing so many things? Jesus came to her house to spend time with Martha, Mary and Lazarus, but she was too busy to be with him. In fact, she completely ignored Jesus’ presence. Martha’s real problem was not that she had too much work to do, but that she allowed her work to distract her and pull herself apart. Jesus reminded Martha that he was not impressed by her many works and that only one thing is needed to please him, and that one thing is listening to him. Jesus said that Mary chose one thing that was necessary and even better. And her choice pleased Jesus much. Jesus complemented Mary for the choice she had made and informed Martha that it was her that was in the wrong, not Mary. Mary should not be blamed for her choice.

Today’s event is recorded only in Luke’s Gospel. What is the Lord trying to tell us? He is telling us that the essence of discipleship is not our service but listening and learning from Jesus. Some people say, “I am too busy to study the word of God. I have too many things to do. So when I have time and have less problems to deal with, I will surely study the Bible.” But that never happens because our problems are endless as long as we live in this troubled world. It often occurs that even if we begin to work for the Lord with the right motive, we can easily get off track, like Martha, being carried away by too much work. Often our work for the ministry becomes our master.

But our ministry should not be our master. Jesus should be our master, as he was for Mary. There was one Christian lady who was very gifted and hardworking, like Martha. She was highly motivated to serve the ministry. Everyone was amazed at her effective working skills whenever we prepared for conferences or other things. She used to rebuke others for their ineffectiveness and inactivity. However, I used to enjoy working with her because she was such an effective worker. But after 20 years of her intensive service in the ministry she suddenly became depressed. She was no longer thankful for the Lord. She became bitter and angry about many things. In fact, she got so spiritually burnt out so that she had no desire to serve the Lord any longer. She now needs to be spiritually rehabilitated. It may require a long period of time. This kind of thing happens to hardworking Christian workers, missionaries and even to successful pastors. Serving the Lord is important and good. But abiding in Jesus and his words is more important and better.

Scripture has much to say about the priority of listening to God’s words in the life of Christians and in the life of the ministry. We learn the importance of listening through the parable of the soil in Luke 8:1-15. Jesus said, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” (8:8) He also said 8:18, “Therefore consider carefully how you listen. Whoever has will be given more; whoever does not have, even what he thinks he has will be taken from him.” On the Mount of Transfiguration, Jesus’ top three disciples heard the voice of from him, which says, “This my Son, whom I have chosen; listen to him.” Paul also encouraged Christians in the Colossian Church by saying, “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.” (Colossians 3:16-17a)

Serving the Lord is important and good, but abiding in him and his words is even better and more important. How can we say that being in the word of Jesus is more important and better than serving the ministry? It’s because abiding in Christ through his word provides us with motivation, wisdom and strength to serve him. Jesus said in John 15:5, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If a man remains in me and I in him, he will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” He also said in John 15:8, “If you remain in me and my words remain in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be given you. This is to my Father’s glory, that you bear much fruit, showing yourselves to be my disciples.” Just as a branch cannot produce fruit by any other means than by abiding in the vine, so we cannot produce fruit apart from abiding in Christ through his word.

There are basically three types of people who follow Jesus and serve the Lord; 1) complacent people, 2) compulsive people and 3) committed people. The complacent people are not motivated and their loyalty is divided. They want to be blessed by God for their indulgence, not for service. The compulsive people are those who have to serve and do something for the Lord no matter what. They may be highly but wrongly motivated, whether it be because of guilt, fear or one’s need for approval, or by their need for achievement, power and people’s praise. They are mostly result oriented, not God or people oriented. The committed are those who love the Lord, and whose love and joy motivates them to serve faithfully, like Mary. Our gifts and preferences are different. Some people prefer to work in the kitchen and some prefer to sit at Jesus’ feet. That’s fine. What Jesus is concerned is not about the things we do but about our attitude in doing them.

We see that the event in today’s passage is not about the role of women, but about discipleship – the essence of discipleship. Mary’s sitting at Jesus’ feet portrays a person willing to learn from him while Martha’s busyness pictures someone serving him. Disciples need to do both – listening and serving. In other words, discipleship is a balanced combination of two things – listening and serving. Mary shows the importance of listening to Jesus’ words. It’s a great temptation for most of us to serve the ministry at the expense of listening or being fed spiritually by Jesus, but to follow Jesus means to be committed to his words. Our service should not be a source of burden. We all need to come to Jesus’ feet, in humble adoration, and pay attention to his words. Let us all be more Mary and less Martha.