The One Thing Needful Text: Luke 10:38-42
Introduction: The Tyranny of the Urgent
We live in an age of frantic, sanctified busyness. The modern evangelical church often measures its spiritual health by the fullness of its calendar. We have programs for everything, committees for every program, and a pervasive, low-grade anxiety that if we stop moving, the whole enterprise will grind to a halt. We are a generation of Marthas, convinced that the success of the kingdom depends on the quality of our preparations and the sweat of our brow. We are distracted by much serving, and our service, if we are honest, often makes us irritable, resentful, and demanding.
We have confused activity for devotion. We have mistaken the clatter of the kitchen for the quiet of the upper room. And in our rush to serve Jesus, we have often neglected to listen to Him. We want to do great things for God, but we have forgotten that the greatest thing we can do for God is to first receive from Him. All our doing must flow from a place of being, being with Him. Otherwise, our service becomes a noisy gong, a clanging cymbal, a potluck dinner served with a side of simmering resentment.
This little domestic scene in Bethany is not a quaint story about two sisters with different personalities. It is not a lesson in time management or a call for introverts to be valued alongside extroverts. It is a foundational lesson on the nature of true discipleship. It confronts our prideful self-sufficiency and our anxious attempts to justify ourselves by our works. It forces us to ask the most basic question: what is the one thing necessary? What is the good part? What is the very heart of what it means to follow Christ? The answer is not what our frenetic, task-oriented culture would have us believe.
Jesus is not condemning service. He is not condemning hospitality. He is the greatest servant of all, who came not to be served but to serve. What He is condemning is distracted, anxious, self-justifying service that has forgotten its source. He is showing us that before we can ever work for Him, we must first sit with Him. Before we can offer Him anything, we must receive everything from Him.
The Text
Now as they were traveling along, He entered a village; and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home. And she had a sister called Mary, who was also seated at the Lord’s feet, listening to His word. But Martha was distracted with all her preparations; and she came up to Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the preparations alone? Then tell her to help me.” But the Lord answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things, but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.”
(Luke 10:38-42 LSB)
A Welcoming Home (v. 38-39)
We begin with the setting, a scene of hospitality that quickly reveals two different postures of the heart.
"Now as they were traveling along, He entered a village; and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home. And she had a sister called Mary, who was also seated at the Lord’s feet, listening to His word." (Luke 10:38-39)
Martha is the one who opens her home. She is proactive, she is hospitable, and she is in charge. This is a commendable thing. She is practicing what the Scriptures command, showing hospitality to strangers, and in this case, to the Lord of glory Himself. We should not begin by vilifying Martha. Her desire to serve Jesus is a good desire. The problem is not with the what, but with the how and the why that will soon be revealed.
While Martha is managing the logistics of hospitality, her sister Mary takes up a very different position. She is "seated at the Lord's feet, listening to His word." This is not the posture of a hostess. In that culture, this was the posture of a disciple. The phrase "at the feet of" was a technical term for being a student of a particular rabbi. Mary is not just taking a break; she is enrolling in the school of Christ. She sees the prophet in her living room, the Word made flesh, and she understands that the most important thing she can do is listen. She recognizes that the feast He offers is far more important than any feast she could prepare for Him.
Mary's posture is one of humble, quiet reception. She is not doing, she is being. She is not speaking, she is listening. She is not serving, she is being served the bread of life. This is the foundational posture of faith. Faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God. Before we can walk in obedience, we must first sit in submission to His Word.
Distracted Service (v. 40)
Verse 40 reveals the spiritual condition that Martha's busyness has produced in her heart.
"But Martha was distracted with all her preparations; and she came up to Him and said, 'Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to do all the preparations alone? Then tell her to help me.'" (Luke 10:40 LSB)
The key word here is "distracted." The Greek word means to be pulled or dragged in different directions. Martha's service, which began with a good impulse, has become a source of anxiety and division in her own soul. Her focus is no longer on her guest, but on her preparations. She is no longer serving Christ, but is enslaved to her to-do list.
And this distraction immediately bears rotten fruit. First, it leads to resentment. She sees Mary's devotion not as a beautiful thing, but as an injustice. "My sister has left me to do all the preparations alone." Her service has become a ledger of grievances. Second, it leads to questioning God's goodness. "Lord, do You not care...?" This is the native language of anxiety. When we are worried and bothered, we are indulging in a form of practical atheism. We are acting as though God is not in control, or that He does not care for us. Martha's worry has led her to impugn the character of Jesus Himself. She is essentially accusing the Lord of being unjust and uncaring.
Finally, her distraction leads to presumption. "Then tell her to help me." Martha is so consumed by her own agenda that she begins to give commands to the Lord. She knows what needs to be done, and she expects Jesus to get with her program. This is what happens when our service is divorced from sitting at His feet. We begin to think that we know better than God. Our prayers become instructions for God rather than petitions to Him. We stop asking what He wants and start telling Him what we need. Martha's kitchen has become her kingdom, and she is its flustered queen.
The Gentle Rebuke (v. 41-42)
Jesus' response is not harsh, but it is a piercing course correction. He addresses the root of the problem, not just the symptoms.
"But the Lord answered and said to her, 'Martha, Martha, you are worried and bothered about so many things, but only one thing is necessary, for Mary has chosen the good part, which shall not be taken away from her.'" (Luke 10:41-42 LSB)
He repeats her name, "Martha, Martha," a sign of gentle, earnest affection, but also of a solemn rebuke. He diagnoses her condition perfectly. She is "worried and bothered about so many things." Her problem is not the service itself, but the spirit in which it is done. She is anxious, troubled, and fragmented by her many tasks.
Then He delivers the central lesson of the entire passage: "but only one thing is necessary." In a world of endless demands, endless preparations, and endless worries, there is only one non-negotiable. There is one central priority from which all other things must flow. And what is that one thing? It is precisely what Mary is doing. It is to sit at the feet of Jesus and hear His Word. This is the "good part."
This "good part" is a portion, an inheritance. Mary has chosen her inheritance, and it is an eternal one. Notice the contrast. Martha's preparations are for a meal that will be consumed and forgotten. Her work is temporary. But Mary has chosen that which "shall not be taken away from her." Hearing and receiving the Word of God has eternal consequences. It is the food that endures to everlasting life. Jesus is telling us that fellowship with Him is primary, and service for Him is secondary. Our relationship with Him is the end; our work for Him is the means. When we get this backward, our work becomes a burden, a source of anxiety, and a platform for self-righteousness.
Choosing the Good Part Today
This story is a perennial diagnostic for the church. It forces us to examine the heart of our own service. Are we Marthas or are we Marys? Or more accurately, when does our inner Martha, with all her anxieties and demands, crowd out our inner Mary?
The temptation is to think that this is a call to abandon our work and our duties for a life of quiet contemplation. That is a foolish caricature. Mary did not stay at Jesus' feet forever. There were dishes to be done later. The point is not about action versus inaction. The point is about priority and source. All true Christian service, all fruitful Christian labor, is born out of a heart that has first sat at the feet of Jesus. It flows from a place of rest, not a place of anxiety. It is empowered by His Word, not by our own frantic energy.
When we choose the good part, as Mary did, it reorders everything else. Our service is no longer a way to earn God's favor, but a joyful response to the favor we have already received by grace. Our work is no longer a source of anxiety, because we know that the results are in His hands, not ours. We can serve with open hands and a peaceful heart, because we are not trying to justify ourselves. We are already justified, declared righteous, because we have listened to His Word and believed it. We are seated with Christ in the heavenly places before we ever stand up to serve Him in the earthly ones.
So, what is the one thing necessary for you today? In the midst of your deadlines, your duties, your preparations, and your worries, have you taken the time to sit at His feet? Have you opened His Word, not as a textbook to be mastered, but as a love letter to be received? Have you quieted your own frantic inner monologue long enough to hear His voice?
Mary chose the good part. This implies that it is a choice we all must make, every single day. The tyranny of the urgent will always be knocking at the door. The clatter of the kitchen will always be trying to drown out the voice of the Master. We must deliberately, consciously, and repeatedly choose to sit at His feet. For that is the one thing necessary. It is the good part. And it is an inheritance that no one, and no amount of worry, can ever take away.