Only one thing necessary

Life is filled with a multitude of encounters along the journey. They will comprise from the magnificent to the uneventful. Most of us typically remember the magnificent because of the moment. However, the uneventful encounters are more of the uninteresting and unexciting that doesn’t move us to recall the experience. We plod along the path before us hoping the magnificent will occur but knowing the uneventful will meet us daily.

The following scripture tells the story of the encounter Mary and Martha had with Jesus. This brief passage describes two different responses of an encounter neither of the women would probably forget.

Now as they were traveling along, He entered a village; and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home. She had a sister called Mary, who was 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 serving 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 NASB

On the surface this story is pretty straightforward. Martha invites Jesus into her home. Having Jesus in her home was pretty magnificent! She began preparing her home to welcome him, probably even preparing a meal. Martha seems to be irritated she’s doing all the work while Mary sits at the feet of Jesus listening to His word. She steps away from the magnificence of Jesus to the uneventful Mary just sitting around doing nothing.

Mary, however, had also encountered the magnificence of Jesus, but with a totally different response. She has been enraptured by His word, daring to glean as much as possible by sitting before Him. She was hearing and seeing the magnificent! She didn’t want to be bothered with the mundane.

Now let’s take a deeper look. Jesus walked into their lives at the same time, yet both women responded differently. Martha responded with wanting to serve Jesus; Mary responded with wanting to learn from Jesus. He did not admonish Martha for her service but that it appeared to be more important than actually being with him.

Herein lies the truth of this passage: only one thing is necessary, a relationship with Jesus. As Jesus stated, “It shall not be taken away.” Service will eventually follow after meeting Jesus. And there is nothing so magnificent as to having a relationship with the Lord of Eternity, the Prince of Peace, Jesus the Messiah!

I pray that if you don’t know Jesus, invite Him into your life. Repent from your sins and turn to the magnificent new life Jesus has prepared for you. Begin a journey that will last for eternity.