One Thing Is Needful

Jesus reminds us that before we can serve Him, we must first sit at His feet and receive His grace, because our identity is not something we accomplish but something we receive from Him.

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One Thing Is Needful

Good Morning. Imagine for a moment that Jesus Himself, not a speaker about Jesus, but the actual Jesus, was coming to your house. How would you get ready? Well, you would clean. You would cook. You would double-check every room and make sure that everything was just right. That’s exactly where we find Martha this morning.

Jesus has come to her home, and Martha is doing what any gracious host would do, serving Him. She’s preparing a meal, taking care of the needs of over a dozen guests, making sure every detail is taken care of.

It’s important for us to realize right at the start --- Martha is not the villain of our story. She isn’t doing something bad. Hospitality and Service were Martha’s God given gifts, gifts so apparent to everyone that Jesus keeps returning to her home numerous times throughout the Gospels.

So, what’s the problem? The problem isn’t that Martha is serving. The problem is that in the middle of serving Jesus, Martha has stopped paying attention to Jesus. There are plenty of good things in this world that can distract us from the best thing. That’s what this lesson is about.

And while Martha is busy in the kitchen, her sister Mary is sitting at Jesus’ feet, just listening. Eventually Martha reaches her breaking point. She storms into the room and says,

Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her to help me!

Notice what’s really happening. Martha isn’t just frustrated with Mary.

She’s frustrated with Jesus. She’s become so focused on her agenda for how best to serve God that she starts telling God how He ought to run things. Martha is working tirelessly for Jesus, but in her busyness, she’s forgotten who Jesus is. And while this is certainly a “pastor’s trap,” you can walk through it with me, and maybe, hopefully, there’s some real fruit in here for everyone.

But this idea of working so hard you forget who you are working for is why the story is deeper than a simple lesson like, “Martha was too busy, and Mary was more spiritual.” Jesus isn’t telling Martha “serving is unimportant.” He’s teaching her what is most important.

It’s encouraging, of course, how gently Jesus responds. He doesn’t humiliate her. He gently says her name twice: Martha, Martha...

That’s the voice of affection. He’s redirecting her, not rejecting her.

Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.

One thing. And what has Mary chosen? She has chosen to receive from God his blessing and wisdom. Martha is trying to give something to Jesus.

Mary is willing to receive something from Jesus.

We are very comfortable with Martha’s idea. It’s the instinct we see in religion again and again: trying to do enough to please God, earn His favor, or somehow make ourselves worthy. But Christianity doesn’t begin with what we do for God. It begins with receiving what God has done for us. That’s grace.

Our Collect of the day, which we prayed together, says that God declares His ALMIGHTY power chiefly in showing mercy.

We tend to think Almighty Power as beyond grand or impressive strength. But God demonstrates His power through mercy, in humility, by giving us what we could never earn, and forgiving what we could never undo.

Sometimes sitting still and receiving and just listening to God, His Word, His Work on our behalf, is much harder than giving him a laundry list of needs, or trying to do things we hope he appreciates. When we work, we feel useful. We can measure our accomplishments. The Apostle Paul understood this deeply. In 1 Corinthians 15, after talking about the Gospel he had received while meeting Jesus on the road to try to kill Christians, Paul says:

By the grace of God, I am what I am.

Paul had plenty he could have pointed to. He had worked hard, planting churches across modern day Turkey and Greece. But when Paul explains what ultimately accounts for his life, he doesn’t say “hard work.” He says,

By the grace of God, I am what I am.

Before Martha could truly serve Jesus, she needed to sit with Jesus. Before any of us can do anything for God, we must remember God has already done everything for us. We cannot give Him anything He has not first given to us.

There’s another subtle danger in Martha’s story. Martha wasn’t just focused on her work, she’s watching, analyzing, what Mary is doing. And the more she watches Mary, the more resentful she becomes.

This can happen in the Church very easily. We start measuring other’s service. We notice who volunteers, and who doesn’t. Who goes to church activities. Who only comes on Sundays.

Before long, we’re no longer looking at Jesus. We’re looking at one another.

Jesus gently reminds Martha:

“You are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary.” 

It is very easy to get so caught up in doing good things, that we neglect the best things. Don’t become so busy doing things, even good things for God, for your church or family, that you forget to spend time with Jesus.

Martha’s gift was real and welcomed by God. But good things began to crowd out Jesus himself.

Mary has chosen the good portion. Not because Martha’s work was useless, but because the Christian life never begins with our performance. It begins sitting at Jesus feet and receiving what only He can give: mercy, grace, and the promise that what He gives us cannot be taken away.

There is one thing that is necessary. And it is the one thing that Jesus is offering us this morning: Himself.