by Coye Bouyer
PLYMOUTH, MI – ‘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 10:40-42).
What is the one thing you need? What is that one thing that feels necessary in your life? What is it that keeps you going from one day to the next, possibly from one minute to the next because it is what seems to give your life meaning?
In the passage above Martha is so busy with her preparations that the Bible calls them distractions. Wait a minute, she is preparing a meal for Jesus and their guests. Surely, if Jesus and His disciples were to show up to your house or mine, after traveling (v. 38) and doing ministry all day you and I would also assume that they might be tired and probably pretty hungry.
Yet, the Bible seems to be alluding to that idea that it was these exact feelings, and Martha’s preparations in her meal that were distracting her. Not only is she distracted, but we find that she is bothered and worried.
Bothered by the fact that Mary has failed to assist her in the preparations of the food. Mary is present, and instead of helping out in the kitchen (where Martha was at) she was in the family room sitting with the men and Jesus.
There are a couple of problems with this. First, culturally speaking when men were talking or being taught women were usually not present. Second, it was the women and servants who prepared meals for the household, and so it would have been expected for Mary and Martha to be in the kitchen.
Thus, Martha’s request to Jesus would have made much sense in the cultural times of Jesus’ day. But Jesus informs Martha that in all her preparation she has been distracted from the one thing that was necessary. But how is she distracted?
Jesus’ words inform us of this point when He highlights her worry and being bothered. Jesus says Martha is worried, and worry is not something that Jesus followers are to hold onto. For Martha’s worry is a waste of her time as she is probably attempting to prepare what she thinks is the perfect meal for Jesus.
Next, Jesus says that Martha is bothered, meaning she is so focused on what Mary is not doing, she has become frustrated. For in some sense, Martha believes that what she is doing is so important, that Mary should also be doing it with her. Mary seems fine with what Mary is doing, so why is Martha not fine with what Mary is doing?
Because in this moment Martha has made her work in the kitchen more important than Mary’s sitting at Jesus’ feet. Whenever we make our desires bigger than someone else’s desire or our thing more important than their thing we will usually find ourselves frustrated by the lack of attention on our thing. While Mary is relaxing listening to Jesus, Martha is feeling overwhelmed by the work she wanted to do.
Finally, Jesus informs Martha that Mary is doing the necessary thing by simply sitting at His feet. But why is this the necessary thing? It is necessary because in this moment the only thing Mary needs is the only thing Martha needs, it’s the only thing we all need; to sit in the presence of Jesus.
Are you discouraged today, tired of your job, worried about the children or even your own health? What is it you really need? Well regardless of what we may think we need, Jesus reminds us that in this moment, and every moment, He is all we need. In fact, it is stories like this that reminds us that Jesus is and always will be what is necessary in this life. Therefore, whenever given an opportunity to sit with Him or be busy for Him, sitting with Him is more necessary than the work we do for Him. Today, stop letting life, its worries, its task and its concerns distract you from sitting at the feet of Jesus.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Coye L. Bouyer is the founding pastor of Kingdom Life Church in Lansing, MI where he has served since March of 2010. Pastor Bouyer recently stepped into the Diversity Ambassador role for the BSCM and firmly believes that he was not only called to Preach the Gospel as part of the process of reconciliation of man to God, but also using any platform as a bridge of reconciliation of man to man, and even more so amongst the brethren. Pastor Bouyer and his lovely wife Keturah (Gen. 25:1) have been married four over 20 years and have four children; Sierra, Seth, Cayla and Coye II.