Luke 10:41,42 It’s the Main Course
“The Master said, ‘Martha, dear Martha, you’re fussing far too much and getting yourself worked up over nothing. One thing only is essential, and Mary has chosen it—it’s the main course, and it won’t be taken from her’” (MSG).
As Jesus and His disciples were travelling, they stopped at Martha’s house. After they had been greeted, Martha went into the kitchen and began preparing a meal for them while her sister, Mary, sat at Jesus’ feet and listened to Him teach of the Kingdom of God. After a while Martha got frustrated and asked Jesus to tell her sister to help her. Jesus did not tell Mary to help Martha. In fact, He chastised Martha for spending so much time making preparation instead of listening to His teaching. He said that Mary had chosen the most important thing, and it “won’t be taken from her.”
But Martha was doing what was expected of a hostess, she was making sure that they were comfortable and had a good meal to eat. She doubtless was making many foods for them to eat. But in Jesus’ words, He was presenting the “main course.”
Jesus had been about His Father’s business at least as early as age twelve when He was found in the temple talking with the leaders of the temple. I would love to have heard that conversation. I’ve wondered how many of those leaders thought back to that day twenty-one years later when they called for His crucifixion. Jesus did not participate in idle small talk—He was about His Father’s business—spreading the Good News of God’s love and the need for repentance. They didn’t understand it at the time, but Jesus was also announcing the end of The Law and the beginning of Grace. Forgiveness was no longer given annually with the sacrifice of animals. Jesus was to become the Final and Perfect Sacrifice given once for all sins.
This is the message that Martha was missing as she prepared a good meal. How often do we tend to acts of “busyness” rather than focusing on the Word of the Lord? Do we really pay attention in church, during both worship and the Word? Do we focus while we are reading the Bible? Are our prayers mumbled in often repeated phrases rather than focusing on having a heart-to-heart conversation with our God? There are times to turn our total focus on what Jesus called the “essential” thing. Lord, help me to recognize those times and nudge me to help me concentrate.