And she had a sister called Mary, who also, having sat down at the feet of Jesus was listening to his word.
Luke moves straight from a parable about a rescued traveller to a quiet house where a woman sits and listens. The verse raises a question. What does a rescued person do next, and why is this the one thing needed?
One writer links the scene back to the traveller left half dead in the story just before it.
The good Samaritan had bound up the wounds of the man he found half dead, pouring in oil and wine. He had set him on his own animal and taken him to an inn. He made all the provision needed for him until he should return. Now Mary's occupation shows us what the diligent service of the saved soul should be in the meantime. Hearing the word of Jesus is indeed the good part which shall not be taken away.
Mary sits rather than stands. One writer weighs that difference against another woman in Luke.
The woman who was a sinner stood at the feet of Jesus, for as yet she was not enjoying forgiveness and peace. Mary, on the other hand, sat. That was a sign that every question about the state of her soul had been settled, so she was at rest. So we take our place at the feet of Jesus first as people who repent, and we stay there as His servants and disciples.
The ESV keeps the reading most editors prefer: "at the Lord's feet." One writer finds two kinds of people in this scene, and weight in that title.
Two kinds of souls are pictured here. Some receive the Lord as Saviour and rest there, whatever service they think best to give. Others, having received Him, press on with purpose of heart to learn His mind and to know Him personally. … Sitting at His feet declared that she had become His disciple. It means even more if we adopt the reading preferred by most, "at the feet of THE LORD." It is a blessed moment for any soul when that point is reached. He is enthroned in the heart as supreme, and His will becomes the only law of our daily lives.
Older translations end the verse with "heard His word." One writer separates that from simply hearing sounds.
There were many who listened to the words of the Lord Jesus who did not hear His word. To hear His word there must be an ear to hear, and only those in whom God had worked had this capacity. Hearing His word is a mark of a true follower of the Lord Jesus. It shows that a person values the divine revelation brought to men in the Person of Jesus. It shows a desire to know its substance, spirit and details.
One writer weighs what Mary could give the Lord against what He could give her.
Mary had discovered that all she could do for the Lord was nothing compared with what He had to give her. To receive His word is the one thing needful, for out of that will flow all service that is acceptable to Him.
Reverse that order and the work starts to weigh. Mary's sister worked without first listening.
She set herself to work without having first been in the company of the Lord, in communion with Him. So the word of the Lord had never taught her the mind of the Lord. As a result she was "distracted with much serving" and "anxious and troubled about many things." She complained about her sister, and even entertained the thought that the Lord was indifferent to her work.
Nothing dramatic happens here. One writer makes that the point.
It was not much to record of this one that she sat at Jesus' feet. Has it any value in our eyes? Yet it was like ointment poured out to the heart of the Beloved One. We may be active in service, and that is right in its place. But there is nothing He values so much as our loving to listen to Him. He is now exalted on the throne of the Majesty on high. How wonderful that He still looks for the chance of speaking to us down here!
Mary appears three times in the Gospels, always in the same place.
We see her first in her sister's home at Bethany. The Lord of life entered that home, and Mary sat at His feet as a learner (Luke 10). Later, when death had entered the home, she is found at His feet as a mourner (John 11). Last of all, a few of His loved ones make a supper for the Lord, who had just displayed His resurrection power and glory. There she is found at His feet as a worshipper.
- Rescued first. The parable carries a wounded traveller to safety. Mary shows what the rescued do until their Rescuer returns.
- Seated, not standing. Sitting marks a soul at rest, with the question of its own state already settled.
- A learner's place. Some receive the Lord and rest there. Mary pressed on to learn His mind, sitting as a pupil at the feet of her Lord.
- Receiving before serving. What He gives outweighs anything we bring. Real service flows out of that. Work begun without it turns into distraction and complaint.
- Kept forever. Learner in Luke 10, mourner in John 11, worshipper at the supper — the same feet, and a portion that will not be taken away.
Now Martha was distracted with much serving, and coming up she said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Speak to her therefore that she may help me.
Martha has opened her home to Jesus. Her sister sits and listens, while the work of hosting Him pulls Martha in every direction. Her words carry a double complaint: against Mary for not helping, and against the Lord for not seeming to mind.
Nothing Martha did was wrong in itself. The trouble was how much she took on, and what it did to her.
It would seem that, in serving, Martha was only doing the duty that rightly belonged to her. Her trouble was in aiming at much serving: she wished to do the thing in very special style, and this "cumbered" or "distracted" her. Her distraction was such that she spoke in a way that cast blame not only on her sister but on the Lord. Mary, she thought, was neglecting her duty, and the Lord was indifferent to her neglect. Martha represents distraction and Mary, communion.
Notice the direction her sentence travels. She starts by doing something for Jesus. She ends by asking Mary to do something for her.
Dear friends, if you are busy about many things, you will not only be busy, but troubled. Martha, we read, was "distracted with much serving". She was not only loaded down, but troubled. It weighed upon her. If you have service that weighs you down, look into it and find out why. … She began by seeking to help the Lord, as it were. In the end she complains that she cannot get help herself. She wants to serve the Lord, but she turns round at last and wants to get Mary to serve her.
Martha does not simply lay the matter before Him. She tells Him what to decide, and what to say to Mary.
Not only was there a large streak of self-importance in Martha, but she felt herself constantly slighted and put out by others. The spirit of self-centredness measures by itself. It cannot appreciate a love that is deeper than its own. … Martha's thoughts circled round herself. Had she been thinking of Jesus, she would not have dictated to Him. Nor would she have complained of Mary. … She does not even leave it to the Lord to direct. Self is always fault-finding as well as self-important. It is as quick to blame others as to claim for itself what is unbecoming. "Tell her then to help me." She forgets that she was only the servant of the Lord.
Martha aims "Do you not care" at Him, not at Mary. Yet His reply carries no sharpness.
Does this not show that a complaining spirit is always against the Lord? Whatever the occasion, the Lord is over all things. By our complaints we always imply that He is not caring for us as He should. The Lord could not accept her reproof. Yet He rebuked her very gently for being full of care and troubled about many things.
Martha asks Mary to take the other end of her load. The same rare word appears once more in the New Testament.
This word, "helps," is of deep and wonderful meaning; it occurs only twice in the New Testament, in Romans 8:26, and in Luke 10:40. The word in the Greek (sunantilambano) means to take one end of a burden, and share it with the one at the opposite end. This is what the blessed Spirit of God does with us. On his path the believer finds many burdens too great to bear alone. He gets discouraged, just as Martha did with her housework.
Martha's order was work first. One writer presses the opposite order as the cure.
Whenever you find anyone serving without sitting at His feet, you may be sure they are Martha-like. If you begin with serving (as many do today), you will never sit at His feet. But if you begin with sitting, you will soon serve well, wisely, and in a way He accepts. The serving quiets the conscience, and the sitting is overlooked and neglected.
This is not the last meal Martha makes for Him. Later she serves Him again, and the strain is gone.
Martha still serves, but she is no longer weighed down by her service. In other days her service had a larger place in her thoughts than Christ; now Christ has a larger place than her service. She is serving to make "Him a supper".
- Right work. Martha's serving was her proper duty; the fault was in "much" — she aimed at special style and it distracted her.
- Wrong weight. Much serving does not only make you busy. It makes you troubled. Look closely at any service that weighs you down.
- Wrong direction. She began by helping the Lord and ended demanding help for herself, telling Him what to say to Mary.
- Wrong target. "Do you not care" blames Christ for not caring. He will not accept the reproof, but He answers her gently.
- Right order. Begin with sitting and you will soon serve well; begin with serving and you will never sit. Martha proves it later, still serving, but now to make Him a supper.
But Jesus answering said to her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful and troubled about many things;
Martha has welcomed Jesus into her home. Now she is the one He has to correct. His words in this verse are not aimed at her work but at what her work was doing to her.
The verse names two things, not one: she is anxious, and she is troubled. One writer presses the second word, and asks what it says about the state of a servant.
"You are anxious," He says to Martha. Friends, if you are busy about many things, you will not only be busy, but troubled. Martha, we read, "was distracted with much serving." She was not only burdened but "troubled." It was very busy service, but it weighed her down. Dear friends, if you have service that weighs you down, look to it — find out why.
The same writer traces where her complaint ended up: "She began by seeking to help the Lord. She ends by complaining that she cannot get help herself."
So what was wrong with getting a meal ready for her guest?
Martha's case was very different, for she was doing what was right. The house was hers and the Lord was her Guest. If she had not busied herself in the service of her house, she would have failed in what was plainly her duty. The trouble was her getting burdened and distracted by "much serving." And what lay at the root of this? Evidently a self-centred spirit. She began to be annoyed with her sister Mary, because Mary did not join in this excess of preparation. Instead she sat at the feet of Jesus, captivated by His word... His answer was most clearly a word of rebuke because of self-centredness.
That self-centredness shows in how she spoke to Him. She did not ask; she instructed.
Martha had a strong streak of self-importance. She also felt constantly slighted and put out by others. The spirit of egoism measures by itself, and cannot appreciate a love which is deeper than its own... Had she been thinking of Jesus, she would not have dictated to Him any more than have complained of Mary... She forgets that she was but the servant of the Lord. Who was she to wish to control Him?
Before He says a word about Mary, He speaks to Martha about her own state.
Jesus, however, answers with the dignity that was proper to Him, and the love that always sees true to its mark... He loved them both, indeed... He deals first of all with herself. She ought not to have been thus anxious and careworn. Martha did not know what Paul knew so well: "One thing I do" (Phil. 3:13). There was never a man with such varied occupations as the apostle... What carried him through all his unmatched toil and suffering, undistracted and happy? The reason was that one person, the only worthy Object, filled and governed his heart.
Her interference, not her cooking, drew out the rebuke.
Her service had its place and its value. Her Lord knew well how to value it. But, blessed be His name, He will not allow anyone to interfere with another. Each had her own place, her own line of things... If Martha had gone quietly on with her work, with Christ as her object in all she did, she would not have met a rebuff.
The cure is not to do less. It is to have a different centre.
In this world many troublesome things are bound to confront us. The real trouble is not those things. It lies in the inward disposition that lets them trouble us. We get anxious and troubled about many things because we are so self-centred. What is the desirable thing? To be Christ-centred. If Christ is the great Object before our hearts, the many things become simplified and lose their power to worry.
And the "one thing" itself is not a task at all.
That good part is prizing Christ and His Word, not thinking what Mary could do for the Lord, but what the Lord could do for Mary. To receive all for her soul from the Lord, instead of receiving Him into her house, was before Mary's soul. This was the one thing needful — it was Christ Himself.
- Symptom — The word is not only "busy" but "troubled": service that weighs you down is service to examine, not to admire.
- Cause — Self at the centre. It shows less in the work than in the irritation with others and in telling the Lord what to do.
- Correction — He answers Martha about Martha before He answers her about Mary. And He speaks with love, not coldness.
- Cure — Not fewer duties, but a different centre. When Christ is the object, the many things lose their power to worry.
- Content — The one thing needful is a Person, not a task: receiving from Him rather than only doing for Him.
but there is need of one, and Mary has chosen the good part, the which shall not be taken from her.
Martha is cooking for Jesus, and the work has become a burden she resents carrying alone. His answer cuts life down to one necessity, and says that what Mary gained that afternoon can never be taken from her.
The "one thing" is hearing Christ's word. Nothing else lasts, and nothing else can stand in for it:
He wanted His words to enter and to have power in the heart. The only thing that endures forever is "the word of the Lord." The wisdom of this world is against it, and so is human reasoning. But it is the only thing worth waiting on diligently... To hear Jesus is the "one thing" needful. No attention, even to Himself in the flesh, though it came from one who loved Him and whom He loved, could replace this.
The verse is often quoted as though Jesus ranked two good options and Mary took the higher one. The wording will not carry that:
Mary realised that He had much more to give her by His word than she could give Him by her service. So she chose the good part and sat at His feet. It does not say "the better part," as it is so often misquoted. There is no comparison here. It is simply "the good portion, which will not be taken away from her." By hearing His word we come to know Himself, and that closeness with Him and His mind will last for eternity.
Martha was busy for Jesus. The problem was what her service had pushed aside:
There can be so much apparent zeal, activity and earnestness that does not spring from the heart's appreciation of Christ at all! This was what was lacking in Martha... All service has its value in His eyes according to how far the heart is engaged with Himself as its first object. Now "Martha was distracted with much serving." She was putting her service in the place of Jesus. He loves her too well to agree to her heart being taken up like that. He wanted her to enjoy Himself.
Mary is not idle in this scene. She is taking in. The two sisters differ in which way the traffic runs:
We must be receivers before we can give, and Mary was a receiver. Martha was a giver, and the Lord Jesus was her guest, but Mary was the Saviour's guest. Sadly, we are often content with taking in only a few drops. No wonder we can only give out a few drops. If rivers are to flow out from us, we must receive rivers. Where the Lord is, there is always plenty of provision — His presence always gives plenty.
Martha's dinner would be gone and forgotten by morning. What Mary took in was of a different order, and it followed her into the next day:
What she received that day was eternal in character, and so it could not be taken away from her. In her present frame of mind, Martha's household cares would start all over again when the sun rose the next day. But Mary would wake with heaven in her soul, because Christ filled her heart. His presence and the enjoyment of His love would light her whole future path. She would meet her daily responsibilities all the better, and more according to God.
The promise does not rest on how strongly we feel it at any given moment:
We may not always enjoy or value the good part as we ought to, but it shall not be taken away from us. God says it, and that is enough for faith.
One writer translates the Lord's words literally, and hears in them a comment on Martha's menu:
"Martha, Martha, you are careful and troubled about many: but few are needful, or one." That is the literal translation of what the Lord said. Our translators added "things" to make good English. But the Lord probably meant "many dishes" or "many courses," when "few dishes," or even one dish, was all that was needed — perhaps only a plate of porridge.
- One thing. The one necessity is hearing Christ's word. Nothing else can take its place.
- One posture. Mary's place at His feet is the receiving position; rivers only flow out of those who have taken rivers in.
- One warning. Service is good. But it can take the place Christ should hold, and then it distracts and weighs the heart down.
- One correction. He does not call Mary's choice "better" than Martha's, but "good." The service He values flows out of that hearing.
- One keeping. The many things get eaten, spent and forgotten. This portion is eternal, so it stands even when our enjoyment of it dips.