Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.” And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her.” (Luke 10:38-42 NKJV)
The focus of this passage is not that people should be unconcerned with household chores, but that the proper attitude toward Jesus is to listen to Him and to obey His words. A sharp contrast was portrayed between the two sisters. Mary sat and listened to Jesus, while Martha prepared for a meal. The phrase only “one thing is needed” (Luke 10:42) refers to listening to Jesus’ words, which Mary had chosen to do. The same theme is seen in Luke 8:1-21.
Mary and Martha were sisters to Lazarus. They lived in the town of Bethany. Jesus came to visit. Martha was preparing the meal for their guests. Martha was just like us. Friends visit, and we want everything to be just right. However, Mary sat at Jesus’ feet and listened to Him, and on another occasion, she had also washed Jesus’ feet with oil and dried them with her hair (John 11:1-2). In the Luke 10 account, Martha complained to the Lord that Mary was not helping her. Jesus replied that Martha was busy with much serving. Mary had made a better choice—serving the Lord.
John 11:1-12:12 provides additional information about Mary, Martha and Lazarus. Lazarus, the brother of Mary and Martha, died. As noted already, they lived in Bethany. Mary and Martha sent for Jesus to come because Lazarus was sick. Jesus told the disciples that they needed to go to Bethany. They did not want Jesus to go because the Jews wanted to kill Jesus. However, two days later, Jesus told His apostles that through the death of Lazarus they would believe.
Martha went out to meet Christ and told Jesus that if He had come earlier, Lazarus would not have died. She said Lazarus had been dead four days and that “he stinketh” (John 11:29 KJV; “stench” NKJV). Then, Martha departed to get Mary. Martha and Mary—in great distress— returned to Jesus. Our Lord cried because of the sadness of his friends, not because of the death of Lazarus.
Going to the grave, Jesus told Martha that her brother would rise again. She thought it was at the final resurrection about which Jesus was talking. However, Jesus raised Lazarus from the dead at that time.
Martha seems to get a bad name because she was preparing physical food for the Lord instead of letting Jesus feed her spiritual food. We do the same thing. If company is coming, we scurry around trying to get the house cleaned, dishes washed, floors swept, furniture dusted and cooking done.
We, too, should be studying God’s Word more and getting our spiritual food. We seem to overlook the fact that Martha went to the grave first and then ran to get Mary and bring her to the tomb. We ladies all have some of Martha and Mary in us. Let us remember to keep our priorities straight.
