Choosing the Good Part

Martha didn’t stop serving, she learned to listen. Discover how her growth challenges our assumptions about busyness, devotion, and what it truly means to choose “the good part.”

By MARITTA TERRELL

Read Time: 7 minutes

Many have worded it, “Having a Mary heart in a Martha World.” Why does this saying that is not in the Bible make us feel so uncomfortable? Is it because it’s such a high standard we think we can’t attain it? Or can we? The thought comes from the passage in Luke 10:38-42.¹

Now as they were traveling along, He entered a village; and a woman named Martha welcomed Him into her home. She had a sister called Mary, who was seated at the Lord’s feet, listening to His word. 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.”

“One thing is necessary”—doing what Mary did, sitting at Jesus’ feet and listening. It seems such a black mark against Martha, telling her she wasn’t doing the “one thing necessary”—listening to Jesus while she could. The Martha in me feels for the Martha of Luke 10. Mary had been helping (“my sister has left me”) but determinedly sat at Jesus’ feet, listening. When do we have time for stopping the daily tasks and listening? It’s hard when and if you are working full-time, have a home and a husband and children to care for, and participate in ecclesial activities! And we are supposed to serve, right? Joshua 22:5 and Colossians 3:17, 23 all teach that we are to serve God with all we have! And energetically (Romans 12:11)!

I am like Martha in many ways. One time, I was cleaning the house before company came over. My daughter Kimberly was a young teen, and I was just a bit “woe is me!” and “no one is helping me clean” (but they were!). I was actually in tears at one point when Kimberly came around the corner and saw the tears. She gave me a big hug, found out why I was crying and said, “But that’s not why people are coming, they are coming over to visit with us, not the house!” She was absolutely right. So over the years, I’ve worked hard (change is hard!) to see and take opportunities to slow down, stop and listen.

Here in Luke 10, however, Jesus is very concerned about Martha’s attitude to her serving—she was “distracted” (NASB). In the King James Bible, it says “cumbered.” The word means to be dragged down in all different directions. And in verse 41, he calls her “anxious” (ESV) or “troubled” (KJV). This means to “make trouble for self by disturbing anxious thinking.” He was not rebuking her for her service. Jesus was content to let her serve until she judged another person’s service. Her self-pity and self-importance brought about the Lord’s rebuke.

I think we all get dragged down at times and overwhelmed with all the things we “have” to get done to go through the day. Jesus is telling Martha to slow down, calm down, and stop once in a while; he loves her so much he is rebuking her in the presence of his disciples and her sister! He’s giving her an opportunity to have a makeover.

There are opportunities to stop and listen. How? (more on that in part 2!) So, do we leave Mary and Martha here? What happened to the two of them? Is Martha stuck in this “distracted” mode? There are a lot of “buts” in this little story in Luke; the story changes directions frequently. So let us find out what happens to Martha and her heart, and even Mary’s heart as well.

The next time we hear about Martha is in John 11. This is the story of Lazarus’s sickness, death, and the mourning of Mary, Martha, many friends, and Jesus. And then Lazarus being raised from the dead. Here, suddenly, there seems to be a change in Martha as we read in John 11:21-27:

Martha then said to Jesus, “Lord, if You had been here, my brother would not have died. Even now I know that whatever You ask of God, God will give You.”

Jesus said to her, “Your brother will rise again.”

Martha said to Him, “I know that he will rise again in the resurrection on the last day.”

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life; he who believes in Me will live even if he dies, and everyone who lives and believes in me will never die. Do you believe this?”

She said to Him, “Yes, Lord; I have believed that you are the Christ, the Son of God, even he who comes into the world.”

What an incredible statement to make! The only other statement like that in the gospels is Peter’s statement (Luke 9:20) and that of the woman of Samaria (John 4:29). How did she know that Jesus was the promised Messiah and the Son of God? And the promised prophet whom God would “raise up” (Deuteronomy 18:18)? The only way is to have been listening to Jesus—a lot, thinking about things he said, and figuring how it all ties in with the promises she grew up with.

Martha doesn’t want to draw attention to herself; she leaves the house to meet Jesus away from others. Her faith is strong, depending totally on Jesus. She obeys Jesus by having the stone rolled away, even though it goes against her practical nature! She listens to Jesus, and responds in a way that shows she had to have been listening in the time between Luke 10 and John 11, to state with absolute faith and trust that Jesus is the promised Messiah, the Son of God, the one who comes into the world (John 6:14).

And then she thinks of others—specifically her sister, and calls for her privately, caring for Mary’s heart. In this chapter, Martha is not running around with too many things on her mind; no, she is calm and composed, focusing on Jesus being there, and wanting to be with him immediately.

Martha is willing to accept that Lazarus will not be raised until the last day, but she knows it will happen. In order to know that she had to have been listening to Jesus quite a bit. Martha’s statement about Jesus being the resurrection and the life is an incredible confession that shows her awesome faith. She grew a “one thing is necessary” heart.

A “one thing is necessary” heart is not a personality type; it is an attitude which we can choose to have! It’s not about being an extrovert or introvert, or an active versus a meditative person. No, a “one thing is necessary” heart is about our attitude toward what God wants to do in our lives and the willingness of our heart and mind to let Him make those changes.

The lesson is that we can trust God that the mundane chores and things needing to be done will fall into place if we put God first.

The last time we see Martha is in John 12. Again, here we see she does not want to draw attention to herself—she quietly continues to serve during this feast, and quite happy to have her brother sit there at the table, listening to Jesus. And then Mary shows up, not coming to help serve but to use something very expensive to show her love for Jesus. “Mary then took a pound of very costly perfume of pure nard, and anointed the feet of Jesus and wiped His feet with her hair; and the house was filled with the fragrance of the perfume.” (John 12:3).

Does Martha have a “hissy-fit” about that? No, she does not interrupt or stop Mary by word or action, but lets Mary serve as she needs to. She thinks of others, her sister, Jesus and the service of love Mary is giving for all of them.

Why? How? This is because both Mary and Martha had been listening to Jesus. It seems Mary understood that Jesus was going to die for them, as a sacrifice, as Jesus declares publicly, “She has done this for my burial.” Was this why Mary and Martha were not at the tomb on resurrection morning with the other women, to finalize the burying of the body of Jesus?

I think it is because the two of them had sat and really listened to Jesus, and they knew he was going to live again (Matthew 16:21; 17:22-23)!

So we now see that Martha did grow, very strong in faith and understanding of Jesus’s teachings. Did she stop serving and being herself? No! Martha’s serving provided Mary a caring environment so Mary could focus on what else Jesus needed. That’s what Martha learned: thinking of others, noting details, listening, and being willing to serve. Now, when you think of Martha, think of an incredible woman of faith. Jesus might have reproved her once, but he did it because he loved her. He made her so uncomfortable that she wanted to change. And she did!

Why? This was because she had rolled the stone out of her own heart and had chosen to sit at Jesus’s feet. She had chosen the “one thing is necessary” good part. May we all do the same (so, part 2 will be more practical “how tos” on finding/making time to listen)!

A poem to summarize all this was done by my sister, Inga von Gadenstedt (Grand River, Ontario), called, “Stop and Sit”:

We often let the cares of life
The work, the stress fill our minds.
Though our hearts may be right
For prayer and study, it seems “no time.”
We are so filled up doing this and that:
We forget to stop and listen—as Mary sat.

We will be doing the Martha work:
The caring for others, just being kind,
That of the necessary we lose sight:
Finding our spiritual lives in a bind.
So stop rushing doing this and that
Sit down to pray and listen—as Mary sat.

When we put the word first in every task,
The stress of the work is left behind.
Our worries will be left in the past.
The time to do all we will find.
No longer wandering doing this and that,
But with joy praying and listening—
as Martha and Mary sat.

Maritta Terrell,
Austin Leander Ecclesia, TX