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

 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

In yesterday's reading, we were told that a certain lawyer stood up and tested Jesus, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?"  He said to him, "What is written in the law?  What is your reading of it?"  So he answered and said, "'You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind,' and 'your neighbor as yourself.'"  And He said to him, "You have answered rightly; do this and you will live."  But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"  Then Jesus answered and said, "A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, who stripped him of his clothing, wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.  Now by chance a certain priest came down that road.  And when he saw him, he passed by on the other side.  Likewise a Levite, when he arrived at the place, came and looked, and passed by on the other side.  But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was.  And when he saw him, he had compassion.  So he went to him and bandaged his wounds, pouring on oil and wine; and he set him on his own animal, brought him to an inn, and took care of him.  On the next day, when he departed, he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, and said to him, 'Take care of him, and whatever more you spend, when I come again, I will repay you.'  So which of these three do you think was neighbor to him who fell among the thieves?"  And he said, "He who showed mercy on him."  Then Jesus said to him, "Go and do likewise."

 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.   My study bible tells us that "Martha and Mary are the sisters of Lazarus, whom Jesus raised from the dead (John 11:1)."  As borne out as well in chapter 11 of John's Gospel, we can see the different "roles" of the sisters at home.  Martha is the one concerned with hospitality; she welcomes Jesus.  Mary is more devout in her actions.  In the passage from John's Gospel, we're reminded that she wiped Jesus' feet with fragrant oil and her hair (John 12:1-7), and we read of her sitting in mourning in their home, while Martha welcomes Jesus.  In today's reading, Martha -- true to character -- is the one who welcomes Jesus, while Mary sit at His feet and hears 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."  My study bible says, "Martha was distracted and troubled about many things in providing hospitality for Jesus.  But the one thing needed was for her to listen to Christ, to hear His words -- a priority which certainly does not exclude serving Him."  Let's note the language:  she's distracted.  It tells us she's not focused on the target, not centered.  The word in Greek (periespato/περιεσπᾶτο) is literally to "step around" or "draw around" -- in this sense she's distracted from the real thing, the true event.  It comes from language for military maneuvers, as in creating a diversion.

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."  What is the one thing needed here?  It's the focus on hearing His word.

What things distract us, and draw our attention away from what is truly needful?  We forget the "one thing necessary" when we are distracted by many things.  Elsewhere in Luke's Gospel, we read Jesus' teachings on anxiety:  " Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing"  and "Seek the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you"  (see Consider the lilies, how they grow).  There are ways in which the world and its demands will come to interfere with our main focus, the one thing truly necessary and needful, the real mark or bullseye of our aim, and that is our Teacher.  In Matthew chapter 23, Jesus tells the disciples:  "Do not be called teachers; for One is your Teacher, the Christ."  In our lives we will find many teachers, many people who wish to tell us what is what -- to give us theories, and philosophies, and ideas about how things should be done.  Popular customs of our own times and places will also fill in for "teacher."  But there's really one Teacher for all of us who call ourselves Christian, and who follow Christ.  That person-to-person contact, and listening, comes in one place, and it is the place of the heart.  We find it in prayer, we can find it in worship with other believers.  But it is the foundation of the Kingdom and its spread in the world.  It is to focus on that one thing that is needed, to hear the word of the Lord, to receive the teachings of the Teacher, to "sit at His feet and hear."  At the Transfiguration, we are told that the voice of the Father said, "This is My beloved Son.  Hear Him!"  So we are to do likewise, like Mary.  Before all things, our Teacher comes first, to orientate us to life, to help us make our decisions, to teach us how to view our problems.  Nothing else should get in the way of what is truly needful, what it is that comes first.  We can be worried and troubled about many things, and there is no doubt the worries and troubles will come, if your life is anything like mine.  Let us focus on the one thing which is needed, the good part, first before all else, when we find ourselves in such conditions.  It is the Teacher who leads us to where we truly need to be, especially when we are challenged by life.   All the "shoulds" and other  distractions the world would seek to teach us need the Teacher's perspective, first.