Luke 10:38-42 38Now as they were traveling, he entered a certain village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. 39And this woman had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and was listening to his word. 40But Martha was distracted with much serving. And approaching she said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore, speak to her that she might help me.” 41But answering the Lord said to her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, 42but one thing is necessary. For Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.”
The journey to Jerusalem and all that would take place there continued for Jesus and his disciples. They had passed through Samaria and journeyed south toward Judea. The story takes place in village Luke does not name but John mentions as Bethany in John 11:1. It is noteworthy that this story begins with the welcoming by a woman named Martha. Women play a key role in Luke’s account of the gospel story. Martha is an example of a person of peace from 10:5-6. It is unclear if Jesus knew Martha and her family before this episode since this is the first mention of her, but it is possible she had met Jesus in one of his other trips to Jerusalem recorded in the Gospels. Bethany was a small village a mile and a half from Jerusalem on the eastern slop of the Mount of Olives.
The theme of hospitality appears again in Luke’s orderly account and serves as the primary issue. What does it mean to welcome Jesus? The extended and related question is how disciples might also be welcomed by those they visit. The key phrase in verse 38 is Martha welcomed him. As a good story, there is a small plot with conflict. The subtle conflict is between Martha who got caught up in hosting Jesus and her sister Mary who sat at Jesus’ feet and listened to his teaching–two different responses and ways to welcome Jesus and two examples of hospitality.
In this story, Mary serves as the paradigm for a good disciple who was learning from her Master. The tense of the verb was listening is imperfect, indicating ongoing action. Mary was intently listening to Jesus’ teaching. Meanwhile, Martha was busy getting food ready and all the typical things culturally expected to provide for an important guest. It bothered her that her sister appeared to be lazy and not helping in the kitchen. The two different responses to Jesus become clear by the end of verse 40. Martha’s response almost puts the blame on Jesus with the phrase, do you not care. She recognized Jesus could and, in her opinion, should do something about the situation by calling him Lord. He should have Mary get to work and help her out.
Two different priorities become clear. Mary is the follower who wants to learn from Jesus. This was a rare opportunity to get one-on-one time with the greatest teacher of all time. Mary is the follower who gets distracted by all the things that need to be done. Jesus’ response to Martha should have helped her refocus her priorities. The work would get done if and when it was necessary, but this was not the time for physical food but spiritual food.
It is easy to get distracted by the many things that need to get done each day. The better part that Mary chose was to be with Jesus. Before the doing must come the being. It is not to say that what Martha was doing was not good, for it was, but it was not the highest priority at that time. The story also shows that women were disciples and worthy to be taught the truths of the gospel.
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