Living As If God Exists (Because He Does)Sýnishorn

CHOOSING THE GOOD PORTION

While Mary sits at the feet of Jesus, her sister “Martha was distracted with much serving” (10:39-40). Her distraction leads to an appeal and a lesson. Seeing that she is doing all the work, Martha asks Jesus to tell Mary to help her (10:40). Despite recognizing Martha’s frustration, Jesus reminds her that only “one thing is necessary” (10:42). Mary is engaged in this necessary activity and Jesus is unwilling to take this “good portion” away from her (10:42).

The “good portion” involves sitting at Jesus’s feet and listening to his teaching (10:39). It involves setting aside the anxieties and troubles of the world to learn from the Master. It is not so much that we should refuse to do our everyday tasks but refuse to be distracted by them. We should refuse to believe stories that push Jesus to the margins of our lives by making the unnecessary seem necessary.

Martha’s activities are not evil. The service she is performing is not immoral or unworthy of Christ. It is a distraction. By neglecting the “good portion,” Martha finds herself “anxious and troubled about many things” (10:41).

We are often tempted to elevate our service to Jesus above Jesus himself. We replace the Lord with our labor. In a world that is given to influence, immediate solutions, and grand gestures, it can seem natural to serve instead of sit. The world’s story demands that we act, solve, fix, and move forward. It tells us that there is no time to learn from Jesus because there is too much work to be done. While God’s people are to serve, we cannot allow our service to overshadow Christ.

The number of things vying for our time and attention only seems to be increasing. Distraction is an ever-present danger. Like Mary and Martha, we will need to choose between the tasks before us and the “good portion” found at Jesus’s feet. As we set aside the troubles and anxieties of the world, we will find ourselves undistracted as we listen to the words of the Master.