One Thing
Pause:
Before you start reading this devotional, take a moment to stop what you’re doing, slow down, and focus on Jesus.
Pray and ask Him to open your eyes to see as you read the Scriptures, and to open your ears to hear as you wait on the leading of the Spirit.
Read:
Luke 10: 38-42 (CSB): “While they were traveling, he entered a village, and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who also sat at the Lord’s feet and was listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks, and she came up and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to serve alone? So tell her to give me a hand.”
The Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has made the right choice, and it will not be taken away from her.”
Going Deeper:
Imagine with me for a moment: Martha moving about the kitchen like a whirling dervish, beads of sweat on her forehead, her hands quickly and skillfully preparing a meal fit for a king. The King.
On the outside, she’s killing it. “Top Chef Bethany.” But on the inside, she’s starting to crack. Someone like Jesus, someone so important, deserves the best; he probably expects the best. Martha scurries about, shouldering the weight of her burden… alone. In the next room, her sister Mary, prone to flights of romance and general impracticality, sits at Jesus’ feet.
The cracking turns to jealously. Martha struggles to listen to Jesus over the sounds of her cooking, and even the incomplete phrases make her heart leap. She belongs in that room with her sister. With him. She wants to be there, but she is the host. When all is served, after she has wowed Jesus with her hospitality, then she can sit.
Then subtly, so subtly that in her haste she doesn’t even notice, Martha stops hearing Jesus’ voice. Now the only voice she hears is inside. If only Mary had the right priorities. If only Jesus would set her straight. If only Jesus would see me… my work, my need. I’m doing all of this for him. If only he cared! She rushes into the next room, where Jesus sits, and orders him to recognize her actions over Mary’s.
Here is the tragic irony. In her service to Jesus, Martha actually misses being with Jesus.
This hits me far too close for comfort. For most of my life, I thrived, at least in part, on being the “useful one.” First to come, last to leave. High-capacity. A doer who does well. None of these things are bad by themselves, but as the means by which I received love and acceptance, they became crushing taskmasters. The approval I received from my labor became my fuel. And when Jesus saved me, I unknowingly brought the same playbook to a new team. In my head, I knew Jesus’ love, joy, and peace were offered freely in grace, but in my practice, I sought to receive them by my words and deeds. Like Martha, I served out of a heart longing for communion with him, but resolved to experience it later. Maybe you can relate.
Martha asks Jesus to value what she thinks is important, to meet her on her terms and in her ways. And how does Jesus respond? Not with shame – thankfully – but with loving correction. One of the sisters is indeed to be recognized for her actions, but it’s not Martha. While she stands in her busyness, interrupting the Teacher, Mary sits at his feet, listening with rapt attention.
Imagine Mary. Posture relaxed, expression serene, eyes locked on Jesus in wonder. She takes in his every word, pondering each one in fascination and gladly receiving the next. Dinner certainly doesn’t matter to her – who cares if she ever eats again? There’s nowhere else in the world she wants to be. She is so still, so quiet, and so alive.
This, Jesus tells Martha, is the “one thing” that matters: choosing to be with him, not the things she thinks she needs to do for him.
David knew this. I’ve been praying his prayer – Psalm 27:4 – a lot recently, asking the Holy Spirit to root it deep in my soul, and help make it my own:
“I have asked one thing from the Lord; it is what I desire: to dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, gazing on the beauty of the Lord and seeking him in his temple.”
These past few months, as so much of my life has screeched to a halt, Jesus has used his encounter with Martha to reveal to me much of my own heart. And, like Martha, he has invited me to choose the “one thing,” his very presence, and to learn what it means to gaze and listen. I’m pretty bad at listening, and the normal speed of my mind is much too fast to gaze at anything. But it’s been through seeing this weakness where he comforts me. By calming me, he is teaching me to trust him. And as I trust him, my performance turns to peace, I start to open up in gratitude and adoration.
Are you anxious? Discouraged by loneliness? Overcome by the thoughts and pressures of activity? Maybe you’ve heard Jesus’ invitation of friendship, and you’re struggling to embrace the silence and solitude. Would we receive today the awareness of God’s near Spirit, the humility to confess our weakness, and the grace to sit, listen, and behold.
Pray:
Be silent for 2-5 minutes. Move away from screens and distractions, sit in a grounded position, maybe hands open in your lap, and breathe deeply. With every breath, imagine you are inhaling God’s love for you, and exhaling your love to him. Give your attention to him. You may need a simple breath prayer to focus your mind – “Abba,” “Jesus,” maybe a verse of scripture – and if it starts to wander, simply to return to this prayer to refocus. If a thought continues to come up, sit with it and invite the Spirit to talk to you about it.
Listen:
What is the Holy Spirit saying to you this morning?
Apply:
What are you going to do in response to what God is saying to you from the text and by the Spirit?