Luke 10:41 But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, 42 but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”
The sports world was captivated in 2003 when Jonny Wilkinson, an English rugby player, scored a winning drop goal. For many the try was less interesting than the way he did it. To block out the roar of 1000s in the crowd Jonny stood with hands clasped in front and eyes fixed on the goal mouth. He had un-distracted attention on what mattered. This was a moment never to happen again. Applauds, whistles and flashing lights could all have drawn attention – but no – only one thing mattered.
Martha was doing nothing technically wrong. In fact verse 40 tells us that Martha was distracted by genuinely important and necessary things. But she became wrongly judgemental of what others were doing – even accusing Jesus of a lack of care! Jesus’ response and challenge was simply for Martha to seize the moment and focus on what He suggests is an eternal opportunity (v42). Her sister Mary, was not a better person or lazy, as Martha seemed to say, she was appropriately recognising the situation and prioritising her focus – one thing mattered…
Life for many of us today can become a tangled mess of preparations for the next event. Today we might identify that one thing that matters – separating what seems right or temporarily needed so that we can give our attention to the importance of Jesus in the present moment.
Rob Wykes 