The Good Portion

Luke 10:38-42

Jesus is received into Martha’s house

The village name and location are not mentioned by Luke

Probably 2 reasons:

Out of chronology and therefore insignificant

Luke is leaving out any detail that would distract from his point

Martha is busy serving her guests

Jesus is almost certainly there with the other disciples

This means that there is a lot of preparation, serving, and cleanup to do

Martha is trying to be an exceedingly good hostess to her visitors

She seems to have made an elaborate meal, which made it much more work for her to do

She has been tirelessly busy tending to her guests’ service

Her sister Mary is sitting at Jesus’ feet

Yet Mary remains sitting at Jesus’ feet

Martha becomes frustrated enough to complain about it to Jesus

She tells him to instruct her to help Martha serve

Jesus responds

He responds with tender compassion

“Martha, Martha”

You are anxious and troubled about many things

She has been running around with stress and worry about the many tasks of serving her guests

Only one thing is necessary

Mary has chosen the good portion

Psalm 16:5-6- The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup; you hold my lot. The lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; indeed, I have a beautiful inheritance.

Jesus’ point (in context)

This story directly follows Luke’s recording of the parable of the Good Samaritan

In that parable, “What must I do?” and “Who is my neighbor?” were the questions of the lawyer

Jesus’ parable made the point that the lawyer’s neighbor included those whom he hated, and therefore, the good works of “loving ones neighbor” are not possible by human means

Nonetheless, doing acts of love are essential to living in accord with the law of God

Luke is giving us the exact opposite story here

Martha is busy with much work, but should have seen that she was neglecting the eternal thing- the truth of God in Christ

We must be careful not to lack biblical balance

Error 1: to view faithfulness as continuous serving for the sake of Christ

Error 2: to view faithfulness as continuous sitting at the feet of Christ

Faithfulness to Christ must include a life of sitting and serving

To live as people of the Good Portion, we do what our church’s mission statement says: Knowing Jesus. Making Him Known.

Application

Women ought to seek to learn the rich truths of the Bible.

In Jesus’ day, this was almost unheard of and unaccepted

In our modern time, it may be repulsed at the view that would look down on the learning of women, yet robust theology and deep biblical learning is not held to be an important priority for women in many churches

We often become caught up in the tasks of life at the expense of diligent study of God’s Word.

Life is busy and the days are short

We can ever so easily slip into a routine of business that soon enough our diligence in study and meditation slips between the cracks of our to-do list

We can easily become so involved in the extras of life that faithful discipleship falls by the wayside.

Not only can the to-do’s of life get in the way, but our recreation and hobbies can choke out our commitment to the Good Portion

We live in a culture that makes fun and leisure one of the greatest values in life

If we are to faithfully choose the good portion, then we must swim against the current of mainstream culture and popular church culture

We can allow our hearts to become embittered at the perceived faults of others (sometimes legitimate faults) while neglecting to search our own hearts and lives.

We can easily become set on pursuits that have no lasting significance while neglecting the one thing that can never be taken away: Christ and His Truth.

You can always sit at the feet of Jesus to learn from His truth when you seek Him in His Word.

May you slow down this week and choose the Good Portion. Seek Jesus in His Word

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Picture a situation with me for a minute. You are sitting in Sunday Worship Service, and the announcements are made. The man up front begins listing off the most important announcements to hear this week. You are familiar with all of the information that you are hearing, that is until there comes an announcement that really catches your attention. He says, “next week, Jesus will be joining us to speak during Sunday School and the Worship service. He will also be back for the Sunday Evening Service and Wednesday Evening. You aren’t going to want to miss this!

But a thought crosses your mind. You realize that there might be a few scheduling conflicts. You won’t return from a Christian concert until very late on Saturday evening, and you are pretty sure you will be too tired to get up for Sunday school. You have a family reunion on Sunday that starts at noon, and you have to drive 30 minutes to get there, so you won’t be able to come for the Worship service. You would love to go to the evening service to hear Him speak, but there is a huge problem: the Steelers are playing the Ravens for the last playoff spot on Sunday evening. You would love to hear Him at least once while he speaks at the church, so you plan to go on Wednesday evening. However, you forgot that there is a lot of work around the house to be done this week, and you don’t know how you can get it all done if you don’t work on it on Wednesday evening after you get home from work.

Christian concerts aren’t bad things, and rest after the drive home isn’t a bad thing. Family reunions aren’t bad things, and watching the Steelers isn’t bad. Attending to the work needed to be done around the house is not a bad thing. So what’s the problem?