The One Thing Needed (5)
In response, Jesus offers Martha a rather gentle correction. His criticism is twofold. First, she is "worried and upset." Her agitated state of mind prevents her from maintaining correct judgments and priorities, and to assume the position of a disciple of Christ. Second, she is worried and upset "about many things." Thus she errs both qualitatively and quantitatively.
Martha's condition prevents her from obtaining the spiritual benefits that is readily available because of Christ's presence, and from focusing on the one thing that is needed. In contrast, Mary is sitting at the Lord's feet, in the position of a disciple, to hear his teachings.7 She has chosen rightly, and Jesus defends and protects this choice, saying, "it will not be taken away from her."
From a "history of redemption" perspective – that is, from Luke's own broader concern about how this episode fits into the rest of his Gospel and then also the rest of Scripture, and its significance in the progressive unveiling of God's plan, in which the work of Christ is a climax (Hebrews 1:1-2) – this passage is concerned not only with showing us the priority of the contemplative over the active and the spiritual over the social, or even the fact that women as well as men are to become the disciples of Christ and to receive doctrinal instructions. It teaches us all these things and more.
Christ is the highest revelation of God, full of grace and truth (John 1:14). His coming is a personal manifestation of God's kingdom, and for one to seek first the kingdom of God and his righteousness is to become his disciple, to give him the priority, and to hear and obey his teachings (Matthew 7:24-29). To become his disciple means more than to make him one minor aspect of our lives, but it means to let his teachings invade every area of our thought and conduct. This in turn transforms our beliefs, agendas, expectations, and relationships.
7 "According to the rabbis, learning Torah is better than any other activity," Craig A. Evans, Luke (Hendrickson Publishers, 1990), p. 179.
(to be continued)
August 16 2005 | Expositions, Spirituality