Luke 10:38-42 Sixth Sunday after Pentecost Pastor Nathan P. Kassulke Sunday, July 20, 2025
“Undivided Attention On the One Thing Needed”
Are you a Mary or are you are Martha?
It seems to me that when many people teach about Jesus’ encounter with the two sisters, they boil down the point to that question. Either you are a Martha, distracted, busy, working hard, trying to please and serve, or you are a Mary, sitting at the feet of Jesus and listening. It doesn’t quite work that way, though, does it? Your life is a little more complicated than that, isn’t it?
Sometimes we narrow our perspective about this account so much that we conclude that Mary is good and Martha is bad. If you are a Mary, you are on the winning team. If you are a Martha, then, well, it’s not good. On the other hand, we can overcorrect, try to rescue Martha’s reputation, and run the risk of missing the point anyway.
It’s good for us to slow down and think about things, and it is good for us to recognize nuance where it exists. It is good for us to make sure that we take to heart the lessons that Scripture teaches us and not take what we want out of it. When we look at this account, there is really a lot for us to consider. That’s a little surprising, perhaps, because the account is so brief. It is just five verses. The point of these verses isn’t really Mary or Martha. The point is the one thing needed. When Mary had the one thing needed, Jesus assured her that it would not be taken away from her. Just like Mary, it is good for us to place our undivided attention on the one thing needed.
Let’s take a moment to review the brief action of this account. Jesus is making his way to Jerusalem with his disciples, and he stops in the village, not named here, but named elsewhere in Scripture. This is Bethany. Martha welcomes Jesus into her home. That’s what Luke tells us. Was she a widow that she had a home with her sister and a brother who is also not mentioned here? How well off was she? These are questions that people speculate about, and we just don’t know the details, so it’s not worth making more of them than what the Bible tells us.
Here’s what it tells us. Martha, who had welcomed Jesus into her house, spent the time entertaining. She was serving. Likely she was preparing a meal. Perhaps there were other things that she wanted to attend to so he could be more comfortable. Maybe she wanted to get some cleaning done as well.
In the meantime, Mary sat down right near Jesus, at his feet, and listened. Not a tour of the house, not a part of the meal, not a chore. She just sat and listened. Here’s another interesting point that people speculate about. What exactly did Jesus have to say to her? We have enough of Jesus’ teaching in the Gospels to have some idea what he might have said, just not the particulars. Whatever precisely it was, what Jesus had to say was interrupted by what Martha had to say. “Tell her to help me.” She questioned whether Jesus cared that Martha was doing all the work and Mary was doing none. For at least that moment, she sounds so much like a little child complaining that things were not fair and that Mary wasn’t doing her chores.
And that’s when Jesus answered and told Martha just how valuable Mary’s choice was. She had chosen the one thing needed. Martha was worried and upset about many things. Mary had the best thing. There was no way Jesus was going to take that away from her.
It was the attitude of Martha that tried to take away from Mary the most precious thing of all. That doesn’t mean that Martha was doing something wrong by serving Jesus. She honored him by inviting him to the house and by taking care of him there. Scripture encourages us to be welcoming and hospitable. Our church asks people all the time to serve in various ways. Stick around after the service and enjoy a treat. That didn’t just appear. Someone made it and prepared it and set it out for you. Doing things, serving, was not a problem. The attitude was a big problem. Martha got this idea that she was the one really serving and that Mary was doing much less because she was just sitting there. Of course, Jesus flips
that idea upside-down. Mary wasn’t just sitting there, she was listening. That’s what made it so that Mary had the best thing of all, the one thing needed. She had the Word of her Savior. She was listening to the Word of God. She was giving her undivided attention to the message that God wanted her to have. There are lots of things, good and bad, that can take our attention off of God’s Word. We need to be careful. Maybe we even get the idea in our heads that the things we do are more important than the things we hear. After all, Luke places this account right after Jesus shared the story of the Good Samaritan. That story talked about doing good, being a good neighbor, helping those in need. That’s important. But if it takes our attention away from God’s Word, it causes issues. There are some who claim to be Christians who would even suggest that the things we do here in church are less valuable than going out and feeding the hungry and helping the homeless and other ways of serving. Without losing sight of how God wants us to serve others, here we have God’s Word, the one thing needful.
In that Word, we hear how God forgives our sins in Jesus. We learn about his sacrifice for us. We recognize that he has given us the gift of salvation. Without this, we have nothing of real or lasting value. Feed someone, and they will be hungry again. Even the most important and useful things that we do can only accomplish so much and can only last so long. The one thing needed, the Word of God, gives us gifts that last forever. It gives us forgiveness and eternal life.
And that is reason enough to be more like Mary.
Now, since we are not perfect people, we still have to be careful not to take the wrong impression or wrong lesson from this account. We can’t use Mary’s example as some sort of standard for how much time we ought to spend in God’s Word. It is not about starting a timer and tracking how long we sit at the feet of Jesus. There are times for us to be like Martha and offer works of service. There are times when various tasks that God has given to us need to be attended to. But when she had the opportunity, Mary sat at the feet of Jesus and gave him her undivided attention.
Let’s be eager to do the same. Let’s not be tempted to use our time in church as an opportunity to think about what else we have to do today. Let’s not use our gathering as an opportunity to be annoyed by what others are doing or wearing. Let’s not even think of what we do here as primarily a social activity or a chance to visit with friends. It is good to have a chance to socialize, and it is good to visit. These are wonderful blessings. But one thing is needed. God’s Word. Forgiveness for my wandering thoughts and careless words, for actions that have hurt instead of helped, for attitudes that have been anything less than what God wants my attitude to be.
Jesus has taken it all away. He has replaced my failures with his success. He died for my sins and for yours. He has made me his own dear child, his own close friend. And he wants to give us himself in his holy Word. In church, in our daily attention to that Word, in our Bible studies. Don’t let anything distract or worry or upset you. You have the one thing needed and it will not be taken away.
Are you a Mary or a Martha? It depends on the day and the time and the task. But we can learn from both of these women. It is an honor to serve the Lord, but the one thing needed is to be served by him. Let us consistently and persistently give him, through his Word, our undivided attention.
The Text: Luke 10:38–42 (EHV)
38As they went on their way, Jesus came into a village, and a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. 39She had a sister named Mary, who was sitting at the Lord’s feet and was listening to his word. 40But Martha was distracted with all her serving. She came over and said, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her to help me.”
41The Lord answered and told her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, 42but one thing is needed. In fact, Mary has chosen that better part, which will not be taken away from her.”