The One Needful Thing

Luke 10:38-42

38 As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39 She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. 40 But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, “Lord, don’t you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!”

41 “Martha, Martha,” the Lord answered, “you are worried and upset about many things, 42 but few things are needed—or indeed only one.[a] Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.”

We are living in what may be the last days, or at the very least extraordinary days. There are so many things going on that the mind has difficulty processing it all; the Covid-19 Pandemic, natural catastrophes, man-made calamities, political upheaval that could change the very fabric of our nation. Add to this the possibility that humanity has completely lost their moral compass which would make disaster a promise more than a possibility, and the future looks bleak.

We don’t often think about how important it is to know where we are, but we should. Most of the time we take it for granted. “We are where we are.” “It is what it is.” These are statements that are so obvious that they seem to indicate the wisdom of the ancients when what they really point to is the laziness of the speaker.

Knowing where we are makes all the difference if we ever really want to get somewhere else. Knowing where we are makes all the difference in which way we go from there.

Let me offer an example.

One weekend I joined some friends for a fishing expedition in the San Carlos Apache Indian Reservation in Arizona. The fishing spot was located somewhere amidst approximately 160,000 acres of pine forest and required a pre-programmed GPS locator to find it. No problem. After a moderate to strenuous hike down into a canyon, we found the designated spot and had a full day of rather mediocre fishing, which is disappointing but not that unusual.

Then upon lighting up the GPS’s to find our way back to the truck, we were immediately confronted with the fact that there was no signal coming in. The men climbed trees, rocks, pointed the GPS in every direction they could but it wouldn’t triangulate to the truck. We had no idea where the truck was, and even if we did it wouldn’t have mattered because we didn’t know where we were. For the next half hour we entertained thoughts about what it might be like to be eaten by bears, or of never finding our way out of the woods, or of dying from exposure.

Then suddenly the GPS got a fix on the truck and we were able to come out of the experience as living testaments to the grace of God. When it came down to it, only one thing was really needful; we needed to know where we were in relation to the truck. As soon as we had that, everything else was doable.

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In the Scripture passage we are told that Jesus visited a family in a certain village and one of the sisters, Martha, was thrown into a spin by all of the things she thought needed to be accomplished for this visit to be a success. I know that at my house it would mean that the floors needed to be swept and mopped, shelves dusted, the dishes done and food prepared and served. I understand how one could get overwhelmed by the size of the task and feel that it was only reasonable that her sister should help.

But the only thing the other sister, Mary, wanted to do was to sit at Jesus’s feet and receive anything He wanted to give her. And oh, the things He wanted to give to her! The kind if faith that sees the dead raised to life again; strength to stand up against popular opinion; a friendship that went beyond the grave; an intimacy that was better than a marriage. Put simply Jesus wanted to give her the keys to a life best lived. He wanted to give her Himself.

To the sister who was complaining to Him he said, “Only one thing is truly necessary, and your sister chose that one thing, and I’m not going to take it away from her.”

Focus. Only one thing. Keep your eye on the ball.

Yes, the times are unprecedented. Yes there is a lot going on, too many problems to handle, and seemingly not enough trustworthy people to deal with them. That’s where we are now, and do you know what? That is okay, because even with all the stuff going on, still only one thing is needful!

Mary knew what that one thing was, and I know that you do too. We just need to get our eyes off the endless possibilities and put them on the promise.