Priorities Matter
Today’s passage: Luke 10:38–42
Focus verse:“You are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed.” (Luke 10:41–42)
Jesus and his disciples travel to the village where Martha and her sister, Mary, live. Martha invites them to her home. They accept and drop by to hang out and enjoy some tasty food.
Martha gets busy making a meal, but sister Mary doesn’t help. Instead, Mary wants to hear everything Jesus says. She sits at his feet, listening intently. This ticks off Martha. She asks Jesus to make Mary help.
This seems fair, doesn’t it? Or is it?
It was Martha’s idea to invite Jesus and his team to her home. It was her plan to feed them.
Though Martha may have assumed Mary would agree to help, that was unfair of Martha. Just because she had this generous idea to do something for Jesus doesn’t mean Mary has to go along with it.
Mary has her own plan. She wants to spend time with Jesus. She’s doing her thing, while Martha does hers.
That’s fair.
Martha begs Jesus to make Mary help, which seems perfectly logical from Martha’s point of view. But Jesus does the unexpected. I imagine a slight smile appears on his face as he shakes his head.
“Martha, Martha, Martha.” He laughs gently. “You worry about many things and are worked up over something that isn’t that important. Only one thing truly matters. That’s what Mary is doing: hanging out with me. I won’t take that from her.”
How often do we do this ourselves? We have this grand idea to do something for Jesus, and we assume others will join us and help. But we never ask them.
We just expect they’ll like our idea as much as we do and will work just as hard to make it happen.
Sometimes we make these false assumptions about our spouse or family.
Other times we do this with our friends. But the worst is when we do it to the staff at church, especially our pastors.
We assume that since we’re doing something noble for the kingdom of God, that everyone else will race to help us. After all, it’s for a worthy cause.
But God may be inviting these other people—our family, friends, and pastors— into something else. If they stop what they’re doing to help us, they’re not doing what God wants them to do. And that’s not good.
Martha makes food for Jesus, while Mary listens to him. He affirms Mary’s choice and dismisses Martha’s as secondary.
Sometimes we do things for Jesus that we think are important, but we miss out on something even more worthy.
Jesus knew what mattered most, and Mary knew, too, but Martha needed Jesus to help her prioritize.
Questions:
Are the things we do for Jesus the best things?
Are we missing what’s truly important?
[Discover more about what’s important to God in Hosea 6:6 and Matthew 6:33.]
Tips: Check out our tips to use this online Bible study for your church, small group, Sunday school class, or family discussion. It’s also ideal for personal study. Come back each Monday for a new lesson.
Read more about the book of Luke in Dear Theophilus: A 40-Day Devotional Exploring the Life of Jesus through the Gospel of Luke, now available in ebook, paperback, and hardcover.
Peter DeHaan writes about biblical Christianity to confront a status quo faith and live a life that matters. He seeks a fresh approach to following Jesus through the lens of Scripture, without the baggage of made-up traditions and meaningless practices.
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