One thing is needful
Luke 10:38-42
CRBC July 7, 2013
We are continuing today our exposition of the Gospel of
Luke. We are in that part of Luke where
Jesus is slowly traveling toward Jerusalem, toward the cross (9:51).
Today we come to a scene where Jesus is welcomed into the home
of two sisters, receiving their hospitality.
One commentator calls this scene, “a precious jewel which only Luke has
preserved for us” (Geldenhuys, p. 315).
Luke, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, has recorded
this account just after Jesus tells the parable of the Good Samaritan, where
Jesus has illustrated the Great Commandment, love of God and love of
neighbor. It ended with Jesus
commanding, “Go, and do thou likewise” (v. 37).
This is a call to a life of active service to one’s
neighbor. Indeed, the Christian life is
to be one of active service to neighbor.
As believers we are not to be content with sitting on the bench, but we
should desire to get in the game.
The passage that follows, however, takes things a step further
and addresses the spirit and the attitude
that we are to have in serving Christ and loving our neighbor.
I.
Exposition:
We
begin in v. 38: “Now it came to pass, as
they went, that he entered a certain village….”
Luke writes in a Biblical style [Now it came to pass] as though he has
an awareness that he is writing sacred Scripture on par with that of the OT
narratives. The “they” here refers to
Jesus and his entourage of disciples [the twelve and others—including the 70
that had been sent out by him to prepare his way].
Luke
does not mention the identity of the village which Jesus entered. The best assumption is that this was the
village of Bethany, which we know from John’s Gospel was the hometown of Mary
and Martha and their brother Lazarus.
Compare:
John 11:1 Now a certain man
was sick, named Lazarus, of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister
Martha.
This
raises a point where some modern scholars have wanted to challenge the
historicity [historical reliability] of Luke.
Why? Because Bethany was just
outside Jerusalem, and, according to Luke, Jesus is meant to be traveling
toward Jerusalem, and he does not arrive there until Luke 19 (in fact, in Luke
19:29 it specifically refers to Jesus coming nigh “to Bethphage and
Bethany”). At least one orthodox
commentator tried to defend Luke by suggesting that Mary and Martha had first
lived somewhere between Galilee and Jerusalem before moving to Bethany
[Hengstenberg, as cited by Godet, p. 309].
But there is really no need for such an explanation. More reasonable is to understand that Jesus’
journey to Jerusalem was a gradual, intentional, and symbolic journey. And to say that he was making this journey,
which would ultimately end with his crucifixion, does not exclude the fact that
during this time he made intervening visits to Jerusalem, particularly for the
three annual feasts that all Jewish males were required to attend or for other
festivals (e.g., John 10:22 says that he went to Jerusalem for feast of
dedication [Hannukah] in the winter”). Again,
we must remember that there is no supposed Scriptural difficulty that cannot be
resolved given enough reasonable thought and information.
The
second half of v. 38 continues: “and a
certain woman named Martha received him into her house.” Martha was apparently a well known early
disciple of our Lord. Luke, in
particular, has described the women disciples who accompanied Jesus (cf.
8:2-3). One commentator pointed out that
the name Martha is from the feminine Aramaic noun Mar, which means “mistress” (Geldenhuys, p. 317, n. 2). The implication here is that Martha was the
elder sister and the mistress of the household.
The fact that she received Jesus “into her house” is a mark of
hospitality. The verb hupodechomai refers to the extending of
hospitality. The traditional text adds
the explicit phrase “into her house [oikos]”
(again, emphasizing the fact that she is the head of the household).
This
is striking given the instructions Jesus gave to the 70 about hospitality (cf.
10:5, 7, 10).
Hospitality
was certainly a key mark of the early Christians. 1 Peter 4:9 in the NKJV says, “Be hospitable
to one another without grumbling.”
Martha is a godly woman who is willing to open her door wide to receive
Jesus and his disciples into her home.
She is like Lydia who at Philippi in Acts 16 would open her household to
Paul and Silas. Compare:
Acts 16:15 And when she was
baptized, and her household, she besought us, saying, If ye have judged
me to be faithful to the Lord, come into my house, and abide there. And
she constrained us.
In v.
39 we meet Martha’s sister: “And she had
a sister called Mary which also sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard his word.”
If
Martha was the elder sister and mistress of the household, Mary was apparently
the younger. The name Mary is from the
Hebrew Miriam, the sister of Moses in
the OT. It was a popular name for Jewish
girls and there are several women named “Mary” in the NT including, of course,
the mother of our Lord.
The
description of Mary’s response to the arrival of Jesus into their home is
striking on several levels. Most
notably, Luke says that she “also sat at Jesus’ feet.” The cultural setting here implies a meal
where Jesus would have been reclining on the low couch (Latin: triclinium)
to eat and share fellowship with his followers, and, as he does so, he
continues to teach them informally through conversation. It is striking first that a woman is present
at this meal and second that she is among the learners, among the
disciples. She was, Luke says, hearing
“his word.”
Christianity,
from the beginning, from the earthly ministry of our Lord himself, acknowledged
the appropriateness of women as disciples or students of Jesus, learning
alongside the male disciples. In this,
Christianity distinguishes itself from the Greco-Roman religions which saw
women as little more than half-baked men, and later religious traditions like
Orthodox Judaism and Islam which segregate and separate men from women. Consider Paul’s letters (like Ephesians and
Colossians) where instructions are given for wives and husbands or (like Titus
2) where instructions are given for old and young. The assumption is that all are together in
worship hearing the same words in the same context together.
Women
and girls, don’t believe the world’s lie that Biblical Christianity is against
women. It has brought more dignity and
respect for women than any movement that has ever appeared on the earth.
I
mentioned last week the book by sociologist Rodney Stark titled The Rise of Christianity in which he
studies the growth of early Christianity from a sociological perspective. In one chapter he describes how “Christianity
was unusually appealing because within the Christian subculture women enjoyed
far higher status than did women in the Greco-Roman world at large” (p. 95).
In one
section he describes the status of women in ancient Athens. He begins by noting that there were fewer
women than men, because infanticide was rampant and most wanted boys rather
than girls. He continues:
“The status of Athenian women
was very low. Girls received little or
no education. Typically Athenian females
were married at puberty and often before.
Under Athenian law a woman was classified as a child, regardless of age,
and therefore was the legal property of some man at all stages of her life.
Males could divorce simply by ordering a wife out of the household. Moreover, if a woman was seduced or raped,
her husband was legally compelled to divorce her….” She could own property but the title was
always vested in the male to whom she “belonged” (p. 102).
Can
you imagine how strange it must have been for a pagan living in Athens to read
Luke 10 and hear that Jesus welcomed a woman to sit at his feet and listen to
his word?
The
objection to Mary as a learner at the feet of Jesus is not going to come from a
male chauvinist pagan but from her own sister, whom she, no doubt, looked up to
and admired.
So, v.
40 begins, “But Martha was cumbered [perispaomai,
to be distracted or worried] about much serving [diakonian, serving or ministering]….” Martha’s problem is not going to be with her
sister’s learning but with the fact that she is feeling slighted or
neglected. Here she is serving and her
sister is given what she perceives to be the leisure of simply sitting at
Jesus’ feet and listening to him.
She
goes straight to the top and reports this to Jesus even demanding that he take
action: “and came to him, and said,
Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? Bid her
therefore that she help me” (v. 40). No
doubt she was cumbered with much service.
Can you imagine how hard it was to prepare a meal and serve as hostess
in the first century where water has to be carried into the home, where cooking
has to be done over a fire, and where for clean-up there is no such thing as
yet as soap!?
Though
perhaps understandable there are several things that are deeply troubling about
Martha’s spirit in this verse:
1.
She accuses
our Lord of indifference to what she perceives to be her plight (“dost thou not
care”).
2.
She engages in degrading self-pity. Note the word “alone” (the Greek adjective monos).
Her attitude reminds me of the prophet Elijah in 1 Kings 19 when he
laments to the Lord that the children of Israel have “forsaken thy covenant,
thrown down thy altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I
only, am left; and they seek my life to take it away” (vv. 10, 14). God responds by telling Elijah, “Yet I have
left me seven thousand in Israel, all the knees which have not bowed unto Baal,
and every mouth which have not kissed him” (v. 18). As one wag put it, the graveyards are filled
with indispensible men.
3.
She has the audacity to give orders to the
Lord. The “bid her” is an imperative
command.
The
brief passage closes in vv. 41-42 with Jesus offering to Martha a gentle but
firm rebuke. Notice how Jesus models for
us how to exhort with gentleness and kindness but firmness. Notice in v. 41 that he calls her name twice. When he bids her brother Lazarus rise from
the dead (John 11:43), he only calls his name once! He first diagnosis her frenzied state: “thou art careful (Greek verb is merimnao, to be anxious or worried; not
“careful” in the sense of meticulous or safe) and troubled about many things”
(v. 41).
And
then he offers a corrective by commending the disposition of Mary (v. 42). He begins, “But one thing is needful.” There is a possible play on words here as the
language can be used to refer to the courses of a meal so that it might be
interpreted only one course is needed for this meal. By this Jesus is not
talking about a dish but a disposition of spirit, an outlook. He then commends Mary: “and Mary hath chosen that good part, which
shall not be taken away from her.”
II.
Application:
There
are many applications we might draw from this passage, some of which we have
already touched upon. We might address
our Lord’s affirmation of the status of women as disciples. But we need also to note that Mary is not put
forward as a public teacher or minister of the word.
The
“classic interpretation” of the passage is that it comes something as a
corrective to a potential imbalance after the Good Samaritan teaching.
It reminds us that the Christian life is not merely a matter
of doing, but it is also a matter of being.
It is not a matter of giving but of receiving. It is not a matter of ministering but of
being ministered to. It is not a matter
of action but of contemplation.
One of the repeated themes in the teaching of our Lord as
recorded in Luke is that of the importance of hearing, the discipline of right
hearing:
Luke 8:18: “Take heed
how ye hear.”
Luke 9:44: “Let these
sayings sink down into your ears.”
This is balanced also by our Lord’s teaching about right
doing:
Luke 6:27: “But I say unto you which hear, Love your enemies, do good to them which
hate you,”
Luke
6:31: “And as ye would that men should
do to you, do ye also to them likewise.”
And
even in Luke 10:37 where the lawyer says the true neighbor was the Samarian who
“shewed [poieo, to do] mercy on him.”
We
know that even among the first believers there was tension between these twin
duties or disciplines: proper hearing
and proper doing. In the epistle of
James, we see a correction against much hearing and little doing, as James
taught: “Be ye doers of the word, and not
hearers only, deceiving your own selves” (James 1:22). Our passage today seems to warn against the
opposite imbalance, as it appears to teach, “Be ye hearers of the word and not
doers only.”
Certainly,
we all know the trap of thinking that a deeper or higher spiritual life is
associated with ever more frenzied spiritual activity on both a personal and
corporate level (e.g., I’m a good Christian if I am “busy” with Christian
activities seven nights a week).
But,
on further reflection, I think the “classic” application can also somewhat miss
the mark.
Geldenhuys
notes that Jesus did not disapprove of Martha’s service to him “for they were
the outcome of love for Him and were meant to serve Him. It is her wrong attitude as revealed in her
condemnation of Mary and her dissatisfaction with himself that had to be set
right and rebuked” (p. 316). He
adds: “What we do learn here is that in
our life’s active service we must not be anxious and agitated, sulky and
dissatisfied with our fellow Christians or with our Master, and that we should
not busy ourselves to such an extent with outward things that we neglect the
quiet worship of the Lord” (p. 316).
Do you
ever find yourself being anxious, agitated, sulky, and dissatisfied with your
fellow Christians or with Christ himself?
If so,
this is not a sign of your maturity but your immaturity. It is sin rooted in the 10th
commandment—a lack of satisfaction in Christ.
The
Martha spirit is not over-activity in service, but it is having a sour
disposition in service toward others and Christ.
Do a
review of your heart and see if you find any of the Martha spirit:
1.
Have you
accused the Lord or indifference?
2.
Have you engaged in degrading self-pity?
3.
Have you had the audacity to offer commands to our
Lord?
The
better part chosen by Mary is not merely the disposition of sitting at Christ’s
feet and sharing in communion with him.
It is also the disposition of being satisfied in Him.
Meditate
on the promise made to Mary in v. 42:
“which shall not be taken away from her.” The vital things we learn while sitting at
the feet of Christ as his disciples can never be taken away from us. His love for his sheep, his willingness to
lay down his life for them, the abundant life he brings, the peace that comes
through the cross. If you learn from
Christ, these things will never be taken away from you. They can take your family, your freedom, your
possessions, but they cannot take Christ from you. They can take your health
and your life, but they cannot take Christ from you.
This
is why Jesus can teach that loving God and loving neighbor, knowing Christ and
serving Christ, and doing that with the right spirit and attitude, as
instructed by Christ, is the one thing needful in a person’s life.
