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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