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I remember one of the first drawings I did when I was very young. I was at primary school and we had to draw three characters from the Bible and write underneath "She has chosen the better part". I didn't understand what that meant - but I do now. This is the visit by Jesus to His friends Martha and Mary, two sisters who lived in Bethany, just a few miles from Jerusalem.
It's found in Luke’s Gospel chapter 10 verses 38-42.
Mary, mesmerized by her friend and His words, sat quietly at His feet, but Martha was distracted as she tried to cook a meal (probably clattering pots and pans and sighing from time to time!). But there is nothing wrong with either listening to someone speaking, or preparing good food for them. Mary was honouring her special guest but Martha was not, simply by her worldly anxiety and complaining. The passage does not, in fact, say that Jesus suggested that Mary should go to help her sister, or that Martha left everything and came and sat down! Jesus gently told Martha that Mary was enjoying His company, which Martha could not also fully do whilst in her frenzy of activity.
Service is good. Listening is good. Both are necessary and pleasing to our Lord. But complaining is never good. In Christians' lives there should be work for Christ by serving the needs of others, BALANCED with times of prayer, worship and Bible reading. And different Christians should respect each other! EVERYTHING should be done out of love for our Saviour.
So the key word is ATTITUDE. Martha could have kept calm and listened to Jesus in the midst of her duties. Mary was not "being lazy", it was the love and devotion shown that she was commended for - not her actual sitting! (Maybe she intended to help serve the meal later). The words of Jesus were, and still are, worth paying attention to. Fellowship with Christ can never be taken away from us: Romans chapter 8 verse 39 says "There is nothing in all creation that will ever be able to separate us from the love of God which is ours through Christ Jesus our Lord". This, then, is the "better part".
