The Gospel of The Gospel of Luke 10: 38-42 As Jesus and his disciples went on their way, Jesus entered a certain village, where a woman named Martha welcomed him into her home. She had a sister named Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet and listened to what he was saying. But Martha was distracted by her many tasks; so she came to him and asked, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.”
Let us Pray: Lord Jesus, in the quiet moments, help me choose the better part. Teach me to sit at Your feet, to listen with an undistracted heart. When the world clamors for my attention, draw me into Your peace. May I not be consumed by doing, but transformed by being with You. Amen Have you ever got so wrapped up in all the things you needed to do and the things that needed to be accomplished that you lose sight of what the most important things are? Isn’t it possible that we can get too wrapped up in the aspects of life? In life today we often wrongly let the urgent take priority over that which is truly important. In today’s scripture Jesus is asking each of us: What takes priority in your life? One way to answer this question might be to ask ourselves: How do I use my time? Do I fritter it away? Do I spend quality time with the people I care about? Do I make time for prayer? Do I spend time with God, Jesus and the Holy Spirit? Today’s world offers so many distractions to our lives many of us forget that we need to spend quality time with family, do constructive things and mostly important take time to spend with Jesus sitting with Him. The highest priority in our lives needs to be choosing the good part, as Mary did: to learn of Jesus so that we can become like Him. It’s a love and devotion to Him that makes everything else of secondary importance. It is to seek the riches of wisdom and understanding that are in Him. Do others understand that you are spending that time learning to be a better person, you are not ignoring them, but they see it differently as Martha did. Martha was rushing around, serving and doing her best to make everything good for their beloved guest. And where was Mary when Martha needed a hand? Martha was doing everything in her power to be hospitable and make it good. And Mary just sat there, and what she was doing was the right thing? What do you think? I would think that it depends on our priorities’. Apparently, Jesus felt that Mary had her priorities correct but He told Martha that, you are worried and troubled about many things. But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her. That was an unusual response from Jesus, and it hurt Martha, but His message was take time to know me. So even if people do not understand what we are doing, remember it is taking time to learn to be more like Jesus and the time spent is a high priority.
Let us Pray: Gracious Savior, You welcomed Martha’s service and Mary’s devotion. Help me find harmony between action and contemplation. Let my work be rooted in worship, and my worship overflow into loving service. May I never lose sight of You in the midst of my tasks. This we ask in your name. Amen
Reflections by Bob 