Prayer of the Day: Heavenly Father, though we do not deserve Your goodness, still You provide for all our needs of body and soul. Give us Your Holy Spirit that we may acknowledge Your gifts, give thanks for all Your benefits, and serve You in willing obedience. We pray this through Jesus Christ, Your Son, our Lord, who lives and reigns with You and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever.

Now it happened as they went that He entered a certain village; and a certain woman named Martha welcomed Him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who also sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word. But Martha was distracted with much serving, and she approached Him and said, “Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Therefore tell her to help me.” And Jesus answered and said to her, “Martha, Martha, 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.”

Believe it or not, we’re pretty much back at that time of year again: it’s August, so it’s officially “Back to School” time. Which means you’ve probably noticed plenty of “Back to School” sale ads. A typical one usually goes something like this: “Get all your ‘Back to School’ needs at [insert store’s name here]!” Now, maybe for “Back to School” time the use of the word “needs” is appropriate at times. In order to take notes and do homework for class you need pencils, or pens, and a notebook, etc. You might even need a laptop or computer for certain classes.

However, the word “need” is one of the most misused words in our language and is usually most misused by stores and businesses that are trying to convince you that what they are trying to sell you is an absolute necessity. Despite what advertisers, stores, and online retailers may tell us, we as human beings actually have very few “needs.” Physically, all we really “need” is oxygen to breathe, water to drink, food to eat, clothes to wear, and modest shelter to protect us and we could live just fine for many years.

Jesus, in our text, reminds us that life is actually even simpler than that: He said to Martha, just “one thing is needed” (v. 42). Martha’s sister Mary knew what that “one thing” was. Do we? That is the first question we will ask today as we consider the One Thing that is Needed. 1. Do you know what it is? If we can answer this question, here is the second, 2. Do you know what to do with it? We pray that God’s Holy Spirit will bless our study of His Word.

The answer to the first question isn’t really much of a mystery. We can get the answer fairly easily from our sermon text. It tells us that Mary…sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word (v. 39). The one thing that is needed, then, is the Word of Jesus, the very Words of God Himself recorded for us in the Bible. God’s Word is the “one thing needed” for at least three key reasons:

1) God’s Word is the “one thing needed” because that’s where we find JESUS, our Savior! Jesus once said to the Pharisees, “These are the Scriptures that testify about me” (John 5:39 NIV). Reading and listening to God’s Word is how we “modern-day Marys” can also sit at Jesus’ feet and hear His word (v. 39).

2) God’s Word is the “one thing needed” because that is where God gives us saving faith in Jesus, who made the perfect sacrifice on the cross for our sins and rose from the dead the third day to assure us of our own resurrection. It is also where He makes our faith grow. Paul writes in Romans, “So then faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17).

3) God’s Word is the “one thing needed” because that is where we find our ultimate value and purpose for this life and the one to come. God’s Word tells us that from conception, by nature we are sinful people headed for eternal death—but it also tells us that we are people who have been rescued, forgiven, and loved by Jesus Himself who gives us the gift of eternal life through His death and resurrection! That is the kind of “life” Jesus came to give us, first and foremost, when He said in His Word: “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly” (John 10:10).

We know that God’s Word is the “one thing needed.” This is not news to most of us. Some of us have probably known this as far back as we can remember. But, 2. Do we know what to do with it?

There is no doubt that Martha was a believer, and yet she passed up an opportunity to sit and spend time with the “one thing needed,” God’s Word in human flesh, Jesus, who happened to be sitting right there in front of her in her house!!! Would we have done the same thing? Look again at how Luke describes Martha— “But Martha was distracted with much serving” (v. 40). That word translated “distracted” literally means in Greek, “to be pulled or dragged from all around” (Friberg Greek Lexicon).

Does that sound like a good description of our lives? We are “distracted,” pulled and dragged from all around by the things of this life, further and further away from the “one thing that is needed.” “Distractions” from television, internet, movies, and the media; “distractions” from work and school; “distractions” from our friends, our boyfriends, and girlfriends; “distractions” from our family members, our husband or wife. We know all these things can “distract” us from the one thing that is needed.

But what about “distractions” that come from church and all the work involved there. Are we like Martha in our text, so busy doing things for Jesus that we neglect to sit and spend time with Him and meditate on what He has done for us? Our faith life is much more than just church maintenance and meetings; it’s more than fellowship meals and volunteering. These things are all “much serving” (v. 40) for the Lord, but they should never distract us from hearing and studying the “one thing needed”—the Word of God. “Serving” that ignores or neglects the Word of God—no matter how “great”—will never have lasting value. What Jesus wants most from us is our hearts and our full attention to His Word and His message of salvation.

Look now at the contrast of how Luke describes Mary in our text: “Mary…sat at Jesus’ feet and heard His word” (v. 39). When Jesus showed up at her house, her heart was totally focused on Him and His words. She knew that the “one thing needed” was not to serve Jesus, but actually to be served by Him with His words of grace and salvation. Do we take the time on a daily basis to “sit at Jesus’ feet” like Mary, and let His Words of grace and peace refresh our hearts, our souls, and minds? Both Mary and Martha were believers, and what both of them did in our text were “good things.” But what Mary chose was better. Jesus said in the last verse of our text, “Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her” (v. 42). There is a time and a place for serving Jesus, but never at the expense of being served by Jesus. For Jesus Himself once said, “For even the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many” (Mark 10:45).

Now, in no way am I trying to discourage any of you from serving Jesus and His Church, nor is the point of today’s sermon text to make us all feel guilty whenever we do anything except read our Bibles or sit and listen to the Word in a worship service! Jesus’ point in this account from Luke is to keep in mind, above all, the needs of your soul and remember where those needs are met: in the “one thing that is needed”—God’s Word. Jesus wants us to make this “one thing” our top priority, and promises to bless and take care of everything else when we do. He says in the Gospel of Matthew, “But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matthew 6:33).

Let me illustrate this for you. Let’s say that a large empty container represents your life. What are you going to fill it with? Important things like family and friends [put larger balls into the container]. What about your job and the time you need to spend making a living [pour in smaller balls]? Let’s not forget hobbies, vacations, sports, activities for the kids, and of course relaxation and free time—maybe for some of us this just represents the time we spend watching TV! [pour in even smaller balls]. That’s a full life! But what about the “one thing that is needed”? [hold up a cross or Bible] There’s no room for it! [It won’t fit in full container].

However, look what happens when we make the “one thing that is needed” our first priority in life and build our life on Christ, who is the “Rock”—solid foundation that Jesus preached about at the end of His Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 7:24-29). All the other things—family, friends, our job, even our recreation and vacation times—still fit into our life [pour in large, small, and smallest balls]. The Word of Christ is the “one thing needed.” It is the foundation that holds firm like a house built on a rock (Matt. 7:24). Here we are assured Jesus died for our sins. He forgave your sins. This is not the “after-thought” in our life that we try to squeeze in after all the busy tasks of life have been completed. No, Jesus said, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matthew 6:33).

So, as the advertising world continues to try and convince us of our many “needs” may God’s Holy Spirit keep Jesus’ words in our hearts, so that He may say of us what He said of Mary, “But one thing is needed, and [your name here] have chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from you (v. 42)!” Amen.

—Pastor Luke Bernthal

Messiah Lutheran Church
Hales Corners, WI

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All scripture quotations, unless otherwise indicated, are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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