She Hath Chosen The Good Part

The actor readily agreed and asked if someone at the dinner table would like to suggest what he should recite.

There was a deadly hush until an old clergyman raised his hand and said:

“May I ask you to recite the 23rd Psalm?”

The actor was rather taken back but agreed, saying: “I will recite Psalm 23 - if you will recite it once I am finished”.

The clergyman rather reluctantly agreed.

The actor then recited the 23rd Psalm with as much passion as he could arouse.

His voice was perfect. His intonation was flawless.

The audience was spellbound. When he finished, he was met with rapturous applause.

The old clergyman then stood up to speak and recited the Psalm.

But his voice was rough and broken from many years of preaching.

His diction was anything but polished.

But when he finished there was not a dry eye in the room.

Then the actor got up from his seat came over and put his arm around the clergyman and said:

“Ladies and Gentlemen, I know the 23rd Psalm. This man however knows the Shepherd of the 23rd Psalm.”

Christianity is all about relationships. Mary also knew the Shepherd of the 23rd Psalm.

It is always amazing how a family like this can have two sisters:

• They had the same parents.

• They were raised in the same environment.

But yet they are so different.

However, it is their differences that teach us so many things about serving the Lord.

Let’s take a good look at these two sisters. I would like to show you THREE things in this story about them.

First, let’s look at-

I. THE SAVIOUR

Look at verse 38, we read, "Now it came to pass as they went, that He entered into a certain village: and a certain woman named Martha received Him into her house."

What is significant in this verse of scripture about Jesus entering their house?

We often find Jesus in people’s homes.

• Matt. 8:14 Jesus went into Peter’s house.

• Matt. 9:23 Jesus went into the Rulers house.

• Luke 7:36 Jesus went into the Pharisees house.

• Luke 8:51 Jesus went into the house of Jairus.

• Luke 14:1 Jesus went into the house of one of the Chief Pharisees.

• Luke 19:5 Jesus went into Zacchaeus’ house.

But of all the homes the Lord entered, He probably felt more welcome in the home of Mary and Martha than all the others.

When you enter some homes you find yourself that reminds us of the t.v. program called “Startrek”, that is as you enter some homes you feel you are entering “WHERE NO MAN HAS GONE BEFORE”.

Illus: Dr. Odell Belger tells when he was in Bible College he would travel about forty miles to a country church where he served the Lord each Sunday. Being in Bible College he could not afford to travel back to college two times on Sunday. So this church would have families to take him to their home and feed him dinner and supper before the evening service.

Some of these homes were really nice and he enjoyed the fellowship and the meal.

But one Sunday this elderly couple were pig farmers and they took him to their home. When he arrived it was an old dilapidated farm house that was not kept up but it is where these pig farmers lived.

There were all kinds of animals in the yard and in the house, chickens, dogs, ducks, cats.

He was invited in the house and in no time the lady of the house asked him to come into the dining room. He sat down in an old chair and scanned the table for the food that was prepared.

Everything looked good and he reached for his silverware and right off he noticed it was a dirty fork gummed up from previous meals.

He thought what can I do, I can not eat with a dirty fork like this. And he felt like God gave him some wisdom, it might have been the devil, he took his hand and knocked the fork off the table and the lady of the home heard it when it hit the floor.

She said let me get you another fork. She did! She came back with another that was as dirty as the first one.

He had no choice but to eat with that dirty fork or offend these nice pig farmers.

But he later said when he ate that meal with that dirty fork, he felt he ate two meals, the one before him and the one that someone else ate with that same dirty fork.

From what the scriptures tell us about Mary and Martha their home was a favorite place for the Lord to visit.