The One Needful Thing

Good morning to the blessed of the Lord! You are God’s hope in this world! Praise God!

If you are like me, and I believe most of you are, when I stand before Jesus on my day of judgment and He pulls out the book of life and sees my name written therein, He will look up, smile and say “Welcome home Barry. You were a good and faithful servant. Now, take My hand. We’re going to the throne of grace. I want to introduce our Father to His son who just arrived home!”

I smile just thinking about this.

The path to our names being written in the book of life is a simple one: we accept Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior and by His grace we receive eternal salvation. But the path to “a good and faithful servant” requires something on our part.

Turn with me to John 13. Here we find Jesus washing the disciples’ feet and drying them with His clothes. Let’s pick the record up in verse 12.

(12) So after He had washed their feet, and had taken his garments, and was set down again, He said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you?

(13) Ye call Me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am.

(14) If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet.

(15) For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.

(16) Verily, verily, I say unto you, the servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him. (John 13:13-16)

The lesson that Jesus is teaching the disciples is that they must love each other – those in the household of faith – so much that they quickly and freely forgive them no matter what they have done. Jesus knew what Judas was going to betray Him and yet, He still chooses to wash his feet. What an absolutely astounding teaching about love and forgiveness – for us!

Ladies and gentlemen, Jesus could teach the disciples this lesson because they were with Him – they were in His presence.

As I read this passage, it reminded me of the record about Martha and Mary in Luke 10. In five short verses we see the heart of a servant for Jesus. Let’s pick the record up with verse 38. We’re going to read to the end of the chapter.

(38) 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.

(39) And she had a sister called Mary, which also sat at Jesus’ feet, and heard His word.

(40) But Martha was cumbered about much serving, and came to Him, and said, Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? Bid her therefore that she help me.

(41) And Jesus answered and said unto her, Martha, Martha, thou art careful (anxious) and troubled (disturbed) about many things:

(42) but one thing is needful: and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.

This is a powerful passage ladies and gentlemen because it very succinctly identifies the two primary relationships that the Church, the Body of Church, has with Jesus today.

The two relationships are

• A relationship that is intimacy focused, or

• A relationship that is service focused.

It’s interesting to me that the first thing scripture records about Martha in this passage is her status as the homeowner. But the first thing the passage points out about Mary is that she is sitting at Jesus’ feet and listening to what He is saying, to what He is teaching.

What this tells me is that Mary is accustomed to being told what to do while Martha is the one who gives the instruction. Just an observation. But we see how it plays out when Jesus comes to visit.

For Mary, there was a peacefulness in Jesus’ presence, being at His feet and listening to the “lesson” He was teaching. But Martha - she was far from peaceful. Look again at verse 40. “But Martha was cumbered about much serving…” The word “cumbered” means “to draw around.” It paints the picture of a person being pulled in different directions at the same time and becoming frustrated in the process.

Now, what was it that was pulling Martha in so many different directions? It was her mind. She was thinking about all the things that she believed she had to do to serve Jesus and those who traveled with Him.

Ladies and gentlemen, serving Jesus is a good thing, but not if it causes us to lose sight of the one we are supposed to be serving. When Martha asks Jesus to make Mary help her, He tells her that she is anxious and disturbed about many things. But what we’re going to read next is what I refer to as the “teaching moment” in this passage.