That Good Part Luke 10:38-42 Fellowship with God involves hearing Him speak to us through His word and speaking to Him in prayer. As a result of the interaction of devotion in personal communion, spiritual understanding comes, and we go about our daily work for Him in the consciousness of His presence with us. The practice of prayer by our Lord Jesus Christ stirred an interest in His disciples in the practice of prayer. Six times up to this place in the Gospel of Luke, we read of Jesus praying. Beginning at verse twenty-one in this chapter, we read Jesus's words to the Father when He was praying. The frequency of prayer was emphasized in the earlier accounts of His praying, but here, in chapter ten, it is the content rather than the frequency that is being made. The disciples had been told of the closeness of the Father and the Son, and now, when the seventy returned, they heard what communication with the Father is like.
In the brief account of Jesus at the house of Martha, the Spirit of God speaks again of women who followed the Lord and provided for His physical necessities. Perhaps the father of these women was Simon, the leper, who lived in Bethany and had a feast for the Lord Jesus. While He was in the house, the Lord Jesus Christ continued to pass on the truth to those who were there. Mary wanted to know the truths He taught and was committed enough to stop everything she was doing and listen intently to what He said. Her devotion to the Lord was greater than her service to Him. She didn’t allow the distractions of meeting physical needs to distract her from her spiritual needs.
It is a principle that we need to remember and daily practice – the spiritual takes precedence over the physical. Meeting the needs of our soul and spirit is far more important than our body's comfort. Time spent learning about those things that affect our soul and spirit, which are eternal, is not wasted time. Our earthly concerns will always be known in our senses because our bodies are mortal, not eternal. By our very nature as humans, we respond quicker to the physical needs of our body than to the spiritual needs of our soul and spirit.
Luke’s account of incidents in the ministry of our Lord Jesus does not always follow a chronological order. The teaching the Spirit of God is giving here through Luke has to do with discipleship, and so does following a theme rather than time. In this chapter, we learn that disciples are to demonstrate love. “By this shall all men know you are My disciples indeed if you love one another.” We are to love the lost people around us and tell them the good news of salvation by grace through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. The seventy disciples did that, and so should we. We are to love the Lord our God without any reservation and also love our neighbors in the way we love ourselves. That love becomes evident both by attitude and actions. Love for the Lord makes us want to be near Him, listen to Him, and seek to be like Him.
The homes of common people in Bethany then were likely similar to many today. One large room is where people live, converse, and do the daily tasks needed to live. Some homes have a place outside where cooking is done, but food preparation and all associated with normal daily living is done so everyone is involved in what is happening. Martha would have heard some of what the Lord was saying as she prepared the meal, but she focused on what she was doing. Mary stopped what she was doing and sat as close as she could to hear what Jesus was saying and teaching. Both women loved the Lord, but their view of serving the Lord was different. Expressions of love differ in different people. Martha loved the Lord and wanted to serve Him to express her love. Mary loved the Lord and wanted to hear Him speak.
The Lord said Mary had chosen the “good part” because she was concerned with Him, not with what she was doing for Him. Martha may have thought what Mary was doing was simply being lazy and thought she was inferior to avoid doing the same thing Martha was doing. This can easily happen when we neglect the Person of our Lord Jesus Christ in our desire to serve Him effectively. We may then mistake comparing what other people do for the Lord with what we are doing.
Serving others can become self-serving when we don’t have our priorities right. Being busy for the Lord is good but can easily deteriorate into busyness rather than devotion to the Lord. “To know Him, and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His suffering, being made conformable unto His death,” is fundamental to worship, service, and discipleship.
The Lord did not tell Mary to stop listening and get up and help make the meal, nor did He say to Martha to stop serving and sit down and listen. Both of those sisters were doing what was right. The issue was whether it was more important to listen to what the Lord Jesus had to say or to do what we could for Him. Devoted service is not wrong as long as we don’t try to compare what we do for the Lord to what other people do when they listen to His words as devoted listeners. The Lord knows our individuality and motives in listening, learning, laboring, and serving.
In a practical sense, we can learn from this incident that elaborate hospitality that we think we must show to the Lord and His people is not needed as much as personal and meaningful communication with Him and/or those seated at our table. Food for the body is important, but food for the soul and spirit is more important. The first is short-lived. The last will endure forever. It is the “good part,” not only because it lasts longer but because it gives us satisfaction in a much deeper way than satisfying a recurring appetite. The contrast between “many things” and “one thing” really sums up the significance the Holy Spirit puts on this particular incident in the daily life of a Christian home.
LUKE 11 OUR LORD TEACHES HIS OWN