One Thing - Mary Of Bethany

Luke 10:38-42

Have you ever seen a “phone basket” at a party? It’s intended as a place to leave your cell phone so you’re not tempted to check your texts or Facebook while you’re at the event. Sometimes there’s a sign that says something like, “Be with the friends who are here.” It’s just too easy these days to be distracted from a face-to-face conversation by an electronic tug from someone asking about a work project or wondering what you’re doing tomorrow night.

Mary would have happily dumped her cell phone in the basket so she could focus on the friends at the party—one Friend in particular. Mary, along with her sister, Martha, and brother, Lazarus, was a friend of Jesus. One night they invited Jesus to dinner, as friends tend to do. It’s easy to imagine that even when Jesus was having a simple dinner with some of his friends, he would dominate the conversation. Everything he said was important.

Mary understood that. She sat at Jesus’ feet, listening to his words. To sit at the feet of a rabbi like Jesus meant to learn from him as his disciple. Jesus was educating Mary about faith, the same way he taught the twelve disciples he chose to follow him.

Of course, sister Martha, multitasking in the kitchen, became frustrated that Mary was sitting and listening instead of slicing and dicing. When Martha complained, Jesus told her that all her meal preparations were distracting her from the most important thing. Mary had found that “one thing,” and he wasn’t about to take it away.

The “one thing” was learning from Jesus. Nowadays, we have the Bible to help us learn the things that Jesus taught in person. We can look to Mary as an example of how to treat our Bible-study time—don’t allow the other distractions to pull us away.

Leave the cell phone in another room. Shut down the laptop. Focus on the Word. If you bring the things that distract you to your study time, of course you’ll be distracted by them. You’ve got a much better chance of gaining something that “will not be taken away” if you give it your full attention.

There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it, and it will not be taken away from her.

Luke 10:42