What is Most Needful? [8-31-25]

August 31, 2025

Luke 10:38-42

“What Is Most Needful?”

Here is today’s passage:

Now as they went on their way, Jesus entered a village. And a woman named Martha welcomed him into her house. And she had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet and listened to his teaching. But Martha was distracted with much serving. And she went up to him and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.” But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”

First, we need to place this moment within the trajectory of our salvation history. Remember in these final ten chapters, Jesus has set his face for Jerusalem. Today’s passage is six months away from the cross. Six months. The final six months of Jesus’ earthly life. Keep that in mind. It helps us understand the significance of everything Luke writes. Miracles will take a backseat to teachings and teachable moments.

Here are several helpful facts found in the underneathness of these short verses:

First, Mary and Martha share a love for the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the reason they are together in Martha’s house.

Second, Martha isn’t an enemy of Jesus. She loves Jesus. She believes in Jesus. Martha is a friend of Jesus. She simply gets this one thing wrong. And it is a big enough of a deal to get wrong that Jesus has to correct her.

Third, Martha wants Mary to be like her. She judges her because she’s not. How many times does that expectation undermine relationships? This moment foreshadows the older brother’s complaint about his younger brother in an upcoming parable.

So, we’ve got a few things going on with Mary and Martha. Let’s get down to what is essential.

What is most essential in your life?

Martha thinks it’s busyness. She thinks it’s serving the needs of others. You can hear it in the edginess of the question she asks Jesus. “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone?” This is an admonish-ment of Jesus. She lacks understanding what is essential to life, in that moment. It causes her to mock the man who has set his face for the cross, where he will die for her sin. We can hardly imagine doing such a thing. But she does it. Martha does it.

“Lord, do you not care,” is one of the most graceless statements anyone has ever said to Jesus. That’s how caught up she gets in her own stuff. That’s how tunnel-visioned she gets about being busy with serving. “Lord, do you not care?” Does Martha mean the one who said you can cast all your cares upon him? What a sad attack. Over the top. Out of control. Here she is, in the presence of the life-changing, sin-shattering, eternal-life-giving, joyful, peaceful presence of Jesus, and she accuses him of not caring.

Which makes Jesus’ response to her even more amazing. Remember, his

face is set for the cross. He is in the final six months of his life. Martha is so flippant and cutting toward him. Yet there’s tenderness in how Jesus responds. It’s a sympathetic rebuke. She’s got things messed up. Usually, it’s a good thing to be concerned about food and orderliness. That’s what she’s good at, and under normal circumstances it would all be good. But these are not normal circumstances. Jesus is so gentle with her. Right now, in this moment, the only important thing is doing what Mary is doing. It’s listening to Jesus. It’s joyfully being in the presence of Jesus. Now is not the time to grumble.

Imagine you are doing a person-on-the-street interview. You ask, “What is the most important thing in life?” “What is essential to your life?” “What is the uppermost priority in your life?”

You are digging at something that precedes everything else. It’s ahead of everything else. What is supreme in your life? What is foundational? What is preeminent? What do you place before everything else and anything else in your life?

That would be a fun conversation to have. How about asking a nonbeliever

those questions? How about asking a Christian those questions? What is most needful in your life?

I read about a guy who forgot the orange juice when he ran to the store. His wife really wanted the orange juice. He didn’t want to, but he ran back out to the store. While there, he decided to buy two lottery tickets. One was a winner. A 315 million dollar winner. Not too shabby. Would that fit the bill of the most needful thing in your life?

How about good looks? I mean, I look around, and we’re not too shabby a bunch, but is there room for improvement? Sydney Sweeney and Tom Brady shouldn’t get all the attention. Would that fit the bill of the most needful thing in a person’s life? Good looks?

We could go on and on. You get the point. What is the one essential thing in life?

Years ago, Irish band U2 had a song that stated, “But I still haven’t found

what I’m looking for.” Some of you might remember it. I think that’s the gist of some of the responses to your person-on-the-street question you’d get. I also think an adorable little video clip perfectly sums up the point:

Play Clip

First point…and most important point…we don’t find Jesus. Jesus finds us. He’s captured the attention of Mary. And with mercy and grace, he draws Martha in, too. This isn’t a story about serving or women’s roles or even sibling rivalry. It is a about Jesus saving lost people. And what we’ll do once we realize he has found us.

Make no mistake. I’m a simple person. I generally like things fresh, simple, and honest. I’m not a big fan of complexity. Which is why today’s encounter speaks to me. There’s nothing complicated. It’s simply Mary and Martha in the presence of their Lord. It’s learning from Jesus. It’s being encouraged by Jesus. It’s finding joy hearing his words. We know there are difficulties in life. There are challenges. There’s pain and hardship. Right here, Jesus is showing us the one essential thing adding meaning and purpose to life. It is what is most needful as we navigate our way through

the good, the bad, and the ugly of life.

Do you remember how authoritarian things were in 2020-2021, in the first year of the pandemic? Bad enough a man was arrested in California for paddleboarding by himself in the ocean. That’s just one example. In 2021, Canadian law enforcement raided a church at dawn, locked it down and barricaded it behind three layers of fencing. They were in violation of federal lockdown laws by continuing to gather for worship. The pastor spent five weeks in prison.

“One thing is necessary,” Jesus says. Mary knows the priority of worship. Remember what The Westminster Confession says is our chief end:

TO GLORIFY GOD, AND ENJOY HIM FOREVER.

That is the ultimate purpose or goal of human existence.

Here’s an interesting sidenote about Mary. What isn’t mentioned serves to make a huge point. We learn nothing specific about Mary from these verses. Zero. Zilch. Nada. Yet Mary is a central figure in the story. She is an example of what is most needful for followers of Jesus Christ. “To glorify

God, and enjoy Him forever.”

I love how one pastor captures it:

“SUPREMELY AND CLIMACTICALLY, WE PRAISE GOD THROUGH CHRIST, IN CHRIST, FOR CHRIST, AND TO THE GLORY OF GOD IN CHRIST.”

H.B. Charles, Jr.

“One thing is necessary.” Here’s what that means {and it’s something you might want to write down}:

TO GIVE FULL DEVOTION OF THE HEART AND FULL ATTENTION TO CHRIST.

Today’s passage establishes worship as our highest priority. Nothing is more important than listening to Jesus. Nothing is more important than learning from Jesus. Nothing is more important than honoring him with our hearts. As Jesus says in John 4:23:

“But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true

worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the

Father is seeking such people to worship him.”

Indeed, it is crucial that we not become so concerned with doing things for

Jesus that we begin to neglect hearing him and remembering what he has done for us. Amen?

Here’s how Paul puts it in Romans 10:2-4:

“For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. For, being ignorant of the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.”

Hear me now and believe me later…any church or spiritual movement where works of any kind are pressed as important or more important than authentic faith and/or sound doctrine, you’ll discover a faith that diminishes Christ while magnifying self.

Martha’s problem isn’t that she doesn’t love Jesus. Her faith is real. But she gets too caught up in herself. She is driven by activity. It all comes out in her harshness toward Mary.

Protestia is a website which provides critical analysis of the state of

Christianity from a Protestant Reformed position. They are not bashful about launching critical attacks against ideas or movements which are contrary to the gospel. Their strong opinions can be quite controversial, at times.

Well, earlier in the month they lobbed a doozie of a grenade. Before I share an excerpt from an article they posted, you need to know what Only Fans is. Only Fans is a social media site where women post sometimes indiscreet photos and profiles of themselves. It is not a good thing.

With that in mind, the article stated:

“Better to marry a former Only Fans model who has come to know the depths of her sin and the mercy of the Lord, than an unkissed virgin with a haughty look and a proud heart.”

Now, I’m not saying Mary in any way, shape, or form is an ancient version of a reformed Only Fans model. Not at all. All I’m saying is Martha, by neglecting the needful thing, misses the freeing presence of Jesus. As an

old hymn puts it:

There is a fountain filled with blood,

Drawn from Immanuel’s veins;

And sinners, plunged beneath that flood,

Lose all their guilty stains.

That is what Martha is at risk of missing out on.

Here’s something else you might want to write down:

WHAT WE BELIEVE IS MORE CRUCIAL THAN WHAT WE DO.

Now, that doesn’t mean that what we do isn’t important. We can hold two truths in one hand. All Jesus is saying is the one thing is more important than all the others. As James 2:14-16 says:

What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that?

Simply put, good works flow out of a right relationship with Jesus.

We must never think more highly of our works for Christ than we do of his

works on our behalf. How can we ever know what Jesus wants us to do if

we don’t first sit down and listen to him? That is the most needful thing.

Of the two sisters, Mary chooses the better way. Any other path leads to despair and destruction.

We’ll close with an observation from Neal McDonough. An actor, he’s married with five children. He won’t make a movie or do a television series in which his character has to kiss a woman. Even in acting, he won’t kiss any woman who isn’t his wife. It has cost him over the years. But that’s where his commitment to his Savior and his wife leads him.

Here’s what he says about our spiritual journey:

I don’t have it all figured out.

But I know the One who does.

And every day, I choose to trust Him not because life is easy, but because Christ is faithful.

My peace doesn’t come from perfect circumstances…

It comes from knowing I walk with a perfect Savior.

And together, the imperfect people of God say:

SOLI DEO GLORIA…

To the Glory of God Alone