DAY 20: The Good Part

I am sure Jesus' response to Martha must have been startling and totally unexpected. Instead of being ruffled by her attitude He addressed her with love and kindness. Instead of taking sides He seemingly endorsed her sister's laziness. More than that, He actually called it the "good part". 

At this point we need to step out of the story for a moment and consider the scarcity of paper at the time the gospels were written down. We need to think of all the stories that were included and the many more that were not deemed significant enough. We need to consider the oral culture in the first century BC and why this little episode was worth repeating over and over. We need to step outside of time and consider God from eternity past taking on flesh and walking among us. He was not a theological concept to Mary and Martha. He was one of them, so much so, that they often forgot that He was more than that.

The Holy Spirit who inspired the eternal word of God made a statement by inspiring the gospel writers to include this simple episode that did not feature any dramatic miracle, healing, salvation or deep theological revelation. Instead, it featured two single sisters at odds with each other over who is cooking dinner. Why? 

A couple chapters later Jesus will ask the rich young ruler: Why do you call me good? No one is good, except God alone. In this little village which was known for housing the sick and the poor God in the flesh would call ministry to Him the good part and worshipping Him a good work (Mark 14:6. Time, attention and money, resources that could have been spent on a broken and hurting world just outside their door were well spent in the presence of Jesus. The Holy Spirit thought so, the Gospel writers thought so, and God in the flesh said so.