But one thing is needful:— "There is one thing absolutely necessary, and of infinitely greater importance than any of those domestic and secular affairs; even the care to have the soul instructed in the saving knowledge of the way that leads to eternal life, and to secure a title to it. And Mary is wisely attending to this; therefore, instead of reproving her, I must rather declare, that she has chosen what may eminently be called the good part, which shall not be taken away from her,—which I would by no means hinder her from pursuing; but rather invite thee to join with her in attention to it, though the circumstances of the intended meal should not be so exactly adjusted as thy friendship could desire." There is a peculiar spirit and tenderness in our Lord's repetition of Martha's name, Martha! Martha! Nothing can be more frigid than the interpretation given by some of this passage, which certainlycontains a most important truth: Thou art careful and troubled about many dishes, but there is need of one only. The praise bestowed on Mary, as having chosen a better part than Martha, does not imply that the contemplative life is more acceptable in the sight of God than the active, as the Papists would have us believe: for though it should be granted that the comparison is carried on between the employments of Martha and Mary, as they stand in the sight of God, the conclusion will not follow which they pretend to draw from it. The reason is plain; they are not two courses of life, but two particular actions, which are here compared; in which case nobody will deny, that to hear the word of God as occasion offers, provided we do it with a view to profit by it, is more acceptable in the sight of God, than to exercise any art or occupation relative to the present life; for no other reason, however, but that it tends more to the happiness of the person himself, which is the great end that God has proposed in all his laws and ordinances. In the mean time it may be doubted, whether this be the meaningof the comparison; our Lord designed rather to signify, that though he was not displeased with Martha's civility, Mary's listening to his doctrine wasmore acceptable to him, because he had infinitely greater pleasure in instructing, sanctifying, and saving souls, than in any kind of sensual indulgences whatsoever. As he beautifully expressed it on another occasion, His meat and his drink was, to do the will of his heavenly Father.
Inferences on Our Lord's interview with Martha and Mary. The foxes have holes, and the birds of the air have nests; he that had all things, possessed nothing: our Lord was now in his way; the sun might sooner stand still than he; the more we move according to his will, the more we resemble heaven, and God its Maker. His progress was now to Jerusalem, for some holy feast: he whose devotion neglected not any of those sacred solemnities, will not neglect the due opportunities of his bodily refreshment; he knew where a ready welcome awaited him, and retires to the village of Bethany.
There dwelt the two devout sisters, with their brother, his friend Lazarus: their roof receives him: O happy house, into which the Son of God vouchsafed to set his foot! O blessed women, that had the grace to be the hostesses of the God of Heaven! How might we envy your felicity, did we not see the same favour lying open to us also, if we be not wanting to ourselves. We have two ways of entertaining the Saviour:—in his members, and in himself: in his members, by charity and hospitality: for what we do to one of his little ones, we do to him; in himself, by faith:—If any man open, he will come in, and sup with him.
Martha, it seems, as being the eldest sister, bore the name of the housekeeper; Mary was her assistant in the charge: a blessed pair, sisters not more in nature than in grace, in spirit no less than in flesh. How happy a thing is it, when all the parties in a family are jointly agreed to entertain Christ!
While his bodily repast is preparing, he prepares spiritual food for his hosts: his best cheer was to see them spiritually fed; how then should they whom he has called to the sacred function be instant in season, and out of season, after his blessed example! They are, by his divine ordination, the lights of the world: and we know that no sooner is the candle lighted, than it communicates the light which it has received, never intermitting, till it be wasted to the snuff.
Martha's house is become a school of Divinity. Jesus, as the doctor, sits in the chair: Martha, Mary, and the rest, sit as disciples at his feet. Had these sisters provided our Saviour never such costly delicacies, or waited on his board never so officiously, yet, had they not listened to his instructions, they would never have bidden him welcome, nor would he so well have liked his entertainment. This was truly the way to feast him;—to feed their ears with his heavenly doctrine: O Saviour, let my soul be thus feasted by thee; do thou thus feast thyself by feeding me: this mutual diet shall be thy praise, and my happiness.
Though Martha was for a time an attentive hearer, yet now her care of Christ's entertainment removes her from his audience. Mary sits still: Martha's care is to feast Jesus, Mary's to be feasted of him: good Martha was desirous to express her joy and thankfulness for the presence of so blessed a Guest, by a careful and plenteous entertainment: and who will censure this excess of her solicitude to welcome her Saviour? Doubtless, she herself thought she did well; and, out of that confidence, fears not to complain to Christ of her inactive sister.
I do not see her come to her sister, and whisper in her ear the great need of her aid; but she comes to Jesus, and in a sort of petulant expostulation, addresses him, (Luke 10:40.) Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? Why did not she rather make the first application to her sister? Was it that she knew Mary's ears were so tied with those adamantine chains which issued from Christ's mouth, that till his silence and dismission she had no power to stir? Or was it out of honour and respect to Christ, that in his presence she would not presume to call off her sister, without his leave?
We cannot, however, excuse this holy woman from some weaknesses; it was a fault to measure her sister by herself; and, apprehending her own act to be good, to think her sister could not do well, if she acted not alike. It was a fault, that she thought an excessive care for the liberal outward entertainment of Christ, was to be preferred to a diligent attention to his spiritual entertainment of them; and it was a fault, that she presumed, as it were, to question her Saviour, as of a kind of disrespect to her toil:—Lord dost thou not care?
And yet, surely, Martha, it will be allowed, that thou here wantedst not fair pretences for the ground of thy expostulation: Mary, the younger, sits still, while thou art cumbered with much serving: and what work was thine, but the hospitable reception of thy Saviour and his train?—Not for the gratification of thy own, or any carnal friend's luxury, but for the refreshment of Christ himself, to whom thou couldst never be too obsequious:—all this, however, cannot deliver thee from the just blame of this hasty and petulant complaint. How ready is our weakness, upon every discontentment, to quarrel with our best friend; yea, with our good God; and, the more we are touched, to think ourselves the more neglected, and to challenge heaven for our own neglect!
It could not but trouble devout Mary, to hear her sister's impatient remonstrance.—A remonstrance, urged too with so great vehemency, as if such a strangeness had now subsisted between the two sisters, that the one would do nothing for the other without the compulsion of a superior. And yet, we hear not one word of reply from that modest mouth. O holy Mary, I admire thy patient silence; thy sister now blames thee for thy piety; the disciples (afterwards) blame thee for thy bounty and cost: not a word falls from thee in just vindication of thine honour and innocence; but in a humble taciturnity thou leavest thine answer to thy Saviour. What an admirable lesson is thine for us, when complained of for well-doing, to seal up our lips, and wait our vindication from above!
And how sure and ready is our Lord to speak in the case of the modestly-dumb; Martha! Martha! &c. (Luke 10:41.) What needed Mary to speak for herself, when she had such an advocate? Doubtless, Martha had been in a manner divided from herself with the multiplicity of her anxious thoughts: our Lord therefore doubles her name in his appellation; that thus, amid such distraction, he may both find, and fix her heart; doubtless she fully expected that Christ would have sent away her sister with a check, and herself with thanks; but now her hopes fail her; and though she be not directly reproved, yet she hears her sister more approved than herself: Martha! Martha! thou art careful, and troubled about many things.
Our Saviour receives courtesy from her in this diligent and costly entertainment; yet will he not gloss over her error, or sooth her in her weak misprision—A caution to us, that no obligations may so enthral us, as that our tongues should not be free to reprove faults, where we find them.
Alas! how much care do we see every where, but how few Marthas? Her solicitude was for her Saviour's entertainment, ours is for ourselves: one finds perplexities in his estate, from which he desires to extricate himself; another racks his thoughts for the raising of his house, or distracts his imagination about the doubtful condition, as he thinks, of the times, and casts, in his anxious fancy, the possible events of all things,—opposing his hopes to his fears. O why do we so needlessly, so fondly set our hearts upon the rack, and with such avidity endure to bend under those unequal burdens, which more able shoulders have offered to undertake for our ease?
Whether Martha be pitied or taxed for her assiduity, Mary is evidently applauded for her devotion: (Luke 10:42.) One thing is needful, and Mary hath chosen, &c. One thing is necessary, not by way of negation, as if nothing were necessary but this; but comparatively, since nothing else is so necessary. There must be no opposition, but a subordination only, between spiritual and temporal things; the body and soul must be friends, not rivals; nor may we so cultivate the Christian as to neglect the man.
How great is the vanity of those men, who, neglecting that one thing necessary, affect many things superfluous! Nothing is needless with worldly minds, but this only necessary thing, the care of their souls. How justly do they lose that which they care not for, while they take an over-care for that, which is neither their proper pursuit, nor possible to be kept. Mary chose the good part; it was not forced upon her, but taken up by her own option; and we too have still this holy freedom of choice, through the divine operation of him, who hath called us unto the glorious liberty of the sons of God. Happy are we, if we improve this liberty to the best advantage of our souls.
The liability of good adds much to its praise: Martha's part was soon gone; the thanks and use of a little outward hospitality cannot long continue; but Mary's shall not be taken away from her. The act of her hearing was transient: the fruit was permanent; she now hears that, which may abide with her for ever, if faithful unto death.
But what couldst thou hear, O Mary, from those sacred lips, which we hear not still?—That heavenly doctrine, for ever still the same, and equally unchangeable with its author. It is not impossible, that the exercise of the gospel should be taken from us; but, if we be faithful, the benefit and virtue of the gospel will be as inseparable from our souls, as is their being: in the hardest times, they shall take the closest hold upon the persevering believer; and till death, and in death, yea, and after death, shall make him eternally happy.
REFLECTIONS.—1st, The harvest was plenteous, but hitherto the labourers had been few. We have therefore seventy disciples ordained to the ministry, invested with miraculous powers, and sent as harbingers to prepare the way of Christ in all the adjacent country whither he was preparing to go. Their number corresponds with the elders of Israel on whom the Spirit of the Lord rested in the wilderness; and they were sent two and two for their mutual comfort and encouragement.
1. They must address themselves in prayer to God for success upon their own labours, and that he would raise up and qualify many more to go forth and preach the gospel. And this must be still the constant subject of our requests to God: the more we look round on the world, and see immortal souls perishing for lack of knowledge, the more zealously should we labour, and the more fervently pray that the Lord would send forth labourers into his harvest.
2. He tells them what they may expect to meet with. Though they were never so harmless and inoffensive, and their discourses breathed nothing but peace and love, they would have enemies to encounter, fierce and savage as wolves: but he who sent them would afford them protection, and minister strength and courage to them in their work. And, if God be with us, we need not fear who are against us.
3. He orders them to make no provision for their journey, but trust in Providence for the supply of their wants: and, as their work required dispatch, they must not lose any time in unnecessary discourse or civilities with any person whom they met. Not that Christ enjoined rudeness and incivility; but there was no time for compliments, when the service was urgent.
4. Wherever they entered into a house, there he orders them to say Peace be to this house, praying that all blessings, spiritual, temporal, and eternal, might rest upon those who dwelt there. And if the son of peace be there, any who wait for the consolation of Israel, and of consequence into whose hearts the Son of God hath put a desire to hear and receive the gospel of peace, then an answer of peace should be given to their prayers, your peace shall rest upon it; but if not, if there be none in the family, whose hearts are open to embrace the truth, it shalt turn to you again, and your prayers for them shall be answered in blessings on your own souls. Note; (1.) They who preach the gospel of peace, cannot but fervently desire, for all those among whom they minister, that God would speak peace by them to the consciences of their hearers. (2.) Some receive, but more reject, our preaching and prayers; yet even to those who perish, our labours and prayers are not in vain; we are still a sweet favour of Christ; and, though they reject the salvation which we bring, Christ will approve and reward our fidelity.
5. In whatever house they were at first received, there they must abide; thankfully and cheerfully making use of the provision set before them, and not doubting but their labours would procure them that welcome which they deserved. They must be content with the meanest fare, and never, affecting nicety, change their lodgings for better accommodations, lest they should incur the suspicion of being fickle or flesh-pleasers. Note; (1.) Christ's ministers have a right to a maintenance. (2.) When the love of souls, not of filthy lucre, draws men to labour in the gospel, they will learn, in whatever state they are, therewith to be content, and put up with the poorest accommodations.
6. He directs them what must be the subject of their preaching. They must say, The kingdom of God is come nigh unto you; the kingdom of the Messiah, with all its inestimable blessings and privileges, is now ready to appear; prepare to receive him: and he empowers them to heal the sick, in confirmation of their preaching, as well as in return for the kind civilities which they received. Note; Nothing is ever lost by kindness shewn to Jesus and his servants.
7. In case their ministry is rejected, and they are driven from their work, they are to leave that devoted city, publicly declaring the doom ready to light upon the place, and shaking off the dust of their feet for a testimony against the inhabitants thereof, assuring them of the nearness of the Messiah's kingdom, and the dreadful consequences which must unavoidably ensue from their obstinacy and impenitence. And in the day of judgment it shall be more tolerable for Sodom than for the inhabitants of that city, because they have rejected greater means of grace than were vouchsafed to that abandoned city. Note; (1.) None sink under such aggravated guilt as those who despise and reject the gospel. (2.) The day is near when these despisers will wonder and perish.
8. On this occasion our Lord turns his discourse to the inhabitants of those cities where such multitudes of his miracles had been wrought, and who notwithstanding continued impenitent. Chorazin, Bethsaida, have their fearful doom read. Had the most wicked cities of the Gentiles enjoyed their blessings, and privileges, and calls to repentance, even Tyre and Sidon had long ago been brought into the dust of humiliation. Therefore the judgment of the impenitent heathen, in the day of vengeance, shall be more tolerable than theirs: and the inhabitants of Capernaum, exalted to heaven in privileges, shall sink as low in hell under the wrath of God, provoked by their hardened infidelity. Let the lands and places that enjoy the gospel light, hear, and tremble at these denunciations.
9. He encourages the seventy to go forth. They are his ambassadors: he will reckon the treatment they meet with as shewn to himself. Those who heard and respected them, he would regard, as if they shewed this attention and kindness to his own person; while they who despised their persons, and rejected their ministry, he would consider as insulting him, and putting contempt on God who sent him. Note; Many ill-use, slight, and contemn Christ's ministers, and treat them as mean and despicable; but they will shortly feel, to their cost, that the King of glory will fearfully avenge the insults shewn to his ambassadors.
2nd, Having finished their ministry, we have,
1. The return of the disciples to their Master, transported to find that even the devils were subject unto them, and ascribing the glory to him, in whose name they were enabled to work such stupendous miracles. Note; All our victories over Satan must be ascribed to the grace and power of the great Captain of our salvation, and in him we may and ought to rejoice greatly.
2. He received them very graciously.
(1.) He tells them it was no news to him that the devils were subject unto them. I beheld when I sent you forth to preach the gospel and work miracles, Satan as lightning fall from heaven; his power and kingdom began now to be shaken and totter; and this was the presage of his more irretrievable ruin, when in the Gentile world the gospel should quickly spread, and, rooting up idolatry and spiritual darkness, turn the hearts of sinners from the power of Satan unto God.
(2.) He enlarges their powers, as the reward of their fidelity, and an encouragement to persevere. They shall tread upon serpents and scorpions unhurt; and the old serpents and his venomous associates, whether men or devils, should be bruised under their feet. And nothing shall by any means hurt you. Under almighty protection you may defy every danger. Note; They have nothing to fear, who have Christ for their master, and execute his commission.
(3.) He checks their joy on this singular distinction with which he endued them, and directs them to a nobler cause for it; rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven; else, though they had cast out devils, they might themselves finally perish, and become companions with them. It is not gifts, but graces that evidence our adoption of God, which should afford us most joy.
(4.) Christ expresses his delight and thankfulness for the blessings conferred on these his poor disciples: and to this hour nothing rejoices the hearts of his people so greatly as beholding the progress of his gospel, the fall of Satan, and the conversion of men's souls. He said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, the great Disposer of all things, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes, leaving the proud scribes and doctors of law under the darkness of pretended science, wilfully and obstinately prejudiced against and strangers to the mysteries of grace; while poor illiterate men, of low capacities, and contemptible in the eyes of the worldly-wise, are put in trust with the gospel, and enlightened with the Spirit of truth. Even so, Father, for so it seemed good in thy sight: such was the pleasure of infinite wisdom, the more to manifest his own glory. All things are delivered to me of my Father, all power and authority, all wisdom and grace to communicate to them that believe. In Jesus are all the treasures thereof laid up, and out of his fulness we must receive. And no man knoweth who the Son is but the Father, and who the Father is but the Son, and he to whom the Son will reveal him: the perfections of the divine nature are only fully known by the divine Persons themselves; and we can only be acquainted with them, and their gracious purposes towards fallen man, so far as the Son of God is pleased to reveal them to us: and he does reveal them to every believing soul.
(5.) Turning to his disciples privately, he pronounces them truly blessed, favoured with the sight of the Lord's Christ, and enjoying clear discoveries of that kingdom of grace, which the Messiah was now come to erect in the world. Prophets and kings in former ages desired in vain to see and hear what they, more highly favoured, saw and heard. Note; The distinguishing mercies we enjoy, should exercise our thankfulness, and quicken our diligence to improve them.
3rdly, We have the same question proposed by one of the scribes, as was put by the young ruler, Mark 10:17 not so much with a view to be informed, as with the intention to entangle our Lord in his talk.
1. In answer to his question, Christ turns him over to the law; in which he fancied himself deeply conversant, and bids him say what he read there, as the way of obtaining the eternal life which he sought: and when the scribe replied, that the conditions there prescribed were the perfect love of God and our neighbour, Christ approves the answer, and assures him, Do this, and thou shalt live. Such perfection of obedience without any deviation will entitle those who can plead it, to the reward. But where alas! is this to be found? The more we read the tenor of the covenant of works, the more, if our minds are enlightened, shall we be driven to despair of ourselves, conscious how far we have been from continuing in all the things written in the book of the law to do them. But the lawyer had not read with this view. For,
2. He, willing to justify himself, as if he had kept the whole law, desired to know who was to be reckoned his neighbour; conceiting, probably, that his justice and charity had been so extensive to the whole house of Israel, that he might justly claim the reward of immaculate obedience.
3. Christ, by an apposite case in point, lets him see his ignorance of the divine law, and the defectiveness of his charity; correcting at the same time the corrupt notions of the Jewish teachers, who reckoned themselves not at all obliged to shew the least kindness to those who were out of the pale of their communion. The history here represented is very beautiful and affecting.
[1.] A Jew, as he travelled from Jerusalem to Jericho, fell among thieves, with which the road was greatly infested; and these, not satisfied with having plundered and stripped him of his raiment, inhumanly wounded him, and departed, leaving him weltering in his blood, half dead, and ready to expire. This case may fitly represent the state of mankind, by nature way-laid by Satan the great enemy of souls, robbed of the garments of innocence, wounded, and dying in their sins, without power or strength to help themselves.
[2.] In this disastrous condition, in which the poor wounded traveller lay, by chance there came down a certain priest that way, whose office and character should have engaged him to exercise his humanity and compassion towards an object so pitiable, especially to one of his own nation and religion: but his unfeeling heart was steeled against his brother, and, turning to the other side of the road, he pursued his journey unconcerned. A Levite quickly followed, as callous to every humane sensation: he just came and looked on; and, not caring to be at the trouble or expence of providing for a dying man, he kept on his way, and left him to perish there. Hard-hearted monsters! cries every tongue. But alas! such Levites and priests are found in every age, who not only with-hold their hand from relieving the wants of the miserable, but leave the more precious souls of men to perish, unconcerned what becomes of them. Some suppose that these represent the law of Moses, from which no mercy is to be expected: it makes no provision for a man a sinner, nor speaks one word of comfort to the guilty; but leaves the soul under a curse which extends to eternal death.
[3.] A Samaritan, one of that despised nation, travelling that way, saw the miserable object, and compassion instantly melted his heart. Without waiting to know of what country he was, he went to him; and pouring oil and wine into his wounds, he bound them carefully up, perhaps with the very linen garments that he wore, and, gently setting him on his own beast, he carried him to the nearest inn, and saw every accommodation provided for him which the place would afford. And on the morrow, having waited that night to see the poor patient well provided for, he gave the host, on parting, two-pence, about fifteen pence of our money, with a charge to take all possible care of the wounded man; and engaged to defray, on his return, whatever expence might be farther incurred. A noble instance indeed of humanity and generosity! We cannot be at a loss to whom this character of the good Samaritan eminently belongs. Jesus is come down from heaven; he sees sinners lying in their blood, helpless and desperate; his compassions are kindled towards them; he binds up the wounds of the guilty sinner's soul, even of all who will believe; his own blood is the healing balm that he pours into them; he brings them into his church, where they are fed with the provision of his ordinances; he revives them with the cordials of his love, and bears their charges through the inn of this world, supporting them with the riches of his grace; he commends them to the care of his ministers, whose diligence, if they be faithful to the end, he will not fall, at his second coming, to reward.
4. Christ proposes to the lawyer the question, which of these was the neighbour to the wounded traveller? and the case was too clear to admit of hesitation; he could not but answer, He that shewed mercy on him. Then said Jesus unto him, Go, and do thou likewise. Think not you have kept the law, or even understood the extent of the command, before you feel the same compassionate spirit, the same readiness to relieve even a Samaritan, as he shewed towards this Jew.—An extent of charity to which he had been hitherto an utter stranger; and therefore his self-justification was self-delusion.
4thly, We have,
1. The hospitable entertainment given to our blessed Lord by a good woman who lived at Bethany, named Martha. Though his character was obnoxious, and his retinue numerous and poor, yet she was not ashamed of owning her respect for him, and was happy to furnish him with the best that her house afforded. A gracious heart makes an open hand. We should grudge no expence, when Christ's cause demands our support.
2. Mary, the sister of Martha, sat at Jesus' feet, attentive to his divine instructions; and, as, according to his usual custom, he began to discourse about the glad tidings of his salvation, she listened with eagerness to the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. Note; (1.) Ministers not only in public, but from house to house, should delight to dispense the gospel-word. They are profitable visits, when a gracious discourse seasons the entertainment. (2.) They who would be wise unto salvation, must sit at Jesus' feet.
3. Martha, desirous to shew her respect for her honoured guest, was very busy in providing the entertainment. Her diligence was commendable; but she was too much taken up, cumbered with much serving; she wanted to make the feast splendid, and was so distracted with those worldly engagements, that she could not find leisure to attend the heavenly discourse of the Redeemer. Note; (1.) Family cares, inordinately engaging the mind, are a great snare to our souls. (2.) Christ's servants should not cumber themselves with much serving. They who eat and drink to the glory of God, will not look for delicacies.
4. Displeased that Mary came not to her assistance, Martha brings her complaint to Christ; Lord, dost thou not care that my sister hath left me to serve alone? She seems not only to blame Mary's backwardness to assist her, but almost reflects upon Jesus, that he should suffer her to sit there, when she wanted her help in the family; and therefore suggests that it was but reasonable, that he should bid her go, and assist in providing for the guests. Note; (1.) They who have their own hearts much set upon the world, are ready to find fault with those as negligent, who shew not the same anxiety after it. (2.) Too many, like Martha, are apt to think that the exercises of religion encroach upon the duties of our station; but, usually speaking, the fault is, as here, far on the other side.
5. Christ reproves her inordinate carefulness. Martha, Martha; he speaks with earnestness and pity, thou art careful and troubled about many things; giving herself unnecessary anxiety, when Christ required no such sumptuous entertainment. But one thing is needful, to know Christ and partake of his salvation. Compared with this, every thing besides is unimportant; therefore should this engage our first and chief concern: and we are highly culpable, when other things divert us from attending to the interests of our immortal souls. Note; (1.) Faithful rebukes are the truest marks of genuine love. (2.) They who are full of inordinate care, are sure to involve themselves in many troubles. (3.) Christ's disciples have need deeply to remember this reproof and caution; for Martha's anxiety is a besetting evil.
6. Instead of blaming Mary, as her sister expected, Christ commends her choice, and approves her conduct; She hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her. Note; (1.) However serious godliness may provoke the censures of the lukewarm, Jesus will commend what they condemn. (2.) They who have chosen Christ as their portion, and his word as their rule, have indeed wisely determined.