“Tell her then to help me” (Luke 10:40)
Jesus tells Martha that only one thing is necessary: love. That is, love of God, of neighbour, and of self, as the lawyer rightly said earlier in this chapter of Luke’s Gospel.
Martha is striving to love her neighbour in her guest, while Mary, sitting at Jesus’ feet, loves God by listening to him. Of these three loves, which together make up the one thing necessary for us, the “good portion” is love of God, since it fuels the other two. Mary has chosen this part, and Jesus promises that “it will not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:42). May our time of prayerful listening to Jesus never be taken from us by anything else. Jesus longs to make the same promise to each of us.
