The Most Needed Thing
Luke 10:38-42
The Gospel lesson for today presents to us one the most important lessons that Jesus taught about the Christian life. It teaches a lesson to every to every Christian but it especially speaks to those who consider themselves very active Christians. It is very tempting in our busy world to equate Godliness with busyness. This is not to say that doing good for others is not important. The lesson here is that hearing God’s Word is most important and serving will naturally follow from that. Being too busy can not be used an excuse to neglect the study of God’s Word.
The sermon hymn for today is actually a meditation on the text from Luke 10. This hymn, as we have it in our hymnal, is actually a shortened version of a ten-verse hymn by Johann Schroeder. I’d like to have us go back over that hymn and use it as the outline for our thoughts on what Jesus said about the one thing that is needed. Please open the hymnal again to hymn 536. As we look more carefully at each verse may the words touch your heart and help you to see how Jesus teaches what is really necessary for your Christian walk.
The first verse expresses Jesus’ words and identifies the “one thing” as a treasure. The key to our understanding of this “one thing” is to know that it comes from a heavenly source. You need to see it as a spiritual blessing. The point of this little incident in Jesus’ life is to help us to see the distinction between earthly things and heavenly things. Observers of our times have found that there is a great desire on the part of people today to have some kind of spiritual dimension to their lives. For some people that can mean anything that takes your mind beyond the normal everyday experiences of life. For some it is found in meditation on a single thought, much like the eastern religions. To others it is found in a quiet place where you can forget the stresses of the day. This they call a spiritual experience. The problem with those ideas of spirituality is that they provide no lasting benefit.
On the other hand, the treasure that Jesus brings is lasting. The hymn writer points out that, though these other things may bring pleasure, they can become a yoke that presses hard, that burdens us with doubt. The heart is still left with worry and is still striving for lasting happiness. What people are really looking for is an escape from their present world with all of its expectations. In a way, that could be another way of referring to the Law and its requirements. When the Law becomes a burden, we too are looking for a way to escape from that burden of guilt and the law with all of its expectations and requirements. That escape will never be found in worldly spirituality. The only real rescue from sin, guilt and the power of the law is found in Jesus. Because He took our place on the cross and died as the punishment for our sins, the burden has been lifted. We are set free. We can find true peace and joy because we have been united with God through Jesus, our joy and our rest. Jesus and His Word are the one thing needed. With the hymn writer, we pray that the Lord would bless us with the one thing necessary.
In verse two the writer brings in Mary. She becomes our model for true devotion. Even though she aroused the anger of her sister because she wasn’t helping out with the many preparations that were being made for Jesus and His friends, she was commended by Jesus for having chosen the one thing that was necessary. Her sister Martha was worried and upset about many things when only one thing was really needed. As Jesus commended Mary, He was warning Martha and all the other Marthas, both men and women, who would later hear about what happened that day in Bethany
The remaining verses become a prayer of the faithful regarding the proper understanding of the one thing necessary in our lives. In verse three we pray that we will be able to live our lives according the teaching and example of Jesus. He, after all, is the embodiment of all wisdom. In the first chapter of his Gospel, the Apostle John called Jesus the Word. That means that Jesus is the revelation of God’s truth. In him we find all that is God-pleasing. We pray that we may learn from Jesus all humility and simplicity. What a blessing it will be for your life if you can learn to live in humility and simplicity. What a change that would be from a life that only follows the desires of your human nature. Imagine a life that would be free from the pressure to always be first, to always have more than everyone else, that always has to have your own way. A life of humility and simplicity learns from Jesus that there is only one thing needed. That one thing is found in hearing, believing, trusting, and following Jesus. When you do, you have the assurance that you have found heavenly wisdom.
In verse four the writer gets to the heart of the Gospel that has power to make all this possible in your life. You come with nothing to offer for your salvation. It is only through the blood of Jesus that you can stand before the throne of God and claim a place in His kingdom. By the suffering and death of Jesus on the cross, sin, death and the devil were defeated and your salvation was won. You have been given the robe of righteousness that has been made white in the blood of Jesus. You can live now in the confidence that because Christ lives, you shall live with Him in glory. It is that wonderful Gospel message that puts all spirituality into perspective. All earthly imaginations of reaching fulfillment through your own righteous thoughts, your own tireless activity, your own wishes for escaping the world and its demands, are exposed as false. Only in Jesus and His sacrifice for you in love do you find the one thing that is needed.
The last verse then brings the prayer to a conclusion. You have recognized that the one thing needed is found in Jesus your Savior. In Him you find the strength and the guidance to live out your life in joyful response to His love. You know that He will be with you to protect and defend you from sin, death and the power of the devil. He will strengthen you for your pilgrimage through life with His loving forgiveness. Everything else in this world is a loss compared to the blessing of knowing Jesus Christ as your Lord and Savior.
A significant request in that last verse is that the Lord would search my heart and my behavior in order to root out all hypocrisy. It is good to ask the Lord to do this because most of the time you are not able to recognize your own hypocrisy. You are so good at convincing yourself that your attitudes are right that you often can not see the real truth. That is why you need to admit in the confession of sins that you have sinned in thought, word and deed, by what you have done and by what you have left undone. It is often those sins of thought and the things that you have left undone that you don’t even consider to be sin. What a blessing it is then to know that your Savior sees into your heart and knows your hidden sins. The greater blessing is to know that He also loves you and assures you that He died for those sins and all your sins.
That forgiveness of sins that is yours through Christ is what brings you back to the one thing that is needed. By the power of the Holy Spirit working in you through the Means of Grace, the Word and the Sacraments, you believe and trust in Jesus Christ alone for reconciliation with God. You are motivated to seek His wisdom and discover His will in His Word. You can devote yourself to Him in all that you do. You can serve Him with your whole heart always remembering to keep your priorities straight. That may mean that you are still busy with many things but not too busy to hear the voice of Jesus which is still the one thing necessary as you live out your life in response to His love. Amen.
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