The passage from Luke 10:38-42 provides us an important insight on how to live a fulfilling Christian life. Jesus visits the house of Martha and Mary. While Martha is busy with preparing and serving the guests, Mary is at the Lord’s feet listening to His words. The actions of Martha represent loving your neighbor and serving fellow beings, the actions of Mary represent contemplation and pondering on the words of the Lord.

Serving your neighbor and leading a contemplative and prayerful life are two essential aspects of Christian life. When Martha asks Jesus to tell Mary to help her, Jesus rebukes Martha saying “you are anxious and troubled about many things; one thing is needful. Mary has chosen the good portion, which shall not be taken away from her.” Here Martha is described as distracted and anxious and troubled. Since she was distracted with serving others, she was being pulled away from the Lord. Jesus is conveying an important message to us that though serving our neighbor is important, we should not ignore contemplation and spending time with the Lord.

The busyness of life should not be used as an excuse for not praying and pondering on the words of the Lord. Jesus says Mary has chosen the good portion as she is sitting at the Lord’s feet and listening attentively to His words. Being in prayer provides us the strength and the grace to fulfill our duties towards our fellow beings. Serving and helping others should be animated with the love for our Lord, similarly the love for our Lord should propel us to help and serve others.

Jesus is reminding us not be anxious or distracted with the worries of life but to approach Him and spend time with Him and He will take care of all our worries.