Luke 10....

I read this passage last night and I was moved by this...

At the Home of Martha and Mary

38As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. 39She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord's feet listening to what he said. 40But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made. She came to him and asked, "Lord, don't you care that my sister has left me to do the work by myself? Tell her to help me!"
41"Martha, Martha," the Lord answered, "you are worried and upset about many things, 42but only one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her."

There are many of interesting facets to this story. Martha invited Jesus and his disciples into her house, however, her sister Mary, instead of helping her to prepare for the guests, chose to listen to Jesus instead. This irritated Martha that was focused on the creature comforts of her guests.

Hmmmmm. Also, Martha was so irritated that she commanded Jesus to tell her sister Mary to give her a hand. Kind of gutsy for Martha to demand Jesus to send over her sister to help. But Jesus responded, probably with a chuckle, "Martha, Martha." He told Martha, that the preparations were unimportant but that there is only one thing that is important. I think that he was talking about the spiritual life. That all the annoyances and distractions of everyday life aren't as important as our souls. But I think that even more crucial, to me, is that Jesus said that Mary has made a choice, that she has chosen the better way and that this choice will not be taken away from her. This is a choice that a girl or woman in the paternalistic times of ancient Israel [this attitude still exists in the modern Middle-East amongst the Muslims that live there] where women were not allowed to be educated or have choices. This is very powerful statement by Jesus that tells us all that we all have choices. And I think that our rights to choose, particularly when it comes to matter of spiritual life, are natural rights and that these rights flow from God.