When someone asks me how I am going, often my response is “busy”. I’m not trying to win a contest or boast – I’m just trying to describe what life is like, and I’m guessing many of us are the same. Generally, our lives are full of good and meaningful things. We are busy trying to live life well in our families and communities.

However, in all our busyness Jesus gives us a warning. He tells us that all the busyness in life puts us at risk of doing something very dangerous.

In Luke’s biography of Jesus, we have an intriguing scene where he is at the house of two sisters, Mary and Martha. We are told that Mary is sitting at the feet of Jesus listening to him teach. Martha, on the other hand, is in the kitchen, very busy trying to host her guest well. Martha is trying to get it all right. She is busy doing good things, and she finds it annoying to see her sister ‘idly’ listening to Jesus. Martha wants all hands on deck to make this event work. Luke 10:40 records it this way:

“But 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!’”

The key word here is distracted. Yes, all the busyness and hard work is a good thing. But they ended up being a distraction from the best thing. Jesus responds to Martha:

^“‘Martha, Martha,’ the Lord answered, ‘you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed – or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better, and it will not be taken away from her.’”

Martha thinks that there is a whole lot that needs to be done. But Jesus says there is one thing above all else. He points to Mary and says she has chosen ‘the better thing’. In fact, the Greek word translated ‘thing’ really means ‘portion’. Mary has chosen the best portion at the dinner party.

When dessert gets divided up at my house, the kids scan the portions served up – and within milliseconds, try to grab the best one. Jesus says Mary has scanned what is being served up at this dinner party and she ‘bags-ed’ the best portion: sitting at the feet of Jesus and listening to him.

Jesus says that ahead of your work, your family, your physical needs, one thing is needed, to listen to him. This is not just another thing to add to the priority list. Jesus is not just another plate to keep spinning in an already hectic life. No, he is the one thing that comes before all else.

And strangely, when he becomes our one thing in our busy lives, he promises to give us the rest that we so long for.