Choosing What's Important

Jesus stopped to visit His friends Martha and Mary. Martha ran around cooking food for Him,but her sister Mary didn't help. She sat listening to Jesus. Martha complained, "Jesus, can't you make her help me?" Jesus answered, "You worry too much. Mary knows what's really important, and I won't yell at her for choosing it."

Isn't it amazing the way you can totally forget about something that was important five minutes ago?

If you were about to get a snack and your phone beeps, you'll reply to someone's text, forgetting you were even hungry. If you were on your way upstairs and your dog stands in front of you looking sad, you'll stop to pet him - and forget why you were heading upstairs.

What's important can change in an instant - if you let that happen. In this week's Gospel (Luke 10:28-42), for example, Martha and Mary are getting ready for a visit from their friend, Jesus. Both of them were probably running around cooking food, until Jesus arrived.

Then something changed for Mary. She forgot all about making food and just wanted to sit with Jesus, listening to everything He said. She must have really missed Him between visits.

Martha tried to stay on track, finishing the meal so everyone could eat. She may have wanted to sit with Jesus, too, but worried about people being hungry.

What's important one minute can be less important the next, but the Gospel story has a good lesson: People are always more important than things. You can eat or run errands later, but if you wait to call a friend or pet a sad puppy, you may miss your chance.

Mary knew what was important: Jesus. Dinner could wait.