From Jose Soto
Yahweh's voice is powerful, Yahweh’s voice is majestic (Ps 29:4); his voice strikes with flashes of lightning (v. 7), it twists the oaks and strips the forests bare (v. 9). This is the voice Mary couldn’t resist to sit and listen to, probably breaking unspoken norms about the place of women in her culture. Mary sits at the Master's feet, listening to him. And that, says the Lord, is what matters most.
Few things are needed, he says, indeed only one (v. 42). Now this one gives me pause. What’s he saying? I think he’s putting things into perspective. He’s putting all Martha’s concerns into perspective. Yes, we have to eat and make preparations and much else. But let’s not be so anxious, so consumed with these things, or we might miss some more weighty things going on around us, and the gift of life itself. But that’s easier said than done. So let’s sit with Mary at the Lord’s feet for a little longer and try to put things into perspective for ourselves. In what world can the Lord say that few things are needed? Certainly not in Martha’s world. How about in ours? In what world are few things needed, and how so?
Well, in our Father’s world. In the world that Yahweh made with delight and which he gave us to care for. You see, at the beginning it was as simple as it was glorious. There was no culture to tell us what it all meant. It was our task to make culture, to make something of the world. The animals didn’t even have names! Imagine that. A world bursting with potential for meaning and life. It was like play-dough in children’s hands. The possibilities were virtually endless. The only precedent, the only frame of reference we had was Yahweh, what he had done and what he had said to do. Be fruitful and multiply, he said, fill the earth and subdue it (Gen 1:28). We were the very image and likeness of God, his children, well equipped to continue the work he began. I think what matters most then as now is Yahweh’s intentions for the work of his hands. What we pray is true: As it was in the beginning, is now, and will be forever.Deeply true. Yahweh created all things out of love for life; he loved us into being, and sustains us in his love. You can hear his delight in Genesis 1 as he looks at what he’s making stage by stage and says Oh, this is good... very good. You can hear his heart clearly after the flood when he says: Never again will I judge the earth like this (Gen 8:21-22). You can hear it in the prophets, in the psalms, you can see it on the cross. He’s deeply committed to us. He made us to be his intimate allies in the making of this world. And he hasn't given up on it. It’s happening. And the host of heaven watch in awe.
Few things are needed because he’s with us. He’s with us to guide us in his ways, to forgive us, to provide for us, to answer when we cry for help, to make a way when there’s no way. What matters most is his will, his intentions, his desire, his delight. And what delights him ought to be our delight. Because what delights him gives us life. Because what delights him is our life. He is our life.
I'm a servant-apprentice of the Lord Jesus Christ, Mary’s husband, Hannah’s daddy, a brother and a friend. I drive a big truck for a living, and I love biblical theology.