Luke 10:38-42 - Ambassadors, Neighbors, and Worshippers

But one thing is needed, and Mary has chosen that good part, which will not be taken away from her." Luke 10 begins with Jesus sending out the “seventy”.“Afterthese things the Lord appointed seventy others also, and sent them two by twobefore His face into every city and place where He Himself was about to go(v.1). Jesus calls and commissions them and gives them specific instructions. He tellsthem it will be difficult work (v 2), with danger (v. 3), with distractions(vv. 4-9), and with many discouragements as they are rejected (vv. 10-16). Today, like the seventy, we are called and sent as Christ’sambassadors (2 Corinthians 5:18-21). It is important that we be busyambassadors, taking the message of the Gospel to lost souls. Luke tells us thatthe seventy went before Him to every place“where He Himself was about to go”(v. 1). Today, we have the promise that Jesus goes with us everywhere that Hesends us.“…and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” (Matthew28:20). In Luke 10:25-37, Jesus tells the story of the “Good Samaritan”after He was asked by the lawyer,“Who is my neighbor”. From this storywe also learn that it is essential for us to be merciful Samaritans, seeking tohelp exploited and hurting people who need God's mercy. We should be a “neighbor”to the person closest to us that has a need. If there is one thing that has jumped out at me so far aswe have been going through the Gospel of Luke, it is even though Jesusministered to the multitudes, He always took time to notice the individualclosest to Him that had a need. And even in Luke 8, He was willing to leave themultitudes and to “crossover” to the other side of the Sea of Galilee tominister to one demon possess man at Gadara. We are both ambassadors and neighbors! But before we canrepresent Christ as we should, or imitate Him in our caring ministry, we mustspend time with Him and learn from Him. We must "take time to beholy." As we look at this incident that took place in Bethany, we see andlearn that the greatest priority in our life is to be a “worshipper”! Back in Luke 9:51, it appears that Jesus has completed Hisfirst three years of ministry in the region of Galilee, and we are told:“Nowit came to pass, when the time had come for Him to be received up, that Hesteadfastly set His face to go to Jerusalem”.  Just a short distance outside Jerusalem isthe village of Bethany where three of Jesus’ friends lived, Martha, Mary, and theirbrother Lazarus. When Martha heard Jesus coming through her village on His wayto Jerusalem, Martha stopped Him and invited Him and His disciples to come inher house for a meal. And this is where we are introduced to her sister Mary. Thereare many women called Mary in the Gospels and this Mary is better known andidentified as Mary of Bethany. Mary of Bethany is seen three times in theGospel record, and on each occasion, she is in the same place: at the feet ofJesus. Here in this passage, she sat at His feet and listened to His Word (Luke10:39). Later on another occasion, in John 11:32, she fell at His feet andshared her grief because her brother Lazarus had died and Jesus wasn’t there toheal him. Then in John 12:3, Mary and came to His feet and poured out herworship:“Then Mary took a pound of very costly oil of spikenard, anointedthe feet of Jesus, and wiped His feet with her hair. And the house was filledwith the fragrance of the oil.”   On this occasion in Luke 10, it appears that Martha was aserver and Mary was a worshipper. But as we look at this passage, we shouldlearn that we don’t need to make the choice of one or the other. We should bedoing both. The danger is that we can get so busy serving that we forget toworship! We should be ambassadors, neighbors, and worshippers allthe time! God bless!