That Good Part
“But one thing is needful; and Mary hath chosen that good part, which shall not be taken away from her.” KJ Luke 10:42
NIV “But one thing is needed. Mary has chosen what is better…”
NLV “There is only one thing worth being concerned about. Mary has discovered it.”
ISV “There is only one thing you need. Mary has chosen the good part.”
GWT “There is only one thing you need (worth worrying about). Mary has made the right choice.”
Bible in Basic English “Little is needed, or even one thing only. Mary has taken that good part.”
‘Douay’-'Rheims Bible “But one thing is necessary. Mary hath chosen the best part.”
‘Weymouth NT “And yet one thing is really necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion and she shall not be deprived of it.”
“..one thing is needful.” The ‘Greek word for needful is ” ‘Chreia. The need represents that part of us which needs building up or filling up. The “thing” is the “edifying Word of God”.
Jesus affirms Mary by saying, “she has chosen that good part”. The ‘Greek word for good is ‘Agathos and it means that which is good in character. It is beneficial and pleasing to God.” Translations from The Hebrew-Greek Key Study Bible
Jesus ends the conversation by saying, “this shall not be taken away from her”.
No matter how you put it (as in the different Bible translations above), it’s pretty self explanatory. I love the personal conversation that Jesus has with Mary and Martha. So many times, with those named, Jesus teaches us the difference between what is ”that good part” and what is “that not so good part“.
Today, I want to leave you with a piece of “Matthew Henry’s Concise Commentary on the Bible“.
“Sitting at Christ’s feet, signifies readiness to receive His Word, and submission to the guidance of it. Martha was providing for the entertainment of Christ, and those that came with him…Worldly business is a snare to us, when it hinders us from serving God, and getting good to our souls…The favor of God is needful to our happiness; the salvation of Christ is needful to our safety. Where this is attended to , all other things will be rightly pursued. Mary hath chosen the good part. One thing is needful, this one thing that she has done, to give up herself to the guidance of Christ. The things of this life will be taken away from us, at the furthest, when we shall be taken away from them; but nothing shall separate from the love of Christ, and a part in that love…Let us mind the one thing needful more diligently.” end quote
Scripture to ponder: Psalm 119:73
Thought to ponder: The first requirement of “The Disciple” is to ‘BE’come obedient to the Master’s teaching. We are to daily place ourselves in a position to learn, free from distractions. It is a choice we make, daily.
Tomorrow, we will see “Mary’s Heart” as she “falls down at Jesus’ feet“.
This entry was posted on Friday, January 8th, 2010 at 5:17 pm and is filed under Bible Studies. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
