Olney Hymns · Chapter
Martha and Mary explained
This poem contrasts Martha's busy hospitality with Mary's attentive listening to Jesus, highlighting the importance of choosing the 'one thing needful'—spiritual nourishment over worldly cares.
What happens
This poem contrasts Martha's busy hospitality with Mary's attentive listening to Jesus, highlighting the importance of choosing the 'one thing needful'—spiritual nourishment over worldly cares. It concludes with a prayer for grace to prioritize Christ's love above all else.
Themes in this chapter
The Vanity of Worldly Things
Martha's preoccupation with many tasks is contrasted with the single needful thing, suggesting that worldly cares are ultimately trivial.
Grace and Unmerited Favor
The poem implies that the ability to choose the better part is a gift from the Lord, as the final stanza prays for divine teaching.
Characters to notice
- Martha
Expressed love by serving but became distracted and rebuked.
- Mary
Chose the better part by sitting at Jesus' feet to hear His words.
- Jesus Christ
The guest who commends Mary's choice and rebukes Martha's anxiety.
Key passages
“I Martha her love and joy express’d By care to entertain her guest; While Mary sat to hear her Lord, And could not bear to lose a word.”
Martha showed her love by busily preparing for Jesus, while Mary sat quietly listening, not wanting to miss anything He said.
Highlights the contrast between active service and attentive listening.
“But Mary chose the better part, Her Saviour’s words refresh’d her heart, While busy Martha angry grew, And lost her time and temper too.”
Mary made the wiser choice, finding refreshment in Jesus' teaching, whereas Martha became irritated and wasted both her time and her patience.
Emphasizes the superiority of spiritual nourishment over anxious activity.
“Lord, teach us this one thing to choose, Which they who gain can never lose— Sufficient in itself alone, And needful, were the world our own.”
Lord, help us to choose this one essential thing, which once possessed can never be lost, and is all we truly need even if we owned the whole world.
A prayer for divine guidance to prioritize the eternal over the temporal.