Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Luke 10:42

ἑνὸς δέ ἐστιν χρεία. The context should sufficiently have excluded the very bald, commonplace, and unspiritual meaning which has been attached to this verse,—that only one dish was requisite, or that only one person was wanted to work in the kitchen. Clearly the lesson conveyed is the same as in Matthew 6:33; Matthew 16:26, even if our Lord’s first reference was the lower one. The various readings ‘but there is need of few things,’ or ‘of few things or of one’ (אB various versions, &c.) seem to have risen from the notion that even for the simplest meal more than one dish would be required. This, however, is not the case in the simple meals of the East.

Μαρία γάρ. The γὰρ implies ‘Nor can I rebuke her; for she, &c.’

μερίδα. ‘Portion’ (as of a banquet, Genesis 43:34, LXX[228]; John 6:27) or ‘inheritance,’ Psalms 73:26. ἥτις=quippe quae. The nature of the portion is such that, &c.

[228] LXX. Septuagint.

ἥτις οὐκ�. To speak of such theological questions as ‘indefectible grace’ here, is to use the narrative otherwise than was intended. The general meaning is that of Philippians 1:6; 1 Peter 1:5. It has been usual with Roman Catholic and other writers to see in Martha the type of the active, and in Mary of the contemplative disposition, and to exalt one above the other. This is not the point of the narrative, for both dispositions may and ought to be combined as in St Paul and in St John. The gentle reproof to Martha is aimed not at her hospitable activity, but at the ‘fret and fuss,’ the absence of repose and calm, by which it was accompanied; and above all, at the tendency to reprobate and interfere with excellence of a different kind.

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Cambridge Greek Testament Commentary

Luke 10:42

Old Testament

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