John Kilgallen, «Martha and Mary: Why at Luke 10,38-42?», Vol. 84 (2003) 554-561

Given that Luke has wide freedom to arrange his stories as he thinks best, one looks to the material surrounding the story of Mary and Martha to better understand why that story is in its present place. It seems best to think of this story as an affirmation of the teaching of the ‘one thing necessary’, the teaching within the story of the Good Samaritan. Indeed, the Mary-Martha story underlines the Lucan emphasis on the primacy of all Jesus’ teaching.

what Jesus knows about the Father. Not even the most privileged of history hear and see this.

        Given this great privilege of the disciple, one is not surprised that Luke would repeat the idea; he does so by picturing Mary in no other way than in the finest position: she listens to the teaching of the Lord. One is not surprised, but joyful and can understand why the Lord will not remove her from listening to him: in listening to Jesus, she listens to him revealing the Father, and as no one else has ever done.

        The repetition of the term a)kou/ein¹² within a short narrative time (verse 24, then verse 39) need not suggest the formality of literary inclusio¹³. However, there seems every reason to suppose that Luke knew quite well that he was, by repetition and story-telling, giving further emphasis to this blessing of ‘hearing’ that the disciple of Jesus enjoys. Indeed, there is no attempt on Luke’s part to flesh out the figure of Mary in his story; satisfactory for his account is the one thing we know about her, that she listens to the word of the Lord. Nor is the ‘word’ of Jesus in any way particularized; Luke is content that it be a most general ‘his word’ that the disciple attends to. One is made aware that Luke twice in a brief literary period emphasizes to Theophilus the treasure he has as disciple: he hears that the Son reveals the deepest meaning of the Father¹⁴.

        As noted, identification of a literary inclusio seems uncalled for here, but one begins to suspect that Luke’s decision to repeat the notion of hearing what has never been heard before and the blessedness of the one who hears — one begins to suspect that Luke has intentionally placed these thoughts together so that they may play on each other. Why? One cannot help but look to the story Luke tells between his vv 24 and 39 in relation to ‘hearing’ what not even prophets and kings have heard. But then is there reason to call such attention to this story of the nomiko/j and Jesus? Is this story so unique, and is it a most treasured possession of the disciple, that it deserves special signals to make us ‘listen’ to it?

III. The teaching of Luke 10,25-37

        The overall affirmation of these verses reveals Jesus’ agreement with traditional teaching that by ‘doing’ love of God and love of neighbor one will