Luke 10:42

ὀλίγων δέ ἐστιν χρεία ἢ ἑνός. With this reading the sense is: there is need of few things (material); then, with a pause or rather of one thing (spiritual). Thus Jesus passes, as was His wont, easily and swiftly from the natural to the spiritual. The notion that it was beneath the dignity of Jesus to refer to dishes, even as a stepping stone to higher things, is the child of conventional reverence. τὴν ἀγαθὴν μερίδα, the good portion, conceived of as a share in a banquet (Genesis 43:34). Mary, having chosen this good portion, may not be blamed (γὰρ), and cannot be deprived of it, shall not with my sanction, in deference to the demands of a lower vocation.