Come Out to Meet Him: He Is Already Coming for You
Get Out of the Boat
Come Out to Meet Him: He is Already Coming for You
Jesus was coming.
Her brother was dead. Four days had passed, long enough for decay to set in. But Jesus was coming. Her sister stayed in the grieving house, but she ran out to meet her friend, her Lord and Messiah. In my mind’s eye I see a lush green landscape, a perfectly beautiful sunny day, but impossible to enjoy with the sinking feeling of loss consuming Martha, gnawing at the pit of her stomach. She said to Him, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But even now I know that whatever you ask of God, God will give you.” She hoped. She had faith in Him. I picture her eyes scanning His face, glistening, but tears unwilling to fall because of her steady hope in Jesus and what He is capable of. He said, Your brother will rise again. And further, I AM the Resurrection and the Life! Whoever puts his trust in me will live, even if he dies, and everyone living and trusting in me will never die. This is not the same woman we were taught to dismiss.
Martha isn’t usually thought of through the lens of faith and devotion. She is often painted as a nervous woman prattling over dishes and food preparations. The woman who was trying to browbeat her sister into chores instead of sitting at the feet of Jesus. Many of us know this part of her story. Jesus is teaching in her home, she is putting on the meal and she goes to ask Jesus to make her sister, Mary, help her. Jesus says, Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled over many things. She was gently chastised by Jesus and told that Mary had chosen better than Martha. Yet, when she went out to meet Jesus after Lazarus’ death, there is nothing unimportant or frivolous about her. She chose to meet Jesus, to go directly to Him through her grief and confusion. Then He entrusted this woman with the first declarations that Jesus is the Resurrection and the Life.
So what happened between the kitchen and the tomb?
When I was a girl I was taught that the story of Mary and Martha was about choosing Jesus over being too consumed with executing the most perfect dinner party. Holy shit was I wrong. I think there is much more to her story and it begins with Jesus.
You are anxious and troubled over many things.
Those words seem not just meant for Martha, but meant for our entire culture right now. This word translated, anxious is μεριμνᾷς (merimnas). This Greek word means to be divided, pulled apart, fragmented. I think of it as a warning to not stay in anxiety long enough to let it pull you apart and consume you. Further, in the book Philippians chapter 4 it says to bring this sensation to the Lord, by prayer (connection) and supplication (earnest request) and thanksgiving (remembering that there is so much going for us, coming from the hand of God). This is the process to work through this signal or warning that the sensation of anxiety is meant to be. It is the anxiety we do not process that causes harm.
In the dinner scene, concern overwhelmed Martha’s focus. It doesn’t mean to not take care in your work, not to be detail oriented, or even not refrain from making a dinner party something very special. I think this description and encounter with Jesus speaks to a state of mind and heart position that Martha had on that day, or even in that season of her life. Scattered.
I wonder if it sounds familiar to any of us. Perhaps in the shape of soccer practices and endless errands and another doctor’s appointment to “just see” and trying to have a job or a side hustle in which you make a difference and have your home put together and be the silent carrier of the invisible load and more. I think that the previous mouthful of a sentence emphasizes the overwhelm of our western lives built from being burdened with the expectation of being everything that Martha got herself caught up in once upon a time. I cannot be the only one who feels when the tasks are threatening to drown me that anxiety passes over me. And pass it does, because with a process it doesn’t stay forever.
Tá imní orm (thaw im-nee or-um). Anxiety is upon me. I like this wording. It is a better description of how our emotions exist within us. For I am anxious is speaking identity over the body and mind, instead of emotion, sensation, or symptom as a message. Anxiety is upon me, not within me, and certainly not mine or my identity. It is a signal, perhaps a warning. I think words have great meaning–the power of life and death is in the tongue, so this is a better way to express and conceptualize this sensation of μεριμνᾷς (merimnas).
There is a pattern I have seen with people, most especially women. They are burned out, even experiencing chronic pain or illness and they just keep trying to do the same things they’ve been doing. They keep trying to fill the role that their western culture, their family, their church culture…nonetheless the role that someone else wants them to fill. They keep trying to row the boat when maybe they should just get off the lake. And I do it too. I keep on doing it. And I wonder, how do I stop? I wonder how I change my life and still function in this crazy, too-fast paced world. How do I have community when I’ve got to get away from the sinking boat? When I’m swimming for shore and everyone else is there in the sinking boat, calling me back? They say the water is fine but we will all drown as the boat is being pulled under water. At the end of the day it is the enemy trying to conform all of these beautiful souls to his tortured plan to keep us dull and captive and scattered and anxious over many things. I don’t know how to have community and not be pulled in too many directions. So, for now I’m choosing to slow down, be centered and feel like myself over having community and perhaps one day I’ll find a community that moves at a similar pace. There must be a redeemed Martha or a courageous Peter who have gotten out of the boat.
Coming back to Philippians, chapter 4. A classically misunderstood concept in the Scriptures is a supposed command to just never feel anxiety. Just magically, don’t feel something even if your body is screaming at you because something is wrong. The point is missed. Don’t allow yourself to be in a constant state of anxiety…a constant state of your body, mind or spirit telling you that something is wrong. And then you ignore it. The sensation of anxiety is a signal that says something needs attention, action, change. This is because God has a solution for you. “…but in everything let your requests be made known to God and the peace of God which surpasses all understanding will guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.”
My favorite word in the Bible is but. It is when God gives you the answer, when He shows up. But God. In this case in Philippians it is BUT there is a path to move forward through anxiety. It is the feeling of moving, right? We want to move when we feel this. This word, anxiety, in this passage is the same root word in Greek that Jesus spoke to Martha in the dinner scene. And there was indeed a path forward for Martha.
Martha has gotten a lot of flack in Christian culture. And yet, when she stood outside the tomb of her dead brother, I picture her glowing with faith. She knew. She knew Jesus was worth His salt and He would rescue her, whatever that looked like, she entrusted it to Him. But God…even Martha said it. Her brother was dead, BUT she knew that whatever Jesus asked for, God would give it. I think the change in her happened because Jesus gently pointed it out in love. He reminded her that being scattered and consumed with tasks was no way to live. He reminded her that sometimes we just need to sit for a while in truth and love. For Martha I think that meant setting aside serving for a time and simply being with Jesus. And once she got that, she experienced a miracle–life out of death.
Jesus is coming for us too.
There is a path forward for every one of us out of that pressure of endless lists and that feeling of spinning our wheels and never-ending tasks. Let’s have a beautiful dinner party! Martha did. After her brother walked out of the tomb there was a feast to celebrate and there was Martha, serving the meal in peace. She clearly loved hospitality. I picture abundant fruit, nuts and cheeses–perhaps an ancient kind of grazing board filled beautifully for her beloved friends, returned brother and Savior. My favorite addition to a meal is edible flowers…I think Martha had excellent taste so maybe, just maybe she placed roses or poppies among the honey-drizzled delectables. She let Mary have her moment, not just at the feet of Jesus, but anointing His feet in one of the most important expressions of love and worship captured in the Scriptures. I wonder, what if Mary represented love and worship, and Martha represented faith and dedication? Neither of them got it right all the time, but God intervened and they each showed us something powerful about womanhood and faith. There is a way through. No matter if it is a struggle with disillusionment and grief like Mary, or anxiety and discontentment like Martha…there is a way through. And Martha found it. We can too.
References and Inspiration:
“Luke 10:41 Interlinear.” Bible Hub, biblehub.com/interlinear/luke/10-41.htm. — Greek interlinear text for Luke 10:41, including μεριμνᾷς as used in Jesus’s words to Martha.
My Mind Joy. YouTube, youtube.com/@mymindjoy. — for content on anxiety, nervous system and emotional wellness.
“Philippians 4:6 Interlinear.” Bible Hub, biblehub.com/interlinear/philippians/4-6.htm. — Greek interlinear text for Philippians 4:6, including μεριμνᾶτε.
“Luke 10:41 Interlinear.” Bible Hub, biblehub.com/interlinear/luke/10-41.htm. — Greek interlinear text for Luke 10:41, including μεριμνᾷς as used in Jesus’s words to Martha.
Tá imní orm: Irish language expression meaning “anxiety is upon me.” Traditional Gaelic construction treats emotion as a passing state rather than an identity.
Scripture
Luke 10:38-42 — Martha opened her home to him. She had a sister called Mary, who sat at the Lord’s feet listening to what he said. But Martha was distracted by all the preparations that had to be made…Martha, Martha, you are worried and upset about many things, but few things are needed — or indeed only one. Mary has chosen what is better.
John 11:17-27 — Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died. But I know that even now God will give you whatever you ask…I am the resurrection and the life. The one who believes in me will live, even though they die.
John 12:1-2 — Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honor. Martha served.
Philippians 4:6-7 — Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.
Proverbs 18:21 — The tongue has the power of life and death.