Hope for a New Outlook

Sometimes I just want things to be different. I have struggled with my health and self image for so many years that I finally stopped making New Year’s Resolutions about it. After all, what’s the point? I think, maybe, if we lived in a different house…had a better kitchen, a neighborhood with a sidewalk, more time, (fill in the blank with whatever excuses fit the moment)…then change could happen. But deep down I know the problem is not with my home. It’s with my heart.

Change is hard. It’s not a thirty second movie montage set to upbeat music. It’s difficult and painful and it takes so much time!

But there is hope in daily time with Jesus. According to his great mercy, he has caused us to be born again to a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, 1 Peter 1:3

Martha, Martha, Martha

Are you familiar with the story of Mary and Martha? Maybe you recall something about having a Mary heart? Growing up I always heard that it was better to be like Mary (which suited me fine – I’m not much of a housekeeper!)

The story goes like this (you can read it in Luke 10:38-42): Jesus and his disciples come to town and stay at Martha’s house. Mary, Martha’s sister, sits at the Lord’s feet (like a disciple – scandal alert!) and listens to his teaching. But Martha is busy making preparations for the thirteen men and who knows how many others, and she calls her sister out.

and said, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to serve alone? Tell her then to help me.”

But the Lord answered her, “Martha, Martha, you are anxious and troubled about many things, but one thing is necessary. Mary has chosen the good portion, which will not be taken away from her.”

That’s it. End scene.

But then I found out there’s more to the story!

Who is Martha?

Four simple verses give us a taste of who these women are. Martha, the hostess, represents us in the busyness of our lives. She is doing good things, serving, showing hospitality, and so on, but she is distracted by them. Her heart is not in the right place.

Thankfully the story does not end there. The sisters show up again in John’s gospel (John 11:1-46). They send word to Jesus, asking him to come and intervene in their brother’s illness. But he delays and Lazarus dies.

But when Jesus heard it he said, “This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it.” (v.4)

So many beautiful things we could unpack in this rich story, but let’s focus on Martha. She’s not the distracted housekeeper in this scene, but a grieving sister who shows tremendous faith in face of tragedy. 

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

She said to him, “Yes, Lord; I believe that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who is coming into the world.”

As the scene unfolds, Jesus weeps with his friends and then brings Lazarus back to life!

I love Martha’s response when Jesus tells them to open the tomb. She’s already declared that he is the Son of God who can do anything, but she protests saying, “Lord, there will be a smell!!”

A Martha Heart

The last time we see Martha in Scripture is the next chapter of John.

So they gave a dinner for him there. Martha served, and Lazarus was one of those reclining with him at table. John 12:2

I can’t help but notice the difference between this verse and Luke 10:40, “but Martha was distracted with much serving”.

She is still the hostess, serving a massive amount of people, and by the way, Mary still isn’t helping. But I wonder if she sees things differently, now that she has seen the glory of God (John 11:40).

In both cases, the horrible pain of her brother’s death and the mundane frustration with her sister’s choices, Martha took her feelings to Jesus. She may not have found what she was expecting, but she encountered the Truth of who Jesus is, and it changed her heart.

Jesus is there, going through the stuff – whatever it may be – making things new (Revelation 21:5). I’ll leave you with this prayer from Ephesians.

I do not cease to give thanks for you, remembering you in my prayers, that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you the Spirit of wisdom and of revelation in the knowledge of him, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe, according to the working of his great might that he worked in Christ when he raised him from the dead and seated him at his right hand in the heavenly places. Ephesians 1:16-20

What do you need to take to Jesus today?