Thoughts and Encouragements for Wounded Helpers Joined to a Healing God

Three Stories, Central to the Christian Life

André H. Roosma

2004-01-13

In the early nineties of the previous century, I was preparing a sermon, based on the story where Jesus comes to Mary and Martha when their brother Lazarus has died just three days before (John 11:1-44).
It was then, that I discovered that there actually are three stories about these two women in their interaction with Jesus. Somehow, the sequence of these three stories intrigued me and challenged me to ask God for His purpose in them.
One morning in those weeks, I woke up and started to have my quiet time. I came to the passage about Jesus fasting for forty days in the desert, and then being tempted three times (Matthew 4:1-11). I rubbed my eyes. I could hardly believe what I saw. This was just the same triplet! I concluded that God must have something to say through this. Something that's worth being repeated in various forms.

Below, I have summarized my findings:

Three stories	Mary & Martha¹	The temptations of Christ (Matthew 4:1-11)	The challenges of our time and culture
1	Mary & Martha (1) Luke 10:38-42 Jesus is at the home of the sisters Martha and Mary, and their brother Lazarus. Mary is sitting at the feet of Jesus, listening to Him with all her heart. Martha is serving the guests and complaining about Mary sitting there. Jesus tells her that Mary has chosen the best option. The central message here is: connectedness and intimacy in the form of listening to Jesus at the time He is there to share things with you, goes before caring for food, providing hospitality, etc.	the first temptation Jesus is tempted to use His divine power to change stones into bread, after a 40-day fast. He answers the tempter that listening to God is more important than caring for food. The theme of this temptation is to value material needs (need for food) above our need to listen to God. One could also say: it's about seizing the opportunity to listen to God and to get to know Him better in the process.	Listening to God and seeking intimacy with Him versus being distracted by material things and cares
2	Mary & Martha (2) John 11:1-44 Mary and Martha are very sad - inconsolable - because their brother has died and because Jesus arrived too late to heal him of his illness. Martha tries to 'behave well' and hides her emotions. Mary keeps on crying - and experiences His love and deep comfort as Jesus cries in empathy with her. In expectation, she can be open to Jesus' next steps. However, Martha objects from her sorrow and her focus on tidiness and neatness to what Jesus is going to do when Jesus asks some men to remove the stone from Lazarus' tomb. For her, it was all over - Jesus simply was too late and you've got to keep things tidy and smelling nice. The central message is: Be open to God's ways whatever that may imply. Do not force your own agenda on God. If this brings up strong emotions, share them with Jesus. Speak it out, cry, or whatever. E.g. if it hurts, share your hurts with Jesus. He will cry with you. He will not condemn you or tell you to stop - not even when He is about to take away the source of the hurt.	the second temptation Jesus was tempted to jump off the roof of the temple, in order to boost His fame. The theme of this temptation is to seek the sensational or to force God to do as we have planned. One could also say: it's about seizing the opportunity to wait for God to act in His own way to carry out His plans. And the opportunity to share our burdens and build our trust in Him.	Showing our vulnerability to God and exercising an open attitude to what God is doing or will do versus fending Him out of our life or out of our emotions and pursuing our own goals (even 'spiritual' ones) or 'having things go our way'
3	Mary & Martha (3) John 12:1-12 (see also John 11:36-44) Mary has bought the most expensive fragrant oil to anoint Jesus as King - even before His burial. She uniquely understood both His being God and what He had told His disciples about His coming, atoning death. A disciple who was looking at personal gain anyway, rebuked her for spoiling so much money, but Jesus spoke very highly about her and about what she had done. We see that Mary has come to a most deep understanding of Jesus, not just intellectually, but also emotionally. Her intimacy with Him leads to adoration and worship - even at high costs.	the third temptation Jesus was tempted to worship the enemy in order to have fast access to power over the world and free Himself from the burden of His redemptive suffering. The theme of this temptation is to worship other gods (idols) in order to gain power or in order to speed up our ways (the shortcut). One could also say: it's about seizing the opportunity to worship God, practice intimate adoration towards Him, and live in unity with Him.	Worshiping God versus worshiping idols such as money, easy gratification, shortcut-strategies or whatever

¹	You may also want to read a summary of what happened, as seen through the eyes of Mary, in: Mary's amazing story ( document in PDF-format that can be read with Adobe Reader™)

These are three immense themes of God's Message to us. Three challenges to celebrate our connectedness with God and our utter dependence on Him: listening to Him, being vulnerable and open towards Him, and worshiping Him.

In pastoral care, I came to see that these are the three primal areas under attack of the enemy.
If he succeeds in getting us to be so busy or preoccupied with other things that we don't take time to sit at Jesus' feet, he has won.
If he fails to succeed at this, he goes on. Difficulty comes our way. How do we react? By keeping God at a distance, or by trusting Him and allowing Him into our pain, into our sorrow, into our hurt. Do we demand things to go 'our way' or are we open to what God has in mind? This is our second big challenge.
If we succeed, the third will come: Whom do we worship? Do we give our bodies to be consecrated to God (Romans 12:1), or do we rather search for shortcuts?

The good news is, that even when our past has biased us (e.g. by pain or hurt that was inflicted upon us) to choose wrongly in one or more of these three areas, we can start to seek God and ask Him to help us return to Him. He will most certainly help us - step by step - to find victory in these three vital areas.

Several times have I seen people who have gone through experiences of immense pain, and finally found Jesus right next to them, sharing in their pain - and then it all brings them to a similar experience of worship like it did in the life of Mary. This signifies to me that the Bible is true when it says: "when we share in His sufferings, we will also share in His glory".

For me, as a pastoral worker, all this means that I can empower and encourage the counselees entrusted to me in these three areas with great confidence.
I can bless their intimacy, their listening to God, and speak about what it means to listen to Him first; to practice His presence, as Leanne Payne puts it.
I can encourage them to share their feelings with God. Knowing that God will not ridicule them, but weep with them in stead (like Jesus did with Mary), has been a great comfort to many already.
From the intimacy with God and the peace experienced in that intimacy, they will more easily give themselves and their future to God, and worship Him with adoration. He is such a great God to serve and it's so great to be His child! What grace, what wonder of majesty!

All praise be to that great Father-God, through Jesus Christ, His Son!

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For more information, or your reaction to the above, you can contact me via e-mail: andre.roosma@12accede.nl.

Thanks for your interest!