The Far Orbit

As Jesus and his disciples were on their way, he came to a village where a woman named Martha opened her home to him. - Luke 10:38

Martha and her sister Mary and their brother Lazarus were dear friends of Jesus. But they didn’t spend a lot of time with him. Only occasionally did they get to connect. That connection was mostly when Jesus came to their little village of Bethany and stayed with them.

Think about it. These important friends were not classic ‘disciples’ in the first century sense. Rabbi’s would take their disciples with them. But Martha, Mary, and Lazarus did not travel with Jesus. They were not part of that group that orbited closely around Jesus. Theirs was a far orbit.

In that far orbit Martha practiced hospitality - welcoming in many. And in that far orbit we see a great moment when Mary sat at Jesus’s feet for a while. But what they didn’t do was spend that daily time with Jesus that his closest disciples - male and female - spent with him.

And yet notice how the scriptures speak of how Jesus related to them: “Now Jesus loved Martha and her sister and Lazarus” (John 11:5). Being in a far orbit, apparently, was just fine for Jesus.

So how about you - might this be a season when your orbit is a bit further away from that particular manifestation of Jesus’s kindom on earth called the Church? Could there be ways that in your far orbit that you might be able to practice hospitality or some other gift to serve the world? Might there be some way for you not to do anything but to simply 'be’ - be yourself, be with God, or whatever that looks like for you? Could

Talk with the Jesus who loves you right now and right where you are.