"I, Paul, write this greeting with my own hand. If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed. Our Lord, come [Maranatha]! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with you. My love be with you all in Christ Jesus. Amen." - 1 Corinthians 16:21–24
Maranatha, which is a Greek transliteration from the Aramaic, is only used once (at least plainly) in the New Testament but is referenced multiple times after, specifically in Revelation. However, the reason why I bring this word up is not that it is just another word, but instead, it represents a broader way of thinking, living, and praying; one that was especially used in the early church, as evidenced by Paul using it as a sort of greeting here.
Maranatha is particularly interesting and unique because it could be translated into all three English tenses; past, present, and future. It could be correctly translated as:
Our Lord, come!
Our faith is largely built on hopeful expectation for the future, and this is exactly why Jesus instructs His friends to pray "Your kingdom come, Your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven" (Matt 6:10). It is a prayer for Christ to come and rightfully reign over this world and the entire cosmos, a prayer for justice to be served (Rev 6:10-11), and for His original design for life in His Kingdom to come to fruition. It's not a morbid call for the "end of the world", rather, it's a call for the new world, a creation in which we can live and work beside God as He intended in the garden.
It's absolutely intentional that the Bible ends with a call very similar to maranatha:
"'I, Jesus, have sent my angel to testify to you about these things for the churches. I am the root and the descendant of David, the bright morning star.' The Spirit and the Bride say, 'Come.' And let the one who hears say, 'Come.' And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price. He who testifies to these things says, 'Surely I am coming soon.' Amen. Come, Lord Jesus! The grace of the Lord Jesus be with all. Amen." -Revelation 22:16–17;20-21
Our Lord is come!
We must make clear that Jesus Christ is, today, seated at the right hand of the Father (Hebrews 12:2), though that in no way means He is a passive observer. For He promises His friends that:
"... I am with you always, to the end of the age." - Matthew 28:20
Jesus goes as far as saying that
"Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you." -John 16:7
We must remember that it is through the empowerment of the Spirit that Christ was enabled to live and have His being; Jesus never stopped relying on the Father and His Spirit throughout His life. C.S. Lewis described this triune relationship, and how it plays out, as a sort of divine "dance". This is important to understand to realize the magnitude of the Spirit in you.
"If the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, he who raised Christ Jesus from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit who dwells in you." - Romans 8:11
Our Lord has come!
And of course, we must recognize and delight in the beauty of God with; a God who has walked among us, lived among us, and suffered among us.
"For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need." - Hebrews 4:15–16
Because the Lord has come in the past, He can pray and plead on our behalf to His Father, as our intercessor. Not as an intercessor who cannot "sympathize with our weaknesses" but one who can save us to the uttermost because he went to the uttermost to save us in the first place.
"Consequently, he is able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through him, since he always lives to make intercession for them." - Hebrews 7:25
The cry Maranatha ties our history, present, and future as believers together. It is a word that sets an entire framework around our belief in Jesus, one built on remembrance and hope for the full coming of the Kingdom of God, as well as the reality of living as citizens of His Kingdom today.
When we pray maranatha, when we pray come, we are always met with the same invitation. The Lord is wanting to delight in His children, and He does not hesitate to accept a single one who comes to Him. He invites us to come because, of course, He recognizes the reality of our situation, and that is that the fallen world we reside in cannot offer us what we need. No one outside God can ever grant us what we deeply yearn for...because we were made for God, an effort to stray from Him will only result in the rotten fruit of our own lack of purpose and the many ways we might try to fill that void.
Maranatha is a prayer that will never go unanswered because He is more than willing to come and fill our lives with the intentionality He designed into us. In Him, we have true purpose and reason, fulfillment of not every desire, but our true desire.
“Are you tired? Worn out? Burned out on religion? Come to me. Get away with me and you’ll recover your life. I’ll show you how to take a real rest. Walk with me and work with me—watch how I do it. Learn the unforced rhythms of grace. I won’t lay anything heavy or ill-fitting on you. Keep company with me and you’ll learn to live freely and lightly.” -Matthew 11:28-30 MSG
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