There’s an Aramaic word in the New Testament which only appears once, in 1 Corinthians 16.22, and is probably better known as the name of a music label or a brand of peanut butter:
1 Corinthians 16.22 NASB - If anyone does not love the Lord, he is to be accursed. Maranatha.
…and some bibles do.
1 Corinthians 16.22 ESV - If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed. Our Lord, come!
Properly maranatha is two words, which in Greek are
Revelation 22.20 ESV - He who testifies to these things says, “Surely I am coming soon.” Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!
Yeah,
Hence the ancient Christians prayed maranatha, by which they meant “Come Lord Jesus!” We see it in
Most of the time when we pray maranatha, it’s for our Lord Jesus to come back. Either we want his presence to be among us during our worship services or church business… or we want him to stop delaying
But then again: If you use the word maranatha in
A prayer for Jesus’s intervention.
Historically Christians have interpreted maranatha to refer to Jesus’s second coming: It’s a request that he return. And maybe rescue us from our problems and sufferings; maybe fix the world.
For their his liking.
Now, since dark Christians don’t share Jesus’s attitudes and motives towards the lost, the way he rearranges the world won’t be to their liking either. But y’know, he’s gonna work on them too. The scriptures indicate his second coming isn’t for the purpose of judging the living and the dead: That comes at the very end, after
But maranatha is a prayer for Jesus to personally intervene in the world’s affairs. Not necessarily by splitting the skies,
If we limit our expectations of what Jesus might do—if we only expect maranatha to be a prayer for the second coming, and never think in terms of Jesus being here for his people right now—we’re gonna overlook all the stuff Jesus is currently doing. Because there are plenty of behind-the-scenes things he’s up to. Stuff we Christians might miss; stuff
So while maranatha is usually about the second coming, it’s really about asking our Lord to flex
A reminder Jesus is coming back.
The other reason we pray maranatha is because we need to realize
Too many Christians aren’t prepared for Jesus to return. ’Cause they’ve been putting off certain things they intend to do for him, figuring they have all the time in the world. ’Cause it’s been nearly 20 centuries, roughly 66 generations, since
There is such a thing as careful planning and preparation. I’m not saying we should act hastily. If you feel God wants you to minister in some way, go to school, go apprentice with another minister, and learn how to minister in that way. Don’t rush off to minister, assuming you’ll learn as you go. What you’ll invariably do (’cause I’ve seen it dozens of times) is try to reinvent the wheel, and do an ineffective, lousy job when y’could’ve done the wise thing and learned better. First go learn better!
But don’t procrastinate. Spend the adequate, proper time in training. Then go and do. Don’t assume “My master delays in coming,” so this means we can delay in being obedient. Assume he’s giving you time to be obedient… so obey! Follow Jesus in the time he’s permitted us. Because we really don’t know how much time that is, and if you’re not paying attention, the time’s gonna pass you by like that.
Maranatha is our reminder: Our time may be shorter than we think. So go and do.