Luke 10:38-42, Care about this, Not about that!

The term “melei” (noun) refers to the thing that is the object of our concern.

melei: an object of care, concern; special care, interest, forethought

·       Mt22:16: Christ pays no attn to what men think of him (Mk.12:14)

·       Mk 4:38: d's to Christ: don't you care that we drown, perish

·       Lk 10:40: Martha to Christ: don't you care that I'm doing all the work

·       Jn.10:13: hired hand doesn't care for sheep

·       Jn.12:6: Judas didn't really care about poor, only wanted the money

·       Ac 18:17: Gallio showed no concern about beating of synagogue ruler

·       1Co 7:21: don't let being a slave "trouble" you, tho if you can change it

·       1Co 9:9: God's concern is not concerned about oxen but his servants

·       1 Pet 5:7: cast your cares (merimna) on Him for He cares for you

This is quite helpful in my view.  For example, Martha’s dinner needs to be fixed, so that is a legitimate concern; but what Martha did was to let that “care” take her attention away from Christ. Mary focused on Christ; she could have helped fix the dinner later.  Again, caring for the poor is a good thing; but Judas didn’t really care about the poor; he only cared about himself.  Peter says God will take care of our “cares” so they must be legitimate cares; Peter only wants us not to let those cares takes us away from the “caring about Christ.”

VINCENT: "anxious". He rejects idea of dividing interest or care. "The word is placed in a group which carried the common notion of earnest thoughtfulness. It may include the ideas of worry & anxiety & may emphasize these, but not necessarily. (I Cor. 7:32-34; 12:25; Phil. 2:20) In all these uses the sense of worry would be completely out of place. In other cases, the idea is prominent as Mt. 13:22/Mk. 4:19/Lk. 8:14 (parable of soils, seed sown among thorns); Lk.10:41 (“Martha, Martha, you are worried and troubled about many things). (III,457).

VINE: "be anxious", (I,169)

INTERPRETATION: I think Vincent has it right.  Phil. 4:6 is tells us not to set our hearts on the necessary things of this life so that we no longer set our affection on Christ.  As Jesus indicated in the Parable of the Soils, this is a fundamental issue of faith.  A young believer will remain a child is he allows the cares of the world to keep him from growing in his faith.  It’s not that those cares are sinful in themselves; rather, devotion to those cares is aiming low, keeping us from the cares of the Kingdom of Christ.  It was right for Paul to care for the churches (2 Cor. 13).  It was right for the shepherd to care for the sheep (Jn. 10).