"Trust in Jesus"

 

"Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me."

 

            At the conclusion of the Last Supper, Jesus speaks to his disciples. His final message to them takes four chapters in John. It seems odd, because the force of the narrative is moving rapidly to the cross. You would expect after Chapter 13 for Jesus to go directly to Gethsemane and be betrayed and arrested. So this extended message must be very important. These words to the disciples must be saying something that is absolutely vital to their faith, and to the faith of all believers.

            I thought about it this way. In a basketball game, there is a halftime. You go into the locker room and the coach delivers an inspired and impassioned speech, exhorting the team to greater levels of energy and skill. Then the equipment manager pops his head in and says "two minutes to go." It is time to get back to the court, the second half is about to start. But, instead of sending the team out, the coach says he has a few more things to say, and talks for another hour. What would happen?  The fans get bored, the concession stand runs out of popcorn, the band runs out of music. This coach must have something very important to say. You would want to listen.

            That is what it feels like to me at this point in the text. Everything is ready to go, the hour has come, Judas has left the group, Peter is told he will deny Jesus before the morning comes; and yet, Jesus takes time to speak at some length on what is most important for disciples to hear. He calls them to trust him. We should pay special attention to these chapters.

            He says "Do not let your hearts be troubled." That might be better put as "Stop being troubled." What was it that troubled them? What is it that troubles us? They were troubled because Jesus was leaving them, because he was about to die, because betrayal and denial were near, because they were about to experience a time when they would have no control in an uncertain future. Jesus looks beyond their trouble and calls them to trust him in a deeper way. The word "trust" is a form of the word "faith." Jesus calls them to have faith in him, just at the point when their surroundings are troubling indeed. They will now be going to Gethsemane, Golgotha and the grave.  That will be their immediate journey in the next day. Jesus will go to those places as well, but he understands that he is going to the Father. He can see his destination beyond the immediate trouble.

            Where are you going, beyond your immediate trouble spots? Do you have faith to see beyond that immediate place where your hope is running out, where you do not know what to do next, where you must face some difficult consequences? All of us face Gethsemane: the times when it is hard to pray. We all face Golgotha: the place of cruelty and injustice. We all face the grave: where grief is our experience. Can we trust God in those locations? Is there a greater place beyond our immediate Gethsemane, Golgotha and grave?

            For many people trust is difficult. Especially if you are a person who values security and safety. Then trust of others, trust of leaders and even trust of God is not easy for you. Sometimes other people do not meet your expectations. Sometimes they fail you or even betray you and you lose your secure world. Leaders have a habit of making changes, and when they do that, your sense of security gets shaken. It does not always feel good when God is working on your soul. You long for security, for safety. Jesus says "Trust Me" when you feel shaken. Sometimes God would rather save us from our sin, would rather bring us to health and salvation rather than make us comfortable and safe. Sometimes it is hard to trust. It was the same with the disciples. Following Jesus had its struggles for them. So often he had to stop and call them "you of little faith." It was hard for them to trust Jesus. Now he calls them to trust him more deeply.

            Why should we trust Jesus?

            First, we trust Jesus because he goes to prepare a place for us. Part of his going is his promise to come back for us. He speaks of his father's house, or heaven. In heaven there are many rooms. There is room for all the redeemed in heaven. The word translated as "room" means a place of residence and is closely connected to the word "abide" or "remain." Jesus calls us to abide in him. Death will not interrupt that sense of abiding in the Lord. We do not know what the dwelling will look like. We know that we will be with the Lord. Those who abide in the Lord will not be forgotten.

            Next Jesus calls us to trust him more deeply because he is the Way, the Truth and the Life. Leon Morris says that  Jesus reveals the way to life, his deeds and words show the way of life, and  the way is the cross and resurrection. You find God by coming to the cross of Jesus.  Gary Burge writes that "Jesus is the only one who can lead his followers back to the place he will prepare." Jesus is the Way; he is the one who redeems us. So "the Way" is the link between the Father and his people, and we walk on that way by personal faith in Christ.

            We trust Jesus because he is the truth. Sometimes we think of truth in very abstract and analytical ways. Jesus is completely reliable in what he says. But here the emphasis on the Truth is that Jesus is the only one who can reveal God. He is in the Father. He hears what God says and obeys what God tells him to do. Jesus is the one who has seen God. So he is truth. This is not a question of philosophy, asking "What is truth?" It is a relationship. Jesus is truth because he knows the Father and listens to him.

            We trust Jesus because Jesus is the Life. He says "I am the resurrection and the life." Throughout the Gospel he talks about the gift of life he brings to people, living water for the thirsty; abundant life for those whose experience has been too often with the thief who comes to kill and destroy. Jesus wants us to trust him because he offers life, abundant and eternal.

            So, if you want to know the God and father of Jesus Christ, you know him through Jesus. He goes to the Father through the cross and resurrection. No one else has shown that way. It is the only way, the way of the Only Son returning to the Father.

            Then Philip says, "Show us the Father and that will be enough." He is thinking about a grand experience of seeing God, like Moses on the Mountain, or Isaiah in the temple. If we could just see God in that way, we would be sure, our faith would never waver. But Jesus says to him, "If you watch me, you see the Father." You don't need blinding lights or a voice from heaven. You need to pay attention to Jesus. Listen to him. Watch what he does. See his victory on the cross. That is how you come to know God truly. Gary Burge writes, "No one can see God, but in Jesus we have the full embodiment of God as it can be seen by humanity."

            It is the knowledge of God through Christ that leads us to pray. We know that "the sheep can hear the voice of the shepherd." Now we see that "the shepherd also can hear the voices of the sheep." We learn to pray in the name of Jesus, to pray from faith, seeking to glorify Christ. Morris says "we ask in the name of Jesus, that is, in accordance with all that his name stands for," and then we receive.

            In this extended speech of Jesus just before the cross we discover why we can trust him. Jesus calls us to trust him more deeply. In times of both belief and fear, we trust more fully and abide in him.

           Amen.