Are You Ready to Trust?
Posted on Aug 05, 2018 by David Whetter
As I mentioned last week, we will be reading through Chapter 6 of John’s Gospel over the next several weeks. Now when we ended this story last week, we ended with the story of how the disciples left the “other side” in a boat without Jesus because when they left, Jesus wasn’t with them. If you remember, after Jesus had fed the 5,000, the people were excited and wanted to make Jesus their leader. Specifically John said, “When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself” (6:15). So, as night approached, the disciples decided it was time to sail back across the sea to Capernaum, but they left without Jesus.
Now, as they sailed across the sea, John says, “The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing. When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were terrified” (6:18-19). Now what is important about John’s version of this famous story of Jesus walking on water is that he doesn’t say the disciples thought it was a ghost walking toward them, like Mark and Matthew’s gospels both say. No, John only says they were terrified and in response to their fears, according to our NRSV translation, Jesus said, “It is I, do not be afraid” (6:20). In the Greek, Jesus says “ego emi, me phobeisthe. (fovasai)” Literally, “I am who I am, do not be afraid.” In other words, as he stood upon the water and as the disciples were terrified because they some how knew something divine was happening, Jesus used God language to reassure them of God’s presence. When Moses asked God for his name, God replied, “I am who I am…” and on the water, the disciples were reassured that God was present and that they need not be afraid and they immediately reached the land. You see, that is what God can do for us in the midst of our fears, if we only seek her. In the midst of our fears, God assures us that God will get us safely to the other side if we only can trust God is present.
With all that said, our story continues today in the midst of confusion. You see when the crowds realized that Jesus, nor his disciples were with them, “they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus” (6:24). But when they find Jesus in Capernaum with the disciples they are confused. He hadn’t gotten into the boat with the disciples or any of the crowd, and so they ask, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” (6:25).
Now it was a fair question, but in response Jesus did what Jesus always did best, he cut to the heart of why they had come looking for him. You see, they really didn’t want to know how, or when, he got there; what they really wanted to know was would he continue to provide things for them like he did the day before with five loaves of bread and two fish. That was an incredible miracle he performed for them and they wanted more. But as I noted last week, John never speaks of Jesus’ extraordinary acts as miracles, but instead he calls them “signs,” because the reason Jesus did these things was not to show he had some magical powers. No, the great works Jesus did were intended to point to God and God’s presence here in this world.
When the crowds found Jesus, what they wanted was more; more material things, more of what they wanted. But, Jesus knew that the physical things they wanted, even food, would not sustain them forever, so he challenged them to think beyond the material and focus on the spiritual. He challenged them to see God’s presence in this broken world. He challenged them to see God’s activity in this broken world. He challenged them to see that in the midst of their poverty and needs and brokenness, God’s love and abundance was still present. But it was too much for the people to think about and instead they could only focus on themselves and their wants and desires, and so they ask (6:28) “what must we do?”.
Tell us, Jesus, how hard do we have to work to get this “eternal life” you speak of? Whatever it is, we will do it, they say. But the answer they received was also more than they could bear. “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom (God) has sent” (6:29). To do God’s work, and to receive this gift of eternal life, you must believe in me, Jesus says. Now, as I noted in my Staff Tax letter this past week, the Greek word we translate as “believe,” is “pisteuo.” And although it can mean “believe,” it was more commonly used to convey a “trusting relationship.” That is, this line might be better understood today to be,“This is the work of God, that you trust in him whom (God) has sent.” To receive eternal life all we need to do is trust in Jesus and Jesus’ ways. What are Jesus’ ways you might ask? Well, Jesus has said, love as I have loved, love your neighbor and your enemy, care for the poor, feed the hungry, provide welcome to the immigrant, care for the prisoner, always seek justice, respond to others in peace, and so much more. As odd as their ways of living sound, Jesus challenged his disciples then, and us today, to trust in these strange and unworldly ways of living. He has challenged us to trust that God is present in everything we do, and although we can’t always see the final answer, or know all the steps, we are called to trust in the ways of Jesus.
But, the disciples, just like us today, want proof before they will trust, believe in Jesus. And so they say to Jesus, “What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe (trust) you? What work are you performing?". Really, they need more proof? According to John, Jesus had already turned water into wine, he had healed many people, he fed 5,000 people with five barley loaves and two fish, and he has walked on water, and, yet, they still want proof!
And we are no different. We are a faith community that has survived over 133 years. We, and our ancestors, have witnessed many signs that have proven God is present in this community and at work in and through us, and, yet, when we face challenges, or unknowns, we constantly say, “show us more,” “give us more information so we can be certain.” If we are truly a faith community of this Jesus Christ’s then we, like our ancestors, must learn to trust in Jesus and Jesus’ ways.
The Bread of Life we need is not found in our bank accounts or in our buildings; it is not more people, which is what I often hear when people tell me what Salem needs to really be successful. No, what we need, just like what the early disciples of Jesus needed, is to trust in the ways of the Lord. And that is hard to do.
To trust in the ways of Jesus is to trust that we will be called to do things that don’t make sense, or don’t fit the ways of this world. To trust Jesus means we will have to let go of our incessant need to have all the answers and instead move forward on faith. To trust in Jesus will mean we are ready to turn from the broken ways of this world and speak out for justice. To trust in Jesus will mean we are ready to stand out against issues such as racism, poverty, and hunger. To trust in Jesus means that we are ready to stand with the immigrant and the outsider, even when it means we must sacrifice our ways, so that they too might find comfort in a strange land.
In this world where we all hunger and thirst for peace and prosperity and justice, Jesus says, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty” (6:35).
Are you ready to trust in Jesus? He is calling us to follow in his ways. He is calling us to Speak Out, Stand Out, and Step Out as our children learned at VBS a couple of weeks ago, and when we can do that he assures us we need not be afraid. I am ready, are you? Amen