Peace in Uncertain Times

The Sunday night message given in the Gettysburg United Methodist church on April 21, 2024.  The Bible verses used are Colossians 3:1-17.

            The world is changing.  It always is, of course.  But in recent years, it seems like the pace of change has accelerated.  And in the last four years or so, really since COVID, the pace of change has gotten faster and faster.  Things we never would have imagined five years ago now seem to be a permanent part of our world.

            Change can be a hard thing for people to deal with.  Most of us like routine.  We can carry routine too far, of course, and allow our routine to become a rut.  But still, most of us like for things to stay more or less the same.  Even if things are not great, we don’t like them to change too much too fast.  We like to know how things are going to be tomorrow, next week, next month.

            It’s unsettling to live in a time of uncertainty.  We hope things will get better, we fear things will get worse, but we have no real evidence that convinces us of either one.  Yes, we believe that God is still in control, and that God is eventually going to win.  We even believe that, if we stay faithful to God and believe in Jesus as the Savior, we will eventually win, too.  But it’s that “eventually” that’s the tricky bit.  We can know things will be all right “eventually”, and still be unsettled and even fearful about what’s going to happen until that “eventually” gets here.

             In times like this, what we need, what we want, is peace.  We look for peace in lots of places.  We look for it in money or material possessions, thinking security can be found there.  We look for it in status, thinking the belief that others think well of us will make us feel better.  Sometimes we look for it in politics, thinking that if the “right people” are in control of the government, then somehow everything will be all right and we can be at peace.

            But peace cannot be found in any of those places.  True peace can only be found in one place, and that’s in faith in Jesus Christ.

            But maybe you think, wait a minute.  I have faith in Jesus Christ.  But there’s still all this stuff going on.  There’s still all this uncertainty.  I have faith, but with everything that’s happening, how can I possibly feel peace?

            The Apostle Paul, in his letter to the Colossians, tells us.  He says, “Set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God.  Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.”

            When you think about it, all the things that have us concerned, all the things that get us upset, all the things that get us rattled and even fearful, are earthly things, right?  Whatever they are, whether it’s physical health or financial health or relationship problems or concerns about the country or the world or whatever it is, they are all earthly things.  They are not the things above.  They are not the things of heaven.  

            Now, it’s understandable why we have all these concerns about earthly things.  Earth is where we live, at least for now.  Earth is the only home we’ve ever known.  We have the hope and the promise of heaven, but we have a hard time really understanding what heaven actually is.  And besides, heaven is for someday.  Our concerns are for now, today.  And again, knowing that things will “eventually” be all right is not necessarily a lot of comfort when it seems like things are not all right now.

            But here’s the thing.  Paul is not saying we should ignore all earthly concerns.  He’s saying we need to focus on the things that concern both earth and heaven.  

            What are those things?  Paul lists them.  Compassion.  Kindness.  Humility.  Gentleness. Patience.  Bear with others.  Forgive others.  And over all those things, Paul says, put on love.

            Those are earthly things.  But they’re heavenly things, too.  They’re the things Jesus wants us to do.  They’re the things Jesus did.  And they’re the things that lead to peace.

            What do those things have in common?  Well, maybe a lot of things, but one of them is that they take our focus off of ourselves.  They are things we feel toward other people.  They are things we do for other people.

            It seems to me Paul is saying that’s how we can feel peace.  Take the focus off ourselves.  Take the focus off our concerns and our fears.  Put the focus on others.  If we do that, a lot of the things that make us feel unsettled, that keep us rattled, that keep us from feeling peace, will go away.  I mean, they’ll still be there, but they just won’t seem as important anymore.  We won’t have time for them.  We’ll be too busy focusing on others.

            So how can we do that?  Well, Paul tells us that, too.  He says this:

Be thankful.  Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.  And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.

            The way we focus on others is to focus on God.  Learn from God.  Acquire wisdom from God.  Do that through psalms, hymns and other songs of the Spirit.  Take in everything the Bible has to teach us, so that Christ’s message will dwell in us.  When we do that, when Christ’s message really dwells in us, it becomes part of us.  When Christ’s message truly becomes part of it, we can no more get rid of it than we can get rid of a part of our body.  Christ’s message is no longer something we can choose to ignore.  We may not think about it every waking moment, but it’s always there.  It’s always part of us.

            When Christ’s message dwells in us, and becomes part of us, that message influences everything we do and everything we say.  It influences us even when we’re not consciously thinking about it.  It influences us even when we don’t realize it.  Because Christ’s message of compassion and kindness and humility and gentleness and patience and forgiveness and love is so strong, it’s so powerful, that once it’s in us we cannot help but be influenced by it.  We can ignore it, for a while, but Christ’s message will always come back.  It may come back in the form of regret or guilt or conscience or something else, but it will always come back.  Once Christ’s message truly dwells in us, it is a part of us forever.

            The key to it, really, is what Paul tells us next.  “Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus.”  That’s how we feel peace in our lives:  by living them for Jesus.  That’s how we can stop focusing on ourselves and our problems:  by living our lives for Jesus.  If we do everything in the name of Jesus, we won’t have time to be focused on ourselves.  In fact, we won’t even think about that.  We’ll be too busy doing things for others in the name of Jesus.

            It sounds simple.  And it is simple.  But that doesn’t mean it’s easy.  Our “earthly nature”, as Paul puts it, is strong.  It’s powerful.  Even when we really try to live our lives for Christ, when we really try to do everything in the name of Jesus, our earthly nature keeps coming back at us.  It tries to pull us away from Jesus, and back to our earthly concerns and fears.

            How do we avoid that?  Paul tells us that, too.  He says, “Be thankful.  Give thanks to God the Father through Jesus.”

            Being thankful to God keeps our focus on God.  Being thankful keeps us living our lives for Jesus.  Being thankful is what will give us lives of peace.

            How does being thankful do that?  Because when we focus on being thankful to God, we realize how much God has done for us.  And when we realize how much God has done for us, we realize how much God loves us.  And when we realize how much God loves us, we think about all the times God has been there for us.  

We think about all the times when we were worried, when we were concerned, when we were scared, when things in our lives were uncertain and that uncertainty had us rattled.  And then God was there.  God showed up, and somehow God made it all work out.  Not necessarily the way we wanted, but in a way that was best.

God has done that for me time after time after time.  And I suspect God has done that for you, too, time after time after time.  And when I think about that, I know there’s only one thing I should feel.  I should be thankful to God for all that God has done for me for almost sixty-two years now.  And I suspect, when you think about it, you’re thankful for God for all that God has done for you for all your life, too.

And when we feel that thankfulness, we also feel confidence.  If God has always been there for us in the past, why would God not be there for us now?  God does not set us up just to let us fall.  The same God who has been there for us all our lives is still there for us now.  God promises to never leave us or forsake us.  God will see us through everything we’re going through.  We don’t have to be afraid of what’s going to happen.  God will see us through all the chaos and uncertainty and fear that’s going on right now.  

Knowing that, we can take our focus off ourselves and our problems.  We can live lives of compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, patience, forgiveness, and love.  We can live our lives for Jesus.  And we can feel at peace.

The times are uncertain, but Jesus is the same yesterday, today, and forever.  If we trust him, take our focus off ourselves, and live for Jesus, God will take care of us.  And we will feel the peace that we all want in our lives.

 

Not My Problem

The Sunday morning message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on April 21, 2024.  The Bible verses used are Mark 6:30-44.

            Our reading for today is one most of us have heard before.  Even people who do not know much about the Bible are often familiar with it.  It’s a story that appears in all four gospels. In fact, Matthew and Mark each have two stories like this, with Jesus once feeding five thousand and then later feeding four thousand. The stories are all fairly similar, but the one we’re going to look at today comes from the book of Mark, and is about feeding five thousand.

As the story is presented, this was not something Jesus planned ahead of time. Mark says Jesus had intended to take the disciples with him in a boat to a quiet place where they could get some rest. The problem was that people got wind of where they were going and went on ahead to meet Jesus there. By the time Jesus and the disciples were ready to get off the boat, there was already a big crowd waiting for them.

I wonder, when Jesus and the disciples saw that, if there was at least a little bit of them that was disappointed. I mean, I would be. Here they were, thinking they could get away from everyone and just get a little rest, and here there’s this big crowd of people there waiting for him. If Jesus was disappointed at all, though, he did not give any indication of it. Instead, we’re told, Jesus had compassion on them and started teaching them.

We don’t know how long he taught them, but eventually it got late. The disciples told Jesus to send the people away so they could get something to eat. Instead, Jesus tells them, "You give them something to eat."

I wonder how the disciples reacted when Jesus said that.  I mean, that’s quite a thing Jesus is telling them to do, right?  How were they supposed to give all these people something to eat? They did not really even have enough for themselves to eat. All they had were five loaves of bread and two fish. 

But they take that little bit of food to Jesus.  Jesus takes the bread and fish, gives thanks, gives them to the disciples, and tells them to distribute them to crowd. And the disciples must have thought, "Oh, yeah, right.  This is really going to work. We’ll get maybe ten people fed, and the other four thousand nine hundred and ninety are going to kill us." They probably start out just giving a little tiny bit to each person, trying to make this food last as long as they can. Still, they know it’s going to run out pretty soon.

Except it does not run out. They feed ten people, they look in the basket, and—there’s more food there. They think, "Huh. I guess this’ll go a little farther than we thought." They feed a few more people. They look in the basket again. And—there’s still more there. This keeps happening. They keep thinking they must be about out of food, but there’s always more food there.

At some point, they must’ve figured out what was going on. And so, they look over at Jesus.

I picture Jesus just kind of smiling at them. Not making fun of them, not being upset with them, but just having this knowing smile on his face. I imagine him thinking, "See? See what I can do if you just trust me?"

Think about how the disciples reacted to this situation. When the problem of food first came up, the disciples’ idea was that Jesus should send the people away and let them fend for themselves. The thought that they, the disciples, should help these people does not seem to have occurred to them. They did not think it was their responsibility to feed these people. After all, they had not told these people to come all this way out into the middle of nowhere without any food. If those people were dumb enough to do that, well, that was their own fault. The disciples had wanted to get away from these people. They were tired. They’d been working hard, and they wanted a chance to rest. The disciples knew the people did not have anything to eat, but the disciples did not see that as their problem.

Jesus told them it was their problem. He told them, no, we’re not going to send these people away to fend for themselves. We’re going to give them something to eat. In fact, Jesus said, you’re going to give them something to eat.

The disciples reacted pretty strongly to that. They were incredulous. They thought Jesus was giving them a hopeless task. He was asking them to do something that was clearly impossible. There was no way they could do what Jesus was asking them to do. Even if they wanted to, even if they forgot how tired they were and tried really hard, there was no way they could feed all those people. The little bit of food they had would make no difference at all. The disciples were probably stunned, trying to figure out why Jesus would tell them to do something they clearly would not be able to do.

How many times does this happen to us? We see a situation. We know people are in trouble and they need some help. But we think, "That’s not my problem. I did not put those people in that situation. They got themselves in trouble, and they can get themselves out of it. The little bit I could do would not make any difference anyway. I’m tired. I just want to get away and rest for a while."

Please don’t think I’m pointing fingers here. I’m as guilty of this as anyone. I’ve done it plenty of times. I can be awfully quick sometimes to judge people and decide their problems are their own darn fault. I can be very quick to decide there’s nothing I can do that will make a difference. This is not me trying to make anyone feel guilty, or at least not any more guilty than I am myself.

But the thing is that Jesus says the same thing to us that he said to the disciples. He says it is our problem. We’re not supposed to just leave people in trouble and let them try to get themselves out of it, even if it is their own fault. We’re supposed to help them. In fact, Jesus says to us, as he said to the disciples, you are supposed to help them.

And, many times, we react the same way the disciples did. We’re incredulous. We think Jesus is giving us a hopeless task. He’s asking us to do something that’s clearly impossible. There’s no way we can do what Jesus is asking us to do. Even if we want to, even if we forget how tired we are and try really hard, there’s no way we can do it. The little bit we can do will make no difference at all. We cannot figure out why Jesus would tell us to do something we clearly will not be able to do.

But give the disciples this much credit: they trusted Jesus enough to do what he told them to do. Even though they did not understand, even though they thought there was no way this could work, even though they could not understand how this little bit they could do would be enough to get the job done, they went ahead and did it anyway. They trusted Jesus enough to do what Jesus wanted them to do, even when they thought it would do no good. And when they did, Jesus took that little bit they could do and turned it into enough to get the job done. In fact, it was more than enough. We’re told that when they got done, everyone was able to eat as much as they wanted and there were still twelve basketfuls of food left over.

Can we do what the disciples did? Can we trust Jesus that much?

There are lots of situations that we think are not our problem. There are also lots of situations that we don’t think we can do anything about. That’s true about situations in the world. It’s true about situations in our country. It’s true about situations in our state. It’s true about situations in our community. It’s even true about situations in our families sometimes. We look at a situation like that and we think "I can’t do anything about that. It’s hopeless. And besides, it’s not my problem anyway." Or, sometimes we might try to think of something we could do, but we cannot think of anything. Or, if we do think of something, we don’t see the point of doing it, because the little bit we could do would make no difference to anyone.

Jesus tells us to do it anyway. Even if we think the situation is hopeless, even if we cannot see the point of doing the little bit we could do, Jesus tells us to do it anyway. And when we do, Jesus can take what we do and bless it and make it go a lot farther than we ever imagined it could.

It’s not easy to trust Jesus that much. It was not easy for the disciples. I suspect that when they took those five loaves and two fish and started distributing them to the crowd, they felt pretty foolish. They may even have been kind of scared, not knowing how people would react when they ran out. They thought Jesus was asking them to do something that was not only silly, but that could be dangerous. And yet, they trusted Jesus enough to do it anyway.

That’s the kind of trust you and I need to have. We need to trust Jesus enough to do what Jesus wants us to do. We need to be willing to do it even when we feel foolish. We need to be willing to do it even when it could be dangerous. We need to trust Jesus enough to do it anyway.

If we can, Jesus will bless what we do. And we just may see the effects of what we’ve done spread far beyond what we ever imagined.

 

Jesus or the World

The Sunday night message given in the Gettysburg United Methodist church on April 14, 2024.  The Bible verses used are John 15:18-27.

            Most of us want to be liked.  It’s a natural human thing.  I’m not saying it’s the most important thing in everyone’s life, necessarily.  But we all want to have friends.  We all want people to think well of us.  It’s just part of being human.

            And it’s not that that’s wrong or anything.  I’ve said many times that God put us into communities, into churches, into other groups because God knows that life is too hard for us to go through by ourselves.  We need other people to be there for us, and we need to be there for other people, too.  After all, even Jesus had his inner circle, his close friends, the twelve disciples.  Even Jesus did not try to go through life on earth alone.

            But while it’s natural to want to be liked, and it’s natural to want to have friends, even that can be carried too far.  Jesus had his close friends, but he also had a lot of enemies.  That’s why he was killed, after all--Jesus had powerful enemies, people who were scared of what he was doing, people who thought he had to be stopped at all costs.  Those enemies thought the way to stop his was to kill him, and they did.

            We know now, of course, that not even death could stop Jesus.  But the point is that Jesus was not universally loved, or even liked.  He had people who hated him.  They did not hate him for any specific thing he had said or done.  I mean, if they’d been asked, they’d probably have tried to point to certain things, but those things were not the reason they hated him.  In fact, according to Matthew, Chapter Twenty-six, his enemies had no real evidence to present against him at his trial, and so they just made up some lies to tell against him.  Jesus’ enemies did not hate him for anything specific that he had said or done.  They hated him because of who he was.  They hated him because he was the divine Son of God.  And they hated him because he was not afraid to say so, and he was not afraid to speak on behalf of God the Father.

            Jesus could have compromised on that, you know.  Jesus could have tried to appease his enemies.  He could’ve said, well, you know, I’ll stop claiming to be the Son of God.  I’ll still heal people and I’ll still talk about love, but I’ll just shut up about judgment and about repentance and all that other stuff.  Then my enemies will stop hating me and leave me alone.

            Jesus could’ve said that.  But if he had, he would not have been true to who he was.  He would not have been the Savior, the Messiah.  He would’ve still been a good guy.  He would’ve still done some good things.  And he would’ve probably had a lot more people like him.  But he would not have been able to give us salvation and eternal life.  And he would not have done what God the Father had sent him to earth to do.  The only way for Jesus to do those things was for him to be who he truly was.  And that meant that he was going to have enemies, powerful enemies.

            Our Bible reading takes place on the last night of Jesus’ life on earth.  Jesus knows what’s going to happen.  He knows he’s going to be arrested and ultimately killed.  And the disciples know it, too.  At least, they know Jesus is going away.  And so, Jesus is trying to get the disciples prepared to carry on without him.

            Jesus knows that, when he leaves, there’s going to be a lot of pressure on the disciples.  See, while Jesus was with them, Jesus took the brunt of the criticism.  Jesus was the focus of all the hatred.  But when Jesus leaves, that hatred is going to be focused on the disciples.  

            And Jesus knows that it’s going to be a real temptation for the disciples to compromise.  Again, we all want to be liked.  No one wants to have enemies, especially powerful enemies.  And so Jesus tries to warn the disciples about what’s going to happen.  He wants them to be ready, so they can resist the temptation to compromise, to go along and get along.  He wants them to be able to stand firm in their faith, so they can continue his work of spreading the gospel.

            So, Jesus tells them right out.  Look, if you stay true to me, the world is going to hate you.  It’s going to hate you every bit as much as it hated me.  Because if you follow me, you’re going to be doing things differently from the way the world does them.  You’re going to say things that are different from what the world says.  You’re going to live your life differently from the way the rest of the world lives their lives.  And people are going to hate you for that, just like they hated me for it.  

And Jesus tells them, there’s nothing you can do about that.  They don’t hate you because of anything specific that you’ve said or done.  They hate you because you follow me.  The only way you can get them to stop hating you is to stop doing what I’ve told you to do, stop saying what I’ve told you to say, and stop living like I told you to live.  The only way you can get them to stop hating you is to go along with them and be like them.  If you go along with what the world wants, they won’t hate you anymore.  But you won’t be my disciples anymore, either.  You won’t be able to call yourselves my followers.  You’ll be following the world, not me.

Those are things Jesus tells us, too.  If we stay true to Jesus, there are people who are going to dislike us.  They may even hate us.  The only way to stop that is to stop following Jesus and to follow the world instead.  

Maybe we don’t feel that so much here, in small-town South Dakota.  But at the same time, I suspect it affects us.  It’s just that we’ve gotten used to it, so we don’t really think about it.

But just how open are we really willing to be about our faith?  How often do we talk about it with people?  How often do we even do something like posting about it on facebook?  I mean, we might make some soft, generic statement about believing in God, although we might not even do that.  But how many of us are willing to really take a stand, to really be bold about our Christian faith?

I don’t say this judgmentally.  Maybe you are willing to do that.  In fact, you may be more willing to do that than I am.  Because I have to admit there are times when I’m not as open with my faith as I should be.  There are times when I back off about it, times when, in effect, I censor myself.  I’m not proud of that, but it’s true.  And I don’t think I’m the only one.

Why do we do that?  Because of what Jesus said.  We’re afraid that if we’re really bold about our faith, if we really stay completely true to Jesus, people will dislike us.  They may even hate us.  We don’t want to get into arguments about our faith.  We don’t want to have to defend our faith.  And so, we back off.  We soft-pedal it.  We censor ourselves.  We make compromises with the world, rather than standing up the way Jesus did.

I would think that the disciples had those same fears.  And I think Jesus knew that.  That’s why Jesus told them one other thing.  He told them that, even though he was leaving, he was not leaving them alone.  He said, “When the Advocate comes, whom I will send to you from the Father—the Spirit of truth who goes out from the Father—he will testify about me.  And you also must testify, for you have been with me from the beginning.”

The Advocate.  What we now call God’s Holy Spirit.  Jesus will send the Holy Spirit from God the Father.  The Holy Spirit is a spirit of truth.  And he will testify about Jesus.

I wonder if the disciples understood what that meant.  I doubt it.  But at the same time, it must have made them feel better.  Jesus was leaving, and that made them sad.  But at least they knew someone was coming.  And that someone was being sent by Jesus, so they knew it would have to be someone who was pretty good.  And knowing that, they could be confident in their faith.  They could stand up to the world, if they needed to.  They could handle it even if the world hated them.  Because they knew the Lord was still with them.  And knowing the Lord was with them, they could deal with anything that could happen, even if it was something that looked really bad.

Jesus tells us that, too.  Jesus tells us that we are not alone.  The Holy Spirit is with us.  The Holy Spirit is a spirit of truth.  If we are on the side of truth--God’s truth-- the Holy Spirit will help us deal with whatever may happen.

Knowing that, let’s do what the disciples did.  Let’s be confident in our faith.  Let’s stand up to the world, when we need to.  Let’s not compromise with the world.  Let’s not soft-pedal our faith or censor ourselves out of fear.  Let’s be bold about our faith in God.  Let’s be bold about saying that Jesus is the Savior.  Because that’s the truth.

It’s a human thing to want the approval of the world.  But it’s a Christian thing to want the approval of Jesus Christ.  Let’s speak out and live out our faith the way Jesus told us to.  If we do that, the Holy Spirit will help us stand up to the world.

 

From Grief to Joy

The Sunday morning message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish.  The Bible verses used are John 16:16-24.

            In my nearly thirteen years here, I have conducted two hundred sixty funerals.  That’s twenty funerals a year.

            Now, they have not all been people from our church.  But the vast majority have been people from one of the communities of this parish.  What that means is that, at any given time, there are people in our parish, people you know, who are grieving the loss of a loved one.  It may be recent, it may have been a while ago.  But either way, as you go around one of the communities of the Wheatland Parish on any given day, there’s a pretty good chance you’ll run into somebody who is dealing with grief.

            Our reading today talks about grief.  It talks about grief turning to joy.

            That’s one of those things that sounds good in principle.  No one wants to live their life feeling grief all the time.  We’d like that grief to turn to joy.  But sometimes it’s hard to see that happen.  In fact, sometimes, it’s hard to even imagine that it could happen.

            In our reading for today, Jesus is in the last night of his life on earth.  The disciples don’t know that, of course.  They know they’re in danger–they know the authorities are trying to figure out a way to stop them–but they don’t know that Jesus is going to be killed, and they certainly don’t know that he’s going to be killed the next day.

            But Jesus knows.  Jesus knows this is his last night alive on earth.  And so, he tries to prepare his friends for his death, and for them to go one with their work to go on without him.

            This comes near the end of a pretty long speech Jesus makes.  It takes up about four chapters of the gospel of John.  Jesus has already told the disciples all kinds of things to get them ready for him to be gone.  

Now, he tells them that time is coming soon.  He will leave them.  And they’ll be sad.  But then, he tells them, “Your grief will turn to joy.”

It’s questionable whether the disciples understood Jesus at all.  But if they did, they must have wondered, how can that be?  How can our grief turn to joy?  Jesus dying was probably about the worst thing they could probably imagine.  I suspect Peter and James and John and the others would rather have died themselves than to have Jesus die.  How could their grief over Jesus’ death possibly turn to joy?

It’s a question we may ask sometimes, too.  Because grief is a very hard thing.  It’s more than just being sad.  It’s a deep sorrow.  It’s a sense of mourning.  It’s a sense that something has been lost, taken away from you, and that things will never again be like they were.

As I said, when we’re grieving, joy is about the last thing we can imagine feeling.  Joy does not even appear on our radar screen.  I mean, yes, we’ve heard all the Bible verses.  We may even believe them.  “There’s a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance.”  “Weeping may stay for the night, but joy comes in the morning.”  “God can work all things for the good of those who love him.”  We hear those verses, and we nod our heads, and maybe somewhere in our minds we agree with them.  But at that moment, when we’re grieving, we really don’t want to hear it.  All we know is what we’re feeling, and at that moment, we don’t think we’ll ever feel anything else ever again.

And you know what?  That’s okay.  Because there is a time to mourn, and we need to take that time.  And we’re allowed to take whatever time it takes.  After all, even though Jesus told the disciples that he was going to die and that he was going to rise again, when Jesus died they still felt grief.  They were completely at a loss.   The only thing that got them out of their grief was when they saw proof that Jesus was raised from the dead.

So it’s okay to grieve.  And it’s okay to take some time to grieve.  But in our grief, can we somehow, in some way, also hold onto hope?  Can we have enough faith to believe that, somehow, in some way, we will feel joy again, even if, at the moment, we cannot see how it could possibly happen?

Because that’s what we’re really talking about here.  It’s not that our grief goes away.  Yes, the disciples felt joy when Jesus came back to them, but eventually Jesus did go back to heaven.  And when that happened, the disciples were sad.  We’re told that, when Jesus ascended back to heaven, the disciples just stood there for a while, staring after him.  Probably wishing desperately that he might come back.  It was only after two men dressed in white, whom we assume to be angels, told them Jesus had gone back to heaven that they left.  

It’s not that the disciples stopped feeling bad that Jesus was gone.  I’m sure they wished he could be back with them.  But they also felt joy that Jesus was now in heaven.  And they felt joy at the assurance that someday, they would join Jesus in heaven.  Their grief turned to joy, not because their grief disappeared, but because they could see reasons for joy despite their grief.

And it seems to me that’s how it works.  God turns our grief into joy, but not by making our grief magically disappear.  God turns our grief into joy by showing us that there are reasons for joy in spite of our grief.

And part of that is doing what the disciples did when the angels left them.  They prayed, and they figured out a way to start again.  They figured out a way to move forward.  Yes, Jesus was gone, and they were still sad about that.  But they still had work to do.  God still had a purpose for them.  And they set about figuring out how to fulfill that purpose.

That’s what we need to do, too, when we’re grieving.  Feel the grief.  Don’t deny it.  Don’t pretend it’s not there.  But then, look for reasons for joy in spite of our grief.  Figure out a way to move forward.  Because God still has purposes for our lives.  There are still things God wants us to do.  And we need to figure out how to fulfill those purposes God still has for us.

I don’t mean to pretend this is easy.  It’s not.  It was not easy for the disciples.  In fact, you could say the disciples went through grief at losing Jesus twice.  Jesus was crucified, and they grieved his death.  And then Jesus was resurrected, and he came back and was with them again, and they were overjoyed.  But then he left them again, this time for good.  And they were left grieving again.

It could not have been easy for the disciples to get over that.  But they did.  It’s not easy for you and me to get over grief, either.  But we can.  We can through our faith in Jesus Christ. Again, it’s not that our faith takes our grief away.  But what our faith can do is show us that our grief does not have to be permanent.  

The reason we know it does not have to be permanent is that we know who God is.  Not completely–no human being can fully understand God.  But we know that God is all-powerful.  We know that God is all-loving.  We know that God is righteous.  We know that God is all-knowing, all-seeing, and all-wise.  We know that God is holy and perfect.  We know that God is all-caring, all-forgiving, and all-merciful.

Because we know all those things about God, we know this:  in the end, God wins.  No matter what happens on earth, God wins.  And if we have faith in Jesus Christ as the Savior, we win, too.  No matter what happens on earth, by our faith in Jesus Christ and by God’s love and grace and mercy, in the end, we win.  And we go to be with the Lord in heaven.

Now again, that’s not to say we cannot grieve sometimes.  Even Jesus grieved, when he was on earth.  Jesus cried when His good friend Lazarus died, and Jesus knew He was going to bring Lazarus back to life.  If Jesus could grieve, we can grieve, too.  It does not show any lack of faith.  It’s okay.

But through our faith, our grief can turn into joy.  Because we can know that, in the end, we will win.  We will go to be with the Lord in heaven.  We, and everyone else who believes in Jesus, will go to be with the Lord in heaven.  We will be where there is no pain, no worries, and no fear.  We can be where there is nothing but peace and joy and love.  Love of each other, and love of God.  And we will feel God’s love for us, a love that never dies and never weakens.

The disciples grieved, but their grief eventually turned to joy.  We will grieve, but our grief will eventually turn to joy.  Through our faith, we can look for reasons to move forward.  Through our faith, we can find the purpose God still has for our lives.  Through our faith, we can fulfill that purpose, and feel the joy that comes from that.  And through our faith, we can know that our grief is not permanent.  Eventually, we will feel the joy of being in heaven with the Lord.

“You will grieve, but your grief will turn to joy.”  It was true for the disciples.  It’s true for us, too.

 

Untroubled Hearts

The Sunday night message given in the Gettysburg United Methodist church on April 7, 2024.  The Bible verses used are John 14:1-7.

            When we think of Jesus’ commandments, we think of things like “love your neighbor as yourself.”  “Pray for those who persecute you.”  “Turn the other cheek.”  “Love your enemies.”  

            We talk about those commandments a lot in church.  We talk about how hard they are for us to do.  We talk about how we should do them, anyway.  We talk about how God will help us keep those commandments.

            But when we think of Jesus’ commandments, the one we read tonight rarely comes to mind.  In fact, I suspect most of us don’t even realize that there was a commandment in there.  But there was.  Here it is:  “Do not let your hearts be troubled.”

Have you ever thought of that as a commandment?   Well, until I started thinking about the message for tonight, neither had I.  But it is.  After all, what is a commandment?  It’s something the Lord has told us to do.  And Jesus told the disciples, and us, “do not let your hearts be troubled.”

            And just like those other commandments I mentioned, this one is not easy for us to keep.  It seems like there are an awful lot of things that trouble our hearts these days.  Some of them just have to do with the everyday things of life.  We have health concerns, we have financial concerns, we have concerns about our families and our friends.  Some of them have to do with events happening in our country, or in the world.  We see wars and threats of wars, we see economic problems, we see rampant crime.  Some of them have to do with our faith.  We are called to be faithful to God in a country, and in a world, that seems to be turning away from God.

            But you know, when Jesus said those words to the disciples, they had a lot of things troubling their hearts, too.  Jesus said these words on the night of the Last Supper.  The night on which He was to be arrested.  The day before He was to be killed.  The disciples did not know all that was going to happen, but they knew they were in trouble.  They knew the Pharisees and the other religious leaders were plotting against them.  They knew that things were coming to a head, and that something big was going to happen soon.  But they did not know what it was or how it would come out.

            And to top it all off, Jesus has just told them He will be leaving them soon.  They probably did not understand that He meant He would be killed, but they knew He would no longer be there for them.  They were wondering how they would go on without Him.  They were wondering what they were going to do.  

            To say the disciples were worried would be an understatement.  And then Jesus says, “Do not let your hearts be troubled.”  Do you think that helped?  I mean, to me, it’s like when your wife is mad at you and you say, “Calm down.”  You’re probably going to get the exact opposite response from what you wanted.

            But Jesus tells them why their hearts should not be troubled.  First he says this, “You believe in God; believe also in Me.”

            Jesus understands why the disciples are worried.  He’s not mad at them for being worried.  But He’s saying to them, look, you really don’t need to be.  It’ll be all right.  Just trust Me.  Just believe in Me.  I’ll take care of you.

            But Jesus does not just leave it at that.  Jesus goes on to say, “My Father’s house has many rooms; if that were not so, would I have told you that I am going there to prepare a place for you?  And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with Me, that you also may be where I am.”

            He’s telling the disciples, yes, I’m going away.  But it won’t be forever.  Hang in there.  Whatever happens to you here, it’ll only be temporary.  Because eventually, I’m going to come back.  And when I do, I’ll take you out of here.  I’ll take you to where I am, and we’ll all be together again.  

            And then, Jesus says this, “You know the way to the place where I am going.”

            Well, if the disciples' hearts were starting to get untroubled, this got them troubled again.  You can imagine them, staring at each other, with confused looks on their faces.  Finally, Thomas, of course, is the one to put into words what they’re all feeling.  “Lord, we don’t know where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

            And of course, Jesus answers, “I am the way.”  If we want to go to where Jesus is, we have to follow Him.  There’s no other way to do it.  There’s no one else we can follow who will get us to Jesus.  

And when we get to where Jesus is, there’s no reason for our hearts to be troubled.  Because, as Jesus says, “If you really know Me, you will know My father as well.”

When we follow Jesus, we eventually get to where Jesus is.  And when we are where Jesus is, we are in the presence of God the Father.  And at that point, there is no reason for our hearts to be troubled.  We are in the presence of God, and God will have everything handled.

We don’t know whether the disciples’ hearts became untroubled after this.  I somehow doubt it.  I imagine them thinking, well, yeah, that’s great that someday we’ll get to go to be with you in heaven.  And we look forward to that and everything.  But in the meantime, we’re here on earth.  We’ll be here, and You’ll be gone.  And we’ll have the Pharisees coming after us.  And maybe the Roman soldiers, too.  You’re going away, but we’re stuck here, having to deal with all this stuff without You.  How can you tell us to not let our hearts be troubled?

I suspect a lot of us feel that way sometimes, too.  We have faith in Jesus Christ as the Savior.  We believe in Him.  We look forward to the day when we’ll be in heaven with Him and with all those who have gone before us.  It’ll be a great day.  It’ll be a grand reunion.

But in the meantime, we’re stuck here on earth.  And we have all those problems we talked about at the start of this message.  And we see the country and the world turning away from God.  How can our hearts not be troubled?

Well, the way we can do it is the way the disciples could do it.  Jesus goes on for the next few chapters telling them how to do it.  But what it amounts to is this.  Trust Me.  Believe in Me.  Be faithful to Me.  Do the things I’ve told you to do.  Love God.  Love each other.  Stay faithful no matter what may happen to you.  Yes, there will be times when things are bad for you here on earth.  But the Holy Spirit will be with you, and the Holy Spirit will help you through it.  And if you stay faithful to the end, you will go to be with Me in heaven.  As Jesus Himself puts it, “In this world you will have trouble.  But take heart!  I have overcome the world.”

Jesus has overcome the world.  He did not just do that for Himself.  He did that for us, too.   And knowing that, and believing it, and trusting it, is how we can keep our hearts from being troubled.  

            This world we live in now seems so real to us.  And it is real, of course.  And the thing is, it’s the only world we’ve ever known.  And so, too often, we act as if we believe it’s the only world that is.  I mean, yes, we say we believe in heaven.  But we’ve never been there.  We’ve never seen it.  We don’t know what it’s like.  

Because of that, there’s a sense in which it does not seem real to us, at least not in the way this world is.  And so, our focus is on the problems of this world.  Our focus is on the things we see and hear and experience here on earth.  And a lot of those things are troubling to us.  When we have problems, when the people we love have problems, when we see things going wrong in this country that we love, our hearts are troubled.  

But they don’t have to be.  Jesus knows we’re going to have trouble in this world.  That’s the way it’s set up, ever since sin entered the world through Adam and Eve.

But Jesus gave us a promise.  He promised that He has overcome the world.  He promised that He will come back to take us to be with Him.  And then, we will be where our hearts will never need to be troubled again.  We will have nothing but peace and joy and love, in the presence of the Lord.

When we look at the world, it’s hard for us to not let our hearts be troubled.  It was hard for the disciples, too.  But take heart!  Jesus has overcome the world.  If we stay faithful to Him, and trust Him, and believe in Him, then through Jesus’ power, we can overcome the world, too.  And we will never need to have our hearts be troubled again.

 

Doubt and Belief

The Sunday night message given in the Gettysburg United Methodist church on March 31, 2024.  The Bible verses used are John 20:19-29.

            The phrase “Doubting Thomas” is part of our culture.  Even people who have no idea who Thomas was and have no idea where the phrase comes from are still familiar with it.  If someone is a skeptic, if they never want to believe anything, if they always demand more proof, we refer to them as a Doubting Thomas.

            When I read our Bible verses for tonight, though, it always seems to me that Thomas has gotten a bum rap.  Yes, he had doubts, but no more doubts than any of the other disciples.  And yet, we’ve come to read this story as Jesus criticizing Thomas for his lack of faith.  I think when we read the story that way, not only are we unfair to poor Thomas, but we miss a valuable lesson that comes from that story.

            These Bible verses take place on the night of the first Easter Sunday.  In the morning, Jesus had appeared to Mary Magdalene.  She then told the disciples that she had seen the Lord.

            Now, it’s evening.  The disciples are in a locked room, out of fear of being arrested.  Jesus appears to them, says peace be with you, shows them his hands where the nails had been pounded through and his side that was pierced by a sword, the disciples are overjoyed.  Jesus breathes on them and says “Receive the Holy Spirit.”

            So all the disciples believe Jesus is alive.  Except Thomas.  He was not there when Jesus came.  We don’t know why not, but he was not there.  The disciples tell him about Jesus being alive, but he says “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe.”

            A week passes.  The disciples are all back in the same locked room.  This time Thomas is there.  Jesus again appears to them, says peace be with you, shows Thomas his hands where the nails had been pounded through and his side that was pierced by a sword.  And Thomas is overjoyed.  

            Do you see why I say Thomas got a bum rap?  What Jesus showed Thomas was exactly the same thing he had shown the other disciples a week earlier.  When Thomas was not there, Jesus had shown the other disciples his hands where the nails had been and his side that was pierced.  None of them believed he was alive before they saw that.  Thomas did not ask for any more proof than any of the others had, and he did not get any more proof than any of the others got.  

And yet, poor old Thomas is the one who gets criticized.  Thomas is the one whose faith is said to be weaker than the others.  Thomas is the one who for two thousand years has been called the doubter, whose very name has been turned into a negative.  It just does not seem fair.

But of course, you know why we look at it that way.  It’s because of what Jesus said.  After Jesus shows Thomas his hands and his side, Jesus says to Thomas, “Stop doubting and believe.”  And then he says, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”  It seems like Jesus himself singled Thomas out for criticism.

            But I was thinking about this.  That first time, when Jesus appeared to the other disciples without Thomas--why do you suppose Jesus did that?  I mean, I assume Jesus would’ve known that Thomas was not there.  Why would Jesus choose to appear then?  I would think that there surely must’ve been some other time Jesus could’ve appeared to the disciples, sometime when they’d all be there.  It’s almost like, that first time, Jesus deliberately excluded Thomas.  Why would Jesus do that?

            It could’ve been a coincidence, I suppose.  Maybe this was simply the time Jesus needed to appear to the disciples, and whoever was there was there and whoever was not was not.  I doubt that, though.  It’s possible, but it’s just hard for me to believe that Jesus would leave something like this to chance.  It seems like there must’ve been some reason why Jesus appeared to the others without Thomas being there.

            I wonder if, perhaps, Jesus thought Thomas might have enough faith to not need to see for himself.  I wonder if, maybe, the reason Jesus appeared to the disciples without Thomas there is that Jesus thought that, out of all the disciples, Thomas might be the only one who had enough faith to not need to see for himself.  Out of all the disciples, Thomas might be the one who could believe without seeing.  When we look at it that way, it looks like Jesus thought Thomas was the disciple who had the most faith, not the least.  And Jesus’ words to Thomas are not so much a criticism as they are an expression of disappointment.  Not that it was wrong for Thomas to want to see for himself, really.  It was just that Jesus was hoping Thomas had enough faith to not need to.

            But here’s what I think is the real point.  Jesus appears to the disciples without Thomas.  They all believe.  Thomas does not.  So what does Jesus do?  Jesus comes back.  He comes back specifically for Thomas.  Jesus comes back specifically so that Thomas can see and believe.

            Think about that.  The twelve disciples were down to eleven, of course, because Judas had betrayed Jesus.  Ten out of the eleven believed.  That’s ninety-one percent.  Pretty good.  But Jesus was not going to settle for that.  Jesus wanted each and every one of his disciples to believe.  He was not going to give up until each and every one of his disciples believed.  As long as there was even one who did not, he was going to do whatever it took to make that one believe.  Each and every one of his disciples was that important to Jesus.

            And each and every one of us is that important to Jesus, too.  Because most of us have doubts at one time or another.  We may try to hide them from others, we may try not to think about them ourselves.  But we still have them.  It may seem like everyone around us believes, and we’re the only one who doubts.  But we still have those doubts.  We might wish we did not have them--for all we know, Thomas may have wished he did not have them.  But the doubts are still there.

            Jesus does not want us to go on with our doubts.  Jesus wants us to believe.  And Jesus is not going to give up until we do.  It does not matter if everyone around us believes and we’re the only one who has doubts.  Even if we were the only person on earth who had doubts, that would not matter to Jesus.  As long as there’s just one of us who does not believe, Jesus is going to do whatever it takes to make that one believe.  Each and every one of us is that important to Jesus.

But the thing is, you’re not the only one who has doubts.  Lots of us do.  Some of the greatest Christians in the world have confessed to having doubts at one time or another.  Mother Teresa said she had doubts.  Billy Graham said he had doubts.  A lot of us are in the position of the man Jesus talked to in Mark Chapter Nine.  A man asked Jesus if he could heal his son.  Jesus says what do you mean, if I can?  He says, “Everything is possible for one who believes.”  And the man responds, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!”

            We believe, and yet we don’t.  We believe, and yet we have doubts.  And Jesus understands that.  He understood the disciples’ unbelief.  He understood Thomas’ doubts.  But Jesus did not want them to stay in unbelief and doubt.  Jesus wanted them to believe.  And Jesus did everything he could to help them believe.

            It would be nice if Jesus would appear right before us, just as he did with Thomas and the other disciples.  And of course, Jesus could do that.  But for most of us, it probably won’t happen.  That does not mean, though, that the Lord has abandoned us.  If we look around us, we can see God at work in all kinds of ways.  And if we look at our own lives, we can see God at work in all kinds of ways, too.

            I don’t know what those ways are for you.  Here are just a few of them for me.  God was at work when, coming out of law school, I took a job in Pierre rather than one in Laurens, Iowa.  God was at work when, without us even knowing each other, Wanda took an apartment directly across from mine.  God was at work when, out of the blue, we got a call offering us the chance to move to Wessington Springs.  God was at work when, through a series of events that would take too long to go into now, we felt God calling us into the ministry.  And I believe that God was at work when the Dakotas Conference sent Wanda and me to this parish.

            If you think about your life, I suspect you can think of those moments, too.  Those moments when God was at work in your life.  Those “coincidences” that just all lined up perfectly for things to happen the way they did.  That’s God at work.  That’s Jesus doing whatever it takes to make each one of us believe.  That’s Jesus saying to us what he said to Thomas.  “Stop doubting, and believe.”

            So, it’s okay if we have doubts.  But let’s not stay stuck in our doubts.  Let’s look for all the times in our lives when God has shown up.  Let’s look for the times when God is showing up now, leading us and guiding us.  Let’s look for all the ways Jesus is saying to us “Stop doubting, and believe.”

            Our doubts are real.  But God is more real.  If we trust God, and if we look for the ways that God is at work. God will give us the faith to overcome our doubts.

Believing Without Understanding

The Sunday morning message given in the United Methodist churches of the Wheatland Parish on March 31, 2024.  The Bible verses used are John 20:1-18.

On Friday, Jesus died.  There was no question about it.  Everyone saw him die.  They even stabbed his side with a spear to make sure.  Jesus had a good run—he’d healed people, he’d fed people, he’d attracted a following.  But it was all over now.  Jesus was dead.  Period.  It had been quite a run, but now it was over.  The end.

            Jesus had told the disciples what was going to happen next.  He told them he was going to overcome death and rise on the third day.  But they either did not understand what he meant or did not believe it.  I don’t think it’s an overstatement to say that everyone who knew what had happened thought Jesus’ life was over when he died on the cross.

            Mary Magdalene goes to the tomb.  She’s going there to anoint Jesus’ body, as part of the Jewish burial ritual.  She sees the tomb empty, but does not know what’s happened.  She assumes someone has moved Jesus’ body.

          She goes back and tells Peter and John.  They go running out to the tomb.  Peter goes into the tomb first, and sure enough it’s empty.  He sees the strips of linen that had been wrapped around Jesus’ body and the cloth that had been wrapped around his head.  Then John goes in.  And then the Bible says this:  “He saw and believed.  (They still did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead).”

            We’ll come back to that.  But then Peter and John leave.  And apparently, the way the story is written, they don’t say a word to Mary Magdalene.  They just walk away and leave Mary outside the tomb.  Crying.  Still thinking Jesus’ body has been moved someplace, and not having any idea where.

           Mary sees two angels.  They ask her why she’s crying, and again she tells them someone has taken Jesus’ body.  She sees Jesus himself, but of course does not recognize him.  She again wants to know where Jesus’ body was taken.  Then, Jesus says her name and she recognizes him.  That was probably the last thing Mary expected.  And of course, she’s overjoyed.  Jesus tells her to go and tell the others that he is ascending to God the Father, and of course she does that.

            I’ve said before that when we read about Biblical events, we need to try to imagine ourselves there.  Try to imagine ourselves as one of the people in the story.  Try to imagine what they were thinking or feeling.  I think when we do that here, what we realize is how important it is to believe even when we don’t understand.

           Look at John.  Remember what it said about John?  We’re told that he went into the tomb, and “he saw and believed”.  But then, in the next sentence, we’re told that neither he nor Peter understood from scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.

So John believed.  But what, exactly, did he believe?  He believed that the tomb was empty, but he could see that.  That did not take any belief--any fool could see the tomb was empty.  Did he believe Jesus had risen from the dead?  Maybe.  But even if he did, neither he nor Peter understood what that meant.  Again, they “did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.”  They may have understood that this was a miracle, but what it meant--what it meant for them and for everyone else--they don’t appear to have had a clue.

            Mary Magdalene still thinks someone has moved the body.  Jesus rising from the dead does not even seem to have occurred to her.  She does not seem to even consider the possibility of it.  She knows Jesus is dead.  She just wants to know where the body is, so she can do what her faith requires her to do and so that she can mourn properly.

            And yet.  Through all this, Mary continues to refer to Jesus as “Lord”.  Not by name.  Not as just a man.  As “Lord”.  She tells Peter and John, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb.”  She tells the angels “They have taken my Lord away.”  Even though Mary Magdalene believes Jesus is dead--actually more than believes, Mary knows it as a fact--despite that, she continues to refer to Jesus as “Lord.”  

Think about that.  “Lord”.  That’s not a title Mary would use for a man.  That’s a title Mary would only have used for the divine Son of God.  Somehow, in some way, even though she’s convinced Jesus is dead, she continues to believe in him as the Lord.  She probably would not have been able to explain that.  She might not have even understood it herself.  But somehow, in some way, even though she did not understand, she continued to believe.  And, of course, her belief is rewarded.  Jesus says her name, she turns and sees him, the last person she expected to see there, and she is overjoyed that Jesus is alive.

            Belief without understanding.  That’s one of the definitions of faith, really--when we continue to believe even when we don’t understand.  

As we look around us, we see a lot of things we don’t understand.  There are natural disasters, of course:  blizzards, floods, fires, earthquakes.  And we hear about unnatural disasters, too.  Terrorist attacks.  Murders.  Wars.  Riots.  And of course, there are the things that hit closer to home.  Cancer and other diseases.  Heart attacks.  Motor vehicle accidents.  And we could go on and on and on with all kinds of other things that are happening in the world.

            We don’t understand these things.  We don’t understand why they happen.  We don’t understand why God allows them to happen.  Some of them we can explain away by saying that God allows us to make choices and sometimes we make bad ones.  And of course, those bad choices we make affect a lot of people other than just ourselves.  And that explains some of the things that happen, but not all of them.  

            We say that God is good.  In fact, that’s one of the most basic articles of our faith as Christians--that God is good.  And yet, we struggle to understand why this good God would allow the world to be the way it is.  Even if we say that God did not cause it to be the way it is, we know God could do something about it.  God can do anything--that’s a basic part of being God.  But God clearly is not doing anything about it.  

Well, that may not be true.  After all, God does all sorts of things that we don’t see and maybe never will see.  God may be working right now, pulling everything together in ways we have no idea about.  But it appears to us, at least, that God is permitting things to be the way they are, at least for now.  This good God, this perfect God, is allowing the world to be anything but perfect.  This good God is allowing a lot of misery and sadness to go on in the world.  And we don’t understand why.

            But the question is not “Do we understand?”  Don’t get me wrong, it’s okay to try.  It’s okay to ask questions and try to understand.  But the question is not “Do we understand?”  The question is “Do we believe?”  

Are we able to believe, even though we don’t understand?  Are we able to believe, despite everything we see around us, that God is still good?  Are we able to believe, no matter how things look to us right now, that God has reasons for allowing things to be the way they are?  Are we able to believe, no matter what’s happening and no matter what does happen, that somehow God is going to make everything work out all right in the end?  And in fact, are we able to believe that not only is everything going to work out all right in the end, but that somehow, in some way that we don’t understand and never will understand while we’re on earth, all these things are part of God’s plan and that all these things are necessary to bring about the fulfillment of God’s plan?

            When you put it that way, it kind of seems like it’s asking a lot.  Believing those things when we don’t understand them is not easy.  But on the other hand, Jesus never promised that faith would be easy.  

It was not easy for Peter and John.  It was not easy for Mary Magdalene.  Think of the position they were in at this point.  They believed Jesus was alive, but they did not understand any of it.  They did not understand what had happened.  They did not understand how it had happened.  They did not understand why it had happened--I mean, they knew it had to do with Jesus being the Son of God, but again, we’re told that they “did not understand from Scripture that Jesus had to rise from the dead.”  They did not understand what it meant, for them or anyone else.  They did not understand what was going to happen next or how it was going to affect them.  They believed, but they did not understand anything about it at all.

            So that’s the challenge.  Can we believe, even though we don’t understand?  Can we continue to have faith in God, even though we don’t know why things are the way they are?  Can we continue to believe that God is good when it seems like so many things happening in the world are bad?  Can we continue to believe God loves us when it seems like our lives are being turned upside down, especially when it seems like they’re being turned upside down through no fault of our own?  Can we continue to believe?  Can we continue to have faith?

            Peter and John believed Jesus was alive, even though they did understand how or why.  Mary Magdalene believed Jesus was Lord, even though she did not understand how or why.  They believed, even though they did not understand.  And because they believed, Jesus was with them, even though when they were not aware of it.  And he made himself known to them, even when they did not expect it.  

Can we believe, even though we don’t understand?  If we can, if we keep believing, Jesus will be with us, even when we’re not aware of it.  And even though we don’t expect it, Jesus will make himself known to us, too.