Wednesday, September 18, 2024

“Don’t let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God, and trust also in me. There is more than enough room in my Father’s home. If this were not so, would I have told you that I am going to prepare a place for you? When everything is ready, I will come and get you, so that you will always be with me where I am.  And you know the way to where I am going.” “No, we don’t know, Lord,” Thomas said. “We have no idea where you are going, so how can we know the way?” Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the father except through me.  If you had really known me, you would know who my Father is. From now on, you do know him and have seen him!” (John 14: 1 -7, New Living Translation)

                If Jesus is really the answer, what is the question?

                It probably depends on whom you ask or when you ask it and why you’re asking it.

                There is an old, hoary joke about two six-year-olds whose class is being asked by their Sunday School teacher, “What is furry, gathers nuts and has a long, bushy tail?” The one child said to the other, “I think it’s a squirrel, but I bet you the answer is Jesus.”

                “Jesus is the answer” can be a far too glib, simplistic, generalized answer to what goes in our lives. Not that it isn’t true but the way some people use the phrase, it can become superficial. It can whitewash the challenges, the trials and tribulations we endure. It can sound too facile in the face of loss, suffering and failure. Believers may understand better because they are steeped in the Church, but others who have no faith foundation may turn a deaf ear because of their lack of experience and therefore appreciation for the depth of its meaning. But even we. Christians, can sound like Thomas, “No, we don’t know, Lord.” There is some existential honesty in Thomas that might resonate. “We have no idea where you are going, so how can we know the way?”

                “Knowing the Lord,” as a lady said to me today when she learned I was a minister and boasted how all her family “knew the Lord,” is crucial to our faith.  Her husband had been a minster as are most of her sons and a few other relatives. My family is rife with minsters as well. I envy her success rate as to the faith of her children. “Knowing the Lord” is not just for pastors and minsters but are words that should strike a spark in anyone and everyone. Then there are a few who claim to know the Lord, but certainly don’t act like it.

                Thomas knew Jesus personally and had watched him at work, at prayer, at miracles, at teaching sessions. Yet Thomas always appears as a natural doubter, somewhat of a skeptic, a prove-it-to-me kind of guy. Words alone never sufficed. He wanted to see for himself and experience firsthand what and who the Lord was. Our relationship with Jesus begins in what we observe about him, hear him say, watch him do, picture him as he is in the Gospels.  This relationship leads to more questions but it is a start.

                Jesus helps Thomas with the teaching that “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” Three short words that say so much. Seeing Jesus as the Son of God resonates through those words. Our relationship with Jesus leads us through all of  life’s journey. His truth gives us insight, hope, counsel, encouragement, strength, and inspiration. His life instructs us on how to live, to love, to be, to care, to forgive, to bless.

                We are getting into deeper waters now when we say “Jesus is the answer.” There is another step to take that brings those ties with him closer and tighter. “My old self has been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me. So, I live in this earthly body by trusting in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.”  (Galatians 2:20) We have a religious idiom for this, too: “saved by grace.”  But what it means is that we entered this mysterious, sacred relationship with faith, confidence and assurance that no matter what, no matter the question or the questions, we are never alone, never forsaken, never without hope, never without God’s Love. “From now on, you do know him and have seen him!”

                It is perfectly okay to have questions and doubts and questions about Jesus. I expect there are a few occasions when he has his doubts about us. Maybe even, the more questions, the deeper one’s faith will grow. New insights. New understanding. New experiences. Only as we practice Jesus’ Way, Truth and Life, do we begin to answer some if not all the questions. It is a lifetime journey. “But I have no regrets. I couldn’t be more sure of my ground—the One I’ve trusted in can take care of what he’s trusted me to do right to the end.” (2 Timothy 1: 12, The Message Bible)

                The squirrel was the right answer. Jesus is the perfect answer!

 

Dale