Trust Is An Umbrella
Biblical Studies
More Alive Than Ever
Signs In The Miracles Of John's Gospel
Then he came again to Cana in Galilee where he had changed the water into wine. Now there was a royal official whose son lay ill in Capernaum. When he heard that Jesus had come from Judea to Galilee, he went and begged him to come down and heal his son, for he was at the point of death. Then Jesus said to him, "Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe." The official said to him, "Sir, come down before my little boy dies." Jesus said to him, "Go; your son will live." The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and started on his way. As he was going down, his slaves met him and told him that his child was alive. So he asked them the hour when he began to recover, and they said to him, "Yesterday at one in the afternoon the fever left him." The father realized that this was the hour when Jesus had said to him, "Your son will live." So he himself believed, along with his whole household. Now this was the second sign that Jesus did after coming from Judea to Galilee.
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
-- you'll be a Man, my son!
-- Kipling (paraphrased)
We now look at a second pathway leading to a more vibrant life than ever before. Such pathways are important because they put us in contact with qualities of life that, when practiced and exercised outwardly, produce inward results. As we walk this pathway there is developed within us the quality of trust.
There is an old story about a boy who grew up in the desert far away from civilization. Supplies would come by train and enable him and his family to live. As the boy grew he wanted to know about life in the city. One spring day, his parents decided that this would be a good time for their boy to know more about such a life. He was sent to the city to be with an uncle for a period of time. Since the family was poor, they supplied the boy with a packet of food and told him to walk into the city along the railroad track. They warned him to stay on the track until he came to the station where he would be picked up by his uncle. It was a beautiful day and the boy walked along the railroad track enjoying the beauty of the distant mountains and the spectacular flowering bushes.
A train chugged along toward him and because the boy was deep in thought he never heard the approaching train. The engineer began to blow the whistle over and over again. When he suddenly began to hear the whistle he jumped to the side only to have part of the train hit him, sending him rolling and knocking him out. The boy was rushed to the hospital and finally recovered enough to be picked up by his uncle.
Days later, the uncle decided to make some tea and placed the tea kettle on the stove. As the water came to a boil the kettle began to whistle. When the boy heard the whistling sound, something came over him. He rushed to the front closet, grabbed a baseball bat, went into the kitchen, and smashed the tea kettle to pieces. His uncle came running in and asked, "What on earth are you doing?"
The boy replied, "Oh, you have to stop these whistling things and destroy them when they are small!"1
This is a silly old story but I'm reminded that our minds and spirits can become like the desert -- dry and lacking in abundant life. We can be weighed down with problems and cares. We can feel run over and run down. Our ability to trust and believe begins to deteriorate, and those doubts and losses of faith need to be dealt with when they are small or they will interfere with our ability to trust the Lord as well as those around us. Without the quality of trust the ability to really be alive crumbles.
We have seen how joy and laughter is a pathway that is like good medicine with great capacity for healing. Albert Schweitzer always believed that the best medicine for any illness he might have was the knowledge that he had a job to do, plus a good sense of humor. I couldn't help but smile when Norman Cousins wrote, "It has always seemed to me that hearty laughter is a good way to jog internally without having to go outdoors."2 Now we embark on a pathway that is called trust. This quality of trust is important in a tough old world where life can be hard.
As a young boy in the eighth grade, I became a part of a youth choir in a church. This choir was directed by the pastor's wife who was full of joy and enthusiasm. Every Wednesday evening we met in the parsonage for rehearsal. Before we worked on the hymn or anthem to be sung in worship, we would sing fun songs and favorite hymns to warm up our voices. In such a setting we used to sing an old gospel song that still is sung in our churches and that I still find myself humming out loud. In the old song is a phrase that is repeated over and over: "Trust and obey, for there is no other way." These words certainly came to mind as I read the story and miracle of Jesus that is before us. The quality of trust is associated with faith and confidence as well as with reliance and dependence, especially reliance upon a particular person. In every parish that I have served as a pastor there have always been people that I loved to be with because they had the ability to inspire and reactivate within me trust and confidence. To possess this sense of trust and confidence produces an umbrella of security.
We look into the story that is before us. Jesus had been in Judea and Samaria and has returned to Cana where we are reminded that he had turned water into wine. We are introduced to a royal official from the court of Herod Antipas. This official is a man who is in desperate need for help because of his little son being very sick. In fact, death seems imminent because of a high fever. He lives in Capernaum down by the Sea of Galilee and although Cana is almost twenty miles away through the hill country, he decides to try and find this Jesus. Obviously, he has heard about the wondrous signs Jesus has been performing, particularly his healing miracles. If someone could turn water into wine and heal the sick it was worth a try. We cannot help but notice that there is a measure of trust in his heart. When he finds Jesus in the village of Cana he begs him to come down to Capernaum and heal his son. Jesus seems to brush him off saying to him, "Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe." How often Jesus seems to test an individual to see if there is a measure of faith and trust. Or is Jesus simply in the process of reactivating the ability to trust that is already there? Often we can have a measure of trust for those with a reputation and credentials. We can have a trust in a medical doctor or a great institution like the Mayo Clinic because of its reputation. Certainly Jesus wants this official to trust not in just his signs and miracles but also in him as a person. What is at stake here is not just the healing of the man's son but the development of genuine faith and trust in the heart of this official and his whole family. Though seemingly almost rejected, the official indicates his desperate need, pleading with Jesus, "Sir, come down before my little boy dies."
Jesus responds to the growing trust and belief in the heart of the official saying, "Go; your son will live." This official has a remarkable sense of trust at this point knowing that Jesus is not going back with him and that this healing, if it is going to take place, has to take place at a distance. He has to travel all the way back to Capernaum without Jesus, trusting in the fact that something good would happen. Since travel by foot through those hills was slow and tedious, he wouldn't get back until the next day. He had many hours to think and meditate about what could be. Certainly in his work in the court of Herod and in his home with servants he knew something about receiving orders and giving orders. Perhaps there was almost a sense of resignation about it all as he journeyed homeward. He had been ordered by Jesus to go. He had been told that his son would live. With fluttering heart, full of questions and doubts, he must have put one foot in front of the other.
When our son Jon was a little boy, I would pick him up and hold him high over my head. At first he gave every indication of being uneasy and afraid of falling. But the more I did it the more he relaxed and soon he laughed with glee when I held him high. One day, I sat him on top of the refrigerator and told him to jump and that I would catch him. Once again, he was very fearful but finally took a jump of faith and when I caught him he laughed and laughed. That was a mistake, for now he wanted to do it over and over again. In the historical account that is before us the official's quality of trust was growing and developing even as he walked home. He was taking Søren Kierkegaard's "leap of faith" without knowing it.
When the official arrived home he was met by his servants who told him that his son was alive and well! There must have been some question of doubt, some need for reassurance in his growing trust because he wanted to know when the boy had begun to recover. When he was told that the fever had subsided at one o'clock in the afternoon of the previous day he was astounded. Why that was the moment when he had been talking to Jesus. That was the moment he had heard Jesus say, "Go; your son will live." At this point not only does the official trust and believe, but his whole family as well.
There is a progression in the development of trust in this story that is a part of the development of trust in your life and mine. Robert Kysar writes: "trust is a process, never a simple possession."3 First of all there is a trust in a person that is based on the words of others about this person. If we really want to know about another person, we depend initially upon that person's reputation. We depend upon what others have said and upon what others have written. We recently purchased a "double-wide" home in a beautiful court in Mesa, Arizona. The place needed to be painted inside and have new carpeting installed. Our little yard had, among other things, an orange tree, a pine tree, and a dwarf palm. Since the previous owners had moved away and had been gone for many months these trees were overgrown and tangled up in each other and desperately needed to be trimmed. Because we had purchased this home late in the season and were heading north to our main home in Iowa, we needed to know who could be trusted to paint, install carpeting, and care for the yard. We needed to find someone who would check our home daily in the heat of an Arizona summer. We discovered that we didn't have to look very far. Painters who lived in the court were recommended by others. A caretaker who lived in the court had the reputation of being able to fix anything and was said to be very responsible. Our trust in these people was real and based on the words of others. The official in the gospel story had a trust in Jesus initially that was based on his reputation as a teacher and healer.
Secondly, there is the trust that is based on the actual words of the person we want to trust. When we talked to the painters who were going to paint our house, we discovered in a short time that they knew all about painting and knew exactly what to do. They radiated an expertise that gave us confidence. They possessed a down-to-earth sense of humor and knowledge of how to approach a project and to complete it in an efficient manner. It was easy to call them "Dick" and "Louie" and, in a short time, they won over our trust. The official in our story went to Jesus first of all because he had heard about him and his reputation as a great teacher and healer. His trust developed when he personally heard the words of Jesus and then his command, "Go; your son will live."4
How do we come to trust Jesus today? From the time I was small, on my journey of faith, I developed a trust in Jesus by hearing the words of Jesus not only through the scriptures but through the words of Jesus through others. When I was about four years old, we had come to a tough time of life. My sister and I lived alone with my mother since she was divorced from our father who had completely deserted us. My mother developed tuberculosis and so her mother, my grandmother, often came to help. One day my grandmother fell and broke her hip and after a long period of hospitalization, since there were no present-day methods of pinning a hip, she came to our home so that my mother could help her. Things went from bad to worse. My mother was placed in an oxygen tent for long periods of time each day because of the advancing tuberculosis. My grandmother cared for us by walking around on crutches. Then, my sister and I came down with scarlet fever. The health officials came as they did in those days with a sign and nailed it on the front door. The sign read, QUARANTINED! CONTAGIOUS DISEASE. DO NOT ENTER. I wondered how we would get our food and who would help us since we were quarantined. One day, there was a knock on the door and our pastor entered our home. Pastor Moe was a person whom I had learned to love because when I went to Sunday school he would call me by name and when he preached in worship he told the most wonderful stories. Now he dared to enter our home. He came with a huge basket of food and he said a prayer with us to this Jesus I was just beginning to know. In a sense I heard the words of Jesus through this pastor in my life over and over again. In the development of the quality of trust the words of Jesus need to be heard through what we say and what we do.5
Finally, there is the trust in another person that comes through the actual presence of the person in our lives and in their words and deeds. We trust that person not just because we have heard many things about the person. We trust not just because we hear wonderful words from the person's own lips. In the final analysis, we trust because of what the person does. We trust because the actions of the person verify their words and promises. As we have mentioned, when we purchased our little home in Mesa the backyard had an orange tree, a pine tree, and one of those dwarf palms. They were all overgrown and tangled in each other. The trunk of the palm tree was covered with branches with very sharp protrusions that could easily tear your clothing and injure your hands. Since we had to return to Iowa, we hired a caretaker who said he would not only look after the house but would trim and prune our trees. When we returned in the fall of the year you should have seen our backyard. You could actually see the pine tree and orange tree. The dwarf palm looked like a palm! What seemed like an almost impossible job of pruning and trimming became a sight of beauty. Now we not only trusted the caretaker because of what he had said but we really trusted because of what he could do.
The official in the gospel believed the words of Jesus "Go; your son will live" enough to turn around and walk back home. However, only when he returned home and saw the servants running out to meet him, only when he heard them say that his son was alive, only when he heard that his son was healed on the day before, precisely at the time Jesus said, "Go; your son will live," then and only then was his faith and trust in Jesus an absolute conviction. When you and I can trust this Jesus with an absolute conviction we become alive more than ever.
Nowhere should trust be more important than in our homes and families and marriages. Indeed families and marriage would deteriorate and finally break apart without the quality of trust. Sometimes the world around us makes fun of marriage. There are those who ask "marriage is a great institution but who wants to be institutionalized?" In other words, marriage is looked upon as confining and like being in some kind of prison or institution. In our home there is a small plaque that rests on a library shelf. My wife, Judy, likes to call my attention to it at times. On the plaque are the words: "We've been through so much together, and most of it was your fault."
Once I attended an open house in our church for a couple celebrating their golden wedding anniversary. I singled out the husband and after congratulating him on their fifty years of marriage I asked him what the secret of their strong marriage was and the secret of his own health and vitality. With a twinkle in his eyes he replied, "Well, pastor, every time we got into an argument or I felt particularly angry over a situation I would go for a long walk. You know I have good health because I spent most of my married life in the out of doors." Then he added, "Seriously, pastor, we have had a strong marriage all these years because we took the time to be together alone. Our faithfulness to each other produced the gift of trust which was like a great umbrella of security no matter what the storm." Then he paused for a moment and went on, "You know we always worshiped together with our family. Our faith in the good Lord enlivened our trust."
Once again the word "trust" is like an acrostic that spells out what goes into this quality of life that enables us to be more alive than ever.
1. The first "T" stands for truthfulness. When you have a relationship based on truthfulness and honesty in all things there grows between people a sense of security and trust. Show me a marriage in which husband and wife are completely honest and truthful and one sees a marriage with a strong sense of trust that binds family together even in the storms of life. In our relationship to the God who has revealed himself through the power of the Spirit and the always-present Jesus, we discover a person who says what he means and means what he says. We discover a God who has created the universe and all that is in it, including you and me. We discover a God who is the essence of truth and who has never reneged on a promise. After the great flood in the days of Noah, God stated that the rainbow would be a sign that God keeps his word, that you can trust him to never allow a flood to destroy all people again (Genesis 9:12-17). Jesus in his conversation with Pilate said, "Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice" (John 18:37). It is the power of this ever-living God through the presence of Jesus that can strengthen us in our truthfulness.
2. The "R" stands for respect. Honesty and truth in a relationship lead to respect. If you can count on a person to fulfill what he or she says they will do, and if you can depend on someone to carry out what they promise, such people become respected. When the painters of our Mesa home said that they would finish painting our home in three days and then completed it in that time frame, we had a new respect for not only what they said but what they could do. The court official in our story was used to giving commands and having his servants respond to them. When Jesus said to him, "Go; your son will live," he immediately obeyed. He was willing to walk almost twenty miles with a growing expectation of what Jesus could say and do. When he and his whole family experienced the health of their son through the command of Jesus, they believed. They looked upon Jesus with awesome respect.
3. Trust is enhanced by people being together and doing things together. The "U" in the word trust stands for unity. In the early '70s I was called to serve a congregation in Cedar Falls, Iowa, with a strong Danish background, and, in a short time, came to enjoy their traditions like dancing around the Christmas tree and their annual ableskiver dinners. As the congregation continued to grow there was a need for expanded parking and education space. Since the congregation was surrounded by old homes, the only way to gain land was to purchase them one at a time when they became available. After much study, deliberation, discussion, and even heated words the decision was made to merge with a smaller congregation and relocate. Once the vote was taken and passed the congregation rallied in spirit. It was like they decided in their hearts to work together, pray together, overcome divisions together, and build together. Their unity made it all possible and the result was a new dynamic trust in the Lord our God and in each other. This trust became an umbrella of security that enabled the power of God to do its work.
4. Now in this concept of trust the "S" becomes the security that enables great things to happen and the life force to literally explode. Without a sense of security, there can be no release from doubt, anxiety, and fears that keep us from being what God wants us to be. Without this security, there cannot be the confidence that enables us to accomplish what needs to be done. As the court official walked almost twenty miles back home there were many questions and doubts. Even as he neared his home the day after being with Jesus, even as the servants rushed out to tell him his son was alive, he wondered. So the official "asked them the hour when he began to recover, and they said to him, 'Yesterday at one in the afternoon the fever left him.' The father realized that this was the hour when Jesus had said to him, 'Go; your son will live.' " Then with this security in his heart he himself believed as well as his whole household. They moved away from their doubts and anxieties and fears. They became covered with the umbrella of security that comes from God himself.
5. The final "T" in this quality of trust stands for thankfulness. When a person is truthful in the words that are spoken and honest in the deeds that are done there is a growth of respect. Respect for oneself and respect from others. The ability to work together is reborn with a unity of purpose in our families and daily work. In this unity there emerges a sense of security that produces the confidence needed to grow and become what God wants us to be. The result is the rekindling of a new spirit of thankfulness. We become thankful for even the smallest things of life. We are thankful for the gift of a day no matter what the storms. We live in a world of trust. We believe that no matter what happens nothing can separate us from the unconditional love of God.
Yes, when we travel a pathway in which Jesus becomes real and close to us, we experience this love for every phase of our lives. We walk a pathway in which the quality of trust becomes a part of our lives. We know with great certainty that no matter what the storm, and no matter how close the shadow of death we can trust in the fact that we are not alone.
Reflection And Discussion
Thought Questions
1.
How do we know that the official in our story believed the word of Jesus?
2.
In what way, if any, does the official show a lack of complete trust?
3.
What was the result of the miracle in the life and family of the official?
4.
In what ways does the quality of trust become like an umbrella in your life?
Agree Or Disagree
�
It is difficult to trust many people today.
�
Our trust in God would be stronger if we could just experience a miracle.
Endnotes
1.�Opening story contributed; source unknown.
2.�Norman Cousins, Anatomy Of An Illness (New York/London: W. W. Norton & Company, 1979), pp. 88-89.
3.�Robert Kysar, Augsburg Commentary on the New Testament -- John (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1986), p. 75.
4.�William Barclay, The Gospel of John, Vol. 1 (Louisville/London: Westminster John Knox Press, 1975, 2001), pp. 202-205.
5.�Olavi Kaukola, The Riches of Prayer (Tucson: Polaris Press, 1985).
If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you
But make allowance for their doubting too,
-- you'll be a Man, my son!
-- Kipling (paraphrased)
We now look at a second pathway leading to a more vibrant life than ever before. Such pathways are important because they put us in contact with qualities of life that, when practiced and exercised outwardly, produce inward results. As we walk this pathway there is developed within us the quality of trust.
There is an old story about a boy who grew up in the desert far away from civilization. Supplies would come by train and enable him and his family to live. As the boy grew he wanted to know about life in the city. One spring day, his parents decided that this would be a good time for their boy to know more about such a life. He was sent to the city to be with an uncle for a period of time. Since the family was poor, they supplied the boy with a packet of food and told him to walk into the city along the railroad track. They warned him to stay on the track until he came to the station where he would be picked up by his uncle. It was a beautiful day and the boy walked along the railroad track enjoying the beauty of the distant mountains and the spectacular flowering bushes.
A train chugged along toward him and because the boy was deep in thought he never heard the approaching train. The engineer began to blow the whistle over and over again. When he suddenly began to hear the whistle he jumped to the side only to have part of the train hit him, sending him rolling and knocking him out. The boy was rushed to the hospital and finally recovered enough to be picked up by his uncle.
Days later, the uncle decided to make some tea and placed the tea kettle on the stove. As the water came to a boil the kettle began to whistle. When the boy heard the whistling sound, something came over him. He rushed to the front closet, grabbed a baseball bat, went into the kitchen, and smashed the tea kettle to pieces. His uncle came running in and asked, "What on earth are you doing?"
The boy replied, "Oh, you have to stop these whistling things and destroy them when they are small!"1
This is a silly old story but I'm reminded that our minds and spirits can become like the desert -- dry and lacking in abundant life. We can be weighed down with problems and cares. We can feel run over and run down. Our ability to trust and believe begins to deteriorate, and those doubts and losses of faith need to be dealt with when they are small or they will interfere with our ability to trust the Lord as well as those around us. Without the quality of trust the ability to really be alive crumbles.
We have seen how joy and laughter is a pathway that is like good medicine with great capacity for healing. Albert Schweitzer always believed that the best medicine for any illness he might have was the knowledge that he had a job to do, plus a good sense of humor. I couldn't help but smile when Norman Cousins wrote, "It has always seemed to me that hearty laughter is a good way to jog internally without having to go outdoors."2 Now we embark on a pathway that is called trust. This quality of trust is important in a tough old world where life can be hard.
As a young boy in the eighth grade, I became a part of a youth choir in a church. This choir was directed by the pastor's wife who was full of joy and enthusiasm. Every Wednesday evening we met in the parsonage for rehearsal. Before we worked on the hymn or anthem to be sung in worship, we would sing fun songs and favorite hymns to warm up our voices. In such a setting we used to sing an old gospel song that still is sung in our churches and that I still find myself humming out loud. In the old song is a phrase that is repeated over and over: "Trust and obey, for there is no other way." These words certainly came to mind as I read the story and miracle of Jesus that is before us. The quality of trust is associated with faith and confidence as well as with reliance and dependence, especially reliance upon a particular person. In every parish that I have served as a pastor there have always been people that I loved to be with because they had the ability to inspire and reactivate within me trust and confidence. To possess this sense of trust and confidence produces an umbrella of security.
We look into the story that is before us. Jesus had been in Judea and Samaria and has returned to Cana where we are reminded that he had turned water into wine. We are introduced to a royal official from the court of Herod Antipas. This official is a man who is in desperate need for help because of his little son being very sick. In fact, death seems imminent because of a high fever. He lives in Capernaum down by the Sea of Galilee and although Cana is almost twenty miles away through the hill country, he decides to try and find this Jesus. Obviously, he has heard about the wondrous signs Jesus has been performing, particularly his healing miracles. If someone could turn water into wine and heal the sick it was worth a try. We cannot help but notice that there is a measure of trust in his heart. When he finds Jesus in the village of Cana he begs him to come down to Capernaum and heal his son. Jesus seems to brush him off saying to him, "Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe." How often Jesus seems to test an individual to see if there is a measure of faith and trust. Or is Jesus simply in the process of reactivating the ability to trust that is already there? Often we can have a measure of trust for those with a reputation and credentials. We can have a trust in a medical doctor or a great institution like the Mayo Clinic because of its reputation. Certainly Jesus wants this official to trust not in just his signs and miracles but also in him as a person. What is at stake here is not just the healing of the man's son but the development of genuine faith and trust in the heart of this official and his whole family. Though seemingly almost rejected, the official indicates his desperate need, pleading with Jesus, "Sir, come down before my little boy dies."
Jesus responds to the growing trust and belief in the heart of the official saying, "Go; your son will live." This official has a remarkable sense of trust at this point knowing that Jesus is not going back with him and that this healing, if it is going to take place, has to take place at a distance. He has to travel all the way back to Capernaum without Jesus, trusting in the fact that something good would happen. Since travel by foot through those hills was slow and tedious, he wouldn't get back until the next day. He had many hours to think and meditate about what could be. Certainly in his work in the court of Herod and in his home with servants he knew something about receiving orders and giving orders. Perhaps there was almost a sense of resignation about it all as he journeyed homeward. He had been ordered by Jesus to go. He had been told that his son would live. With fluttering heart, full of questions and doubts, he must have put one foot in front of the other.
When our son Jon was a little boy, I would pick him up and hold him high over my head. At first he gave every indication of being uneasy and afraid of falling. But the more I did it the more he relaxed and soon he laughed with glee when I held him high. One day, I sat him on top of the refrigerator and told him to jump and that I would catch him. Once again, he was very fearful but finally took a jump of faith and when I caught him he laughed and laughed. That was a mistake, for now he wanted to do it over and over again. In the historical account that is before us the official's quality of trust was growing and developing even as he walked home. He was taking Søren Kierkegaard's "leap of faith" without knowing it.
When the official arrived home he was met by his servants who told him that his son was alive and well! There must have been some question of doubt, some need for reassurance in his growing trust because he wanted to know when the boy had begun to recover. When he was told that the fever had subsided at one o'clock in the afternoon of the previous day he was astounded. Why that was the moment when he had been talking to Jesus. That was the moment he had heard Jesus say, "Go; your son will live." At this point not only does the official trust and believe, but his whole family as well.
There is a progression in the development of trust in this story that is a part of the development of trust in your life and mine. Robert Kysar writes: "trust is a process, never a simple possession."3 First of all there is a trust in a person that is based on the words of others about this person. If we really want to know about another person, we depend initially upon that person's reputation. We depend upon what others have said and upon what others have written. We recently purchased a "double-wide" home in a beautiful court in Mesa, Arizona. The place needed to be painted inside and have new carpeting installed. Our little yard had, among other things, an orange tree, a pine tree, and a dwarf palm. Since the previous owners had moved away and had been gone for many months these trees were overgrown and tangled up in each other and desperately needed to be trimmed. Because we had purchased this home late in the season and were heading north to our main home in Iowa, we needed to know who could be trusted to paint, install carpeting, and care for the yard. We needed to find someone who would check our home daily in the heat of an Arizona summer. We discovered that we didn't have to look very far. Painters who lived in the court were recommended by others. A caretaker who lived in the court had the reputation of being able to fix anything and was said to be very responsible. Our trust in these people was real and based on the words of others. The official in the gospel story had a trust in Jesus initially that was based on his reputation as a teacher and healer.
Secondly, there is the trust that is based on the actual words of the person we want to trust. When we talked to the painters who were going to paint our house, we discovered in a short time that they knew all about painting and knew exactly what to do. They radiated an expertise that gave us confidence. They possessed a down-to-earth sense of humor and knowledge of how to approach a project and to complete it in an efficient manner. It was easy to call them "Dick" and "Louie" and, in a short time, they won over our trust. The official in our story went to Jesus first of all because he had heard about him and his reputation as a great teacher and healer. His trust developed when he personally heard the words of Jesus and then his command, "Go; your son will live."4
How do we come to trust Jesus today? From the time I was small, on my journey of faith, I developed a trust in Jesus by hearing the words of Jesus not only through the scriptures but through the words of Jesus through others. When I was about four years old, we had come to a tough time of life. My sister and I lived alone with my mother since she was divorced from our father who had completely deserted us. My mother developed tuberculosis and so her mother, my grandmother, often came to help. One day my grandmother fell and broke her hip and after a long period of hospitalization, since there were no present-day methods of pinning a hip, she came to our home so that my mother could help her. Things went from bad to worse. My mother was placed in an oxygen tent for long periods of time each day because of the advancing tuberculosis. My grandmother cared for us by walking around on crutches. Then, my sister and I came down with scarlet fever. The health officials came as they did in those days with a sign and nailed it on the front door. The sign read, QUARANTINED! CONTAGIOUS DISEASE. DO NOT ENTER. I wondered how we would get our food and who would help us since we were quarantined. One day, there was a knock on the door and our pastor entered our home. Pastor Moe was a person whom I had learned to love because when I went to Sunday school he would call me by name and when he preached in worship he told the most wonderful stories. Now he dared to enter our home. He came with a huge basket of food and he said a prayer with us to this Jesus I was just beginning to know. In a sense I heard the words of Jesus through this pastor in my life over and over again. In the development of the quality of trust the words of Jesus need to be heard through what we say and what we do.5
Finally, there is the trust in another person that comes through the actual presence of the person in our lives and in their words and deeds. We trust that person not just because we have heard many things about the person. We trust not just because we hear wonderful words from the person's own lips. In the final analysis, we trust because of what the person does. We trust because the actions of the person verify their words and promises. As we have mentioned, when we purchased our little home in Mesa the backyard had an orange tree, a pine tree, and one of those dwarf palms. They were all overgrown and tangled in each other. The trunk of the palm tree was covered with branches with very sharp protrusions that could easily tear your clothing and injure your hands. Since we had to return to Iowa, we hired a caretaker who said he would not only look after the house but would trim and prune our trees. When we returned in the fall of the year you should have seen our backyard. You could actually see the pine tree and orange tree. The dwarf palm looked like a palm! What seemed like an almost impossible job of pruning and trimming became a sight of beauty. Now we not only trusted the caretaker because of what he had said but we really trusted because of what he could do.
The official in the gospel believed the words of Jesus "Go; your son will live" enough to turn around and walk back home. However, only when he returned home and saw the servants running out to meet him, only when he heard them say that his son was alive, only when he heard that his son was healed on the day before, precisely at the time Jesus said, "Go; your son will live," then and only then was his faith and trust in Jesus an absolute conviction. When you and I can trust this Jesus with an absolute conviction we become alive more than ever.
Nowhere should trust be more important than in our homes and families and marriages. Indeed families and marriage would deteriorate and finally break apart without the quality of trust. Sometimes the world around us makes fun of marriage. There are those who ask "marriage is a great institution but who wants to be institutionalized?" In other words, marriage is looked upon as confining and like being in some kind of prison or institution. In our home there is a small plaque that rests on a library shelf. My wife, Judy, likes to call my attention to it at times. On the plaque are the words: "We've been through so much together, and most of it was your fault."
Once I attended an open house in our church for a couple celebrating their golden wedding anniversary. I singled out the husband and after congratulating him on their fifty years of marriage I asked him what the secret of their strong marriage was and the secret of his own health and vitality. With a twinkle in his eyes he replied, "Well, pastor, every time we got into an argument or I felt particularly angry over a situation I would go for a long walk. You know I have good health because I spent most of my married life in the out of doors." Then he added, "Seriously, pastor, we have had a strong marriage all these years because we took the time to be together alone. Our faithfulness to each other produced the gift of trust which was like a great umbrella of security no matter what the storm." Then he paused for a moment and went on, "You know we always worshiped together with our family. Our faith in the good Lord enlivened our trust."
Once again the word "trust" is like an acrostic that spells out what goes into this quality of life that enables us to be more alive than ever.
1. The first "T" stands for truthfulness. When you have a relationship based on truthfulness and honesty in all things there grows between people a sense of security and trust. Show me a marriage in which husband and wife are completely honest and truthful and one sees a marriage with a strong sense of trust that binds family together even in the storms of life. In our relationship to the God who has revealed himself through the power of the Spirit and the always-present Jesus, we discover a person who says what he means and means what he says. We discover a God who has created the universe and all that is in it, including you and me. We discover a God who is the essence of truth and who has never reneged on a promise. After the great flood in the days of Noah, God stated that the rainbow would be a sign that God keeps his word, that you can trust him to never allow a flood to destroy all people again (Genesis 9:12-17). Jesus in his conversation with Pilate said, "Everyone who belongs to the truth listens to my voice" (John 18:37). It is the power of this ever-living God through the presence of Jesus that can strengthen us in our truthfulness.
2. The "R" stands for respect. Honesty and truth in a relationship lead to respect. If you can count on a person to fulfill what he or she says they will do, and if you can depend on someone to carry out what they promise, such people become respected. When the painters of our Mesa home said that they would finish painting our home in three days and then completed it in that time frame, we had a new respect for not only what they said but what they could do. The court official in our story was used to giving commands and having his servants respond to them. When Jesus said to him, "Go; your son will live," he immediately obeyed. He was willing to walk almost twenty miles with a growing expectation of what Jesus could say and do. When he and his whole family experienced the health of their son through the command of Jesus, they believed. They looked upon Jesus with awesome respect.
3. Trust is enhanced by people being together and doing things together. The "U" in the word trust stands for unity. In the early '70s I was called to serve a congregation in Cedar Falls, Iowa, with a strong Danish background, and, in a short time, came to enjoy their traditions like dancing around the Christmas tree and their annual ableskiver dinners. As the congregation continued to grow there was a need for expanded parking and education space. Since the congregation was surrounded by old homes, the only way to gain land was to purchase them one at a time when they became available. After much study, deliberation, discussion, and even heated words the decision was made to merge with a smaller congregation and relocate. Once the vote was taken and passed the congregation rallied in spirit. It was like they decided in their hearts to work together, pray together, overcome divisions together, and build together. Their unity made it all possible and the result was a new dynamic trust in the Lord our God and in each other. This trust became an umbrella of security that enabled the power of God to do its work.
4. Now in this concept of trust the "S" becomes the security that enables great things to happen and the life force to literally explode. Without a sense of security, there can be no release from doubt, anxiety, and fears that keep us from being what God wants us to be. Without this security, there cannot be the confidence that enables us to accomplish what needs to be done. As the court official walked almost twenty miles back home there were many questions and doubts. Even as he neared his home the day after being with Jesus, even as the servants rushed out to tell him his son was alive, he wondered. So the official "asked them the hour when he began to recover, and they said to him, 'Yesterday at one in the afternoon the fever left him.' The father realized that this was the hour when Jesus had said to him, 'Go; your son will live.' " Then with this security in his heart he himself believed as well as his whole household. They moved away from their doubts and anxieties and fears. They became covered with the umbrella of security that comes from God himself.
5. The final "T" in this quality of trust stands for thankfulness. When a person is truthful in the words that are spoken and honest in the deeds that are done there is a growth of respect. Respect for oneself and respect from others. The ability to work together is reborn with a unity of purpose in our families and daily work. In this unity there emerges a sense of security that produces the confidence needed to grow and become what God wants us to be. The result is the rekindling of a new spirit of thankfulness. We become thankful for even the smallest things of life. We are thankful for the gift of a day no matter what the storms. We live in a world of trust. We believe that no matter what happens nothing can separate us from the unconditional love of God.
Yes, when we travel a pathway in which Jesus becomes real and close to us, we experience this love for every phase of our lives. We walk a pathway in which the quality of trust becomes a part of our lives. We know with great certainty that no matter what the storm, and no matter how close the shadow of death we can trust in the fact that we are not alone.
Reflection And Discussion
Thought Questions
1.
How do we know that the official in our story believed the word of Jesus?
2.
In what way, if any, does the official show a lack of complete trust?
3.
What was the result of the miracle in the life and family of the official?
4.
In what ways does the quality of trust become like an umbrella in your life?
Agree Or Disagree
�
It is difficult to trust many people today.
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Our trust in God would be stronger if we could just experience a miracle.
Endnotes
1.�Opening story contributed; source unknown.
2.�Norman Cousins, Anatomy Of An Illness (New York/London: W. W. Norton & Company, 1979), pp. 88-89.
3.�Robert Kysar, Augsburg Commentary on the New Testament -- John (Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1986), p. 75.
4.�William Barclay, The Gospel of John, Vol. 1 (Louisville/London: Westminster John Knox Press, 1975, 2001), pp. 202-205.
5.�Olavi Kaukola, The Riches of Prayer (Tucson: Polaris Press, 1985).
