1 Corinthians 15:35-38,42-50
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ
Trust is a hard thing, but we all find it in ourselves to trust someone or something. For many people today, it is technology that we trust. Not me! For many others it is money. For some, trust is limited to trust of their selves. Most of us trust our family members, some of us trust our friends and some of us trust those in authority, people like the police, pastors, teachers and government officials. Truth be told though, because of the information that has bombarded us about many of these authorities and other things that we trust in, we today have a difficult time with trust. Think about it! It used to be that we could trust, or at least we thought we could trust those in authority, but today we are not so sure. Some police have been accused of an overzealous use of violence and we’ve seen the videos; some pastors (clergy, priests) have been revealed as pedophiles and for playing a little loose with church finances; some teachers have been revealed as having had inappropriate relationships with students and some government officials have been found to be on the take, abuse their power, involve themselves in extra-marital affairs and contribute to political unrest. So, who, what can we really trust? And things aren’t any easier to trust in, than people; technology often fails and confounds us, medicines often carry unwanted side effects, wealth makes us defensive and often pulls us away from the love of others that could truly make us happy. And, not a thing, but who really can trust even their own selves? Paul went through that long description of human nature in one of his letters where he talked about doing the things that he didn’t want to do and not doing the things that he really wanted to do. It seems, to be human nature, that we can’t seem to be able to trust even ourselves. Yet church, religion, Christianity, our faith is all built upon, as much as anything, trust, trust in Jesus, trust in God, trust in the Holy Spirit, trust in the promise found in Scripture, and trust in God’s Law also found in Scripture.
In a terribly gruesome and nasty story found in 3 Maccabees (a book accepted by the Roman Catholic Church and some of the Eastern Rite Churches as a part of their Old Testament, part of our Apocrypha), a mother and her seven sons are tortured and killed by the king for refusing to eat a piece of pork and so break their God-given dietary laws. The one thing that is made very clear (in the story) is that they trusted in the Law of God and in God’s promise of eternal life with God, and they demonstrated this faith as each son, beginning with the oldest to the youngest submitted to torture and death rather than eat the pork, and the mother after watching such, died also by torture. That’s trust in God, in God’s promise! In our reading from 1 Corinthians, the Apostle Paul speaks about trust in a specific promise of God and Jesus, the promise of the resurrection of the dead and the promise of eternal life with God for those who (and here is that word again) trust in Jesus. What sense would it make, in Paul’s day, for a person to face torture and death for refusing to worship Caesar, if in fact the person did not trust in Jesus’ promise of eternal life? Without such trust it would make perfect sense to simply worship Caesar, belief or no belief that Caesar was a god and avoid the torture and terrible executions? No doubt about it! Paul makes it very clear, to those of faith, that we make no mistake by believing and so trusting in the resurrection. Everything Paul argues hinges upon Jesus’s life, Jesus’ death, Jesus’ resurrection and Jesus’ promise of a resurrection of the dead and eternal life for those who trust in his promise. Each part, builds upon the other, and none of it can stand without belief in each part. For example, if I do not believe that Jesus lived, I cannot believe in his promised resurrection. Paul argues that we cannot possibly believe or expect to receive a resurrection for ourselves, no matter how faithful or good we are, if we cannot believe that Jesus was himself raised from the dead. There is just one thing wrong with this, no amount of arguing can convince another person to believe, to have faith and trust in Jesus. While the gift of faith comes to all by way of the Holy Spirit, everybody does not accept the Spirit’s gift and some people take a while before they open their hearts to the Spirit’s gift.
There is something else about trust; trust more often than not needs to be earned. We trust technology when it works; we trust in money when it helps us to get what we need; we trust in ourselves when our confidence is up; we trust our families and friends when they show to us loyalty and trustworthiness; we trust authority figures when they serve the community honorably; but how to we learn to trust God? This may sound impious, but we come to trust God in very similar ways, when God earns our trust. By feeling the presence of God in times of trouble, maybe in a spiritual way absent of other people or maybe through the caring, or the guidance, or the help of another of God’s children. Or maybe we feel our prayers answered or just know that God has had a hand in helping us. Or maybe we’ve seen the hand of God helping a friend, a neighbor or a family member. I’ve had my experiences and I’ve been blessed to hear from some of you about your experiences of God’s help and care.
Trust! Can you, can we really trust in God, in Jesus, in the Holy Spirit, in Jesus’ promise of forgiveness and salvation? Maybe that is not the right question. Maybe the question should be, will we trust in God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit, when our experiences or when we see the Holy Spirit at work. Will we trust in the Trinity when we read of the promises offered us? Trust, church, religion, and faith are all about trust.