“A Leap
of Faith”
The
Reverend Donald L. Hamer
The
Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany, Year C
Jeremiah
17:5-10
Luke
6:17-26
Cursed are those who trust in mere
mortals . . . Blessed are those who trust in the Lord. Jeremiah
17:5-8
One
day, Tim Hansel and his young son Zac were out in the
country, climbing around in some cliffs. Suddenly, Tim heard a voice from above him
yell, "Hey Dad! Catch me!" He
turned around to see Zac joyfully jumping off a rock
straight at him. Zac
had jumped first, and then in mid-air yelled, "Hey Dad!" Tim became an instant circus act, catching the
boy. They both fell to the ground. For a moment after Tim caught the child, he
could hardly talk.
When
he finally found his voice again, he gasped in exasperation: "Zac! Can you give me one good reason why you did
that???"
Zac responded with remarkable
calmness: "Sure...because you're my Dad." His whole assurance, his whole understanding
of his life, was based in the fact that his father was trustworthy. It never even occurred to him to question
whether, or how, his father would catch him. (Tim Hansel, Holy Sweat, 1987, Word Books Publisher,
pp. 46-47.)
I think we all would agree that
young Zac had total trust in his father. And I think we also would agree that in order
to have that type of total trust, Zac had an
underlying faith – perhaps an unreasonable faith, but a faith nonetheless –
that his father could protect him from anything and everything.
Trust and faith. They are not the same, but it is true,
I think, that they go hand in hand. Without total faith in his father, little Zac would never have trusted him to catch him as he jumped
into his arms on the edge of a cliff. And
I think both Jeremiah and Luke invite us this morning into a deeper reflection
on these two words: Trust and Faith.
Jeremiah begins by telling us
where we should NOT put our trust: “in
mere mortals” and in the things of this finite world. Such people are cursed, he proclaims. But, he says, “blessed are those who trust in
the Lord, whose trust IS the Lord.” And
he uses a beautiful image to describe these people: He compares them to a tree planted by water,
sending out its roots by the stream. Our
Psalm also picks up this imagery of a tree planted by water. Now we know that
for a tree, the roots are as important as the umbilical cord is to a baby – the
roots are the ONLY source of nourishment – the only source of life – for the
tree. And like a baby in its mother’s
womb, there is no element of worry or need for the tree planted by the stream –
there is a never-ending source of water and nourishment. In the words of Jeremiah, the tree does not
fear when heat comes; in the year of drought, it is not anxious. Jeremiah reminds us that people who put their
trust in the Lord are like that.
Wouldn’t you like to be that
peaceful? Isn’t that a great image? Does
your faith support that kind of trust?
We have another chance to examine
the strength of our faith as Saint Luke describes Jesus offering his sermon on
the plain. Jesus is surrounded by a huge
crowd of people, all coming not only to hear him but to be cured of dread
diseases. They had faith that he could
make a difference in their wretched lives. And in the midst of this healing ministry,
Jesus stops and looks at his disciples, and then makes a series of statements
that must have seemed just crazy to the disciples. He tells them that people who are in poverty,
people who are starving, people who are sorrowful – these people are blessed,
Jesus says. Furthermore, those who are
rich, those who have plenty to eat, those who are
laughing – all of these people are cursed!
He says that people are blessed when they are hated, scorned, excluded,
reviled because of their faith, and cursed if people speak well of them. What are we supposed to make of this?
I gained a little insight into
understanding the beatitudes from our brother, Clement Mogor,
when we celebrated Nigerian traditions of Advent and Christmas back in
December. As we were sitting at a table
in the Library, I leaned over to Clement to thank him for all of the huge
preparations his family and others had made for the event. And Clement raised his finger as though to
stop me from thanking him, and he said, “No, don’t thank me, or else I won’t
receive my blessing.”
I have thought a lot about that
exchange with Clement. It made me think
about the beatitudes in a deeper way, because I realized I had just been with a
person who not only professed a faith, but who actually lived it. And the faith to which the Beatitudes call us
does not come naturally to us. Our
natural instinct is just the opposite: To
be as financially comfortable and secure as we can be; to eat, drink and be
merry as much as we can; and to laugh as much as we can. But wait: Jeremiah would remind us that we are putting
our trust in the wrong place – trusting in mere mortals and the forces of this
finite world.
In his
version of the Beatitudes, Luke, as he is wont to do, tends to blend both a
concern for the “have nots” who live in the here and
now, and at the same time, point his followers to a future day of divine
reversal where those who are poor will enjoy all the privileges that come with
possessing the kingdom, where those who are hungry will eat until they are
filled, and where those who weep will be able to laugh again. In the list of “woes” which follows, Luke
shows Jesus to be inaugurating a new era, turning the world on its head and
establishing a new order of things. And
his followers are eager to sign on to anything that seems to give them some
share in the world in which they live.
That Jesus is in fact offering them much more than that will not occur
to some of them for a while, and some of them will never really understand. But for today, Jesus is trying to set their
sights higher, giving them at least a glimpse of the more desirable and more
powerful kingdom that is to come.
But we
can only really begin to comprehend the Beatitudes when we look beyond
ourselves and look to Jesus. As Saint
Ambrose says in his Exposition of the
Gospel of Luke, we need to look beyond ourselves to the One who was made
poor for us, to the One who hungered in the wilderness for us, to the One who
wept for us as he entered
But
again, to be able to do this – to be able to LIVE the beatitudes – requires us
to put our faith where our mouths are. Do
we REALLY believe that God will take care of us? Can we imagine ourselves throwing our fate on
God’s grace and mercy, and not worrying about trying to stack the odds in our
favor by storing up riches? Ambrose
addresses this issue, as well, in his Exposition.
God does not condemn all those people
who have riches, Ambrose says, but those who do not know how to use them.
The pauper is more praiseworthy
who gives with eager compassion and is not restrained by the bolts of looming
scarcity. He thinks that he who has
enough for nature does not lack. So the
rich person is the more guilty who does not give thanks to God for what he has
received, but vainly hides wealth given for the common use and conceals it in
buried treasures. Then the offense rests
not in the wealth but in the attitude.
Today
both Jeremiah and Jesus call us to check the limits of our faith. Are we among the cursed – who put their trust
in things human and worldly – or are we among Jeremiah’s blessed, who put our
ultimate trust in the Lord? Can we
imagine ourselves – like little Zac – taking even one
aspect of our lives and taking a leap of faith into God’s loving arms? Do we trust God to catch us, to bring us home
safely?
That’s
Jesus’ vision in the Beatitudes – that as people of faith, we have to let go of
life as usual. The faithful Christian
has to always live this earthly life as though we have one foot in the Kingdom
God sets before us. Are we willing to
take the risk of addressing the poverty of our neighborhood, our state, our
world by giving up a little of our own financial security? Would you raise your pledge by .7% of your
income to help reduce world poverty? That’s
what the Millenium Development Goals are all about. Would you be willing to raise your pledge by
1% of your income so that our 70 or so children and young adults would have a
Director of Religious Education or a Youth leader? Are you willing to share your food with those
who have none? Or are you willing to
share in the pain of those who are grieving or suffering with some kind of
illness so that their world and the world of the future might be a better
place? On a personal level, are you
willing to risk being hurt emotionally for the possibility of a deeper
relationship with someone you love?
Jesus
asks us, Do we have the faith that God can “catch” us
when we take such a leap of faith? And
if we do, do we trust God to actually do so?
And now
to God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit be
all might, majesty, dominion, power and glory, now and forever. Amen.
© Copyright 2007 by the Reverend Donald
L. Hamer