“‘But Jesus…’: Faith in the Face of Reason”
Mark 6:30-44
For many people, the events of this fall have resulted in changed lives. In the beginning of September we traveled on airlines without fear and seldom gave thought to things like anthrax and small pox. Before September 11th, few people knew the name Osama Bin Laden but today it’s a household name. We lived in what we felt was a safe, protected country. But our security has been shattered. We need not rehash the terrible things that happened on September 11th; however, I believe that we need to think seriously about faith in the face of those events. Very few of us were directly affected by the terrorist attacks. I know that our hearts and prayers and thoughts went out to the families of those lost, but I also now understand more than ever that as Jim Wallis said, “We don’t know something, really know something, until it changes our lives.”
This fall my life was changed and I experienced pain, real pain, for the first time. I know how these families feel, and my heart aches for their loss. In the midst of these times the challenge becomes, how does faith make a difference? On September 11th, people began asking, “Where was God? Why didn’t He stop this?” I understand those questions, because I asked the same ones when my baby boy was lost. “Where was God? Why didn’t he prevent this terrible thing from happening?”
If you have ever been through loss in your life you know that you seek answers. The most difficult thing about loss, is that sometimes there are no answers. There are no answers to why terrible things have to happen to decent people. Things simply don’t make sense. In these times reason is useless. Those who try to reason away pain and suffering only do more damage.
Where does that leave us? Where do we go when we lack reasons? Where do we turn when reason gives us no direction? Where we do look when reason leaves us blind? Someone once said, “Every tomorrow has two handles. We can take hold of it by the handle of anxiety or by the handle of faith.”
What is faith? Let’s take a look at what these people had to say. As you watch this clip jot down the answers that had the strongest impact on you… (VIDEO CLIP)
Today I want us to think seriously with our hearts and minds about faith in the face of times when there is no reason and faith in the face of reason. As we prepare our hearts to search the meaning of faith let us first look to our God in prayer. Let us pray… “O God, our help in ages past, our hope for years to come, be present in our hearts and minds today, that as we shrink before the mystery of your greatness, we may be comforted with your everlasting arms of love. Enlarge, inflame and fill our hearts with faith that can move mountains. Give us faith, real faith, in the face of the trials which shake our lives. For we ask it in the name of Jesus Christ, the author and perfector of our faith. Amen.”
I want you to close your eyes, if you feel so comfortable, and travel with me to another time and another place. Travel with me back to your childhood home, the home you lived in when you were five years old. Now I want you to imagine yourself in your tree house or your bedroom or wherever you were most comfortable and felt safest. Now think with me to how it felt to be five years old. You’re innocent enough to not understand the world around you but guilty enough to be able to disobey your parents. Do you remember your favorite toy? Think with me about how you viewed the world. You didn’t need to worry about job performance. You had no concern for the gas bill or the mortgage payment. In fact, you knew nothing of these. You didn’t have to worry about the responsibilities of adult hood because your parents or grandparents or whoever raised you took care of those things for you. You would go to the dinner table every night not worrying about where the food was coming from. You were taken places in a vehicle never worrying about how the person was driving. If you were fortunate you awoke on Christmas morning to gifts, believing that Santa Claus had brought them. Life was simple… OK you can open your eyes.
As a child we exercise a great amount of faith not even knowing it. We believe in things that we cannot see. We believe in Santa Claus and we trust that our parents or guardians will take care of us never imagining anything different. But as you know the naiveté of childhood soon disappears and is replaced with the complexity of life. Soon we are faced with reality, a reality we would rather not have known. And as we grow older, that child-like faith becomes increasingly difficult to exercise because we learn of the existence of reason.
Our scripture lesson today is about an encounter between faith and reason. You’ve all heard the story, but let’s think about it again today…
It had been a long, long day for the disciples and Jesus. For days and weeks Jesus had been followed around by crowds of people unrelenting in their pursuit. He simply couldn’t escape them. He would attempt to get away and rest and they would follow him. This day had been especially difficult. News had just arrived that Jesus’ cousin, John, had been executed by the government, and Jesus responded by an invitation to his disciples to get into a boat and come with him to a deserted place, a place where the crowds couldn’t find them, so that they could be alone and have the opportunity to grieve and talk.
As they’re making their escape from the crowds, some of the crowd followed them along the shore. News quickly spread and apparently the crowds beat them to their destination and were waiting for Jesus when he arrived. The Gospels tell us that thousands of people were in this deserted place expecting Jesus’ arrival. And here’s what’s amazing to me about this story: In the midst of Jesus’ difficult time he sees this crowd and the Greek text says he felt sorry for them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. They had no one to follow, no one to listen to. So rather than dwelling on his own problems, rather than experiencing his own grief and getting some well deserved rest, Jesus focused on the problems of others and began teaching them.
The story tells us this went on for a while. I can imagine that the disciples were getting a little stressed out here and were wishing that Jesus would just dismiss this crowd so that they could talk with him. Finally, after what must have been a considerable amount of time, the disciples come to Jesus and tell him that he needs to send these people away to find something to eat. Here they are in a deserted place away from town with thousands of people who were growing hungry. Surely, Jesus would understand. They could come back tomorrow.
But, listen..listen to the words of Jesus: “You feed them.” Wait a second, Jesus… Think about what you’re saying. We don’t have enough food for these people! What do expect us to do – buy food for them? Do you know how much that would cost? It would take one of us eight months to make enough money to pay for food for all these people. And besides, did you forget that you told us to leave our jobs? We’ve given up everything we have for you! We don’t have any money to feed these people, we don’t even have money to feed ourselves!”
Reason told the disciples that what Jesus was saying didn’t make sense! There was no way that this could be done. What was Jesus thinking? Do you ever hear yourself saying those same types of things? But Jesus, don’t you know it’s not safe to give someone a ride? But Jesus, don’t you know I don’t have the money to give? But Jesus, if I do this I’ll make a fool of myself. In other words, Jesus, what you’re asking of me flies in the face of all reason. It makes no sense.
Turn to the person next to you and in sixty seconds share with them a situation when you felt like saying: “But Jesus…” Share with that person a situation where faith and reason didn’t match.
Let’s return to the story again: in a way that only Jesus could do, he responded to the reasoning of the disciples, and to their lack of faith gently: How much food do you have?
(SARCASTICALLY) “Five loaves and two fish.” Let’s see what you can do with that! How far is that going to reach?
Jesus told the people to sit down and he prayed giving thanks for this food. “What are you doing Jesus?” the disciples must have wondered. He then begins to pass out the food. And somehow, continue to pass it out until everyone had been satisfied. Reason had been defied. Reason said that there was no way that five loaves and two fish could feed this many people, but faith said, with God all things are possible. Reason had no answer, but faith found a way.
Jesus was a master at taking situations where reason said that odds were against them, and shining the light of faith in a dark situation. You see it over and over again in the stories of the New Testament. If faith had stopped having an impact two thousand years ago, there would be no purpose in our being here today. No, we serve a God who is still a master at taking situations that are tangled with reason and the lack thereof and through faith making a way where there seems to be no way.
In the struggles and hard times of our life, we are called to look beyond our own understanding, beyond our reasoning and recognize that faith the size of a mustard seed can move mountains. In your life if you have not already experienced them, times will come when you will question your ability to move on. In those struggles your mind will want answers. When life offers no answers; when reason makes no sense; when hope is hard to find – be still and know that God is with you through it and through those situations allow your faith to be the anchor which keeps you strong.
(SING: “Through it all, through it all, I’ve learned to trust in Jesus, I’ve learned to trust in God; through it all, through it all, I’ve learned to depend upon God’s word. ---Sing with me --- Through it all, through it all, I’ve learned to trust in Jesus, I’ve learned to trust in God; through it all, through it all, I’ve learned to depend upon God’s word.)
Let us pray:
O, Lord our God, forgive us for the times when we have not had the faith to trust you. Forgive us for the times, when reason or the lack thereof has hindered our faith. Engender within us a faith which can withstand the storms of life; a faith that stands tall when the winds of hard ache blow. Allow us to have the kind of faith which Jesus Christ can bring to our lives. And may our faith be a shining example to those around us of our Savior Jesus Christ. For it is in his name we ask these things. Amen.
