For troubled hearts
What did Jesus say to his troubled disciples in the first phrases of John 14:1? He uses tarassestho and pisteuete and these two words complicate matters a bit. The first word is a present imperative and the second one is either indicative or imperative.
Does he say, "Don’t let yourself be troubled" or "Stop letting yourself be troubled"? The first would suggest that they are to keep agitation from entering and the second would suggest that they were already storm-tossed and were to stop it. In light of the context, tarassesthoprobably means, "Stop letting your hearts be troubled." They had reason to worry because in the upper room that night he told them of worrying things. He is to be betrayed, he is going away and they can’t come, Peter is going to deny him, they will all be scattered and he will be delivered over to the enemy. These are men that had left all they had and put their lives in his hands and now he tells them these things. Worried? Well of course they’re worried! And yet Jesus tells them, "Stop worrying." He isn’t bullying them here—that’s not in his character. Nor is he being glib—he’s not the kind that looks at someone’s crucifixion, smiles and calls it "a challenge".
Yes, but whatever his tone he is speaking to men who have reasons to worry and telling them to stop it. Grant that he isn’t bullying them or implying that they’re wimps, isn’t it a bit naive, given the circumstances and the nature of human nature? Well, whatever we might think hedidn’t think so. He knew life and people better than we do and still called troubled men to stop being troubled. (Or did he?) He doesn’t deny that there are grounds for troubling but he insists that there are grounds for putting an end to it or at least for keeping it in its place.
We’ve all said to some poor hurting soul, "Don’t worry...because..." We weren’t making light of their trouble and we weren’t ordering them. The form of the words is an "order" but the intent is not raw command. And with the "because" we give them grounds to put the anxiety and pain in its place.
In speaking of faith he uses pisteuete which can mean they are called to believe or that they already believe. He might have meant, "Believe in God believe also in me." But since the Greek word may be indicative rather than imperative he might have meant, "You believe in God and you also believe in me." The first rendering would say something like, "Put your trust in God and in me" and the second would say something like, "You already trust in God and in me." While these two ways of hearing him are distinct and lead us in different directions we don’t need to see them as conflicting.
It’s clear that they had believed in God before he came along and it’s clear that their faith in God has been and is being reshaped since he has come along. It is not the case that they do not believe in God because in John 17 Christ describes them as genuine believers in God. So if he calls them to "believe in God" he is not calling them to something brand new. He is calling them to allow that faith to have its way! "Keep on trusting God and me!" is the sort of thing we should have in mind.
I think that we should understand the passage something like this, "Don’t let the turmoil you feel control you. The trust you have in God and me is well placed so make that the controlling reality in your lives."
He is not asking them (or us) to deny what we feel because he himself was willing to confess that he had experienced just what they were going through (John 12:27 and see 11:33). He is calling on them (and us) to act on the profounder truths and realities that are just as real and more powerful than their fears and the consequent inner turmoil.
There aren’t many things more irritating than these idiotic people who haven’t suffered a serious setback in their entire lives coming to a devastated heart and spewing out glib advice. But there are those who do worse (I think) when they insist that if we truly trust God we will not experience turmoil! Wouldn’t you think that with a Bible in their hand and even a pinch of common sense they’d stop pouring out drivel?
Faith doesn’t obliterate the possibility of fear—it can put it in its place. There are things we have in life and relationships that we cherish and when we’re in danger of losing them we become anxious. That is no crime! It is no sin to experience heartbreak and most of the time our deep sense of loss is a measure of the depth and genuineness of our love. Do you think Gethsemane was a stage play? No, Christ didn’t promise to obliterate fear or anxiety or pain or loss in this life—these are realities inextricably connected with a fallen world—but he insisted that there were other realities that could and would and should dethrone our heart-wrenching cares. "Don’t let the turmoil you feel control you. The trust you have in God and me is well placed so make that the controlling reality in your lives."
Is it difficult? For some poor high strung souls in awful circumstances how could it not be hard? But it's far from impossible for thousands of those very people are taking Christ at his word and showing us how to do it. Well, showing us it can be and is being done. The power of pain is real but so is the power of the Story, so is the power of the one that is at the heart of the Story. "In the world you have trouble," he said, "in me you have peace." We win our way through not by grunting and sweating, it isn't a matter of willing it and if we believe enough we'll make it. It's listening to the Story, hearing the Story, reading the Story and believing him who is the Story. If it were otherwise, wouldn't I have told you? he goes on to say.
©2004 Jim McGuiggan. All materials are free to be copied and used as long as money is not being made.
Many thanks to brother Ed Healy for allowing me to post from his website, the abiding word.com.