"I Know," Exponentially
So I spent many hours of many Decembers, lying on the carpeted floor next to the Christmas tree with my chin propped in my hands, staring at the presents, conjecturing, wondering, making all sorts of guesses about what might possibly be in them.
Christmas would arrive, we'd open our gifts, and... while I had my new toy or book or CD or whatever it was I got...
The anticipation was gone, and it left a little bit of a hole. After the unwrapping, I knew what had been in those boxes, and the big reveal, in a way, lessened the build-up to that revelation.
I'm typing this morning as I'm looking at the carefully-wrapped presents under our tree, and since our family is doing Christmas a few days early for several reasons, those presents will be opened in a few hours, and our children will go from the anticipation of what they haven't seen to seeing what they have anticipated.
In His ministry, Jesus preached. He taught. He healed. He performed miracles. It was spectacular. The people watched in awe and amazement. Word got out. Jesus is coming! Quick, go get all your sick family members!
Look at that pretty, sparkling gift!
In John 4:43-54, Jesus takes leave of the Samaritans where He's spent two days preaching to them, and He continues north to Galilee. He's coming home, back to the area where He'd grown up. John 4:44-45 says: "(Now Jesus Himself had pointed out that a prophet has no honor in his own country.) When He arrived in Galilee, the Galileans welcomed Him. They had seen all that He had done in Jerusalem at the Passover Feast, for they also had been there."
I've never been a celebrity, never wanted to be. I honestly feel sorry for the A-listers and the recognizable faces out there. How awful it must feel to have masses of people so in love with what you can do and have done... but who simultaneously couldn't care less about the things important to you.
Look at that pretty, sparkling gift! Look at the wrapping paper! Look at the bows!
So when Jesus arrives in Galilee, there's a royal official, an officer in Herod's service, who hears that Jesus is coming. This man also happens to have a very sick son who is near death. The official grasps at the only straw of hope he has left. Jesus has healed people. He's a miracle-worker. I'll ask Him.
He comes to Jesus and begs Him to heal his son.
Jesus, to note, could (and has) healed, performed miracles, no questions asked. Here, He makes another point. "Unless you people see miraculous signs and wonders," Jesus says, "you will never believe."
I mean, as a parent who loves her children... I can't fault the man too much. I would probably say the exact same thing in that situation. Lord, don't you understand; he's getting ready to die! You have the ability to heal, so... heal!
Pause from the narrative: Is this internal dialogue sounding familiar to anyone else? Lord, this virus has claimed so many lives. Lord, this nation is falling apart. Lord, hope seems so far away. You have the ability to heal, so... heal!
I recognize myself in this official.
Jesus, in His compassion, looks at the man and says: "You may go. Your son will live."
"The man took Jesus at His word and departed. While he was still on the way, his servants met him with the news that his boy was living. When he inquired as to the time when his son got better, they said to him, 'The fever left him yesterday at the seventh hour (1:00 p.m.).' Then the father realized that this was the exact time at which Jesus had said to him, 'Your son will live.' So he and all his household believed" (John 4:50-53).
So.
So.
Faith. Hebrews 11:1 gives us the definition: "Faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen."
Let's jump over to another story a little further in the book of John. Jesus has died. Yep, the disciples have witnessed their Teacher, their Rabbi... die. In a horrible, excruciating, pain-filled manner with shredded skin, a crown of thorns, and spikes through his wrists and feet. If there's any doubt of death, they've seen a Roman centurion thrust a sword into their Lord's side, and what blood remains in Jesus' body gushes out. He's deader than a doornail. (I'm not quite sure how a doornail illustrates death, but that's neither here nor there).
Until...
He's not dead. Word on the street is... Jesus is back. He's somehow -- beaten death! -- and is living again! Some of the disciples have even seen Him! The women have run back to tell their story of the empty tomb! And Thomas called Didymus... just can't wrap his mind around it.
"No," he answers when the disciples try to tell him the news. "Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it."
That present can sit there under the tree all month, but until that paper is stripped away, Thomas is going to refuse to believe the existence of the toy beneath it. It's just the wrapping; there's nothing there.
Thomas is understandably shaken. Jesus, impossibly, stands in front of him, being the real, the solid, the complete possible that had been impossible. The very words of doubt Thomas had spoken a week ago, Jesus turns around on him. Put your finger here. Put your hand in my side.
Thomas must acknowledge the miracle. "My Lord and my God!" he exclaims.
Then Jesus says: "Because you have seen me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed."
I can't help but think God is greater than we ever give Him credit for. We wait around for signs, miracles, and wonders... before we place our trust in Him. We tentatively reach toward Him, half-heartedly, as though He might be worthwhile putting our faith in...
Jesus calls us to a deeper faith. He calls us to an I know... but an exponential I know. "Believe me when I say that I am in the Father and the Father is in me!" Jesus tells His disciples in John 14:11. Then He adds, "Or at least believe on the evidence of the miracles themselves." In His compassion, in His great love for us mired by our flawed, distorted understanding, He sometimes does the miracles, at times He unwraps the presents... so that we can see.
God is actively working, doing miracles, even when we can't see. Even when we're trapped by our human understanding and our physical sight, He is still accomplishing what He sets out to do.
I love the example set by Job, who, in his debilitating physical pain and his unthinkable devastation and loss, still proclaims his rock-solid faith in God: "I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end He will stand upon the earth! And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God. I myself will see Him with my own eyes -- I, and not another. How my heart yearns within me!" (Job 19:25-27).
Daniel is distressed over dreams and visions he has had concerning the fate of his people. He's determined to figure out what God is showing him, so he gets on his knees and prays for understanding. He searches the Scriptures, he seeks wisdom. In Daniel 10:12, an angel appears to him and says: "Since the first day that you set your mind to gain understanding and to humble yourself before your God, your words were heard, and I have come in response to them. But the prince of the Persian kingdom resisted me twenty-one days. Then Michael, one of the chief princes, came to help me, because I was detained there with the king of Persia. Now I have come to explain to you what will happen to your people in the future, for the vision concerns a time yet to come" (Daniel 10:12-14).
Mind blown! I love how Daniel prays and God responds. Daniel can't see what's happening. He has no idea that God is moving... but look at how He's moving. Look at the warfare that happens in the heavenly realms as a result of the faith of Daniel. He doesn't know, but twenty-three days of war between God's angels and Satan's demons happens as a result of Daniel's faithful prayer, until God's angel gets past the barrier, and comes to tell Daniel what's going on.
"I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him for that day!" (2 Timothy 1:12)
I know! I know that I know that I know! I know... exponentially! Faith piled on faith!
Sure, I look forward to Christmas, almost as much as my children. I enjoy surprises, unwrapping gifts given by loving family and friends.
The point is, the existence of those gifts are true, are real... even when they're still hidden behind the pretty wrapping paper.
Jesus calls us to deep faith. To the things not seen. To the things hoped for.
One day, our faith will be sight, and like Job says: "How my heart yearns within me!" Let me be clear: there will be no disappointment at the fulfillment of our anticipation, not for this. Not even a little bit. But until then, we need to walk in the evidence of things not seen.
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll!
The trump shall resound,
And the Lord shall descend!
Even so, it is well with my soul!"
-It Is Well With My Soul by Horatio Spafford
Comments
Post a Comment