Scripture Trust, Trusting in God When Afraid.

Jesus then said to the Twelve, “Do you also want to leave?” Simon Peter answered him, “Master, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. John 6:67-68.

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There are times in life when fear is an unavoidable fact. Interviewing for a new job, for example. Or getting an unexpectedly bad diagnosis from a doctor. Or hearing and feeling something “wrong” on a long flight. And quite often it is in a situation over which we have little or no control. It is a time when we would very much like some sort of company with which to share the moment, especially of an encouraging or supporting nature. I guess we are really very human at such times, vulnerable and in some way, weak. Jesus seems to be in such a situation in today’s gospel. He had just announced that unless you eat his flesh and drink his blood, you would have no life in you. We Christians know – now – what he meant, and even today it sounds shocking, but for the listeners who heard it for the first time, it must have been astounding. Indeed, some had heard enough, and would have nothing more to do with him. Hence my thought that he was scared that he had lost his followers (look at the quotation from today’s gospel above). Hence the thought that trust seems to be a theme in today’s readings. Joshua, in asking which god (or God) his people wished to follow, such an open question could well have resulted in an unwelcome response. But it would seem he trusted in them to follow the God of Israel, not the local local gods and goddesses of the place, and that is what happened. Trust is a theme in the second reading too, where it speaks of true relationships, one trusting totally in another for a fuller, more satisfactory life, with the model of Christ and the church as the perfect example.

The opposite of all that is betrayal. That is when one has trust totally in another, only to find the other has openly and deliberately acted totally contrary to the what was expected. I remember the movie “Ghost” which has a betrayal at its heart. I would show that to my students, and the betrayal moment always produced a gasp, demonstrating the utterly unexpected and unwelcome moment of destruction of a trusted relationship. Hence it revealed not only the need for trusted friends, but the extreme care you must take to develop such a trust. Jesus himself experienced such a moment, which is even alluded to in today’s gospel twice really! Once where Judas betrayed him in the Garden of Gethsemane and the other, much worse, where Peter denied knowing Jesus at all, as Luke’s gospel says, “The Lord turned and looked straight at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word the Lord had spoken to him: “Before the rooster crows today, you will disown me three times” (Luke 22:61). Anyone who has gone through such a moment will affirm that it is one of the bitterest moments of one’s life. Hence the need for developing trust with the Lord, knowing it will never be broken, except by us (thus causing Jesus to have to go through that same bitter experience he had with Judas again). It is the relationship on which you can rely, through good times and bad, when you know the Lord will be there whatever the situation, to support and uphold you. An interesting example of this in practice can be seen here.

But if we have broken the Lord’s trust, there is no need to go and hang oneself, as Judas did. We believe in a Person who loves us unreservedly, who will be waiting for us to return, who is ready to forgive, even sacramentally, IF we ask for it, which would prove we are serious about it! That means to admit that we were at fault, we were the ones who knew we were in the wrong, yet still went ahead. Hopefully we would come to realize that while we still have time to make amends in this life! And the Lord can read our minds and know our deepest thoughts easily. There is no covering up with God! So we are very fortunate to have such a traveling companion on our life’s road. He knows the way perfectly, unlike us. So we should trust him in all things large and small, be guided by him, rely on him, listen to him and, most importantly, let him enter our innermost being and let him take over. Having such a helmsman, on whom we can trust completely, would be the way to our surest peace and security.

Christus Redemptor, Christ the Redeemer, Corcovado, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

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