"Mature Faith"

On Monday I stood in the excavations of the City of Caesarea. (This was the place where Herod the Great built the first man-made port, the place where Paul was put on trial, the place where Pontius Pilate Governed (the one who handed Jesus over to be crucified), etc. ). Herod built a large hippodrome (circus theater) facing the beautiful Mediterranean Sea. It was here that eventually Followers of Christ would die as Roman citizens watched them be devoured by wild animals in the name of entertainment.

Then we stood on the Temple Mount. (This is the place where Muslims have built the “Dome of the Rock”—it is the large, gold dome that commemorates the place where Muslims believe Abraham offered to sacrifice his son Ishmael. But before the Muslims possessed it, it was the place of the Holy of Holies in the temple of Israel. The place where the Bible tells us Abraham offered to sacrifice his son Isaac, but at the last minute God provided a lamb.) While standing at this site one of the professors asked our guide if we could sing a song. The guide quickly answered, “If you are going to sing, please tell me so I can run!” You see, it is forbidden that any other religion’s readings or songs be voiced here. If you do, the guide said, you would begin a serious uprising and guns would be drawn.

Then we went down to the pit. It is the actual pit where Jesus was put for the night after his mock trial in Chiapas’ (the High Priest) house. Our Savior was thrown down a hole about 3 feet wide into a pitch black pit filled with water at the bottom. He bled there threw the night awaiting his ultimate suffering and death on our behalf.

Finally, we ended the day in Bethlehem. As you know Bethlehem is on the West Bank and controlled by Palestine. I was surprised to learn that about 40% of the people in Bethlehem are Followers of Jesus. We stopped at the store of a Christian Arab who knows a couple of the Seminary Professors. Before we shopped, he gathered us together and with a deep pain in his eyes, pleaded with us to pray. He said, “Please pray. Please pray…pray that the eyes of the leaders of both sides will be opened and that they will see that this conflict will never be resolved by force. Please pray for harmony and peace.” Later one of the professors with us explained that the store owner has turned his store into ministry. Muslim Palestinians refuse to hire people they know are Christians. So, he uses his store to hire as many people as he can to try to help his brothers and sisters in Christ. In the meantime he is saving money to try to buy a home in a foreign land so that when (not if), when he has to flee for safety, he and others will have a place to live.

Why do I share these stories with you? Because on my 7th week of Sabbatical, the word that comes to mind is mature faith. There is immature faith and there is mature faith. Immature faith is a fair weather faith…when life is good my faith is good, when life is poor, my faith is poor. Mature faith is a faith that stays true even when the circumstances of life are difficult, unfair and down right persecuting. Perhaps the reason the church in America is, over all, very weak is because it is made up of believers who are largely immature. We have it so easy, that our spiritual lives have been stunted. Who knows, may be the present economic crisis is an opportunity not caused by God (clearly it has been caused by our own human choices of greed), but allowed by him to give us the opportunity to experience the peace, joy and courage of a mature faith. Or may be you, personally, are facing a time of struggle in some other way…a broken relationship, a crisis of health, a battle with depression, a fight against addiction…what would happen if we saw every trial as an opportunity not to be defeated, but to be matured?

I know this is not the feel good message that I like to hear, but it is the message I for one need to hear. After all, life does not always feel good…I know that..but what I need to know more so is that faith in Jesus is so real that no matter what comes in life, even death, that instead of falling apart I can stand in a real hope that says, “Come what may, Jesus is with me and nothing…no, nothing can take that away!”

If you want to go deeper in this thought give James 1 and Ephesians 4 a read and then take a moment to pray for our brothers and sisters in Christ in Bethlehem. Then take a moment to pray for those who call us their enemies. Finally, during this season of Lent, let us pray that God would teach us how to accept difficult as THE PATH that leads to mature faith.