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“Let not
your hearts be troubled. Believe in
God; believe also in me” (Jn. 14:1).
Mark Twain once
wrote, “The difference between the almost right word and the right word is
the difference between the lightening bug and the lightening.” Therefore writers spend a lot of time in
search of lightening. One writer I
know says he looks for words as if he were selecting a fine wine. In an effort to find the right word, once
in a while I’ll pull out this book, “The Random House Thesaurus of Slang.” It’s a book that translates formal English
into the language of slang. Much of American slang would be inappropriate
to use from a pulpit or anywhere else for that matter. It’s tends to be abusive, chauvinistic,
irreverent, profane and sometimes . . . it’s just right. It’s a book where you look up the wrong
word in order to find the right one.
It’s a book where, running after the lightening bug, you sometimes
get struck by the lightening.
Jesus said, “Do not
let your hearts be troubled.” Just
for kicks, then, I looked up the word trouble. In American slang, there are 142 ways to
say you’re in trouble. “You’re in
hot water, you’re in over your head, you’re behind the eight ball, you’re between
a rock and a hard place, you’re at the end of your rope, you have no more
cards to play, you’ve painted yourself into a corner.” That’s just seven of a 142. I looked up the opposite of being troubled.
There were five ways of saying you
were at peace, six ways of saying you were content. 142 ways to say you’re troubled; a half
dozen ways to say you’re not. Does
that not say something about the human condition?
The Eskimos have
more words for snow than we do because it’s such a major part of their
lives, (though I suspect we narrowed the gap in vocabulary this last winter!). We have 142 ways of saying trouble
because trouble is such a major part of our lives. As people of faith we know that that the
word trouble with all its cousins started showing after the fall of Adam
and Eve. The result? Job 14, “Man
born of woman is of few days and full of trouble.” And in Matthew 6, Jesus acknowledges that,
“Each day has enough trouble of its own.” Wherever we go, trouble is sure
to find us; there’s no escaping it.
But we’re not just innocent victims of trouble. We bring trouble on ourselves, for the
poor and impulsive decisions we make.
We bring trouble on other people, hurling words at them like rocks. We bring trouble on God’s good creation,
consuming like it were going out of style, leaving behind scars and smoke
and shortages. We bring trouble on
God, with our broken lives and our broken world. After our great fall “all the king’s
horses and all the king’s men” couldn’t put Humpty Dumpty together
again.” And so our plight, our
trouble, our brokenness becomes the responsibility of our God.
In our text, the disciples
are troubled, and it’s because Jesus (God’s Son sent to put us back
together again) is preparing them for His suffering and death. John is troubled because he loves Jesus
and can’t bear the thought of his crucifixion. Peter feels like he’s in hot water because
he’s just heard he will deny Jesus three times. Judas is becoming unglued, for Jesus
hinted he knows who will betray him.
Matthew probably feels he’s in a tight spot. If Jesus is put to death, he and the
others will be left with nothing. The
disciples have found themselves in over their heads. Nothing is turning out as planed. If Jesus is executed, can his disciples
expect any better treatment? Their
hearts are troubled. Translate that:
it’s a fine mess they’re in.
What about
you? What troubles your heart today?
Financially, do you feel like your
back is up against the wall; the bills are mounting and you’re not sure how
you’re going to fill the tank this week?
Is it your workplace, where orders are down and the boss is asking
for volunteers to reduce their hours?
Is it that your spouse seems distracted and disengaged? Is it that your body seems to be falling
apart at the seams and your adult children are hinting you should give up your
driver’s license? Is it the prospect
of having to sell the house because you just can’t take care of it
anymore?
Kids, what is it
that troubles your hearts? Is it
your grades? Your body size and
shape? What others say about you or think
of you? Is it that whole dating
scene, or the fact that everyone keeps asking which college you’re going to
go to, or what you hope to do or be after college, and you have no earthly
idea?
My little paperback
thesaurus of slang has 142 different ways of saying we’re troubled, which
means there’s a lot of trouble going around. No one is immune. When your hearts are troubled
there are some things you shouldn’t do.
Ps 146 “Do not put your trust in princes, in mortal men, who cannot
save. When they die, that very day
their plans come to nothing.” Are your
hearts troubled? Don’t you put your
trust in any idol. Hab. 2:13: “Of
what value is an idol, since a man has carved it? . . . Can it give
guidance? It is lifeless stone,
covered with gold and silver; there is no breath in it.” Are your hearts troubled? Proverbs 3: “Lean not on your own
understanding” (v. 5). Have we forgotten that one? We are so quick to rack our brains and try
to trouble shoot and solve the problem . . . as if God didn’t exist, or he
didn’t care. Proverbs 28 says, “He
who trusts in himself is a fool” (v. 26).
Are your hearts troubled?
Don’t look to science to be your savior. Science may prolong your life a bit on
this earth, but science is no Savior.
The death rate is still pretty close to 100%.
Jesus said, “Do not
let your hearts be troubled.” At first
it sounds like the same shallow, positive thinking type advice we hear all
around us. “Don’t worry about
it. It will all work out.” Try saying that to parents who have just
buried a child, or to the addict who’s out of work and has exhausted the
good will of his family and friends.
Try saying that to the one who has just been diagnosed with Lou
Gehrig’s disease. “Try not to worry about
it” is easy advice to give, but empty, devoid of comfort, deficient of any real
reason why we shouldn’t worry.
“Do not let your
hearts be troubled” Jesus said, but he doesn’t stop there. There’s more. “Believe in God; Believe also in
me.” That is, trust that he is who
he says he is: a way out of trouble
when there is no other way. A hard
and solid truth to build on, when all other wisdom crumbles. The life that he promises and that only
he can give in the presence of hopeless death.
Do not let your
hearts be troubled. Believe. Believe that he was crucified for you,
not just for others . . . but for you.
Believe that the grave was not be able to hold him and so it will
not be able to hold you either. He
is able to put the pieces of your life back together again even if he has
no other raw materials to work with other than dry bones or scattered ashes.
“Do not let your
hearts be troubled” said Jesus.
“Believe in God. Believe also
in me.” This Christian faith is not
the antidote to trouble. That we
will always have with us. It is,
however, the antidote to troubled hearts.
There is no trouble so great that it can separate you from the love
of God in Christ.
In the 4th
century, Augustine said, “Our hearts are restless, Lord, until they rest in
thee.” And so don’t place you place
your faith anywhere else. He who created you will sustain you. You’re not just floating about willy-nilly
in space. He has plans for you. Ps. 50, “Call on me in the day of trouble,
and I will deliver you” (v. 15).
My
little paperback thesaurus of slang offers 142 ways of saying we’re in
trouble. In heaven, I suspect
there’s not even one way to say trouble.
If there’s a thesaurus in
heaven you won’t find the lightening bug nor the lightening. Nor will there be any word for death, or
crying, or pain, or suffering. That
old order of things has passed away. Take that same thesaurus, however, and
look up the word peace, or joy, or gratitude and the lists of synonyms will
go on and on and on. Amen.
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