UNSHAKABLE FAITH
By Rev. Paulus Budiono
Lemah Putro, Sunday, May 3, 2020
Greetings of peace,
Our faith must not be easily shaken even though we don’t know what is ahead of us, we should hold on to His promises that He is always with us when we are facing through many problems that test our faith. The peace of mind/shalom is not mere sayings as an opening greeting, because there is a Person, Jesus Christ in it, that soothes us.
There will always be questions arising and answers to respond in our communication. So it is in the last verses of John 6 in which there was a dialogue between Jesus and His twelve disciples. What did Jesus ask? “You do not want to leave too, do you?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.”(John 6:67-69).
From the verses above, we see that the challenging question from Jesus was answered by Peter to represent his colleagues. If we read more carefully, the dialogue and communication (long-short, formal-informal) that happened in John 6 bring three respondent groups, they are:
1. Many disciples of Jesus resigned and no longer followed Him after listening to what He was saying (v. 66).
2. Judas Iscariot betrayed and sold his Teacher (vv. 64, 70-71).
3. Peter and 10 other disciples still followed Jesus (vv. 68-69).
These three groups were together listening to what Jesus was saying, then judging, evaluating and taking conclusion/decision.
Self-introspection: We have also heard and read the Word of God over and over. What is our reaction/response? Do we (directly) refuse it because it is not in accordance to our will, then we leave Jesus? Or we are not satisfied with the answer of the Word of God preached? Or we still follow Him although His Word strictly and sharply rebuke us?
Even though Peter and the other 10 disciples seemed to be steadfast in their longing and purpose of following Jesus, their confessions were tested and they failed when facing the cross of Christ, proven by the fact that they ran away when Jesus was arrested (Matthew 26:56). Ironically, it was one of His disciples, Judas Iscariot, who arrested Him through the hands of the chief priests and the elders of the Jew (vv. 47-50).
Judas Iscariot actually had been following Jesus for quite a long time (± 3 years) before he betrayed his Teacher. After listening to the Word of God for months or even years, aren’t we longing for our faith to grow especially during these hard times of pandemic? The perfect Bible expounds and gives solution to how to maintain faith, not to be easily shaken. Honestly, don’t our hearts feel so excited after listening to the strengthening Word of God that it encourages us to attend the church services again? But for how long do we have this excitement? Are we greater and more spiritual than the 11 disciples of Jesus?
Notice that arguments in the world of education, work, in family, and so on always bring good or bad result, but Jesus teaches us to avoid the arguments that lead to dispute/quarrel.
What was the topic (of the Word of God) discussed in the Gospel of John 6 that brings up the three groups above?
Peter convinced that he followed Jesus because He had the words of eternal life. The word “eternal life” was actually written more in the Gospel of John compared to the other three gospels. For example: “In the beginning is the Word, the Word is God and in Him is life” (John 1:1, 3); “whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life” (John 3:16); “the water He give them will become in them a spring of water welling up to eternal life” (John 4:14); “whoever hears His Word and believes Him who sent Him has eternal life” (John 5:24); “whoever study the Scriptures will have eternal life” (John 5:39); “Jesus is the Living Bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever” (John 6:51), etc.
Conclusion: The Gospel of John focuses on eternal life and this is what we need now, not later when we enter Heaven, because our Jesus Christ is not later, but He remains the same yesterday, today and forever (Hebrews 13:8).
Why are there so many disciples (group one) leaving Jesus?
They were really enthusiastic in the beginning to follow Jesus because they were satisfied by Him through the multiplication of the five loaves of bread and the two fish (John 6:1-11). They (minimally 5,000 men, not included their wives and children) had experienced the miracle made by Jesus and satisfied in the stomach (physically) not by the bread from heaven, but by the bread of a child. They were not willing to lose the path of Jesus for they have received physical blessings. Having used to have a full stomach (physical), it was difficult for them to receive the harsh Living Bread; that’s why they left Jesus.
However, Jesus didn’t want to argue about physical matters only because it is really easy for Him to meet daily needs, heal the sick, and so on. But there was something interesting after Jesus multiplied the five loaves of bread and the two fish for 5.000 men. After the miracle happened, what did He say? “Gather the pieces that are left over. Let nothing be wasted” (v. 12). This proves how neat, disciplined and orderly Jesus’ works are.
Self-introspection: How do we finish a work (ministry)? Are we making a mess and not putting everything back into their places? If we are not in a good order in physical matter, what about spiritual work? The Lord always starts from physical matter first, then continued to the spiritual matter. Abundant physical blessings must be well organized because it is from the little (child) one. It seemed that the Jews were lazy to tidy the physical things, causing their blessings to be messy and wasted for vain.
Without our realizing it, the five breads and two fish multiplied to meet the needs of 5.000 men was the hard work of the farmer who planted the wheat and the fishermen who caught the fish. The formula that men/husband should work hard has been valid since Adam fell into sin (Genesis 3: 17-19). Jesus wants us not to be busy working (late) for physical matter but have balance to work diligently for spiritual matters too. He teaches us not only to be neat in physical matters, but also to understand the spiritual matters, so that we won’t be bound by physical matters.
We must admit that it is not easy to dialogue about the Word of God. They asked and Jesus answered correctly. They kept asking Jesus; unfortunately, the more Jesus gave explanations, the more they disbelieved and finally left Him.
Implication: If we have heard the Word of God then we shall be more convinced that the whole Bible (Genesis – Revelation) talks about eternal life. We neither doubt not disbelieve it which results in forsaking or leaving Jesus as Judas Iscariot and the multitudes did.
Referring to the multitudes that left Him, Jesus asked His twelve disciples and answered by Peter (vv. 67-69). Judas Iscariot did not speak, but Jesus knew his heart and even already prophesied about what he was going to do, for he didn’t believe from the beginning (v. 64), yet He didn’t expose Judas’ wickedness in front of the other disciples.
The living Word of God wants to help us in every condition we have, so that we will have eternal life as long as we are willing to believe Him. So, the one that determines having eternal life is ourselves, starting with our attitude after encountering Him and our response toward the dialogue about eternal life.
Time will determine whether our faith will get stronger or fragile. Judas did not say anything or protested but his mind said a lot. Although Judas joined the group with the other disciples, they (except Jesus) did not know what he was planning to do. Because he was loving money more, Judas Iscariot (the thief of the money bag; John 12:4-6) decided to lose eternal life while the other 11 disciples were losing directions.
Implication: We don’t know what’s inside somebody’s heart and a person might not talk a lot in the ministry, but Jesus knows what is inside his/her mind and heart. Not believing Jesus is a sin that will make us unalert; that is why we must refuse to love worldly things such as money. Let’s learn to be honest financially for the consequences are terrible! Therefore, Paul reminded young Timothy that the love of money is a root of all kinds of evil (1 Timothy 6:10).
The ultimate refusal in the dialogue between Jesus and His disciples is that Judas Iscariot betrayed his Teacher because of the devil’s whisper although Jesus loved all His disciples (John 13:1-2). Surprisingly Jesus allowed Judas to commit his bad intention but other disciples did not understand what Jesus was saying to Judas (vv. 26-28).
Jesus wanted to save everyone, but Judas Iscariot chose his own way of life. Jesus finally prayed to the Father for His disciples that they would become one as He and Father is one and also that they will not be perished, except for one (Judas Iscariot) who had been destined to perish, to fulfill what is written in the Scripture (John 17:11-12).
Application: We should pray for each other to make use of the chance the Lord gives us that our faith shall grow by hearing the Word of Christ.
It is true that Peter denied Jesus, but he didn’t perish because Jesus had prayed that he would not lose his faith (Luke 22:31-32). Jesus really wanted all His disciples to gain eternal life. We could imagine Apostle John’s feeling when writing this Gospel 60 years later for he also fled leaving Jesus when He was arrested.
Honestly, we need food, clothing, protection, and so on that are physical and the Lord really understands our needs. That is why He comes to bless us with food, healing, and so on, but do not focus and stop at the physical matters but improve by working on the eternal matters. We learn to worry less for worldly things as Jesus Himself exhorted us not to worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own (Matthew 6:34).
Be watchful, if we start to doubt the Word of God that is not in accordance with our heart and mind or if we cling to money! Let us pray for each other and support one another that our faith won’t be easily shaken by the test of health, finance, or work that grow to be more difficult. The farther we are from His Word, the heavier our life struggle will be. On the contrary, our life burden will be lighter if we get closer to Him (Matthew 11:28-30). Amen.
This worship can be listened at Ibadah Minggu Raya - 3 Mei 2020 - Pdt. Paulus Budiono.