Where is Your Faith?
Scripture: Luke 8:22-25; Proverbs 3:1-10 Rev. Richard H. Thompson, March 7, 2010

Simon Peter watched Jesus heal his wife's mother in his own home. How could he forget that huge catch of fish in broad daylight? All of the disciples saw Jesus heal a man of his leprosy. They also watched a paralyzed man tuck his stretcher under his arm and walk out the front door, proof that Jesus not only could heal, but also forgive. The Twelve listened as he debated the religious leaders and taught things, like, "Blessed are you who are poor for yours is the Kingdom of God," and "Love your enemies," and "Do not condemn. Forgive. Give... "

They saw how Jesus healed a Roman Centurion's (!) servant, bring a woman's son back to life, how he loved a Pharisee named Simon as much as he did a broken woman who poured her life savings on his feet.

So it was certainly not unreasonable that one day when Jesus said to them, "Boys, let's go for a sail to the other side of the lake," that they would have thought, "Sure, why not? Sounds good to us. It's a nice day for an adventure..."

So they put out. While they were sailing the gentle rocking of the boat lulled Jesus to sleep. But then one of those infamous winds swept down from the mountains on the eastern shore whipping up the waves and their little boat started to take on water. They were in danger. The disciples went to Jesus and shook him awake as they shouted above the howling wind and raging waves, "Boss! Boss! We're going down! Catastrophe! All is lost! We are about to be wiped out! Boss, it's over! Wake up and die!"

With this Jesus roused and had a brief, harsh talk with the wind and waves, and suddenly there was calm. Then Jesus turned to the Twelve with that same tone of voice-and looking over this sorry, soaked, hair matted against their unshaven, ashen faced, souls broken open with the hell scared out of them, motley crew - Jesus put to them a question, "Where is your faith?" The disciples were no longer afraid of the storm. Now they were afraid of Jesus! As they looked at each other an obvious question formed in their minds, and then on their quivering lips, "Who then is this, that he gives orders and even the winds and the water obey him?"

I sense exasperation in Jesus' voice. "Where is your faith?" seems to be a rhetorical question. A way to make a statement, only with a little edge, like, "Boys, what just happened here? Where did your faith go? Where did you put it? Did you lose it somewhere?" Almost like car keys, or your purse or wallet. Like confidence-we can lose that too. We have this phrase, "I put my faith in this or that... I place my trust in him or her..."We locate our faith somewhere. We put it somewhere.

This is Jesus seizing the opportunity to teach - to disciple, the disciples. This is Jesus loving his followers. How he loved them. And us. Jesus seems to be asking, "When all hell seemed to be breaking loose, where did you guys put your faith?" Because it's often in crisis that we go looking for it, isn't it? We find out in times of crisis what we really trust. Where we have placed our faith.

Because we all have faith in something. We all place our faith, our trust, somewhere. Everyone has "faith". Everyone. Even atheists put their faith that there is no God, somewhere. Maybe in science. Or in nothingness, or in "luck" (that's where gamblers put theirs). Maybe fate. There are all kinds of options: Money. Family. Good looks. Brains. Brawn. The question is where do we put our faith? And why? Where will our faith be when the storm hits? The Lord knows when we put our faith in the wrong places there are great losses, anger, disappointment, and "disillusionment" (which is a good thing).

Really it's not all that hard to tell where we put our faith. The biblical understanding of "faith", or "trust" always results in some kind of commitment and action that you can see. Faith always leaves a vapor trail. You can follow the traces and see a direction, or trajectory. Where we put our faith is visible in how we spend our money, our time, in what we read and listen to, who we relate to and how we relate to them. Real faith is behind every single decision we make in business, our families, in how we face success, failure, and crisis. Just follow the vapor trail. Think back. The last time you faced a crisis, where did your faith go?

The Twelve disciples came unglued.

It seems Jesus expected more from his twelve followers than panic. It's not like he was asking them for "blind faith", or a "leap of faith" into the dark without a clue about whether putting their trust in Jesus was worth it. It's not like they had just met that morning. They had seen him in action. They had listened in on many conversations. It's like us reading Luke's gospel this morning, as we have for the past many Sunday mornings. Faith in Jesus is based on what we know, or at least what we can know about Jesus. That really is the point of the Bible, isn't it? To give you and me, and all humanity enough to go on to place our faith in Jesus, to trust him. We don't put our faith in faith! Just the way we don't put our faith in feelings. Or in circumstances going our way.

That would be like the disciples out in that boat putting their faith in the weather. Maybe they counted on it being a nice day when they agreed to go sailing with Jesus. Ever put your faith in the weather? Try to count on the weather when you make a plan to go on a hike. Have you ever tried to plan an outdoor wedding? How many times have I witnessed the last minute panic as the bride and groom's best laid plan is washed away in the rain or blown away in high winds, or burned to a crisp in the scorching heat?

Still, it's so tempting. How many times have I put my faith in things turning out a certain way, in having a certain outcome? We're in the middle of the interviewing process for an associate pastor right now. It's tempting to think that all we need is the perfect person and then we'll really be all set. For one thing, that kind of thinking is completely unfair to lay on an associate pastor. For another it's just not true. I know I'm not alone. Maybe it's a relationship we tell ourselves we must have to be happy. Or a job opportunity. Or health. Maybe it's a commission that's supposed to come in and then everything will be good. But then something happens. Circumstances "change". Call whatever it is that happens "storm". Unforeseen, overwhelming, it all happens in an instant like an 8.8 earthquake, or a 7.0 earthquake. The question is not if, but when that "storm" hits, what happens to our faith? Where does it go? This was Jesus' point at the end of the Sermon on the Mount.

"He who hears these words of mine and acts on them is like a man who built his house on rock. When the winds and the floods came, that house stood." Note, not "If", but "when". The Lord knows, it's a dangerous world. That it has tectonic plates. That it has seas and weather. That life here can be dangerous. And the Lord knows what it's going to take to live in it without being defeated. It's going to take putting our trust somewhere strong and solid.

The point of Jesus' question was not that all storms will be calmed. It wasn't even that if the disciples had faith in Jesus that they would have been able to calm the wind and the seas. Then what was Jesus' point?

The panicked disciples shook Jesus awake shouting, "Catastrophe! We're all lost!" Notice two things. They did not arouse Jesus to ask for his help. They assumed that Jesus-as amazing a teacher and healer as he was-in their own minds he was still just like them and he was going down with them. For all they had seen and heard, they still had more to learn about, as they put in their question, "Who he was". They were totally surprised by Jesus' power and authority to calm the storm.

The second thing follows from the first. The disciples drew their own conclusion about what was going to happen. That this was the end. They thought they knew ital!. In fact, they saw it as their job to point out to Jesus what was going to happen! They were going down.

Maybe this is why Jesus was so short with his followers.

Because they, and we, do not get to draw these kinds of conclusions, ever. We do not get to say, "Catastrophe! We're lost! It's over! There is nothing left to hope, or to live for. We are all going down!" We do not get to say this because we are not God! Only God knows how this is all going to turn out. No matter what happens. No matter what storm hits us or how hard. No matter the earthquake, the tragedy, the illness, the unforeseen reversal, the terrible evil that befalls. We do not get to say, "That's it. It's over." By the same token we also don't get to say, "We can fix it. We can make this all work out. God, we'll handle this one..."

The point is Jesus knows what's coming. He knows what you and I are going to need to sail through these storms. It's crucial that He gain our trust. That we depend on him. Because we need him in ways we can only begin to know.

He brought those first followers, and now the rest of us here to the TABLE. To love us. To prepare us. To get us ready to put the full weight of our lives in his loving hands. This is how God loves us, that when we're asked "Where is your faith?" we can answer without blinking, "Right there Lord. I put it in You..."

[At the Table]

The Church has always been thought of like a boat out on the sea. The beams and high windows are to get us thinking about the Ark. The colors of water and sky in the stained glass remind us of the unsure world the Church sails in. And there are storms, aren't there?

And this is the Lord's Table. The Captain's Table. Everyone is invited who put their trust in Him. Anyone who wants to put their trust in Him that person is invited too.

This is His ship.

Thank God He has the helm.