Acts 6:1-7; 1 Peter 2:4-9; John 14:1-12
“Do not let your hearts be troubled” (John 14:1). These words, spoken by our Lord at the Last Supper, were intended to bring courage, strength, and hope to the disciples. They would have needed courage before the night was over and throughout the next day as they saw our Lord arrested and crucified. Later, after the outpouring of the Holy Spirit on Pentecost, they would have found strength from these words in the hope of resurrection and the promise of the heaven to come. This hope and promise was essential to their ability to boldly proclaim the gospel to others. This hope and promise gave them the courage and strength to eventually die for their faith.
We know the story of Christ’s life, passion, death and resurrection. The story is planted deeply into our hearts and minds. And if we truly believe in Christ, then we know without a doubt that there is a heaven for those who do His will and a hell for those who refuse Him. And so why is that we have such difficulty letting go of our anxieties and worries? I think a key to this can be found in other words that our Lord spoke, “Amen, I say to you, whoever does not accept the kingdom of God like a child will not enter it” (Mark 10:15).
Many times Jesus spoke of the importance of being like children. He referred to the disciples and those who followed Him as His children. A key to understanding this image is in seeing the world through the eyes of a child. First, children have no concept of time. They live primarily in the moment. They can be angry and upset one minute, and in the next minute be filled with joy and laughter. They can fight with each other and vow to be enemies in the morning, only to be best of friends again in the evening. As for the future they don’t understand tomorrow, or next week, or next month. All they really comprehend is today.
Children also have no concept of space. We live in a material world and we need certain things in this world just to live. We need basic food, shelter and clothing. Children never think about where these things come from or what they cost. That’s why your father might have said to you, “Do you think money grows on treesAs we begin to understand the concepts of time and space we begin to plan for the future. This oftentimes is a cause for anxiety. This anxiety can begin in children when we first ask them, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”
When we seriously begin to formulate a response to that question, we begin also to plan. Parents begin saving money for their children’s college education. High School seniors choose which college they want to attend or what kind of job they want to pursue. Upon graduation, whether it be from high school or college, we get a job and immediately begin plans for owning a home. If it has not already happened by this time most people also begin plans for marriage and a family. Eventually we begin planning and saving for our retirement. But in all of this planning and choosing there is the uncertainty of not knowing what the future holds. “What if I don’t get accepted into college? What if I don’t find the right spouse? What if my savings is not enough to sustain my retirement? Add to this the uncertainty of accidents, natural disasters, or health problems that can leave us homeless or disabled, and it seems that we have plenty to worry about in this world.
As people of faith we also have one more thing that can cause us anxiety. When we come to the realization that we were created by God, we come to the awareness also that God did not have to make us. We have no fundamental right even to exist. And in the grand scheme of the cosmos, and in the natural order of the world in which live, as individual persons we are pretty insignificant. Our individual life here in Fargo, North Dakota, seems pretty unnecessary to order of the universe. The psalmist hinted at this in the words, “When I see your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and stars that you set in place – What are humans that you are mindful of them, mere mortals that you care for them? (Ps. 8:4-5).”
When we finally come to the realization of our precarious existence in this world, and of our relative insignificance in the cosmos, we have an opportunity to face our anxieties and worries. We can let our hearts be troubled and anxious, or we can have faith in God and faith in Jesus.
This means trusting first of all that Jesus truly is who He said He is, the Son of God. This means also that we trust that all He taught us is true and we simply need to order our lives toward that truth. This means turning away from, and letting go of whatever patterns of sin and selfishness are in our lives that are leading us away from Jesus. This means also turning over every single part of our life, every choice we make, to Jesus. Everything we have been given in this world comes to us from God. And so the best way to not have these things control us and cause us anxiety and worry is to give them back to God. We do this by ordering our family, our home, our work, our recreation, our finances, our entire future, to God. Absolutely nothing in this world belongs to us, and so nothing in this world deserves even one minute of our worry and anxiety.
But when God made the universe God had a plan for the human race. And God has blessed each one of us to be a part of that plan. As a Christian people we have been given this knowledge that God has a plan for us and that God will grace us for whatever it is that we are to do. All that we have been given is a gift to us from God for our use in this life. So pray for the grace to use it wisely. Pray for the grace to live as God intends you to live. When you do this, you will find that all anxiety and worry of the things of this world will simply disappear. In its place you will have the peace that comes with knowing that you are doing things as God intends. The only concern we ought to have is that we live our lives according to God’s plan for our existence.
This is the realization the psalmist came to that inspired the words,
“Yet you have made them little less than a god,
crowned them with glory and honor.
You have given them rule over the works of your hands,
put all things at their feet . . .
O LORD, our Lord, how awesome is your name through all the earth!” Psalm 8:6-8,10
This homily inspired by the ideas of Fr. James Smith, Celebration Publications, May 22, 2011