What does it mean to believe?
Our text for today…
invites into a conversation about believing.
It’s a word Jesus is centering as the heart of everything:
Then they said to him, “What must we do to perform the works of God?” Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom God has sent.” John 6
Imagine a crowd so large it couldn’t fit inside this building, of people encircling Jesus and asking him, “What must we do to perform the works of God?” We’re convinced… we want to love God and love others… we want the life you’re describing… how do we do that?”
And Jesus’ answer really stuns them as we’re about to see, it’s not what they expected him to say. Jesus answered them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe… believe in him whom God has sent”
So this is it, the essence, the core at the heart of the Christian life, this one word, believe…
What does it mean to believe?
So what do we imagine it means to believe? That’s the question our text invites us to explore today, and so here’s one way we might begin.
Perhaps take a deep breath, and if it helps close your eyes, and notice what you first think of when you hear this word, believe. Were there things you were taught about what believing means or looks like? Was there a moment you might have been presented with the question, “Do you believe this…?” And was it a yes or no question? Was it presented as a decision you were being asked to make? If this word brings up any images or memories like that for you, just notice that.
And now, ask this question a slightly differently way. Take another deep breath, keep your eyes closed if it helps, and now bring to mind a trusted, close friend someone you would say you “believe in”…
Bring to mind a close, trusted friend you “believe in”…
Allow someone’s face to come to mind and concentrate on their face, notice what you think, feel, and observe when you say, “I believe in this friend.” What do you mean when you say that? If this word now brings up different images or memories for you, see if you can capture that in a word or phrase, and turn to the person next to you or type it in the chat... “What does it mean for you to believe in this friend?”
Any words or phrases to share?
When I think about this question, I think about one friend I’ve known for many years whom I would say, “I believe in” and what I mean by that is I feel a trust in her that allows me to be more fully myself in our relationship. I come towards her easily with whatever I’m feeling or desiring, that’s an indicator of trust. I listen closely to her words because I trust she has my best interest at heart. And I take more risks when I’m around this friend;—physical risks like hiking unknown terrain, or emotional risks like sharing things I’m not confident about--because I believe in her, I trust her to be good to me.
So I’ll invite us to hold in mind these different things that “believing” can mean, while we turn our attention to three practices Jesus offered his friends to help them when they had a difficult time understanding what it means to believe.
And my hope is that the practices we’re going to explore today will leave you with a deeper understanding of understanding what believing in Jesus might look like for you.
Jesus described believing as essential to our wellbeing, both now and in the life we may find after death. In fact if everything Jesus taught us about life, love, and death was gathering together, at the center of it all we would find this single thing - the invitation for us to believe. It’s like the key that unlocks everything else.
So let’s look at what believing might mean for us in this first practice; our text begins by saying this.
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. John 6
And so the first practice we notice Jesus equates with believing is “coming”…
“Believe”
1. Come to
So perhaps there is a decision involved – a decision to move our bodies in a particular direction. To come to or toward… And to come hungry… hungry and unapologetic… which is an indicator of trust and believing that it’s okay to be hungry and to move toward what we’re hungry for.
This brings to mind a story of something I witnessed several years ago that still makes me smile to think about it.
We were at a restaurant with some friends and our daughter Gracie at the time was about six or seven, little, she was one of the youngest kids in the group. The restaurant was super crowded and all the kids were patient while we waited to be seated; finally the server led us to a long table, and the adults ended up at one end and all the kids were down at the other end. I signaled to Gracie she could just look at the pictures and choose whatever looked good to her when the server came around.
Sometime later the food arrived, and the server’s passing out all the dishes, a bowl of soup for one person, a taco plate for another person, suddenly we hear this explosion of cacophony, this eruption of noise, from the far end of the table. And I stood and looked over the row of heads to see what was going on And this will give you a picture of what I saw –
In front of my tiny girl the server had set this platter with an entire whole branzino – head, mouth, eyes, fins, tail. The kid next to her had to make room for this enormous patter. All the other dishes shrunk in comparison. And it was exactly what the girl had decided she was hungry for. Seeing the surprise on my face, she shrugged her shoulders and said, “I’m hungry”.
And this crowd of people encircling Jesus had done just that, they had come toward what they were hungry for… in trust. And the day before, Jesus had fed them with the five loaves and two fishes… and John tells us everyone had eaten as much as they wanted; they had eaten until they were satisfied.
But then came night, and another day, and now they were back. Like seagulls circling the place the chip bag was last spilled…
So think about how aggressive a hungry seagull can be. And John tells us that some in this crowd also had an even more violent hunger.
After seeing what Jesus did with the loaves and fishes, their minds flashed with visions of what he could accomplish for them if he were to become their king. And John tells us they were about to come take Jesus by force and make him their king—their violent, tribal king—a weapon they could use against their enemies.
And Jesus knows this, just as he knows if he were to anger them, they could easily turn that violence toward him before it was his time. And so he’s in a bit of a tight spot here…
Here’s what he says to them, “Friends, you are coming to me hungry, and that’s good! That’s the first step…
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. John 6
Friends what if a first step in believing means coming toward Jesus hungry and unapologetic--like Gracie holding out her hands for that giant branzino?
It may feel a little strange, or vulnerable, to think of that as a practice with spiritual value and if it does, I have an idea why that may be.
After Jesus’ death, this notion of bringing our hungers—our authentic desires—to God really disappeared from Christian tradition for several centuries as the church gained political power. That was likely because those in power find that an effective way to maintain control is by taking the desire of the oppressed and doing one of two things: either shaming it or exploiting it.
Then St. Ignatius of Loyola in the 17th century reintroduced the church to this teaching of Jesus from the very beginning, found here in John—that our hungers—our authentic desires—can be reliable guides for us—moving us in the direction of God, as we come toward Jesus with our desires.
The Ignatian Prayer of Examen is rooted in this realization.
Prayer of Examen:
What am I hungry for today?
One form of the Examen is simply to pause and reflect on the question, “What am I hungry for today?” So perhaps take just a moment now, take a deep breath, close your eyes if helpful, and hold your hand out in front of you or place it open on your lap. Imagine holding in your hand your hunger – your authentic desires – and coming to God with it.
Ignatius noticed that as we practice day by day bringing our hungers, our authentic desires, to God over time, we may find those desires being met, or we may discover them changing, or they may remain unmet but as we practice coming toward God, we may discover what St. Ignatius called consolation—a deep sense of trust and peace about life, regardless of our circumstances. So perhaps we might find this a helpful way to think about what it means to believe--to practice coming toward Jesus—hungry and unapologetic—owning our desire for the whole branzino—and finding that belief—that sense of trust—or consolation—expanding within us over time.
So let’s look at what believing might mean for us in this second practice; a few verses later we find Jesus saying this:
It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. John 6
And so the second practice we notice Jesus equates with believing and coming is this.
“Believe”
1. Come to
2. Hear and learn
So perhaps there is a step even before coming – a decision to hear and listen to what God is communicating – and to listen in such a way that we encounter God as Jesus did – as a trusted parent, someone we can learn from. Someone who has our best interest at heart. I find it interesting that Jesus equates believing and coming with hearing and learning – but in the reverse order.
Not believe and come, so that you can hear and learn… but rather, he flips it around.
It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. John 6
What if hearing and learning from God, as we would a trusted parent, comes first…? And then that sparks movement – a coming toward Jesus as a practice of believing?
If we grew up with a trusted parent, someone whose words we learned to listen closely to because we trusted they had our best interest at heart then perhaps we have an easier time imagining what this practice of believing might look like.
But for many of us, one or both of our parents weren’t present or weren’t trustworthy and it may be harder for us to imagine what it might mean to hear and learn from a trusted parent.
This reminds me of a story I heard several years ago from a man in the age of my great-grandfather. He said “One morning our father took my brothers and me in a horse-drawn wagon into town and as we rounded a corner, the old man turned to us and said, “Jump!” We all landed in the street, and the horse sprinted off, and the wagon toppled. People flocked to the father, and he explained that as they were turning the corner, he noticed a bolt on one wheel was coming loose and that’s how he was able to yell to the children in time. The people were still amazed the children all made it out safely, they kept saying if any of them had remained in the wagon, they would easily have been crushed. But the man in his 90’s looking back said, “we reacted quick because it was the only time we’d ever heard the old man yell.”
My children have heard me yell and not for benevolent reasons so this wouldn’t work for me. But I imagine he and his brothers had spent years by then listening to the gentle, kind voice of their father, and learning that he had their best interest in heart. And that helped them trust his words, and come when they needed to come, and move quick when they needed to move, as a practice of believing in him.
So what might a practice of listening and learning from God like that, as we would a trusted parent, look like for us? I think it can look lots of ways, but one practice might be sitting with our eyes closed for five, ten, twenty minutes, and simply saying to God, “I’m listening.”
Listening Prayer
I’m listening…
So perhaps take just a moment now, take a deep breath, close your eyes if helpful, and hold your hand out in front of you or place it open on your lap like before, and this time, imagine your hand empty and ready to receive. And then take a breath, and on the exhale, whisper “I’m listening”.
And then see what happens. Our mind might wander… we might squirm, we might feel a lot of things—that’s all okay. When you’re done, make note of what you might have heard, I would encourage you not to overanalyze it or take any of it as written in stone, simply say “thanks” and try it again another day, trusting that over time, as we practice hearing and learning from God, as we would a trusted parent, it may eventually spark movement – a coming toward Jesus as a practice of believing.
So let’s look for clues in this third practice for what believing might mean; our text wraps up with Jesus saying this:
“Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” John 6
Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.
“Believe”
1. Come to
2. Hear and learn
3. Eat and live
So this is the third practice that Jesus offers as a way of understanding what it means to believe in him – come, hear and learn, taste and eat my flesh, my body, my way of life – and you will live.
A few verses later we read that he said all these things while he was teaching in the synagogue and when his disciples heard it, they said, “This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?”
And I’m glad the gospel writer includes that part, because rather than showing that the listeners didn’t understand what Jesus was telling them, it shows they did, or were starting to… that coming toward Jesus, believing in Jesus so that take him inside us and are changed, is not without risk.
And that’s what the crowd understood, because they’d been listening. They understood, loving our neighbor is risky. Loving our enemy is risky. Taking up our cross, laying down our life for our friends, none of it is safe. How do we come to believe in a person who talks this way – who says eat and live --taste and allow my life to become your life, my story to become your story?
The question remind me of the conversation C.S. Lewis in the Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. The children are speaking about Aslan, whom they have never met. And Mr. Beaver tells them, “He is a great Lion”. And Susan says, “Oh, is he safe? I shall feel rather nervous about meeting a lion.” Mrs. Beaver says, “That you will dearie, and no mistake.” Lucy says, “Then… he isn’t safe?” and Mr. Beaver Says, “Safe? Who said anything about safe? Course he isn’t safe. But he is good.”
And this is the part of what Jesus said about believing in him that his friends found difficult to accept. Believing in Jesus is not a safe invitation, if by safe we mean taking few risks and doing mostly what has come naturally to us humans from the beginning: hating our enemies, avoiding our crosses, and preserving our own lives and those we love.
If that is what we mean by “safe”, Jesus is not that.
But is he good?
If we look for goodness in Jesus’ teachings, I don’t believe we’ll find it. I think it’s there, but if listen to his words only, I don’t know that we’ll be able to understand them enough to take in that goodness. There have been a lot of good teachers. There have been good people who have died tragic deaths; sometimes even for someone else. If that is all that we mean by “good”; I think we miss the goodness of this story.
To encounter the goodness, I believe we have to taste and eat some of it ourselves.
So what does it mean that Jesus gave his flesh for the life of the world?
What does it mean that his body is bread and if we eat it, we live forever?
I believe it’s this:
If, as our Christian tradition holds, Jesus was God, God in a body, one and the same, then we can look to Jesus and come to understand who God is. And that changes everything. We may have questioned at some point – is God a punisher? Must sin be punished? Does God’s justice demand it?
Those are understandable questions – faithful people throughout the scriptures and the church have been asking those questions for centuries, and answering it with various theories and theologies.
It’s a difficult question to answer because some scriptures seem to say yes, some appear to say no… it’s a difficult question, unless we take consider the notion that Jesus was God. And then we might find it becomes simple, enough for a child to understand
Jesus was forgiving. In every story we have of him, he was forgiving. We have no record of him ever punishing anyone. His justice didn’t appear to demand anything be balanced or settled. People brought criminals to his feet and he said, “Why are you expecting punishment from me…? no, no, that is your law, not God’s.” People brought sinners to him and he said, “Why are you expecting me to shame or make an example out of them? no that is your way, not God’s.” People threatened his honor, his loved ones, and his life, and he said, “Why are you expecting me to fight back… to defend my honor… to satisfy a ledger of justice that exists in your mind… no… that is your human way of operating… it is not God’s…”
“And yet, if, you still mistakenly believe that one of us must die, let it be me… because this is who God is… “
“Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” John 6
The bread that I give for the life of the world is my flesh… this is who God is… believe.
In a moment we will be invited to take the Eucharist.
Eucharist Reflection:
What does the Christ story reveal about God’s trustworthiness?
And this ancient practice we enter into every week is a reminder of exactly this – the story of Jesus—what he did in the flesh with his body, how he lived, and how he died--and not just why he died, but how—with great trust, without punishment, in utter forgiveness.
As we eat the bread, and taste the drink, our whole body is involved in remembering and reflecting on what this story reveals about God’s trustworthiness. And as we practice this—eating and drinking this story—perhaps belief might expand within us over time, in the form of trust, fueling our life from within, so that perhaps even we might one day be enabled to face our enemy and say, “Beloved, if you mistakenly believe that one of us must die, let it be me… because this is who God is.”
Please pray with me.
Loving God,
who invites us to come
and request the whole branzino;
Trustworthy God who quiets our
squirminess and whispers,
“Listen, I’ll tell you a story;”
God in a body (minus the mistrust)
may belief expand within us.
In the name of
God, the storyteller
Jesus, the living story,
and the Spirit who is still writing ours.
Amen
Listening with you,
Further reading:
Systematic theology: Christology, Soteriology, Pneumatology
The Brain & the Spirit, Chapter 5, A Healing Story, “Saved from What?,” pp. 107–114; “A Transformative Story,” pp. 114–118; “The Story of Salvation,” p. 118.
