Exodus 16:2-4, 9-15 Psalm 78:23-29
Ephesians 4:1-16 John 6:24-35
Lectionary Link
Why can't I say, "I faith in God?" Because faith does not have a verb form in English. Even though the word faith comes from the Latin word fides and in Latin, one can say Fido, which would be I faith, but when we translate to English we say I have faith in God.
In New Testament Greek, the word for faith has a verb form, but most biblical translators use the English believe to be the active verb translation for faith. Which is interesting because the word "Creed" means statements of belief, or when we say in Latin, "credo," or I believe in God, etc.
The oracles words of Jesus in the Gospel of John do not give very good economic advice. Jesus told the crowd who wanted him to produce more food for them, "Do not labor for the bread that perishes...."
Excuse me Jesus, but isn't that what we all seek? To be gainfully employed so that we might gain bread and all manner of life necessities?
I think what is implied by the words of Jesus is, "Do not labor only for the bread which perishes...."
And then the prepositions changes....no longer is it work for food, but what is the work of God?
And what is the work of God? The work of God is to believe in the one who God sent...The work is to have faith in the one who God sent.
Reading the Bible or listening to me, one can begin to think that one is lost in an language labyrinth, or a maze with walls.
So doing the work of God for people is to have faith in the one one who was sent from God.
Can we see how the familiar Lutheran/Catholic dispute is resolved in this? Is salvation by works or by faith?
No, salvation is the work of God in us as we have faith in what is most excellent, namely in the gift that God gives to us.
Do you ever feel like we can get bogged down in religious language with some ancient specialized meanings which we've lost the interpretatives keys for? How might we understand faith for us today?
I would like for us to understand faith for by reaching back to a word used by Aristotle's which is the same word for faith and belief in the New Testament. It's the Greek word "pistos." Now what did "pistos" mean for Aristotle? In Aristotle's writing on the human language skill called Rhetoric, the goal of rhetoric is "Pistos." or to use English, the goal of rhetoric is persuasion.
The word "pistos" for faith that is used the New Testament New Testament might be said to be what one is persuaded about. What are you and I persuaded about? If we know what we're persuaded about then we know the objects of our faith and belief.
Therefore, I would say that our entire lives are expressions of what we're persuaded about. We cannot help but have faith. We cannot help but be persuaded about lots of things. You and I are persuaded about needing air to breathe, food to eat. We are persuaded about using language; we have no choice. There are lots to things that we have automatic persuasion about. It might be what the philosopher Santayana, called "animal" faith.
There are varieties of persuasion in our lives based upon our cultures, tastes and interests. If one is interest in ballet, painting and classical music, then one is persuaded by these aesthetic disciplines and spends time and money to foster participation. Sports are the same; a sports fanatic is persuaded by the benefits of being engaged in them as participant and fan. Each person's vocation or way of earning a living involves being persuaded about the benefits of one's work. Most of us believe in and are persuaded by family and by loving relationships too. Can we understand how each of us is constituted by many forms of persuasion which are proven by the ways in which organize and spend our time, talent and treasure?
There is persuasion which pertains to religious piety, like attendance at church, prayer and meditation, doing charitable work. One of the difference between your piety and mine, is that I get paid for mine. I think that makes yours a bit more valid than mine.
And if we have all of these various kinds of persuasions which organize our lives what could faith or belief as the work of God mean for you and me?
Jesus Christ is the gift of God sent to humanity to be someone on whom each person can project our own true humanity which is in us and lost because of the sin of alienation. We can know ourselves to be persuaded and have belief in so many things in life, some good and beneficial or merely entertaining, and some addictive and harmful.
But to come to faith in the Christ whom God sent is to have the waken image of the Risen Christ in us be experienced as God's gift to us, a gift which has always been with us but sadly, often unknown and recognized.
So what is our work today? Believing. Yes we will believe, have faith in, and be persuaded about many things in our lives simultaneously, but don't forget the great work of faith and belief, which is simply accepting the original grace of God's image upon our lives and which can become more clearly known as we focus upon Jesus the Christ.
Let us not get hung up on the many forms of persuasion in our lives even the really important ones, like having enough to eat, clothes to wear, jobs, family, and friendships to the neglect of the one sustaining persuasion of life: the faith of the Christ within us projecting upon the Jesus Christ of history as the most wonderful graceful discovery of our lives. And we need this faith gift and discovery of Christ as enlightened humanity to appreciate and to regulate all of the other delightful areas of persuasion in our lives.
Among all of the different work in our lives, the main work is to believe in, have faith in, be persuaded about the Reality of the gift of Christ within us as the gift and hope of being our authentic selves.
Let us do the continual work of believing in Christ who is always before us as our future better self inviting us to be better. Amen.
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