Easter 4
Devotional
Water From the Rock
Lectionary Devotional for Cycle C
Object:
How long will you keep us in suspense? If you are the Messiah, tell us plainly.
-- John 10:24b
Is faith taught or caught? While we expend great resources in trying to convey the truth of Christianity and while many have come to an intellectual understanding of the faith, there is still the mystery of what brings a person to the faith. The religious leaders challenged Jesus to declare who he thought he was so that they could decide how they wanted to respond. Jesus was not interested in engaging in an intellectual debate.
The real declaration of who Jesus is comes first from experience rather than intellectual knowledge. It is the person who has experienced the power of Jesus personally who first comes to belief and then seeks to understand that belief. "I have told you, and you do not believe." They could have responded, "When have you told us whether you are the Messiah or not?" But he was not talking about words but experience. "The works that I do in my Father's name testify to me." Yet in that great mystery of faith, many people knew what Jesus had done, but only some of them were moved to experience God's presence in those works. "My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me."
Faith is not an intellectual understanding but a mysterious gift of inner transformation that enables one to hear the voice of God in the ordinary events of life. It is what in Celtic spirituality is spoken of as "thin moments" or moments when the eternal seeps into our time-constrained reality and the moment is transformed. In verse 30, Jesus stated unambiguously, "The Father and I are one." But the words did not generate awe and faith among those who heard him. Rather they were angered and wanted to stone him.
The truth of Christ seeps into our lives only when we suddenly become aware of the work of God in our lives. It happens all the time, but we cannot simply be told about it. We must experience it in a way that allows us to hear Christ's voice. Having heard, we want to follow him.
-- John 10:24b
Is faith taught or caught? While we expend great resources in trying to convey the truth of Christianity and while many have come to an intellectual understanding of the faith, there is still the mystery of what brings a person to the faith. The religious leaders challenged Jesus to declare who he thought he was so that they could decide how they wanted to respond. Jesus was not interested in engaging in an intellectual debate.
The real declaration of who Jesus is comes first from experience rather than intellectual knowledge. It is the person who has experienced the power of Jesus personally who first comes to belief and then seeks to understand that belief. "I have told you, and you do not believe." They could have responded, "When have you told us whether you are the Messiah or not?" But he was not talking about words but experience. "The works that I do in my Father's name testify to me." Yet in that great mystery of faith, many people knew what Jesus had done, but only some of them were moved to experience God's presence in those works. "My sheep hear my voice. I know them, and they follow me."
Faith is not an intellectual understanding but a mysterious gift of inner transformation that enables one to hear the voice of God in the ordinary events of life. It is what in Celtic spirituality is spoken of as "thin moments" or moments when the eternal seeps into our time-constrained reality and the moment is transformed. In verse 30, Jesus stated unambiguously, "The Father and I are one." But the words did not generate awe and faith among those who heard him. Rather they were angered and wanted to stone him.
The truth of Christ seeps into our lives only when we suddenly become aware of the work of God in our lives. It happens all the time, but we cannot simply be told about it. We must experience it in a way that allows us to hear Christ's voice. Having heard, we want to follow him.
