Late Registration/ Registro Tardío
So there is this camp I used to attend back in the United States called Pinecrest. It has been 13 years since my first summer and I still remember the first class I had with Pastor Mack Smith. Now Pastor Mack used to call himself Luthercostal as he served in a Lutheran context and practiced Lutheran theology however very much influenced in his preaching and beliefs by the Pentecostal tradition as well. If this man was not preaching, he was sleeping. The class he taught was facts about the bible and introduced us to an abundance of knowledge I swore that I never heard before.
Then there was this one class in the middle of the week and I remember Pastor Mack asking the group, “What is the difference between believing and faith?” The entire classroom was stumped. We all looked around at each other and tried our best at tackling this complex question. Finally after a few minutes he interrupted our attempts and said this. “To believe is to be in school. To have faith is to have graduated.” Let me repeat that. . . .”To believe is to be in school. To have faith is to have graduated.” It was so quiet in the room you could almost hear all of our minds explode.
Let me explain this statement a little better. What does it take for one to believe? Well, we have Thomas as a great example. To believe reflects the need for proof whether that is through any of your senses. Often times belief needs to be explained and properly reviewed. Thomas only believed when he witnessed the resurrected Christ. But even with his eyes , Thomas was not sold on the Savior. No. He asked to feel the hands of Jesus where the nails were placed. He asked to feel the side of Jesus where he was pierced. Thomas was relying on his own abilities to determine whether or not Jesus really did come back from the dead. Honestly we shouldn’t shame Thomas for that either. In reality that is part of how we function, especially today. We find comfort in things being reviewed and proven. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing either. Back in the U.S. there is literally a daily war against facts. Part of having power is using it responsibly however power continues to be abused in order to manipulate truth. I get it Thomas.
The thing is we are reflecting on earthly things and maybe that is where Thomas got confused. Maybe Thomas did not realize that what he was experience is greater than what we typically experience on earth. This is where faith comes in. With faith, there is not a need to fact check things word for word. Faith does not require us to see things face to face, to request to touch, smell, or ingest something just to verify its truth. Faith looks like the message in 1 Peter saying, “ Although you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and rejoice with an indescribable and glorious joy, 9 for you are receiving the outcome of your faith, the salvation of your souls.” Faith looks like the apostles acting by the Holy Spirit to share the glory of God so that even the foreigner will become a disciple. Faith looks like receiving the message, recognizing the glory, love, and joy found in these words and moving forward. I am not even going to use the other disciples as examples because when the Mary and the other women came from the tomb and shared the good news of the resurrection of Christ, not a soul listened. Faith doesn’t have a gender.
If we haven’t gotten the message so far then let me repeat this for the room. We are taught what to believe, but faith is what we personally develop. Believing is like being dependent on someone or something else to validate us. Having faith is a reflection of the independent relationship we have with a Triune God.
I challenge all of us to be cautious designating what we believe and what we have faith in. Are we putting our faith in people and our belief in God rather than our belief in the world and faith in the divine? Because I believe in the work of Jesus of Nazareth but my faith is in the resurrected Christ who overcame death and the grave. Do you understand what I am saying? If there is something you can reflect on this Easter, it is the power that is God who proves to us time and time again that SHE is greater than all we have already experienced on this earth and SHE will continue to amaze us. It is very easy to forget what our God has done for us. It is even easier to mistake what is in front of us to be better than what is yet to come. But that cross behind me, let that be a reminder of why you wake up every single morning and are taken care of even when you have nothing. That cross is powerful my friends and it is when we accept the cross for what it truly is do we finally graduate from belief and into faith. Amen.
#ReclaimMissionary
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