1. Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Heavenly Father and our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. What we have in our reading today from John 16 is a picture of how God deals with a lack of understanding. The message today is entitled, “Faith Seeking Understanding,” and it’s taken from John 16:12-22. Dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
2. The motto “faith seeking understanding” is considered one of the classical definitions of theology. “Faith seeking understanding” means that faith in God revealed in Jesus Christ prompts a questioning search for deeper understanding. The exact phrase “faith seeking understanding” was introduced by Anselm of Canterbury (1033–1109), around 1,000 years ago.
3. In our gospel reading from John 16:12-22, Jesus is in the upper room, on the night when he was betrayed, teaching his disciples. This is just a fragment of a much longer conversation. But, even in this fragment, we have a glimpse of something important. It’s important not just for the disciples on the night their Lord was betrayed, but also for the Church, centuries later, as it confesses Jesus to be her Lord. The disciples aren’t understanding Jesus. In fact, they’re quite explicit in describing their problem. They say to one another, “What is this that He says to us?” and “We do not know what He is talking about” (John 16:18).
4. Have you ever seen confusion in a Bible class? A Christian not able to understand a teaching and yet also afraid to raise her hand? How strange. Here’s a Christian, gathered with other Christians around the Scriptures for the sake of learning and yet she is afraid to ask her question. Or how about the personal reading of Scripture? Have you ever known a Christian who reads something in the Bible that doesn’t make sense? Then, when he looks at the study notes for help, he finds them unhelpful or confusing and the deep well of knowledge has suddenly run dry. A Christian not able to understand a teaching and yet also afraid to raise her hand? How strange.
5. I know as a Pastor I’ve had confirmands in Confirmation class ask me a question which you probably all have heard before, “Can God make a rock so large that he wouldn’t be able to pick it up?” As a Pastor I’m often tempted to answer that question with what St. Augustine of Hippo has been noted to have said, who lived 1600 years ago. Augustine said to questions like these, “What was your Creator God doing for all that infinite time before he got around to making the world? Why did he sit idle for those infinite ages? What was he waiting for?” The story is often told that when Augustine was asked this, he replied, “God was creating hell for people who ask such questions.” But, St. Augustine never said this and severely criticized the person who did. Here’s what the early Church Father actually said: “I do not give the answer that someone is said to have given (evading by a joke the force of the objection), ‘He was preparing hell for those who pry into such deep subjects.’ … I do not answer in this way. I would rather respond, ‘I do not know,’ concerning what I do not know than say something for which a man inquiring about such profound matters is laughed at, while the one giving a false answer is praised.” This is a wonderful statement. Far from seeing faith as putting an end to questions, St. Augustine saw faith as a spur to inquiry. In one of his commentaries on the Gospel of John, he famously wrote: “For understanding is the reward of faith. Therefore, do not seek to understand in order to believe, but believe so that you may understand.”
6. Here in John 16 the apostle John offers us a picture of how Jesus deals with a lack of understanding among His disciples. John tells us, “Jesus knew that they wanted to ask Him,” about what He was saying (John 16:19), but they did not. So, on the night when he was betrayed, Jesus speaks to His disciples who do not understand Him, and He offers us a picture of how God deals with the lack of understanding. Jesus addresses a lack of understanding by offering a promise. He promises His disciples He will send His Holy Spirit to guide them into all truth (John 16:13). There are things they can’t bear to know now. But Christ promises to be with them during this time where they lack understanding and to send His Spirit to continue to guide them into truth.
7. Notice how Jesus doesn’t offer immediate revelation and complete understanding of all the mysteries of God. There are things in the faith which are beyond our understanding. In this case, the meaning of His death and resurrection is beyond what they would have known or expected of the Messiah (John 16:20). But it doesn’t stop there. For Peter, later in Acts chapter 11, the meaning of the far reach of God’s mission, including Gentiles in His kingdom, is beyond what He could know. But for those who do not understand, Jesus has a promise. He will send His Holy Spirit. Peter receives a vision, and through that vision and the guidance of the Spirit, Peter brings salvation to Cornelius and his household. The Church doesn’t demand that disciples have complete understanding of all of the ways of God. Instead, she trusts in the promise of Jesus. He will send the Holy Spirit, who through the Word will lead people to all truth.
8. Jesus also doesn’t ask the disciples to simply check their reason at the door. That is, He doesn’t imply they shouldn’t seek to understand but simply blindly follow. He sees them questioning and encourages them to continue seeking the will and ways of God. This work of Jesus is important today as the Church encounters a culture which is farther and farther removed from the things of God. People can turn away from Christianity for the wrong reasons. They can assume it requires complete understanding in order for you to become a disciple or they can assume it requires you to set aside your reason in order to believe. To those who have made an idol of total understanding or willful ignorance, Jesus offers grace. We aren’t saved because we completely understand all things and we aren’t saved because we will blindly follow anything. We’re saved because Jesus sees us in our confusion and sin and has mercy on us in our time of need.
9. Here in John 16, when Jesus finishes His teaching, the disciples claim they understand everything (John 16:29-30). They admit that they no longer need to ask Jesus any questions. What a boastful claim. Nearly 2,000 years after Christ’s death and resurrection, there are points of Jesus’ Upper Room sermon that are still difficult to understand. But the disciples contend they have it all figured out. They know everything, no need for Jesus to keep talking, no need to ask Jesus any more questions.
10. We can fall prey to the same pride. The newly confirmed high schooler thinks he knows everything about the Scriptures and the doctrines of the Church and stops attending Bible classes. The young mother stops having daily devotions because she assumes there are more important tasks to do. The pastor announces the sermon on a familiar text and the church member zones out, assuming that he knows everything there is to know about this Scripture.
11. Even as the disciples boast about their great understanding, Jesus predicts that they will be scattered and desert Him. Jesus knows that they don’t understand. He will die and they will be filled with sorrow. They will not remember His promise that He is only going to be gone a little while and then He will return to them. Instead of His peace, they will be troubled and afraid. They will doubt, and they will be slow to believe. Like the disciples, it is unwise for us to boast about our spiritual knowledge or our unwavering faith. Boasting in ourselves is nothing more than sinful pride and results in our turning a deaf ear to Christ and His words. We think we know it all. We have it all figured out. Jesus, you don’t need to teach us anymore. Despite our sinful arrogance, Jesus goes to the cross. He overcomes the devil, and He overcomes the world. He blots out our iniquities, turns our sorrows into joy, and gives us His Holy Spirit who motivates us to hear the words of Christ and diligently search the Scriptures.
12. God’s love is made known in suffering. He suffers for the sins of those who believe they know the ways of God better than God (and therefore reject their promised Messiah) and He suffers for the sins of those who believe there is no truth we can comprehend when it comes to God (and therefore reject the promise of a Messiah). Jesus dies under our claims of total understanding and our acts of willful ignorance. But then, He rises because of God’s total understanding of what His people need and His desire to give it to them. Jesus dies and rises to bring the eternal mystery of salvation to you.
13. Because this is a mystery, we will always be in that tension of understanding but not completely. For such disciples, Jesus offers a promise. He will send His Holy Spirit who will guide us into all truth. Such a promise helps us live in the tension. It keeps us learning as we grow in faith. Yet, it also offers us assurance as we encounter the mysteries of faith. Whether we see or we do not see, one thing is true. Jesus sees us. And in that seeing, we take confidence in His care until He comes again. “I will see you again,” Jesus says, “and your hearts will rejoice, and no one will take your joy from you” (John 16:22). Now the peace of God that passes all understanding, guard your hearts and minds in Christ Jesus until life everlasting. Amen.
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