The mood had changed. When Christ
rode into Jerusalem a week earlier everyone was waving palm leaves and branches
and shouting “Hosanna! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord.” Now
those euphoria had gone, replaced by the feeling of sobriety. Remember Christ just foretold His betrayal and
talked about His departure to where they could not follow. So they were demoralized. There was a foreboding sense of evil that was
skulking close. Jesus was fully aware of their anguish, so He set forth to address
the issue. His calming words are, “Let not your
heart be troubled; believe in God, believe also in Me.”
These words are still as reassuring
today as He had given them in the upper room. Rightly appropriated, we can find
rest for our heart in our troubled times, where worry and anxiety seemed to be
the call of the day. Some fears are caused by what’s happening in the world
while some troubled heart are self-invited. Troubled hearts are not exclusively
experienced by unbelievers only. We know that even among people who profess to
know Christ this is a common experience. If anyone of us entertain anxiety,
worry or fear, let’s hear these reassuring words of Jesus again, “Let not your
heart be troubled….” These words spoken to the disciples, were also intended
for us today. Everything around us may seem to be crumbling, we mustn’t let our
heart be troubled.
How to
have a grip over our troubling heart? Jesus prescription is, “…believe in God,
believe also in Me.” He is prescribing for us the best way to overcome our troubled
hearts. His call is for us to keep on believing God and keep on believing in
Him. He and the Father are one. Just as we would place our trust and confidence
in God, we must also do the same by trusting and placing our confidence in Him.
The Lord went on to assure the disciples as well as us, that He is preparing a
place for us in eternity. Know it or not, all of us have a longing for heaven. We
all desire to be with Christ in our real home, where we truly belong. Heaven is
a real place and Christ had gone ahead to prepare our permanent dwelling places.
It will not be a temporary shelter. It’ll not be leasehold property. In fact it’ll
be the only freehold property that we will ever possess. So when we are
assailed by troubles and our hearts are fainting for fear, we can take comfort in
the fact there this is only a temporary arrangement. Our permanent peaceful
experience is awaiting us in eternity and Christ had gone ahead of us to
prepare it. What’s more comforting and encouraging is that Jesus Himself will personally
come and take us there. He will not just leave us there but He will also be
with us together. We will forever share an unhurried eternal fellowship.
What did
Jesus mean in verse 4 when He said, “And you know the way where I am going”? He was assuring
the disciples that
they know how to follow him for He had been showing them the way through all that
He had taught. And if they follow His teachings, they would also come to where
he is. But Thomas did not understand, so he asked, “Lord, we do not know where You are going,
how do we know the way?” Jesus responded by giving one of His
“I am” statements. “I am the way, and the truth, and the life; no one comes to
the Father but through Me.” We need to remember that Jesus is everything and so
let’s put our entire faith in Him.
In this world we will have
tribulations. There is no denial or escaping that we will encounter trials in this
world. They are part and parcel of life since the fall of Adam. How can we find
comfort in our morose, depressive, pessimistic and gloomy environment? Let’s
take comfort in the assurance of Christ, “Let not your heart be troubled, keep
believing in God and keep believing in Me” Why should we believe in Him? It’s
because He is the way, the truth and the life. He now tells us that He will
come back again personally to take us to be with Him. This is the surest
comfort. So take heart!
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