Sunday, March 22, I’m preaching a sermon called Gyro-Faith, and it’s introduced by the following little story that will be printed on the front of the bulletin.
A gyroscope is a device used in a guidance system to enable a vehicle to remain on course. Once it is set in a given orientation it resists change and becomes an internal fixed reference point so that a rocket, for example, doesn’t become “confused” by changes that happen around it.
There is a story (could be factual) about a rocket that was built in Britain. The gyroscope in the guidance system was set and tested, and then the rocket was shipped to Australia. Throughout the journey, of course, the gyro retained it’s orientation so that when it arrived in Australia, relative to the world around it, it was pretty much upside down.
Unfortunately none of the technicians noticed the problem. But, when the rocket was launched, they did notice that it rose in the air for about 30 seconds until the guidance system kicked in, executed a perfect turn of approximately 180 degrees, and headed straight for the ground.
Gyroscopes are marvellous things, but they need to be set right. And, every now and then, they need to be reset.
If Jesus was born a real human being we must assume he was essentially like the rest of us, not knowing much of anything when he came into the world. We may believe, as John tells us (John 1), that Jesus is the incarnation of the God who created everything, but Jesus couldn’t have known this, at least at the very beginning. If Jesus came to believe this about himself, he must have discovered it as he went along, the same way we discover who we are. In fact, Luke implies this when he says of him, Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and men. Luke 2:52
If we read the gospels carefully it’s fascinating to watch Jesus’ self understanding develop. For example, at age 12, he is already trying on the idea that God is his Father in some special way (Luke 2:4), and, at age 30, as his work begins, he spends 40 days fasting in the wilderness sorting out what this Messiah business is all about (Luke 4). And then one day Jesus asks his disciples what people have been saying about him. (Matthew 16) They share some of the opinions they’ve heard, and then Jesus asks, “What do you think?”. And Peter – who often puts his foot in his mouth, but not this time – replies, “I think you are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.” It’s hard to know exactly what Peter means by this, but it’s clearly an attempt to articulate what he is coming to believe about this teacher he is following.
But it’s Jesus’ reaction that I find most interesting. “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah, for this was not revealed to you by man, but by my Father in heaven.” In other words, God bless you Simon, because you didn’t get this from the people, you got it from God. And, by the way, I think you’re right about him being my father. This is not just a step in Peter’s understanding of who Jesus is, it’s a step in Jesus’ understanding. It’s a confirmation of what Jesus is beginning to believe about himself, that he is the Messiah, and that he actually does have a unique relationship with God. But Jesus also has some disturbing notions to share.
He begins to teach his disciples that there’s a certain grimness in the prospect of being the Messiah. And when he tells them that he believes he must go to Jerusalem where the religious leaders will eventually get to him and kill him Peter, understandably, tries to deflect him from this course. And he receives a chilling rebuke. Jesus calls him Satan, and orders him out of the way.
Here we have the faith of Jesus in action, for Jesus was a man of faith. He sets his course by prayer and fasting, and by pondering the evidence, including the opinions of others. And then, by faith, he stays the course.
And so we see that faith is neither blind nor uninformed, just constant and single-minded. And it’s not just a Jesus thing, a religious thing, or even a uniquely human thing; it’s an essential quality of all life. It was by faith that the Great Wall of China was built, and the Berlin Wall torn down. It is by faith that a violinist lands on a precise note, and an astronaut on the moon. A salmon swims upstream by faith, because it is by faith that anything swims upstream.
So, faith is a good thing, right? No, it’s just the thing that keeps us on a given course. It can draw a moth to a mate or a flame, a whale to it’s breeding grounds or a beach, a person to their life’s calling or an abusive partner, a nation to a noble destiny or an ignominious demise.
Faith is a gyroscope that must be set to a good course, but the course must be chosen carefully by prayer and pondering, and constantly reviewed. And we must continue to pay attention because if the course changes and our gyro stays the same we’re off course. And so, even as late as the night before he died, we find Jesus, by faith, in a garden, deep in prayer. (Matthew 26:36-46)
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