“I can do nothing on my own. As I hear, I judge, and my judgment is just because I seek to do not my own will but the will of him who sent me.
31 “If I testify about myself, my testimony is not true. 32 There is another who testifies on my behalf, and I know that his testimony to me is true. 33 You sent messengers to John, and he testified to the truth. 34 Not that I accept such human testimony, but I say these things so that you may be saved. 35 He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice for a while in his light. 36 But I have a testimony greater than John’s. The works that the Father has given me to complete, the very works that I am doing, testify on my behalf that the Father has sent me. 37 And the Father who sent me has himself testified on my behalf. You have never heard his voice or seen his form, 38 and you do not have his word abiding in you, because you do not believe him whom he has sent.
39 “You search the scriptures because you think that in them you have eternal life, and it is they that testify on my behalf. 40 Yet you refuse to come to me to have life. 41 I do not accept glory from humans. 42 But I know that you do not have the love of God in you. 43 I have come in my Father’s name, and you do not accept me; if another comes in his own name, you will accept him. 44 How can you believe when you accept glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the one who alone is God? 45 Do not think that I will accuse you before the Father; your accuser is Moses, on whom you have set your hope. 46 If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me. 47 But if you do not believe what he wrote, how will you believe what I say?”
-John 5:30-47 NRSVUE
Into Belief
I once taught a junior-high Sunday school class. We were discussing faith. I asked the class to give me their definitions of faith (possibly a dangerous question for kids that age). My favorite of the definitions was, “Faith is believing something, even when you know it isn’t true.” Creative, but troubling.
What is faith? Why SHOULD we believe something? Anything?
In John 5:30-47, Jesus also struggles with this question. He is addressing those who will not accept his message, or acknowledge who he is as one sent from the Father.
Will they accept the testimony of John the Baptizer? No. Not compelling enough. Will they accept the evidence of Jesus’s own works themselves? No. They need more than that. Will they accept what is written in the Scriptures? No. The writings in the Books of Moses could mean anything.
Indeed, there are always good reasons NOT to believe something. Our national and political life is ensnared in a web of conspiracy theories. No matter what we see in the media, there are a vast number of our fellow citizens who will shake their heads at our naiveté and tell us what, in their view, is REALLY happening in our world.
So . . . how DO we believe?
In the English language, we speak of believing “in” something or someone. I believe in God. I believe in this or that politician, who seems to be a trustworthy sort who will follow through on campaign promises. I believe in my favorite sports team, which will surely make the playoffs. I believe in democracy. Believing “in” someone or something is an intellectual exercise. I make a decision to believe. In the language of the New Testament, however, we do not believe “in” something. We believe into it. The word suggests movement, going from one place to another. It involves effort, perhaps even strength. Refusing to believe is passive, requiring no effort. Believing into means not only a decision, but an active effort, a plan, a movement.
This is one of the calls of Advent—to believe into. We are invited to move from passivity to action. We are beckoned to listen to the voice of John calling us into the wilderness to a life of self-examination and repentance. We are bidden to follow Jesus in his journey to Jerusalem, and beyond into resurrection glory. We are called to sing with Mary of the overthrowing of the powerful and the raising up of the poor.
Believe, sisters and brothers. Believe into Advent.
The Rev. John Borrego
Priest
Episcopal Diocese of Oklahoma