"Who Can You Trust?"

Dear Readers,

My title comes from a line from the movie, "Batman." This was the original with Michael Keaton playing Batman and Jack Nicholson playing the Joker. The Joker used this line to make himself look like someone who the people could trust instead of Batman.

Yet this is a good question. Who can you trust? There are so many people in our lives who are trustworthy and many who are not. Think about the people in your life. Think about your boss or your co-worker. Think about your parents, grandparents, and children. Think about your friends and neighbors. Who can you trust? What about your pastor? What about your teacher? There are so many people in your lives that you trust. Some, and I hope all, have proven themselves trustworthy.

But you know as well as I, no person is 100 percent trustworthy. We all let others down in some way. For example, when I fail someone, two things are happening. The first is the guilt I feel for "letting him/her down." It is not a good feeling. The second thing that happens is that person will not trust me as before when he/she asks me to do something for them. In other words, I have to prove myself trustworthy again.

And why did I fail? Mostly it was because I was thinking of other things that needed to be done, rather than putting a priority on the needs of the other person. In other words, I was being selfish.

There is a Bible story for you this week about being trustworthy and to answer the question, "Who can you trust?" In Mark 8:22-38, Jesus asks a couple of questions of His disciples. The first question is, "Who do the people say that I am?" The answer was, "Some say John the Baptist, others Elijah, and some others say one of the prophets." The answers are varied and all wrong. The right answer came when Jesus the disciples, "And who do you (or in Texas language 'All y'all') say that I am?" Peter spoke up, "You are the Christ." Peter was correct. Jesus was telling the disciples then as well as the disciples now, that He is the Christ, aka the Messiah, the one who came in order to save the world from it's sin and sinfulness. Jesus then told them what the Messiah was supposed to do in order to save the world from it's sinfulness. Jesus was to be betrayed, handed over to the elders, chief priests, and the scribes so that He would be crucified and die, then on the third day, be raised to life. The same Peter, who just moments before confessed his faith in who was Jesus, now sets Jesus aside to tell Jesus, "This isn't going to happen. I'm not going to let it. I want you to remain here with me." Peter went from acting on His faith and trusting the truth of Jesus' words, to acting upon selfish desires and thoughts. Then Jesus spoke to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan. You are not thinking about the things of God but of man." The name Satan is translated as "Adversary," or "barrier," or "detraction." Peter was not trusting Jesus. He wanted what he wanted; Jesus all to himself.

And now, Jesus, using this episode, teaches the disciples and the crowd who had gathered, about trust. "If anyone wants to be my follower, he must deny himself, take up his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life because of me and the gospel will save it." Jesus is saying to you, "When you trust me and believe in me, you will follow me. Yet it will be challenging. You will bear a cross, or better said today, you will have burdens for following me. And your burden will be light. You see, I have carried your burdens of sin, death, and the influence of the devil on your behalf. I have taken away that burden from you. You do not have to carry the weight of guilt, grief, and sadness over sin and its' consequences. I have done that for you. That is why my cross is huge. I carried yours as well as the same for every living person, past, present, and future. Believe me. It's true. I am God. I am trustworthy. I have done it for you. I "proved" myself to you and for you. Now I will lead you to where I want you to go. Bring your cross, the burdens of life because you are following me, and follow me to heaven."

And Jesus is trustworthy. He died for you. He rose for you. He gave you the gift of a new life with Him. Believe in Him and follow. Trust him.

Your servant in Christ,

Pastor Hemsath