What Is Faith?

Christ is Risen! Alleluia!

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Father. Amen.

What is faith? What is the purpose of believing? An awful lot of talk happens in Christian circles about faith – growing in faith, the power of faith, faith moving mountains, and so on. But why? What is the big deal about faith?

 

Is faith an intellectual assent to a set of propositions? “Strong belief” or “complete trust”, as some dictionaries define it? Or perhaps faith is an emotional connection to something? Many religious sorts would posit that faith is defined by a burning in the bosom, some sort of internal and immediate flush of feeling and conviction that serves some sort of devotional purpose. To such as this, faith is not about intellectual matters so much as a matter of the heart simply hearing the call of God and experiencing the nearness of Christ, or some such business.

"Remember How He Told You"

Christ is Risen! Alleluia!

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

On the first day of the week, after the Passover had ended, the faithful women who had ministered to Jesus throughout His earthly ministry came to do their fallen Lord one last service. They came bringing spices to do for Him according to the custom of the Jews, that they might prepare His body properly, since there had not been time to do so on Friday, before the start of the Sabbath. They came with heavy hearts and downcast spirits.

No doubt, the events of the past weekend were a shock to the system. They had, in the course of one week, seen the crowds adoring the Lord Jesus Christ as the coming king who would sit on the throne of David. They had witnessed Jesus overturning the marketplace set up in the Temple precincts. They had heard His wondrous but perplexing preaching.

Out of Hiding

Christ is Risen! Alleluia!

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

In the beginning, everything was very good. No sin soiled creation. No sorrow marred the joy of our forebears. Adam and Eve were at peace with God and in perfect harmony with one another. They were good stewards of the bounty of Paradise, and they walked with God in the cool of the day through the Garden. Nothing separated them from the Lord Himself, and He talked with them face to face.

But then sin entered into creation upon the temptation of the serpent. The perfection and harmony were marred by discord and doubt. The eyes of Adam and Eve were not opened, but instead blinded by their new-found sin. In shame, they ran and hid instead of appearing before the Lord God as they had formerly. These newly fallen sinners could not face the Holy One because they were no longer the holy creatures He had created in His image.

He Was Made Known to Them

Christ is risen! Alleluia!

In the Name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

As the two disciples walked along the road from Emmaus, they discussed between themselves the events that had happened in Jerusalem in the past few days. They had seen and heard of all the things that Jesus had said and done, and yet they did not understand what had happened, and why it had happened. Furthermore, Luke has not recorded a sighting of Jesus yet, so these two had reason to be perplexed and despairing.

The two disciples walked along the road, discussing all these things, when Jesus came up alongside them and asked what they were debating. They were amazed that He did not know what had happened, because the whole of Jerusalem was atwitter with the news. Luke records that their eyes were held back from recognizing Jesus, so they must have marveled at His supposed ignorance.