A Matter of Trust – John 14
John 14 is a portion of the final recorded sermon of Jesus to His twelve disciples. As I read the passage, one word was repeated over and over – Father. Jesus mentioned His Father twenty times in this chapter. And it left me wondering – Why? At such a critical moment, why did Jesus keep mentioning the Father?
I wonder if He was reminding them that the life they had witnessed was an expression of the Father. It was an incredible life. Jesus lived in complete submission to the Father. The good deeds were not just His works. They were His Father’s works. Jesus’ plans were not His own. They were His Father’s plans. And what they were about to see - His crucifixion - was not just Jesus’ agenda. It was His Father’s agenda. Jesus had trusted His Father this far and now that the crucifixion was before Him, Jesus would need to continue to trust Him still.
Perhaps it is not the miracles or successes that call for greater faith. Rather it is the moments of loss and defeat that take us to a deeper place of trust. For even though Jesus had experienced great success with healing and with great crowds of followers, His greatest moment of trusting His Father was still to come. He had an appointment with death. It was His destiny.