Tuesday Sermon: Trust

          "Doveryay, no proveryay."  (Dovieri-ai, no provieri-ai.)  According to Suzanne Massie, author of "The Reagan Years", the Russians like to speak in proverbs.  "Trust, but verify" became one of Ronald Reagan's favorite sayings when he was dealing with the idea of nuclear disarmament. 

          Today's Old Testament reading comes to us from the Book of the All-Virtuous Wisdom of Yeshua Ben Sira, more commonly known as Sirach, or Ecclesiastes.  This book is the largest book of wisdom or ethical teachings that survives to this day, having been written in approximately 200 to 175 BCE by Joshua, son of Sira, a Jewish scribe in Jerusalem.  Sirach is not part of the Jewish canon of scripture, but was accepted as such by the Council of Trent.

          Trust, but verify, seems to be the theme in both the Old Testament and Psalm today – where we, as humans, are told both that we should trust in God, and yet, be prepared to have that trust tested, repeatedly.  But the questions are, why are we being tested, and who is doing the testing? 

          Sirach's wisdom comes in pairs, where he provides an attribute one must practice, and a challenge one will face during that practice.  For instance, "Set your heart right and be steadfast, and do not be impetuous in time of calamity."  This is both an encouragement of steadfastness, with a warning against impetuousness – the opposite of being steadfast; the challenge that will test that virtue will be calamity.  There's a whole history lesson within this reading, summed up in the question:  "Consider the generations of old and see:  has anyone trusted in the Lord and been disappointed?"  The person who answers that question has to review their knowledge of the Torah and the prophets – only to come to the conclusion that the answer is no.  It has only been when people have not trusted the Lord that they have sinned and turned away from God, finding only disappointment.

          Psalm 112 makes it clear that those who trust and follow the teachings of God will always be rewarded and blessed.  God has, from the beginning, provided us with boundaries and choices, rewards and consequences – as any good parent does. 

          So, is it God who tests our trust in Him, or is it our own human nature that gets in the way, and tests God's word?  Or tests God?

          In our Gospel reading, Christ talks about welcoming a child in His name being the same as welcoming him.  The thing is, children don't look to be welcomed by people they don't trust.  They get an innate sense of a person and know whether they will feel safe in granting their trust or whether someone is just paying lip service as they jockey for position, as we often see politicians kissing babies.  By putting our trust in God, by truly welcoming Christ, we have decided that the Great Commandment – loving God with all our heart, soul, body and mind, and loving our neighbor as ourselves – is more important than spending our time verifying the trust we give God.  The Russian proverb is how people deal with other people – but it has no place in our trust in God. 

          Remember the saying from Isaiah, which was also repeated by Christ:  "For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the Lord.  “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts." 

          We have a tendency to treat God the same .way we treat our fellow man. And he’s not man. He’s God. We have to learn to trust that.  But when we do test that trust, we will find the consequences God has promised.  His Word is certainly everything we need to verify our own trust.