Sermon: Genuine trust is important in all our relationships

Today, many social sciences are pointing out the problem of the modern man as far as his or her mental state of trust is concerned. People are finding it harder and harder to trust their fellow human beings. In the same line the person who can not trust others is hardly trusted or taken as trustworthy by people. Trust being a relationship of reliance, the lack of it makes our social life very difficult and unpredictable. Trust creates the sense of community and it makes it easier for people to stay with us. In any kind of relationship, when individuals are characterized by high level of trust, they are more apt to openly exchange information and to act with caring benevolence toward one on other than those in relationships lacking trust. When it comes to marital relationship, mutual trust becomes very important for the couple to remain united as one. It is important therefore to strengthen our mental state of trust. Psychologists warn us however that it is not an easy task. Normally trust begins at the birth of a child and grows stronger as the child grows older. It is rooted in the relationship between the mother or caregiver and the child. The personal grip of trust depends on whether our families were so accepting and loving that we grew with that sense of leaning on our family members and allowing them to lean on us when in need. On the other hand however, the above study does not tell us that it is impossible to willingly build a stronger mental state of trust in our later stages. On the contrary, we should keep on trying. The importance of trust goes beyond our human relationship to our relationship with God. Like our human relationship, it is through trust that our relationship with God strengthens, and our love for him grows. Before leaving his disciples behind, Jesus insisted on this relationship between him and them, a relationship which is especially built on trust in God’s providence. Unfortunately, Jesus had noticed on several occasions that his disciples showed doubts and lack of faith in who he was and in what he taught them. In order to build the necessary trust in them, once after teaching them on his death and resurrection, he decided to take away Peter, James, and John on the mountain that today is identified as Mount Tabor in lower Galilee. There in front of them ‘his face shone like the sun’ (Mt.17:2) and ‘his clothes became shining white’ (Mk.9:3). Then a voice came out of the cloud saying ‘this is my beloved Son, listen to him.’ (Mk.9:7). This was a voice which aimed at clearing all the doubts in the disciples’ mind about who Jesus really was and at the same time asking them for total submission to Christ and to put their total trust in him. By giving these three disciples a glimpse into the heavenly glory that was his and theirs at the end of their journey of faith, Jesus instilled in them a very strong trust which saw them through the shock of his death and gave them the necessary confidence to assume the mantle of leadership after him. For the same reason, the church uses this story of the transfiguration of Jesus on the second Sunday of Lent in order to invite the Christians to continue drawing strength and courage from the glory of Jesus so that they may keep their trust in their relationship with God. During the same period, the Church invites us to meditate on our different temptations and trials, which test the level of our trust in God. The above meditation shows us that trusting people is not easy. It is harder still for human beings to trust in God. It requires us to surrender our will, our ideas, our desires, and our future in to God’s hands. Man being generally a kind of ‘control freak’, we must make the necessary effort in order to have that firm belief that God loves us fully; that he has our best interests at heart and desires the very best for us! That belief is all it means to trust in God. Ends