Fourth Sunday of Lent

“He said,’ Lord I believe’.”

The physically blind man saw spiritually.

Faith – its verb is believing – is a complex concept.

For a start, ‘faith’ is not a verb. It is a noun whose verb is ‘to believe’; and that has at least five different connotations.

1.Trust. “I believe you”. I trust you are telling me the truth. You are honestly trying to recall the facts as you experienced them. Trusting Jesus, The Christ, I know there is life after death. (Jn 14, 2) His word is my bond with divine–eternity.

2.Perception. you  probably believe me to be human. I might be an alien in disguise. The cured man ‘saw’ Jesus as The Son of Man, the Messiah. 

3.Acceptance of the invisible. As scripture says, “Faith as acceptance of things unseen” [Heb 11, 1]. It ‘sees’ the giver in the gift, the creator in creation.

4. Values. Good or bad, we all have a system of values in which we believe. “I believe in prayer. I believe exercise, in friendship, in hard work. I believe in the values of The Kingdom of God. Behaviour reveals if these values are real.

5.Commitment. A belief in, is a commitment to. “I believe in you. I will put my money into your business.” “I believe in God”.” I commit myself to God.”

Remember “credo”, “I believe” comes from inverting a vowel from “cor do”:  “I give my heart”. (As ‘thrid’ became ‘third’.  Yorkshire ‘Thridings’ became  ‘Ridings’.)

Why not spend time this Lent taking a look at your faith – and see how it could be enhanced.