Our Pastor’s recent sermon (you can listen here: https://www.oursavior-lcms.org/recorded-sermons)
focused on John 14, particularly verse 27, “Peace I leave with you; my peace I
give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be
troubled, neither let them be afraid.” The Greek verb “tarasso” is the word for
troubled here and its definition is “to cause inward commotion and distress; to
take away calmness of mind.” We all experience troubled hearts now and then, and
Jesus knows this. He himself experienced a troubled heart in the garden
(Matthew 26:37 says that Jesus was “sorrowful and troubled”) before His arrest
and ultimately His suffering and death. The verb used here is slightly
different and infers a very heavy burden of distress that Jesus was experiencing
as He began to take on the sins of the world.
But even so, Jesus knows and can empathize with our troubled hearts.
When Jesus tells His disciples (and us) to let not your hearts be troubled (see
also John 14:1, Mark 6:50, Luke 24:38), He simply reminds us to focus on Him,
not our troubles. He reminds us that He is our peace. “Believe in God, Believe
also in Me,” He says in John 14:1. “Take heart, it is I,” He tells the
disciples in Mark 6:30. In yesterday’s sermon Pastor said, “The remedy for our
troubled hearts and anxiety is Jesus Himself.” Sometimes, the answer is simple,
but it’s not always easy to implement the cure. We need to be deliberate about
it. We need to be disciplined about it. We need to work with the Holy Spirit
and ask for the Spirit’s power to focus our eyes and our hearts on Jesus
Himself. In Him we find true peace, rest, and joy for living.
When your heart is troubled, what’s your go-to scripture or spiritual
discipline that helps re-focus you?
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