Recently while at Church I looked up and saw the phrase, “Jesus I trust in you”. I never realized until then that God ordained that the name Jesus would hold the word “us” in it. It is a name that holds more than one person within. That fits with Jesus saying, “Whoever has seen me has seen the Father” (John 14:9). Jesus also said, “I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Advocate to be with you always, the spirit of truth, which the world cannot accept, because it neither sees him nor knows it. But you know it, because it will remain with you, and will be in you.” (John 14:16- 17) and “Whoever loves me will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our dwelling with him.” (John 14:23). Clearly we know by these words that the most Holy Trinity is not just with us, but in us! We all truly are one in Christ.
“JesUS, I trUSt in you.” TrUSt also has the word “us” in it. Trust us. Scripture is filled with messages calling us to trust in the Lord. I don’t think it was an accident that, once again, God put the word “us” in such a powerful word. “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trUSt in the name of the Lord, our God” (Psalm 20:7). What a calming reality all this is. “Jesus, I trust in you” is a tremendous reminder that we can trust the most Holy Trinity that is in us. We can trUSt the “us” that is in each one of us.
This Easter week is a great time to reflect on this. Jesus was nailed to the cross. There was nothing He could do. There is something oddly calming about not being able to do anything about any given situation if you can pause for a moment and recall that you are not alone. In that pause we can trust just as JesUS did. In this Easter week we are reminded that the crucifixion was not the end of the story. It may be awful. We may feel great sorrow and the situation may feel overwhelming, but in the depths of that pain, if we are still and take note, we can experience great comfort. That comfort is Jesus. We are not on the cross alone and the cross is not the end.
When we are in pain and unable to move and the heartache is deep, we can trust that that is precisely the moment that God can show up and work it all out. What’s overwhelming to us, is never overwhelming to Him. He does His best work when we are powerless and can’t move. He does his best work when we cannot get in the way to try and fix it and make it better. If we aren’t feeling overwhelmed and powerless, then we may not be at the point
where God can come in and do His best work because we are still getting in the way. Until we are resolved that we are powerless and there is nothing we can do, we haven’t given it entirely to God. Until we powerless with nowhere to turn, He can’t move as mightily as we may need for Him to move..
TrUSt JesUS can be a tremendous reminder that the Holy Trinity, the Us in all of us, has the power to raise the dead and roll back the boulder in our lives just as was done for Jesus. It is in this position that nobody can ever doubt who the author of our resurrection is. The crucifixion isn’t the end of the story. It is a lesson that we will often feel like we are trapped in a corner with no place to move. We may feel dead in any given situation and as painful as that is, that is when God’s resurrection power can come. That is when we can be a witness to the Us that is in JesUS and the Us that you can trust is in you.
The phrase, “Jesus, I trust in you” when looking at a crucifix is powerful. God never leaves us for dead. We are always victorious when we trust. Anytime we feel the fear entering in any given situation we know we can feel better by going to the crucifix and saying “Jesus, I trust in you.” It can be a reminder that the pain and discomfort we are feeling is not the end. Jesus died as an ultimate act to show us all that we are saved. Sorrow was turned to rejoicing. Now we have an opportunity to complete what is missing in the crucifixion. St. Paul assured us of that when he said, “Now I rejoice in my sufferings for your sake, and in my flesh I am filling up what is lacking in the afflictions of Christ on behalf of his body, which is the church.” ( Colossians 1:24). But then Paul goes on to say that this is a, “mystery hidden from ages and from generations past. But now it has been manifested to his holy ones, to whom God chose to make known the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; it is Christ in you, the hope for glory.” (Colossians 1:25- 27). Paul shows us that it doesn’t end with the crucifixion. It wasn’t the end for Jesus and when we are united to Him and filling up what is lacking, it is not the end for us either. There is a mystery involved and our hope is in God and the glory He receives from our participation in Jesus cross and resurrection.
Jesus came to save us and like Him our prayers for our good and the good of others may be answered through a cross. When we suffer we can hold that hope of an Easter moment in our lives. Even if we cannot see, we know the cross is never the end. Good will come out of it for “We know all things work for the good for those who trUSt in the Lord and are called according to His purpose” (Rom 8:28). We may be experiencing pain so that an answer to a prayer we have been praying for may be realized just as it was with Jesus. You never know, but in any case good will always come for we are always given “victory through our Lord, Jesus Christ” (1Cor 15:57) and that is the hope and glory of the mystery that is lived out in is as we live our lives as a living prayer.
Prayerfully reflect on:
The highlighted scripture passages above.
Think of the times in your life when a resurrection occurred after your suffering. Can you now see where Jesus was helping you carry your cross though you may not have been aware of it at the time? What was the Easter story afterwards? Was a prayer you had been praying for unexpectedly answered in your Easter story?