The Lord God Almighty had freed the people of Israel from slavery in Egypt. God had defeated the power of the empire and led the whole host of the nation to the banks of the Red Sea. There, a great wind blew and piled up the waters of the sea into a deep dry valley. The people passed safely between the walls of the sea, walking out of Egypt, walking together as a nation into … the middle of nowhere.
What is my ultimate fate before God? Am I saved or am I damned? When I die, will I go to heaven or am I bound for hell? This is the very question taken up by today’s scripture passage, which concludes with a sentence that has been more influential on my faith than any single sentence in all of the bible. Am I saved? The bible says this:
“Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who is at work in you, enabling you both to will and to work for God’s good pleasure.”
Just a few days before, Simon—who was also called Peter—had been going about his life in perfect contentment, living a good life in a fishing town called Capernaum on the north shore of the Sea of Galilee. But then, Jesus came walking into Simon’s town and showed him another way of life was possible. Jesus came walking into Simon’s life, and now he wanted more. He wanted so much to know what journeying with Jesus would mean for his life, what Jesus’ life would mean for the world. But above all, Simon wanted to know: Who was this man?
Judas had been with Jesus from the beginning, from the Galilee days when every town they visited held new fresh wonders of what Jesus might do for the people of Israel. Judas had seen how Jesus would love the downtrodden, would give food to huge mass of hungry people, and how he could hold a crowd spellbound with his teaching on the power of the law and the spirit of the prophets. To follow Jesus was to be a part of something great, Judas knew that. Everybody knew that!
Before I began to follow after Jesus, I was like a branch hoping for nothing higher than that I should be good firewood. My aspirations for my life were to burn long, burn well, and burn bright. I wanted to contribute some small light of insight to humanity to help hold at bay the void blank expanse of all that we cannot know. I wanted to provide some small warmth in a cold world, like an open fire on a winter’s night. I wanted at least those closest to me to find comfort in how I lived.