“Do not let your hearts be troubled.” That is one commandment of Jesus that you have to wonder about. Don’t be troubled about violence in the city, war in Ukraine and Sudan, toxic politics, endemic racism, harassing bill collectors, doctors with bad news, family squabbles, food insecurity, climate change, immigrant suffering, long covid, abuse of children, economic depression, the cost of funerals, the heartbreak of psoriasis and waxy yellow build up! How can we not be troubled by these and so many other concerns as well? Get serious, Jesus! But notice that Jesus said this, gave us this commandment, at the Last Supper, in the shadow of the cross. He was only twenty or so hours from his own torture and death. Jesus was no Pollyanna, no cock-eyed optimist. He was gazing down a metaphorical barrel of gun when he told us to not let our hearts be troubled. What is he telling us?
I don’t know why, but answering that question got me thinking about the Brazilian Sea Turtle. You too? Some background: several of us here are old enough to remember the Falklands War. In 1982 Great Britain and Argentina were fighting over some islands off the coast Argentina – the Falklands according to the British or the Malvinas according to the Argentinians. The British Navy used as a staging point on their way to the war a tiny speck of land in the middle of the Atlantic called Ascension Island. Britain has these kinds of outposts around the globe as relics of the era when they were the pre-eminent sea power in the world. All of the military activity at Ascension Island alarmed environmentalists because it is the nesting ground for the Brazilian Sea Turtle. These giant turtles which can weigh 500 pounds are endangered and biologists feared that if their nesting habitat was destroyed on Ascension Island it would doom the species. Happily the war ended before the nesting season so a crisis averted. What is notable is that Ascension Island is 1600 miles from the coast of Brazil. ‘Twas a puzzlement to scientists that the Sea Turtles chose to make that long journey from Brazil to Ascension Island every year to lay their eggs. It wasn’t until the theory of continental drift was developed that things started to make sense. One hundred million years ago, give or take a few million, a Momma Sea Turtle would have been sunning herself on the Beach at Ipanema thinking it was time to have some babies. On the horizon close to shore she saw this island and thought, that’s the perfect place to lay my eggs. No predators, plenty of sunshine, and prime beach-front property for junior. So she swam out and laid her eggs and came home. This worked so well it continued millennium after millennium. However, Ascension Island sits on what is called the Mid-Atlantic Ridge and that ridge was, and is, gradually pushing Africa and South American farther apart, about one inch per year. So each year Ascension Island was just a little bit farther from shore than it had been the previous year. Those little bits added up over the millions of years until now Momma Sea Turtle has to swim the 1600 miles in order to lay her eggs. But since it keeps her offspring safe, it makes the journey worthwhile.
This is relevant not as a history or science lesson but as one key to understanding the command of Jesus to not let our hearts be troubled. When you look at nature, when you see how turtles and birds and penguins thrive, or when you examine the workings of a human cell, or when you gaze in wonder at the latest picture of the cosmos coming from the James Webb Telescope you can only be amazed at creation. Jesus says the key to having untroubled hearts is faith in God and a good place to come to know God is seeing the divine handiwork. Contemplating creation in all its splendor gives us the blessed assurance that God is pretty smart, that God knows a thing or two. All of that stuff that ordinarily troubles us is small potatoes in the eyes of God. The God who started things off with a Big Bang is still at work spinning the galaxies and mixing the molecules. We can be sure that no matter what we are experiencing, God can handle it. So a first step to an untroubled heart is to take a walk, look at the trees and flowers coming to life after the dark of winter, visit the farm and see how dirt and sun and water make strawberries. The wonders of creation put what ordinarily troubles us in perspective.
While that is true, when you are the one hearing “you have cancer” or “that repair will cost you $7000” or “I will never forgive what you did” the command of Jesus to not let your hearts be troubled rings a little hollow. Sure God can take care of the cosmic things but what about on the retail level? What about with me? That is why Jesus appends to his commandment a second condition: “You have faith in God, have faith also in me.” The Son of God entered into the human condition so that we could understand that our situation, what we are going through, matters to God. Faith in Jesus means believing that being born, growing up, falling in love, having your heart broken, going through suffering, grieving a loss are somehow part of the divine story as much as Black Holes and DNA. Having Jesus in our lives shows us the way through all of life’s troubles since he is the Way. Jesus wants us to understand that it is being on the way, getting there, not the being there, is what matters. Obviously, if you on the way you are taking steps. Sometimes eager steps, sometimes reluctant steps. Sometimes steps springing with energy, sometimes steps full of pain. The point is to keep moving. We might stumble along the way, we might get weary on the way, we might feel we’re not making any progress. But the blessed assurance of Jesus is that if we are faithful to the way, despite the occasional fall, he will be with us every step.
