Mystery

The one thing that religion loves to offer to it congregants is the certainty of life. Then comes the season of Easter, more appropriately known as Passover. Out of the common inevitability of weekly messages dealing with the wholeness salvation delivers to each person comes a myriad of messages designed to offer answers to the mystery of all mysteries: How does the death of a Jewish teacher on a state-sanctioned torture device rectify all of humanity’s relationship with the transcendent being known as Jehovah, Yahweh, Adonai, God?

After two thousand years of theological debate, wars, church splits and reformations, we are still in the dark, regardless of what those in high places may tell you. This is a mystery folks and no one has a clue. Sure, we have been led along various and numerous trails, each trying to soothe the aching question which each generation is burdened with trying to unravel. However, we have only been trying to verify a theory, a guess, a hunch which we attempt to make look like a model of reality. Yes, we have developed confessions of faith and creeds galore just so it appears that we know what we are doing, but honestly, if everyone can be honest, we are simply hoping that what we’re saying is right. Obviously, it does support the theory, yet…

We have four narratives and one account of the acts of the apostles written by people who appear to have known Jesus. Each was written many years after Jesus walked upon the earth both before and after the cross. Not a single one of these people though seems to care about answering the question on everyone’s mind: WTF? It’s a great mystery, right?

The mystery seems to take a turn when we’re expected to believe that a special prosecutor within the religious establishment suddenly turns on his masters and becomes the agent of promotion to the first truth of the events which the mystery is built upon. Even this work brings forth a clamor which would forever be the forerunner to every dispute of doctrine the church would endure. Even boldly and honestly proclaiming it to be a mystery does not help in diffusing the angst which the unknown brews.

The mystery grows even as the one person the gospels highlights as the “go to” man of a new movement, the one who introduced it to the Gentiles, has to admit that even he can’t fully comprehend what is being said and written to the churches abroad about the meaning to all these things which transpired the way they did. If someone who was there, someone who ate the meals, drank the wine, and three times denied knowing the man who all this mystery surrounds doesn’t have a clue even years afterward, then what gives us the confidence to proclaim we do? It’s a mystery folks, understand?

Before you dismiss me as a nut-job, consider that I am more confident today in what I believe about the death, burial, resurrection and ascension of Jesus than I was last year, or even during the 40 plus years when I first accepted this mystery. My personal library is filled with the writings of some of the greatest theological minds dating back to the first church fathers. My study within the context of all these great authors is what gives me the assurance to proclaim that this is still a mystery we’re all trying to resolve.

This week, before egg-bearing rabbits populated the earth, the Son of Man entered into the city of His Father upon a donkey to the praises of the multitude seeking a deliverer; he proclaimed the Kingdom of Heaven was within everyone and proceeded to cleans the temple grounds of those who sought to profit from the faithful who devotedly adhered to the commandment to come from all over the nation to celebrate the Passover together.

A special dinner will be held with his closest friends where he will explain to them as best as they can understand what is about to happen to him at the hands of the religious establishment who is seeking to persecute him for what they believe is the crime of blaspheming Adonai by claiming to be his son. He will also commission them to continue on with the teachings that he has presented to them during their time together.

Later on, this same night, while in a garden praying with his friends, the guards from the temple will find him, employing the assistance of one of his friends, and arrest him. He will be taken to the temple priests and its governing body to be tried for his crimes. Being found guilty through the accounts of false witnesses, he will be transferred twice to the Roman authorities all in order to exact the penalty of death which the religious institution could order but not perform.

On the following day, the Son of Man being returned into the hands of the Roman prefect, will have him beat and pummeled by 100 Roman guards who have taunted him by placing a crown of thrones upon his head and robe about his naked body. The prefect will then present the Son of Man before the multitude who days before welcomed him into the city and offer to exchange his life for another criminal. Incited by the religious leaders in the crowd, the mob will demand the death of the Son of Man. Believing that the Son of Man is not guilty of the charge against him, he declares to the mob that he washes his hand of this affair and commands the guards to exact the sentence of death by crucifixion upon the Son of Man. The final part of his punishment to the Son of Man will cause him to be whipped with lashes which will rip great chunks of flesh from his body.

The Son of Man, beaten, battered and bleeding, will be forced to carry a cross designed for the criminal released by the mob through the streets of the city teaming with the same mob, leading up to a hill outside the city walls. Once there, the Son of Man will be stripped of all his clothing, laid upon the cross, spikes driven by multiple blows through each arm into the cross beam, and also into his feet into the upright. Then being lifted up, the weight of his body hung from the spikes, will begin the agonizing process of suffocation. A crucified criminal on his left and one on his right will adorn the final act of his life as the Son of Man endures the taunts of the mob, the Roman guards, the priests who have come to witness the execution, and even one of the criminals, of this one who proclaimed himself to be equal to God by being his son.

For at least six hours the Son of Man will hang from this device of human malevolence, which under normal circumstances (if dying by torture can be called normal) could take up to a week to perform its end goal of death, when he utters in his last breath, “Forgive them Father, for they know not what they do,” and dies at the same moment the priests in the temple are slaying the Passover lambs. At such a solemn moment, even the comment, “Truly this is the Son of God,” made by a Roman centurion witnessing these events brings the mystery into focus.

It is the rush of time, actually the lack thereof, which will only enhance the nature of the mystery enfolding about us. An impending dual Sabbath holiday quickly approaching forces those who are closest to the deceased to petition the prefect to have the body removed from the cross, so they can place it in the tomb prepared for someone else before the sun goes down. The priestly class fearing that the proclamations about the Son of Man being raised might be a means to provoke his disciple to create an insurrection, petition the prefect to have the tomb sealed and a Roman guard stationed to prevent anyone from raiding and removing its contents.

On the morning of the third day since the burial, woman close to the Son of Man approached the tomb to preform the rites of preparation for a deceased body as was their custom. An earthquake transpires at their approach causing the stone which closed the tomb to be rolled aside. The Roman guard stationed at the tomb flees in panic since the breaking of the seals means the loss of their life. One of the woman, approaching the tomb, looks inside to discover that it is empty! And the mystery takes off!

Obviously, there is more which will transpire. But the mystery is forever established in these events. These moments are the pivot which all of our existence swings upon. Hyperbole? Maybe. However, consider that since these days in which I have spoken, mankind has tried to measure the depths of this mystery and somehow never reached the fount of which it springs from.

The Son of Man becomes the Son of God at the final moment when death appears to have the upper hand and a heathen is the only one who can recognize it. It’s a mystery.

The birth of a new creation does not come at the hands of the men closest to the example, but naturally in the channel fashioned by the woman closest to the chrysalis of ritual. It’s a mystery.

All humanity is drawn to the one we made our scapegoat never expecting the retribution of forgiveness. It’s a mystery.

For a while now, we have been led to believe that all is satisfied around these matters. For some it is simply because they do not want deal with it. However, it might be possible that it is not as cleanly wrapped up as we might imagine. Mystery has that capacity to blow the doors of tidiness.

Sure, it’s Easter week. But why shouldn’t we revel in the mystery during this time more than any other time of our common church service? What do we fear in the uncertainty of Passover? What prevents the mystery from being our motive for celebration rather than egg-bearing rabbits?