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We live in a world where the mysterious is avoided. We must have everything figured out. Yet, it is mysteries that drive us into new territories. Discovery broadens our ability to communicate more effectively. Children love discovery, adults hate it. So here is a mystery for you. Consider the following:<\/p>\n
Eleven men, frightened for their lives, are huddled in a room, doors securely locked and bolted, windows boarded up to keep prying eyes from determining their whereabouts. Emotions are reeling as they try to come to grips with the publicly displayed, politically sanctioned death of their friend just three days prior. Concern for their safety in a city where they are only visitors is their main dilemma as they know how any movement to leave the city will mean their imprisonment and potential death.<\/p>\n
As they express their fears and anger towards one another and to the governing forces who are looking for them, their friend, the one who was murdered, suddenly appears before them and exclaims, \u201cPeace.\u201d This is not an aberration of their collective grief-stricken thoughts. This is flesh and bones, poke-a-finger-here-to-test-the-fact reality no one expects. It\u2019s a mystery!<\/p>\n
Ok, what you just read is the encounter of the disciples with Jesus, in case you didn\u2019t recognize it. So for a moment, put yourself in that same room, feeling the exact same emotions and experiencing the exact same response of seeing Jesus, who you saw die and be buried just three days prior. Understand, everything you\u2019ve ever been taught by churchianity, hasn\u2019t been developed yet. You\u2019re catching and processing this moment first hand. <\/p>\n
So how many of you think that when this event occurred, in the ensuing pandemonium which it unleashed, someone shouted out, \u201cAll right now. Let\u2019s be adults here. Calm down.\u201d? Not many of you, right? However, it would appear that this is precisely what happened simply because we have no record of the most important discovery question every child would have asked: Why and how did this happen?<\/p>\n
You might be thinking right now I must be sorely mistaken, you\u2019ve got a whole book which tells you, and anyone else who will take the time to read it, why and how it happened. I, cordially, would have to disagree with you on this. What you possess in your book is an attempt by many authors to explain a mystery. Furthermore, you also draw on \u201cattempted traditions\u201d passed down through history to explain a mystery. In trying to be an adult with the assurance that you understand things, you, and I must include myself, have accepted these traditional attempts of explanation to make us feel certain about this mystery.<\/p>\n
Over the past several months I have been in a very intense study on this question. Nowhere in any of the gospels, Paul\u2019s writings, the author of Hebrews, or in John\u2019s works do we find an answer to this mystery. Before you jump to a conclusion here understand something: What we have are metaphors that try to get us to relate to an unexplainable situation in some capacity in order to soothe our angst for an explanation. Those recorded metaphors came from the daily dialogue of the people during that period. We don\u2019t possess the exact same understanding of those metaphors today even though we think we do. Our \u201cattempted traditions\u201d have compromised the essence of the original metaphors. <\/p>\n
Go into the gospels and look for the question, or better yet, the response to the question from Jesus himself. It\u2019s not there. (This is a mystery in and of itself.) Consider though, how Jesus instructed the disciples how they need to approach the kingdom of God as a little child. Children will ask the questions and every parent knows this. Kids also will not ask and instead trust in the parent\u2019s cares for them. Is it possible that the singularly most important question is not recorded purely as a means to demonstrate our trust in such a great love? Do all the explanations we have simply demonstrate the grown-up response to a mystery which we all as children are called to discover? Have you calmed down in the kingdom of God or does the singularly most important question still pull on your heart?<\/p>\n
If you look in the book of Ephesians, you\u2019ll find a claim how the marriage relationship between a man and a woman is a mystery. This is the same with our relationship to Christ. \u201cHow and why is this possible\u201d becomes a metaphor in our conversation with the Godhead only as we enter into the relationship. Our metaphor will not fit on someone else just as a marriage can\u2019t be the same by adding a third person to the union. (Notice the use of the metaphor!) Unfortunately, all across the globe, people believe, or better yet, are certain, these recorded metaphors of a relationship with Christ are the \u201cbe all and end all\u201d of the discussion. They have grown up in Christ!<\/p>\n
In my studies I am becoming ever more aware of this glaring reality of how we don\u2019t know anything but are damn good at faking it as though we do. Some of you upon reading this will assume that I don\u2019t know a damn about this matter as I have presented it, to which I\u2019ll wholly agree. You see I\u2019m still seeking, searching, entertaining the question as a child. I can\u2019t admit to being a grown up to a mystery which still draws me ever deeper into a divine relationship. Being certain just isn\u2019t worth the loss of exploring the wonder and the awe. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
We live in a world where the mysterious is avoided. We must have everything figured out. Yet, it is mysteries that drive us into new territories. Discovery broadens our ability to communicate more effectively. Children love discovery, adults hate it. … Continue reading