Standing In The Mystery

When you deal with God you deal with mystery. For this reason it's not suprising that there are differences in our perceptions, in our theologies, in our spiritualities.

The Bible opens with two variant perceptions. In Genesis 1 the author thinks of God as transcendent, above and beyond creation; a God who says, "Let it be," and it happens.

In Genesis 2 a different author thinks of God as immanent, with us, in the world, with human qualities. God reaches into the soil to form the body of man and then breathes into the body the breath of life.

Two stories of how God created human beings, two differing perceptions of God.

Similar variety exists in theologizing about how God saved the world. Some theologians emphasize the resurrection of Jesus as the moment of his glorification; others focus on Jesus' crucifixion and death.

The author of 1 Peter 1:3 says God gave us salvation "through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead." The author of John 3:14 says that salvation comes through Jesus' being "lifted up," an ambiguous term which in that context has the dual meaning of crucifixion and exaltation. He compares Jesus' crucifixion to Moses' creating a bronze serpent for the people to look at and be healed.

Which is the source or means of our salvation? In reality we would have to say both. The crucifixion and the resurrection are one act of love.

Because we are dealing with God, we are dealing with mystery, and successful dealing with mystery requires what is often called "non-dualistic thinking." Instead of black-and-white, either-or thinking, we are necessarily led to a lot of gray areas and both-and acceptance.

Those most advanced in the spiritual life, those experienced in contemplation and mysticism, come to acceptance of ambiguity and mystery.

Franciscan friar Richard Rohr proposes that Jesus was a non-dualistic thinker. In the beatitudes we see this kind of mindset: Blessed are the poor...those hungering for righteousness...the persecuted and the slandered.

Our immediate reaction to the idea that someone is blessed when he's persecuted or hungry or in pain is negative. It makes no sense --at first.

Wisdom often comes from standing in the question. The rush to judgment may stifle new insight and growth.

Of course we have to make judgments in many areas of our lives. Conscience must decide whether an act is right or wrong, and we cannot straddle the fence or fall into a relativism which fails to distinguish good from evil.

At the same time there are areas of our lives where living with the uncertainty and probing both sides are to our advantage.

There is tension in celebrating both Good Friday and Easter Sunday. Mature Christians embrace that tension, and allow this non-dual experience to color our thinking and living.

Being open to God's transcendence and immanence, to the Church's holiness and sinfulnes, to opinions liberal and conservative is no easy matter. Most of us want answers, and we want them now. The wait, the uncertainty, the poverty of non-resolution threaten our spiritual equilibrium and peace of mind.

But in truth we must be hesitant to resolve every issue with an immediate and often one-sided response.

To jump to a conclusion too quickly militates against one of the major beliefs of Christianity, namely that Jesus is both God and man, divine and human. After two thousand years we are still wrestling with the consequences of this revelation.

Christ's very being is an invitation to non-dualistic thinking. In the light of his both-and nature we must stand in the mystery.

We can exult in the "happy fault" which brought about Good Friday and at the same time sing with St. Augustine, "We are an Easter people and Alleluia is our song."

Mystery of Faith

I don't like not knowing. I don't like ambiguity. I don't like mystery. But if I'm going to be a Christian I have to make friends with all three.

St. Paul put it simply, "We walk by faith, not by sight" (2 Corinthians 5:7).

Even though God has spoken to us in past times in partial and various ways through the prophets, and more recently and powerfully through his Son, (cf. Hebrews 1:1-2), we still do not know everything.

How could a puny human mind ever comprehend the height, breath, or depth of the wisdom of God? God's ways are unsearchable, his judgments inscrutable. "Who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?" ( Romans 11:34).

Jesus ' teaching was not without ambiguity. He says we must love everybody, even our enemies (cf. Matthew 5:44), and then he insists that only those who hate their parents, their siblings, even their very selves can be his disciples (cf. Luke 14:26). He was fond of couching his message in paradox: to be the leader, you must be the servant (cf Mt. 20:27).

And the mysteries of the kingdom have never been resolved. Jesus spoke about them in parables (cf. Lk 8:8-10) but even when he explained his stories, his disciples were still confused. "But they understood nothing of this; the word remained hidden from them, and they failed to comprehend what he said" (Lk 18:34).

St. Thomas Aquinas argued that the existence of God can be proved. His first argument was based on the need for a prime mover. Then the need for an uncaused cause. And then the need for some intelligent being to direct natural things to their end.

Others have argued that "evil in the world" suggests there is no God, for if God is loving then God should prevent evil, especially the evils of natural disasters. Since God does not prevent such evils, either he is powerless to do so or he is not all that loving.

French philosopher Blaise Pascal concluded that one cannot prove that God exists nor prove that he does not exist. Unable to offer proof one way or the other, Pascal proposed what has become known as Pascal's Wager. He reasons, in effect, that although we cannot prove or disprove God's existence, one has better odds in believing in God since one loses nothing if there is no God but gains eternal life if there is.

Christians come at this issue from an altogether different angle. They generally believe in God's existence because the world and its complexity require an intelligent creator, but they add further that faith is a gift from God, freely offered to those willing to accept it.

Christians not only believe in God, they also believe that God made the world, loves it dearly, and sent his divine Son to help us cope with the mess we have made of it.

This Son of God we call Jesus, and Christians accept him as their Savior and their Lord. They accept his message as Gospel truth and they make an effort, with varying degrees of success, to overcome evil and live according to the divine plan.

There remains for many of us, however, in spite of our faith, a degree of uneasiness. Faith by its very nature implies risk. It means trusting in something, or in this case, Someone.

The uneasiness that leads me to feel uncomfortable about not knowing, about ambiguity, and about mystery is normal and natural, but it does not have to rob me of peace of mind.

Saints and mystics have long offered the assurance that the uneasiness of faith can be reduced by deepening one's personal relationship with God. Faith, then, is supported not by reasoned proofs for God's existence nor by quotes from Jesus' Gospel, but rather rests on a personal encounter with Jesus Christ.

Prayer can be a a religious exercise of words and actions and song, or it can be an avenue of intimacy with the Divine One.

If or when I finally come to trust Jesus implicitly, I will not need the surety of answers nor will I mind the ambiguity or mystery which faith implies.

I have come to believe that the best answer anyone can give to those who question why I believe in God or why I am a Christian is simply, "Because I've met him. I know him. We're friends."