Mystery
God, the blessed and only Ruler, the King of kings, and Lord of lords, who alone is immortal and who lives in unapproachable light, whom no one has seen or can see. To him be honor and might forever. Amen. (I Timothy 6:15-16)
In the opening words of John’s gospel, the beloved disciple tells us that “no one has ever seen God.” That statement is just as true in our day as it was in John’s. In his concluding words to young pastor Timothy, the apostle Paul asserts that “no one has seen or can see” (italics mine) God.
Add to the words of John and Paul, the words spoken by Jesus to the woman by the well in Samaria - “God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship him in the Spirit and in truth,” and you begin to understand something of the mystery of the Divine, the mystery that is our God.
“For now we see only as a reflection in a mirror,” Paul tells us. And when you understand the poor quality of those ancient mirrors, you get some idea of what the apostle is saying. “Now I know in part, then I shall know fully,” he continues. (I Corinthians 13:12)
And later in 2 Corinthians, Paul tells us about a deeply spiritual experience - “I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know -God knows . . . was caught up to paradise and heard inexpressible things.” (12:2-4)
Yesterday, we began our countdown to a new year of Church on the Edge, beginning next week with Mystic Monday.
The Christian Mystics can be a bit of an acquired taste. Like a fine wine, it takes time to learn how to appreciate what they offer. Honestly, until recent years, I considered most of the mystics as weirdos or, at the very least, out of touch with the modern and enlightened thinking of the twenty-first century.
But as I’ve grown in my understanding of my call as a follower of Jesus to seek and love God with all my heart, soul, strength, and mind, I’ve come to realize that I may be the one who is the weirdo. And maybe our modern age is out of touch with some truths and realities about God that we desperately need to rediscover.
And the greatest of those truths, I believe, is the mystery of God.
Our enlightened, scientific age in which everything is quantified, categorized, explained, and packaged as neatly as possible so as to be perfectly understood has lost touch with mystery, with not-knowing . . . with faith. Isn’t that what the author of Hebrews tells us?
By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible. (Hebrews 11:3)
We need to rediscover what Paul calls “the mystery from which true godliness springs.” (I Tim. 3:16)
I hope you will be open to what the many Christian Mystics throughout the centuries of the church have to offer to us today. Julian of Norwich, Meister Eckhart, Gregory of Nyssa, John Fox, and even a guy with a name like Pseudo-Dionysius the Areopagite have much to teach us about the transcendence and mystery of God.
It’s the mystery that fuels our passion, it’s the mystery that keeps us from becoming too comfortable in our spiritual journey, and it is the mystery that prompts us to cry out as Moses cried out, “show me your glory.”
Mystic Monday is just six days away. Strap on your spiritual seat belt, and get ready to travel into the great unknown, the mystery that is our God.
In Christ,
Dan
Check out my podcasts from Church on the Edge and my books on Kindle.