| Look to Jesus Christ today for the ‘Magnum Mysterium’ |
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| April 22, 2007
Background Scripture: Revelation 5
Devotional Reading: Psalms 107:1-9
I began pretty much as a rationalist, believing there was little in this universe that, ultimately, could not be detected, analyzed and explained by reason. But then experiences occurred that at worst, seem to defy logic and at best, to go beyond it. This hardheaded Pennsylvania German ran into the mysterious and didn’t know what to do with it.
It took some time to realize there is a difference between the illogical and something that goes beyond logic. At least a part of the spiritual goes beyond logic into the realm of mystery. St. Augustine said, “Miracles do not happen in contradiction of nature, but only in contradiction to what we know of nature.” So, miracles and the realm of mystery are not illogical, but contrary only to what we know to be logical.
Logic and mystery
I believe Christian discipleship is a combination of logical thinking and mystery. When Jesus says, “Forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us,” I can see the logic. But there is much in life that goes beyond logic, such as love, faith and hope.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge says, “In what way, or by what manner of working, God changes a soul from evil to good – how he impregnates the barren rock with priceless gems and gold – is, to the human mind, an imperishable mystery.” That mystery is part of following Jesus Christ.
Christianity without mystery is a religion of the mind without the heart.
I have observed some people, failing to find accommodation for mystery in congregational life, leaving mainstream Christianity to find a place where mystery is acceptable. Many of those we labeled as “New Agers” were, in fact, normal Christians who concluded erroneously there was no place for the mysterious in Christianity.
As Revelation 4 depicts John’s mysterious experience of God exalted in all His majesty, splendor and power, so Revelation 5 is an experience of Christ in all his majesty, splendor and power. His vision is in the realm of mystery, not logic.
We must avoid the temptation to regard this as a literal account of what happened, just because there can be no literal, objective perception of it. A newspaper or television journalist could not have recorded an objective description of what transpired between John and God.
The ecstatic
John’s revelation is ecstatic. The term “ecstasy” is Latin, meaning “to drive out of one’s mind,” but in our time it is understood as “to be beside oneself; in the grip of extreme passion.”
A steady diet of ecstasy is an unbalancing, even corrupting, influence. But a life devoid of ecstasy – particularly of a spiritual nature – keeps us bottled up when, from time to time, we need to be lifted out of ourselves in a Divine encounter.
A few months before his death, Aldous Huxley wrote: “… the older one gets, the more unutterably mysterious, unlikely and totally implausible one’s own life and the universe at large steadily become.”
I agree, but one doesn’t have to wait that long to accept the Magnum Mysterium, “The Great Mystery” – the God revealed in Jesus Christ.
This farm news was published in the April 18, 2007 issue of Farm World, serving Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan and Tennessee. |
| 4/18/2007 |
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