Mystery

If we have grown up in Protestant, Evangelical churches, chances are we are not very comfortable with mystery. We have been nurtured by bible answer men preaching evidence that demands a verdict. Any ‘apparent contradiction’ in scripture or any biblical event that doesn’t jive with science or archeology is quickly explained. We have books on the universal flood, theories on dinosaurs and current real life stories about men surviving for days in the belly of a whale.

And in our desperation to avoid the dark chasm of mystery, we often miss the opportunity to encounter the Spirit of God in and through the text.

The cross of Jesus is one of the greatest mysteries. How can one man’s death set right the wrongs of all humanity? Why would God do such a thing and how could he treat his own son this way?

But the greatest mystery is why would he do this for me?

“We can understand someone dying for a person worth dying for, and we can understand how someone good and noble could inspire us to selfless sacrifice. But God put his love on the line for us by offering his Son in sacrificial death while we were of no use whatever to him.”

Romans 5 – The Message