A shared word on mystery by Jim Harnish

Today, I share a portion of FAITH MATTERS by The Rev. Dr. Jim Harnish, senior pastor of Hyde Park United Methodist Church, Tampa, Florida. Jim writes his congregation every week via the internet posting of FAITH MATTERS. I have always found his insights into the Christian journey helpful in my journey. I hope that this offering does the same for you.

The Day that Changed the World

There are days within the lifetimes of the people who read this message that stand out as days that shifted the gears of history.

Dec. 7, 1941: “The day that will live in infamy.”
Aug. 28, 1963: The day Dr. King said, “I have a dream … ”
Nov. 22, 1963: The day JFK was shot.
Jan. 28, 1986: The day the Challenger exploded.
Sept. 11, 2001: The day with no other name than “9.11.”

As important as those days are, there is only one day in human history that really changed everything; one day that has the power to change the way we think, act and live; one day that holds the promise of changing the kingdoms of this world into the Kingdom of God; one day that really did change the world.

Entering the Mystery

On Sunday, I used the word “mystery” to describe what happens when we break the bread and share the cup around the table of our Lord. It’s something that is beyond our explanation but not beyond our experience.

In his powerful book, “Cross-Shattered Christ,” Stanley Hauerwas acknowledged that “mystery” is not a word theologians often use because it “invites the assumption that what we believe is not believable … that what we believe defies reason and common sense.” He goes on to say that what we Christians believe does defy reason and common sense, but that it is still “the most reasonable and common sense account we can have of the way things are.” (p.14)

Hauerwas wrote that the word “mystery” does not “name a puzzle that cannot be solved … Rather, ‘mystery’ names that which we know, but the more we know, the more we are forced to rethink everything we think we know.” (p. 15)

That’s the mystery we enter as we tell the story of the passion, death and resurrection of our Lord. The more deeply we move into the story, the more the story challenges us to rethink the way we think, act and live. Like so many of Jesus’ parables in Matthew’s gospel, this story is meant to shock and surprise us until we begin to see our lives and our world in a radically different way.

Charles Wesley never got over the mystery of it. Here’s the way he described it in one of his many hymns on the passion of Christ.

O Love divine, what hast thou done!
The immortal God hath died for me!
The Father’s co-eternal Son
Bore all my sins upon the tree.
Th’ immortal God for me hath died:
My Lord, my Love, is crucified!

My prayer is that as we enter into the mystery of the cross, we will be forced to “rethink everything we think we know until we know” the love of God that really can change the world.

Quote for today: The figure of the Crucified invalidates all thought which takes success for its standard. ~Dietrich Bonhoeffer