Not just mystery, but also paradox

http://www.usccb.org/bible/readings/012816.cfm

II Samuel 7:18-19, 24-29
Mark 4:21-25

Mark's Gospel is the most loosely constructed of the four. Some might even call it 'primitive.' Here, led by the Spirit, Mark has gathered six independent sayings of Jesus that seem only slightly connected.

There's the brief parable of the lamp.
There's the observation about the hidden and the secret eventually being brought into the light.
There's the recurring statement about hearing if you have ears.
There's the warning about what you hear.
There's the caution about what measuring stick you use.
And finally, there's the enigmatic statement about the one who has and the one who has not.

Matthew and Luke place each of these independent sayings in a more informative context. Consider the second of the six: For there is nothing hidden except to be made visible; nothing is secret except to come to light. In Matthew's Gospel, these words of Jesus follow his comments on persecution. The teaching is an encouragement to proclaim the truth in the face of adversity. In Matthew, the full text is as follows: 

"So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. What I tell you in the dark, utter in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim upon the housetops." (Matthew 10:26-27)

Luke takes the same tack as Matthew but makes the Pharisees the source of opposition. The meaning, as offered in Luke, is echoed centuries later in a highly compressed form by Shakespeare in the Merchant of Venice: "Truth will out." Further, Luke shifts the source of the teaching, and, consequently, what will follow. This is Luke's text: "He began to say to his disciples first, "Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees, which is hypocrisy. Nothing is covered up that will not be revealed, or hidden that will not be known. Whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light, and what you have whispered in private rooms shall be proclaimed upon the housetops." (Luke12:1-3)

Note the shifts.

Matthew's version: "What I tell you in the dark. . . "
Luke's version: "Whatever you have said in the dark. . . "

Then note the conclusion.
Matthew: "What I tell you in the dark, utter in the light"
The conclusion is an instruction to do things differently.
Luke: "Whatever you have said in the dark shall be heard in the light"
The conclusion affirms an eventual, broader reception of the truth.

Each of these Gospel authors gives a slightly different message. Either Matthew or Luke may be offering the more accurate context for the original words of Jesus. Or, possibly, they were simply incorporating the isolated teaching into a setting where it could be better understood. But, when heard as an independent statement, as it is offered in Mark's text today, my own thoughts took a different path. The direction of that path I found exemplified in words from the prophet Micah.

"Rejoice not over me, O my enemy; when I fall, I shall rise; when I sit in darkness, the LORD will be a light to me." (Micah 7:8)

For all the doctrine and dogma, there is an extraordinary amount of indeterminacy present. In fact, the teaching itself sometimes creates an apparent conflict such that the finality of the doctrines ensure a lack of clarity in the whole. The words of Micah illustrate this paradoxical character of our faith. When we fall, we will rise. When we are in darkness, we will have light. Paradox and mystery characterize much of both Judaism and Christianity. We worship a God who is present with us but who cannot be localized anywhere. Our God is one. But then we add: there are three divine persons. We inhale: Jesus is true God; we exhale: Jesus is true man. In the same breath are voiced statements that seem at odds. The Scriptures are 100% the work of man; the Scriptures are 100% the work of the Holy Spirit. In death we find life. Whoever would save his life will lose it, and whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. 

(Matthew 16:25) Whoever would be great among you must be your servant. . . (Matthew 20:26) I am nothing before God; I am a son of God. 

Without doubt, as a child of this heritage, through which God has made himself known, I am born into mystery.

Mystery used to be more acceptable in the European world; but Western culture made an historic shift away from mystery being interesting and a normal part of life when it became entangled in the desire to understand, particularly to understand using the 'scientific method. After all, the whole purpose of science is to understand the inexplicable, to clarify the ambiguous, and to quantify whatever we can find to measure, focused on eliminating mystery from the world we live in. In recent years the scientific approach to the world has been peculiarly and ironically exemplified by binary code, the basis for much of computer language. Consider. Binary code uses only '1' and '0'. That's essentially the same thing as saying that binary code is based on 'all' or 'nothing'; either this or that; either on or off; either '1' or '0'; either all or nothing. Personally, I don't see that that leaves much room for mystery. 

But I am a child of mystery, destined to live immersed in truths which cannot be reduced to 'all' or 'nothing'. The whole can seldom be reduced to the sum of it's parts. The inanimate can never add up to the animate. Life fundamentally resists being dissected. Love is beyond measure, beyond composition, beyond analysis; yet it's presence changes everything. Everything that's truly important is obscured by a cloud of mystery.

It is this mystery that Jesus acknowledges is part of the lives of his followers. But he further assures us that it's only temporary. For there is nothing hidden except to be made visible; nothing is secret except to come to light. Even if these mysteries are not the focus of Jesus' words, it is reassuring to know that he is content to let the mysteries of life remain so until the time when these things are made visible to our understanding. 

I am called upon to live a life filled with mystery: the mystery of life, the mystery of love, the mystery of God's presence, the mystery of my Resurrection, the mystery of "this is my body; this is my blood." Yet, my world dismisses the mystery in favor of a binary, all-or-nothing life.

Personally, I love mystery.

For our knowledge is imperfect and our prophecy is imperfect; but when the perfect comes, the imperfect will pass away. For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall understand fully, even as I have been fully understood. (1 Corinthians 13:9-10,12)