We may look odd, but trusting God is worth it

By John Pearring

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/readings/042421.cfm
Acts 9:31-42
John 6:60-69

Without mysteries, there’d be no need for miracles. And, likely, without miracles, we’d not be convinced that a specific mystery is true. Miracles point to the truth of a mystery. A mystery that can be explained entirely stops being a mystery, of course. Quite often a fully explained previous mystery leads us to further mysteries that we hadn’t even imagined. When we’re provided with another set of miracles to convince us to keep going in our discoveries, we’re drawn toward truth with even more passion.

It’s my contention that miracles are vital to the religious mysteries of our faith. They provide us with the necessary evidence that God is truly with us, for us, and ultimately, has become one of us. 

A further step in my contention is that any religious mystery of our faith that supplies no miraculous bread crumbs with convincing, substantiated evidence will eventually fade away. Without miracles, a mystery only survives if it is forcibly inflicted upon the human population. Forced beliefs have no permanence. That’s a bit of hubris on my part, insisting that we need miracles for belief. Remember, though, that the apostles mark the way for our trust/verify faith in their constant need for miraculous and evidentiary proof. Every step of the way, Jesus told them something and then provided evidence.

I’m not talking about things like UFOs here. But my proposed set of axioms rings true for them. Evidence of real UFOs (as scant as it seems to be) points to the distinct possibility that someone else is out there. The evidence, however, falls far short of miraculous. We have only fuzzy details. So, until a certified UFO miracle occurs—quite close to the sci-fi imaginings that are so fun to watch and read—UFOs remain a fantasy. Even the latest “proof” of UFOs fails to convince us of anything.

Jesus’ miracles are not scant. They’re clearly witnessed, documented, verified in different scriptures, cross-referenced, highlighted with revelatory interventions, and then substantiated with remarkable and constant miraculous proof year over year over year. Not explained, mind you. Witnessed through miracles. Declarations verified as true while still remaining mysterious.

Many things do not fit into the mystery category. The most recent attempts in pseudo-science to solve immortality, extract the “evil” gene, and take pilot control of time travel have no basis in reality. Some accidental discoveries searching to solve these problems have been beneficial, like the discovery of nanotechnology. But, rather than real mysteries, these three samples of discovery are much about wishful thinking and wackadoodle suppositions than opening a door into the truth of a mystery. 

Many of our religious mysteries betray belief by their strangeness. Very few adult believers can say they haven’t needed any miraculous support for them to believe in the truth of the Judeo-Christian worldview of God, creation, redemption, and eternal life. Something has convinced all of us of the truth in scripture and the presence of God in our lives. We vary in our convictions and our level of commitment. The sign of a believer is marked by his or her trust that God loves us and will open our eyes. 

Still, there are some big challenges. The most difficult? The body and blood of Jesus are not just represented in bread and wine, but actually, factually are the real body and blood of Jesus. A completely different type of evidence is required for us to believe such a thing. God must communicate to us personally. He’s got to be the one who convinces us.

The kind of miracle to believe Jesus wants us to eat his body and drink his blood beggars belief until the miracle of God’s indwelling of faith into our body and soul takes place. Even then, many of us have fallen into skepticism, wondering if we were brainwashed or vulnerable in our faith choice.

It’s undoubtedly too bizarre on its own to believe that God chose this method of making his presence known to us. Incarnated, risen, and then ingested. Hmmm.

Can I be honest? I believe every bit of it. I am convinced. I haven’t grasped it completely in any sense of the word, but I believe God’s presence in the Eucharist is real. I don’t have enough convincing evidence to explain it to anyone else. God will need to convince you. Plus, there are so many holes in the particulars of evidence that I must admit I am required to fall back on God’s loving care for me to continue pursuing his presence in the body and blood. This is what belief means for the Christian who takes the scriptures seriously, accepts the witness of two eons of believers, and responds as Peter did when Jesus made the claim of his body and blood to his disciples.

Jesus explained that he was the bread of life, and then said the disciples would not believe it. He said his flesh was true food and his blood was true drink. He emphasized the eating of his body and blood three times to be super clear. 

... many of his disciples returned to their former way of life
and no longer walked with him.
Jesus then said to the Twelve, “Do you also want to leave?”
Simon Peter answered him, “Master, to whom shall we go?
You have the words of eternal life.
We have come to believe
and are convinced that you are the Holy One of God.”
(John 6:66-69)

Peter didn’t say, “Oh yeah. I got what you’re saying there. Makes complete sense.” He wasn’t convinced by Jesus’ explanation. He was convinced by who Jesus was.

Jesus Christ is the evidence, the miraculous one who assures us the mystery of his presence is true. If we know the Holy Spirit, and can point to times when the Spirit spoke to us, we’ll find very quickly that the Holy Spirit will point us to Jesus. If we have a convincing relationship to God as our Father, the creator, we will find him continually pointing out Jesus to us, too. The only way to escape Jesus is to filter his presence out as we walk in the Spirit and set aside any reference to Jesus that the Father lays out in front of us. It’s a broken path to walk, but I believe one that God continually forgives us for taking. I’ve walked that path, returning to the Father and the Holy Spirit because they have always been present to me. I trust them because I am forgiven and loved. As I bend into the mystery of Jesus’ presence by way of the incomprehensible miracles of Jesus, I too, am convinced. 

The more we discover, the more we delve into the design of creation, and the more God reveals himself to us. None of us has the whole story. As a body of believers, we offer God only crayon drawings of the Trinity. Our combined evidentiary trail of miracles only points to the mystery of God’s desire that we ingest his body and blood and transform ourselves into his divine, holy kinship. It’s not proof, just miraculous conviction.

Our religious suppositions and outlook may look wackadoodle and seem like wishful thinking. Definitely. In that setting of the mystery of God and our faith, we rely heavily upon miracles to hold us up and to point us in the right direction. 

It’s enough to trust that God knows what he’s doing. The more we trust, the more we want him to take us deeper into the mystery.