"Eden, what do you think Jesus' greatest miracle was?" I threw out this random question last week, but my sharp-minded, ever-surprising 4 year old was ready for it. At this point, I'm thinking she'd bust out one of the favorite Gospel stories she was forever requesting at bedtime. Which Jesus would she bring into her answer: Water-walking Jesus? Maybe food-multiplying Jesus? Or surely she'd answer with the gentle healer Jesus!
Her response hit me square in the soul and blew away any answer I had previously formulated in my mind: "Daddy, you know Jesus' greatest miracle was when He was raised from the dead."
Little did she realize that wrapped up in her poignantly simple response is the greatest Mystery of our known universe, and the greatest stumbling block to faith in the G-d we call Abba, Son, and Spirit.
Now, I don't believe my daughter is necessarily some theological prodigy. She's not enrolled in the local Kindergarten Seminary for Bible Geniuses. She's just...a child.
In Matthew 18 Jesus was asked how one is to enter the Kingdom of G-d, and when His answer came I have a feeling those questioning Him had a very similar reaction as the one I had to Eden's statement--surprise mixed with a bit of embarrassment. He said we must change and be like children. I can see why.
Recently, I became like a child as it relates to the mystery of Jesus. I have been struggling for the past 7 years to wrap my mind around who Jesus is. I have been questioning all of the theology I was spoon fed as a Christian my whole life, including all of what I was taught on the way to earning my degree in theology. I toiled in the mire of my limited human-minded analyzation. I finally arrived at the conclusion...if I continue to wait for it all to "make sense," I'll never be able to "become like a child".
I felt like Peter when Jesus said to him, "You didn't get this answer on your own, Peter. My Father gave it to you" (Matthew 16:17).
Salvation is a gift. Coming to a place of accepting the role and nature of who Jesus is is a wonderfully mysterious present given to us by the Father. Accepting without fully understanding. I can't "figure it out on my own".
New questions began to arise within me, "How did G-d break off a piece of Himself, deposit it on earth in the shell of human form, kill it, revive it, reunite it to Himself, and then break off another piece of Himself in the form of a Spirit, separate from the Jesus piece, and then commission the Spirit piece to stay on earth? Furthermore, how did all three of those pieces reside and work together at the start of our human history to breathe life into a dry, dusty, dirt-y clay skeleton called 'Adam' (which means 'man')?" Huh? Can you run that back one more time?
Honestly, I don't know the answer. I'm actually chuckling as I write this because I'm ok with not knowing the answer after 7 years of striving so hard to know the answer. Ironically, all I had to do was ask a 4 year old.
I should have known what her answer would be...
"Daddy, you know it's magic!" (Translation: Mystery)
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