Most people like a good mystery. My sister was a fan of Agatha Christie mysteries like "Murder on the Orient Express" when she was growing up. I came across a scripture passage in Mark that tells of God's mysteries:
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Mark 4:
10 And when he was alone, those around him with the twelve asked him about the parables. 11 And he said to them, "To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside everything is in parables, 12 so that
"'they may indeed see but not perceive,
and may indeed hear but not understand,
lest they should turn and be forgiven.'"
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The Greek word for "secret" in verse 11 is 'mysterion', or mystery. One commentary I read said that verses 11 and 12 are two of the most difficult in the Gospels. It almost looks as if Jesus is making it hard to understand Him and to grasp the truth. But, just as reading a mystery calls for looking at the same set of facts in a new way, so the parables of Jesus are meant to show every day experience in a new light. And that new light is known as faith. Jesus is explaining to the Disciples that it isn't enough to listen or to read His words. There first needs to be a change of perspective...those words must pass through a different frame of reference...something needs to have shifted in one's point of view. Faith...faith represents the changed perspective because the person with faith has been changed. When faith has come alive and one has placed his trust in Jesus then understanding of familiar things shifts and fresh light is seen...the familiar becomes freshly seen. And faith is not something that one can "work up" or figure out. It is "given" and it is "received". (Now that is truly mystery!)
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blessings!
Rob Smith
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"Death is inevitable. Life is a choice!"
John 11:25
Jesus said to her, "I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live."
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