Content to Marvel

Are we amazed by less and less? I remember a world without the internet, and cars without air conditioning. And I am not that old! But now we carry the internet in our hand, and cars park themselves. A self-parking car was material for science fiction when I learned to drive. Yet the newest commercial for a self-parking car does not amaze us, on our best days we muster a , “Hey that’s pretty cool.” Technological advancement, scientific discovery, and fascinating inventions have slowly eroded the first world’s capacity to be amazed. We tend to lean toward figuring out how something works, rather than being amazed. 

Inadvertently, this tendency to explain migrates into believers’ approach to the spiritual. Rather than amazement, we seek explanation. We define terms, create systems of discovering truth and present those truth in orderly fashion. In and of themselves, systems of truth and explanation are not devious. Yet, explanation is not always the proper response to the divine. Sometimes, the proper response is amazement. 

Take Jesus’ words to the onlookers in John chapter five as a case study. After healing a lame man on the Sabbath (a taboo breaking of religious rules in ancient Jewish culture), Jesus came under criticism from the religious leaders of the day. His explanation boiled down to this - “I am the Son of God, I am equal to God, and I will do things far greater than this.” Jesus explained the relationship between the Father and Himself in John 5:17 saying, “My Father is working until now, and I am working.” In verse 18, John explains that by saying this Jesus was making Himself equal with God.  If one reads John’s gospel from the beginning, he has already learned that the Word (who is Jesus), was with God in the beginning, and was (still is), God. So, even before reading this passage you grasp that Jesus is divine, He is God, just as the Father is God. 

Yet, Jesus goes on to state that He submits to the Father. He is one with the Father, equal to the Father, but “can do nothing of his own accord.” (John 5:19) He also says the Father, to whom Jesus submits, “has given him authority to execute judgement.” (John 5:27) In some fantastic way, the Father gives that which has been reserved for Him in the Old Testament, over to the Son. Either God plans to farm out some of his responsibilities, or the responsibility of judgment falls to the Son because the Son is as much God as the Father. 

At this juncture, most of us tend to begin attempting to explain how all this takes place. And here is my point - Jesus tells us how to respond: amazement and honor. In verse 20 Jesus says, “greater works than these he will show him, so that you may marvel.” In verse 23 speaking of judgment being given to him, Jesus says, “that all may honor the Son, just as they honor the Father.” So, be content with marvel and honor. Rather than seeking to explain everything, follow the advice of Jesus. Worship in amazement, marvel and honor, at the greatness of the inexplicable God who has saved us.