Bearing with the mysteries (not baring with)

 Today's gospel (Luke 21: 29-33) contains the conclusion of a long and complex prophecy that Jesus makes as He and that His disciples look upon the temple in Jerusalem. This prophecy cannot be read like a plain text. It has layers and layers of meaning that point not only to the destruction of Jerusalem in 70AD but also to the end of the world. The question here really is why does Jesus teach us in this way?

People nowadays want everything explaining to them. But the assumption that everything can be explained is already a mistake when it comes to dealing with God. Being – just the very fact of existence - is something of a mystery, and God is being in itself. As we read in the letters of Saint Paul, the mysteries of God are full of light and depth, unfathomable to the human mind. There is no “dummies guide” to the ways of God because in the end the ways of God are not primarily a subject in a curriculum but a path of knowledge and love that leads towards union with Him. When Jesus teaches, He is not downloading the manual; He is literally educating us, i.e. leading us out of ourselves and towards Him.

And if we must be led out of ourselves, we should be ready for the strangeness that that entails. You will know the truth and the truth will make you strange, said American novelist Flannery O'Connor. To embrace the mystery of Jesus’ teaching; to gaze and wonder at things that seem incomprehensible; and not to demand - as if we were at the Heavenly Citizens Advice Bureau - for a full explanation of the terms and conditions in language approved by the Plain English Campaign: these are challenges that we and all our demanding contemporaries can afford to rise to.