“It is not the task of Christianity to provide easy answers to every question, but to make us progressively aware of a mystery.” These words of a 20th century British theologian (Kallistos Ware) speak directly to the theme of these Sundays after Trinity, which is the “Eucharistic Life.” What that theologian teaches is that by the Christian life, we are made more aware of a mystery. In the Church, we find many things that are characterized as “mystery.” And that is because in the Church, the word “mystery” connects with revelation. To say that Christianity is mystery is to say that Christianity is a revealed religion. In our Christian life, we are made more conscious of the truth which is only revealed in Jesus Christ through the workings of the Holy Ghost.
When the Church speaks of “mystery,” it does not mean puzzle or conundrum. People read mystery novels, like Sherlock Holmes; people watch television programs and movies that are under the category of “murder-mysteries.” But “mystery” in the Church does not mean either of those. Mystery in the Church means truth that is only revealed to the people of God when it is God’s plan to do so. The life of a Christian, being a continual initiation into the reality of Pentecost, is the life whereby through the Liturgy and Sacraments, through repentance and humility, we are made more and more aware of truth that is revealed; of truth that is hidden; of truth that defies the constraints of human language.
There is perhaps no better illustration that Christianity involves profound mystery than the Sacrament of Baptism. As the Baptismal Liturgy expresses: in the water of Baptism we are buried with Christ in His Death; by the water of baptism we share in His Resurrection; and through the water of Baptism we are reborn by the Holy Ghost. The Sacrament of Baptism means being born again, to continue for ever in the risen life of Jesus Christ our Saviour. Our sin is forgiven, we are given an inquiring and discerning heart, the courage to will and to persevere, a spirit to know and love God, and the gift of joy and wonder in all our works.
In Baptism, we are sealed by the Holy Spirit and marked as Christ’s own for ever. In Baptism, we are made one with Christ, a member of His Body the Church, and members one with each other in Christ, Who is our Head. In Baptism the Saints of old become our friends, our colleagues, our family, our fellow war-farers. We are able to recognize plainly the fact of Christ in them. Saints of the Church are both Christ’s (with an apostrophe s; that is, belonging to Christ), and they are christs (plural, as in little christs). Like the Saints, through Baptism are able to walk in the newness of life, united with Christ in His resurrected and glorified Body. And when we are baptized, we are able to feed on Christ: feed on him through faith in Holy Communion, and through Him revealed in Scripture: Christ is the Bread of Life, He is our daily Bread, and through baptism, we eat He Who is our life, our health, and our salvation. We eat Him that we might fully become Him Who we eat.
In Christianity, there is a close connection between the words “mystery” and “sacrament.” The Greek word mysterion means a hidden truth or secret that God has now revealed—especially His plan to save us through Jesus. The early Church used this word for the special church rituals like Baptism and Eucharist, seeing Baptism and Eucharist as visible signs that make God’s invisible grace real to us. When the Church in the West began using Latin, they translated mysterion as sacramentum, which became the word “sacrament.” The Church of the East continues today to call these rites “the Mysteries,” while the Church of the West calls them “Sacraments.” Both words basically mean the same thing: holy actions that hide and reveal God’s presence and power at the same time. They not only reflect the Gospel, but Baptism and Eucharist are the Gospel: the good news of being joined to the Body of Christ, and the good news of being fed by Christ so as to more become Christ.
In our selves, Christ wants us to see the mystery of Himself. He wants us to become aware of the mystery, the sacrament, of Christ in us. The mystery of Baptism led the greatest Archbishop of Canterbury of the 20th century, blessed Michael Ramsey (who died in 1988), to write: “The life of a mature Christian is continually responding to the fact of our Baptism.” Only a mystery enveloped in hiddenness demands a whole life of response, a whole life of listening, reflecting, discerning, and doing. The fact of baptism demands, in the words of Saint Paul, that we must consider ourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus. As Paul teaches, our old self has been crucified with Christ in order that the body of sin might be brought to nothing, so that we would no longer be enslaved to sin, indeed that we are set free from sin. Set free and enabled to love everyone without condition; free and enabled to bless those who abuse us, strike us, or take from us; free and enabled to love our enemies, do good, lend, and expect nothing in return. We are enabled to live eucharistically: everywhere and in all places giving thanks to God. We are enabled say with the Prophet Job: “I know that my Redeemer liveth, and that he shall stand at the latter day upon the earth; and though this body be destroyed, yet shall I see God; Whom I shall see for myself, and mine eyes shall behold, and not as a stranger.”
To live within the revealed mystery of Christ is to live sacramentally; it is to live baptismally, and it is to live eucharistically, which means a life of thankfulness to God. in the words of another 20th century British theologian (Alexander Schmemann): “All that exists is God’s gift to man, and it all exists to make God known to man, to make man’s life communion with God. It is divine love made food, made life for man. God blesses everything He creates, and, in biblical Language, this means He makes all creation the sign and means of His presence and wisdom, love and revelation: ‘O taste and see that the Lord is good.’ Man is a hungry being. But he is hungry for God. Behind all the hunger of our life is God. All desire is finally a desire for Him.” Indeed a desire for Jesus Christ Himself, Who lives and reigns with the Father in the unity of the Holy Ghost, ever one God, world without end. Amen.
