Readings: Exodus 2:1-15a; Matthew 11:20-24
I recall meeting once with a couple
that was preparing for marriage.
The groom was a convinced atheist
who liked to argue theology,
and his future wife,
an equally convinced Catholic Christian,
had spent many hours
answering his objections
with saint-like patience.
The groom asked me,
“If God really wanted me to believe in him,
why wouldn’t he simply appear to me
and tell me that he exists?”
I replied that maybe God was not the kind of being
who appeared and disappeared willy-nilly,
that maybe there was something
inherently hidden and mysterious about God.
To which he responded:
“Well then, why wouldn’t he send
some kind of messenger,
someone truly trustworthy
and without ulterior motive,
to tell me that God existed.”
At which point I simply
pointed at his fiancée
and asked him what more
he was looking for.
that was preparing for marriage.
The groom was a convinced atheist
who liked to argue theology,
and his future wife,
an equally convinced Catholic Christian,
had spent many hours
answering his objections
with saint-like patience.
The groom asked me,
“If God really wanted me to believe in him,
why wouldn’t he simply appear to me
and tell me that he exists?”
I replied that maybe God was not the kind of being
who appeared and disappeared willy-nilly,
that maybe there was something
inherently hidden and mysterious about God.
To which he responded:
“Well then, why wouldn’t he send
some kind of messenger,
someone truly trustworthy
and without ulterior motive,
to tell me that God existed.”
At which point I simply
pointed at his fiancée
and asked him what more
he was looking for.
My clever response did little to change his mind,
perhaps because it wasn’t as clever as I thought,
or perhaps because,
even when we say we are looking
for proof or evidence,
what really needs changing
is not our minds, but our hearts.
Jesus does not say to Chorazin and Bethsaida
that if Tyre and Sidon had seen his mighty deeds
they would have taken up new opinions,
admitted that God was operating
perhaps because it wasn’t as clever as I thought,
or perhaps because,
even when we say we are looking
for proof or evidence,
what really needs changing
is not our minds, but our hearts.
Jesus does not say to Chorazin and Bethsaida
that if Tyre and Sidon had seen his mighty deeds
they would have taken up new opinions,
admitted that God was operating
without secondary causes,
or adopted a properly orthodox Christology.
No, he says, “they would long ago
have repented in sackcloth and ashes.”
So often our purported “intellectual difficulties”
are immune to proof and evidence
because it is our hearts
that are mired in patterns of desire
from which we cannot break free,
habits of self-love that we are loath to give up,
fears that hold us back from the risk of faith.
Pascal said of the probative power of miracles,
“[T]here is enough evidence to condemn
and not enough to convince;
and it seems that those who follow it
are motivated by grace and not reason,
and that those who shun it
are motivated by concupiscence
and not reason” (Pensées §423).
or adopted a properly orthodox Christology.
No, he says, “they would long ago
have repented in sackcloth and ashes.”
So often our purported “intellectual difficulties”
are immune to proof and evidence
because it is our hearts
that are mired in patterns of desire
from which we cannot break free,
habits of self-love that we are loath to give up,
fears that hold us back from the risk of faith.
Pascal said of the probative power of miracles,
“[T]here is enough evidence to condemn
and not enough to convince;
and it seems that those who follow it
are motivated by grace and not reason,
and that those who shun it
are motivated by concupiscence
and not reason” (Pensées §423).
It is good for us who are theologians
to remember that the world
is not looking to be convinced
by a clever response or even a good argument.
The world is looking for the sign of Jonah,
the sign of love that empties itself
and emerges victorious from the tomb.
The world is looking for the grace of Christ
that alone can offer new life.
Let us pray that we ourselves
will receive that grace,
so that we can offer ourselves,
to remember that the world
is not looking to be convinced
by a clever response or even a good argument.
The world is looking for the sign of Jonah,
the sign of love that empties itself
and emerges victorious from the tomb.
The world is looking for the grace of Christ
that alone can offer new life.
Let us pray that we ourselves
will receive that grace,
so that we can offer ourselves,
in union with Christ,
for the life of the world.
And may God, who is merciful,
have mercy on us all.
for the life of the world.
And may God, who is merciful,
have mercy on us all.
