Photo and Commentary ©2024 by Shelley Schurch
Sunday, August 4, 2024
“What’s this?” I asked my husband, stopping to stare at the sidewalk before us. We were walking our usual morning route, and this had not been here the day before. I’m not even sure how to describe it, so I’m thankful for photos.
Should I call it a sidewalk quilt, or a plaid piece of sidewalk art? Neither description seems to quite capture it. Who created this, and why? Was someone cleaning their sidewalk with a pressure washer, and suddenly decided on a whim to create this patchwork?
I may never know. As much as I would like to know, I can live a full and happy life without knowing.
A small mystery I can live with. Add it to the others.
Do you, too, have a collection of small mysteries? Nice to know but not need to know?
I find it easy to collect small mysteries when I’m reading the Bible. Here are a few that maybe you have wondered about, along with me:
Peter had a mother-in-law. (Jesus healed her high fever; see Luke 4:38-39.) So Peter must have had a wife. I would like to know all about his wife! Had she died before Peter met Jesus? Or was she still alive when Peter became a literal follower of Jesus? We’ve heard so many stories about Peter that we feel we know this impulsive disciple, who was quick to speak and quick to act – but we know nothing about his wife.
A small mystery I can live with.
After Jesus had risen from the dead (such small words to type, describing such a huge miracle!), He appeared several times to the disciples. John describes the story of one of these encounters in the last chapter of his gospel. I like how in the New International Version John begins the story by saying, “It happened this way . . .” — a Biblical variation of “Once upon a time . . . ”
He tells of Peter saying, “I’m going out to fish,” and other disciples saying, “We’ll go with you.” They fish all night and catch nothing. Early in the morning, Jesus (although they do not yet realize it is Jesus), standing on the shore, asks if they’ve caught any fish. He then tells them they’ll find some if they throw their net out on the right side of the boat.
They follow His direction and so many fish fill their net that they can’t easily haul in their catch. Once they finally are able to drag the net ashore, we’re told that it is full of 153 large fish.
That seems such an unusually precise detail to add to the story – 153 fish. I’ve read some commentators who grapple with this detail and find a message in that number, but I’m not so sure that it has symbolic meaning. When it comes to Biblical numbers, it seems that 7 and 12 and 40 usually shine the brightest and most often.
I’m not sure why we’re told about the 153 fish – does that number actually have hidden depths, or was John so impressed with the experience that he simply has to share the amazing total with us? (Maybe he was the one who did the counting.)
A small mystery I can live with.
There are others. But, as I say, they are small. Nice to know but not need to know. I believe that God has given us weightier matters to ponder, and, most of all, that He has made wonderfully clear what we do need to know:
He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God? (Micah 6:8 NKJV)
For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. (John 3:16 NIV)
This is how we know what love is: Jesus Christ laid down his life for us. (1 John 3:16 NIV)
For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39)
There’s more, much more. God assures us over and over that He loves us, and that Jesus, by His death and resurrection, has opened the gates of heaven wide to all who accept His gift of salvation.
Small mysteries may be fun to think about, but as we step into this brand-new week, I’m thankful for the crystal-clear picture of our offered life with God, both now, and forever.