Something that has always struck me about the Gospels is that the disciples always seem to be confused about what Jesus was teaching them. It is almost as if they are always one or two steps behind. The greatest story of this is the climactic moment of Peter’s confession. This is a good moment for Peter because he finally get’s something right. “Yes! You Jesus are the Messiah, the Son of the living God!” (Matthew 16:16). Then, of course, he turns around and blows it by telling Jesus to stop saying that he is going to die. Just when Peter thought he was catching on, he was confused yet again.
What is the significance of this? If Jesus was a good teacher (and he certainly was), why wasn’t he clearer in what he meant? I admit that even in my own personal relationship with Jesus there are times where I scratch my head and say, “Jesus, what are you trying to say? What are you trying to teach me? I don’t understand.” It’s almost as if the he whispers so subtly that we have to keep going back to him to say, “Did I hear that right?”
Once again, what is the significance of this? I think the answer is in two parts. First, often times what Jesus has to say is so radically different than what we’re expecting that our first response is, “Surely that can’t be right.” This is Peter when Jesus tells him that he must die. Peter’s thought it, “Surely the Messiah can’t die! He’s supposed to inaugurate the Kingdom of God that we’ve been waiting for for centuries!” Jesus teaching was so radically different than anything that people have ever heard that they weren’t sure what to do with it. Jesus challenged the thoughts of the day. We need this more than ever today. We need thoughts that are new, different, and fresh. We need thoughts from heaven.
The second reason, I think, is that Jesus is intentionally enigmatic and ambiguous because it’s crucial that we wrestle through things for ourselves. If Jesus were to constantly just give is all the clear and simple answers all the time we wouldn’t have to do any thinking for ourselves. God forbid! Not only this, but life isn’t clear and simple. Life is complex, ambiguous, confusing, and at times just plain hard to grasp. There are even times when there are no answers! This is the story of Job. Job wants to know why he’s suffering and God essentially tells him, “Job, even if I don’t give you all the answers, will you trust me anyway?” Will you trust him even if he doesn’t give you all the answers?
This is one of the themes behind the story of Jacob who wrestled with God (Genesis 32:22–32). What a strange passage. Even though the passage is strange, is also stunningly beautiful. This story reminds us that in this journey of life, this journey of salvation, there is some wrestling to do, in particular, wrestling with God. God wishes for us to wrestle through the hard questions, to grow in depth and knowledge, to grow and be strengthened in our humanness according to his own nature.
This is one of the central reasons why Jesus can be ambiguous at times, because of his deep respect for the beauty and potential of human existence.
