Is trying too hard to make someone understand you.
Sometimes it’s just not possible. Sometimes you don’t have the words. Sometimes the differences in perspective run too deep. Sometimes someone is just too damn stubborn to listen. Sometimes it’s more trouble than it’s worth.
Sometimes an explanation brings on more misunderstandings that you just don’t feel like dealing with. Sometimes an explanation isn’t really what the other person needs. Sometimes an explanation spoils the punchline.
I’m regularly perplexed by Jesus’ apparent unconcerned for being clearly understood. “Oh, you thought I meant the Temple? No. I meant my body. (No matter. Guess I’ll just let that go…)”
God, in general, seems rather OK with being misunderstood. Clarity—or whatever we might call “clarity”—doesn’t seem to be very high on his priority list. If it were, much of the Bible would be more clear than it actually is. Warm mystery is much more inviting to relationship than cold clarity.
“Remember that these things are mysteries and that if they were such that we could understand them, they wouldn’t be worth understanding. A God you understood would be less than yourself.”
Flannery O’Connor
