…NOR COHERENCE…
Stage 51 / Tuesday 16 June / From Estella to Los Arcos / 22 km
Estella, no doubt, will remain one of the “stars” of my pilgrimage. Situated on both sides of the river Ega, a tributary of the Ebra river, this town of fewer than 15,000 inhabitants shines with all its lights: a lovely old hump bridge, half a dozen churches and convents all as Romanesque as they are romantic, palaces, shaded squares everywhere; its nickname is “Estella la bella,” beautiful star! Pilgrims and tourists flock here, and there reigns a pleasant conviviality: people are not afraid to ask each other questions, exchange stories of what they’re doing here, what they believe in, and I am surprised by the variety of viewpoints in the spiritual domain.
This name of star makes one think of the star that led the magi, those mysterious travelers from the east. At least one came from very far, and tradition regards him as black. What a strange decision to be guided by a star to the birthplace of a future king of the Jews (Mt 2:1-12)! And where they arrive, what a contrast between their rich caravan and the birth, so humble and discreet, of the baby Jesus in a stable in Bethlehem in Judea! Jesus, says Matthew, is at the same time the son of Mary and the Messiah (the Savior who received the unction of the Most High). He is Yehoshua — the one who saves – such as announced by the prophets of Israel. The magi themselves, how could they have known that this Jesus had the mission to become king of the Jews?
All of that seems like a beautiful tale one would tell to children! Except that the rest is less pleasant: the king of the Jews at the time, Herod the Great, in fear of losing his throne, has all the children in Bethlehem massacred. He hopes that Jesus will meet his end there. Fortunately a dream warns Joseph, Mary’s husband (whose child Jesus was mysteriously conceived by the Most High) to flee all the way to Egypt! The next chapter is encouraging: the child grows, he is wisely initiated to the extent that he can hold his own in discussions with the doctors of Jewish law, the Torah. Jesus also shows an enormous compassion for the misfortunate of his day, healing them with miracles …
But the rest is even sadder than the saddest tale of Hans Christian Andersen (1805-1875): they condemn Yehoshua to a horrible death. At the age of about 33 years, they make Jesus undergo the pain of the cross, reserved for the worst of those opposing the pax romana, Roman peace, which the emperors imposed by force with their legions who had invaded Palestine. But then, another miracle: Jesus rises from the dead!
It is to this supreme miracle, the victory over death, that the good news of Mark, Matthew, Luke and John gradually prepare (εὐαγγέλιον in Greek, “good news”, which became the word gospel). Symbolically, perhaps, the resurrection is first announced as possible by the return to life of the son of the widow of Nain (Lk 11:7-17), by the wakening of Jairus’ daughter who was believed dead (Mk 5:21-43) and most of all by Jesus calling his friend Lazarus out of the grave (Jn11:1-44). Covered with burial wrappings and already smelling of decomposition, Lazarus found life again!
Two attitudes are possible:
1) Treat these events as fairy tales: this is what I’ve just tried to do in the way I resumed them for those who want to remain there (and I know some, and I respect their decision) … The miracles, contrary to affirming their faith, have instead a tendency to make some run away. Instead of being a possible key to their assent, on the contrary they block any opening!
2) Seek a valuable coherence other than symbolic in all these events which are unexplainable rationally: this is what people, generally sensible, have done for two thousand years since the witnessing of the apostles. The latter, most of them fishermen, did not look like geniuses, but nearly all of them died a violent death rather than renouncing their convictions. And some died in ways as horrible as the man Jesus, whose followers they had become.
Must we find in this attitude of the apostles, that of the first martyrs and those who through the centuries have transmitted the gospel messages (and have conformed to their invitation herein to change one’s life) a coherence to which few among us are capable of adhering to at first reading, myself included?
Because if coherence does not have the value of truth, it is in any case an indispensable basis of good sense! And if there is no smoke without fire, the example of the lives of those some call saints, honestly bring one to reflect on what seems to have been the source of energy in the lives which are consumed in the service of others and to announcing that death can be overcome.
In another sense, there are a thousand ways to bring miracles into question. Now the affliction that some feel when faced with incoherence, with what they think is impossible and makes them doubt, do we not also find this in the scientific domain? How to find the definitive explainable link between observable phenomena in the macrocosm (infinitely large) and the microcosm (infinitely small)? I will better expose this dilemma during a future stage.
I have friends at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research – originally the acronym corresponded to European Council for Nuclear Research [Conseil européen pour la Recherche nucléaire]. I sense that many share the feeling that the more research advances, the more there is cause to marvel at the complexity of the challenges it imposes, and the definitive question of “why” often opens their spirits to greater tolerance of the mystery in the word “miracle.” Moreover, most of those I know have a fairly noticeable connection with religion. As if science were not sufficient to satisfy their need for coherence!
OK, I admit I too cannot remain insensitive to the unequaled poetic richness of religious thought: I am delighted to find it again in noting the parallels between the “big bang” theory and the story of creation in Genesis (the first book of the Bible). André Chouraqui (1917-2007) calls it “Entête” (heading / in the beginning) in his extraordinary translation of the Jewish and Christian scriptures. And speaking of coherence, there is a man who sought it all his life, thanks to his vast erudition and knowledge of French, Latin, Greek, Hebrew, Aramaic, and Arabic! The other books of Chouraki are also well worth reading.
Without going to the limits of the cosmos or the atom, there are phenomena in daily life which are difficult to understand from the viewpoint of coherence. Before I left, a tile on the roof of my house, well anchored and watertight for 33 years, decided to slide. At the first rain, a damp halo on the ceiling! What made it decide to move from stasis to sliding? A high wind? Wind bursts were far from absent during the last third of a century! Why the sudden chain-reaction from rest to movement, without warning? A dry leaf falls from a high branch of a plane tree. It spins prettily toward the ground, while its neighbors remain quietly attached … What was the motive for this particular one to not remain immobile?
Intuition and logic sometimes lack coherence. The friends of my friends are my friends. But what are the enemies of my enemies? Why, in algebra, does “less times less equal more?” Why too much is too much? How many people on the crowded terrace of a bar does it take to discourage you from sitting there? And at the same time, a little is too little … like when I finish a glass of good liquor! Sometimes, a sign of incoherence, I generalize when I should individualize instead, and sometimes it’s the opposite! There is no coherent link, a priori, between the crowd on the terrace and what remains in my glass, but the manager of this Los Arcos bar finds one. He tells me the reason he can’t serve me another glass of the excellent Izarra liquor (made in the Basque County) is that too many people have already ordered one! In fact, I think he’s afraid I’ll become incoherent!
No doubt there exist different levels of coherence, and it is difficult to always make the best decisions. In our life choices, there is often a fine line of decision to make between the “already seen” and the “to be seen,” between the “been there, done that” and the “why not try?” It is not obvious how to have the coherence to align my thoughts with my attitudes and actions. And if I pray to a “saveguiding God” to help me make the right choices, where is He? Am I not praying to Him as a kid would send letters to Santa Claus? Does He truly read all the mail, and is He not, He too, lacking equity and coherence in answering it?
