When Church Teaching Seems Senseless

One

Naaman

In the time of the prophet Elisha, a man named Naaman came to see him. This Naaman was a gentile, the commander of a king’s army, but he was also a leper. He had come to the wonder-worker of God to ask for healing. The prophet Elisha’s instructions were brief: go bathe in the Jordan river seven times and your leprosy will be healed.

Now this sounded just plain goofy to Naaman. Why bathe in the Jordan River? It wasn’t some magic river. It didn’t have a reputation for healing people. In fact, it wasn’t even all that clean. The rivers where Naaman came from were definitely better in his view. And why bathe seven times? Why not once? Or twice? Or twenty times?

It made zero sense. It just felt too arbitrary. So why should Naaman do it?

Two

When God’s Commands seem Arbitrary

The truth is, God’s commandments and directives often seem arbitrary to us. That’s true, especially in the Sacramental System and the Moral Teaching of the Church.

Why only male priests? That seems arbitrary to a lot of folks. Why can you use NFP to space births, but not the pill? Again, seems pretty arbitrary. Why are you allowed to take a sick person off a ventilator, but you’re not allowed to give them a lethal injection? Why does the Church allow for annulment of a marriage, but not divorce? It’s hard for a lot of people to see the difference, just like it was hard for Naaman to see the difference between the Jordan River and the rivers of his homeland.

Now in all these cases, when you look closely at the explanation the Church gives for these teachings, it makes sense. You see that it has to be that way. But for a lot of people, they haven’t been shown the arguments and the explanations. And it looks pretty arbitrary. They can’t make sense of it. 

That’s fine too. That’s their opportunity to trust, to recognize that it’s okay if they don’t understand everything because God’s decrees are good nevertheless.

Three

Opportunity for Trust

It can be a real gift from God when there’s some part of the Church’s teaching that we don’t understand. If we always understood all God’s instructions, we’d never have the opportunity to show God that we realize that He knows more than we do. Which, of course, He does. He knows everything about everything. He knows everything about the universe, and about the story of humanity. He knows everything about us, about how we work, and about the best way for us to reach perfect happiness. We, actually, don’t know that much about any of those things. At the end of the day, we know precious little about anything. 

So, come to think of it, why should we expect to understand all of God’s instructions? Employees don’t understand everything going on in a business, but they still do what the boss says. Soldiers don’t understand everything going on in a military campaign. They leave that to the generals. Why on earth would we expect to understand everything God knows?

When we don’t understand something the Church teaches, we should say, “Lord, I don’t get this. But that’s no surprise. I don’t get a lot of things. I trust that what you teach through the Church is true and good. And I will follow.” 

Thank God whenever we have the opportunity to make that kind of profession of trust to the all-wise, all-good Lord.

Four

Gifts are as Arbitrary as the Decrees

It’s true that sometimes God’s instructions appear arbitrary. But then again, as GK Chesterton pointed out, all the gifts we’ve received from God are arbitrary too! To complain that the instructions are surprising seems to be forgetting that the gift is surprising.

As Chesterton says, “If Cinderella says, “How is it that I must leave the ball at twelve,” her godmother might answer, “How is it that you are going till twelve?” If Naaman says, “It’s not clear why I should bathe seven times in the Jordan river,” Elisha might answer, “Well, it’s not clear why you should be miraculously healed from leprosy.” The same thing applies to all the Church’s moral and sacramental teachings. 

To quote again from Chesterton, “Keeping to one woman is a small price for the great worth of having such a woman. To complain that I could only be married once was like complaining that I had only been born once.”

Likewise, the miracle of the Eucharist, eating God’s body and blood, is so extraordinary, why is it all that difficult to accept that the conditions for this miracle, that an ordained man, saying a very specific set of words should also be extraordinary?

The gifts of existence, of sexuality, of family, and above all, salvation, these gifts are so wild and unexpected. Why shouldn’t some of the instructions that surround them seem, at first glance, to be wild and unexpected?

The point is that if we have a little more gratitude for what we’re being offered, maybe we won’t be as irritated by not understanding some of the conditions that come with these gifts.

Five

The Gift is Worth It

This is basically the line that Naaman’s servants took with him: listen, you have a chance to be healed, to be happy here! The only price you really have to pay is that sometimes you’re not going to completely understand the instructions, sometimes, not always, but sometimes, things are going to feel a little arbitrary. That’s a small price to pay! Trust the infinitely wise, infinitely good, infinitely powerful God! Accept the obvious fact that there’s a lot you don’t know, a lot you don’t understand. See that the non-obviousness of the extravagant generosity you’re being offered dramatically outweighs the non-obviousness of the instructions you’re being asked to follow.

Accept the gift. Follow the instructions. Trust in God. And receive happiness.