Obvious

I once delivered a sermon in which I contended for a God who was obvious, asserting that those who seek him will always find him.  I said that the "narrow gate" of Matthew 7 was really a warning intended for clean-living Christians, who have a greater capacity for self-righteousness than the hooker down the street.  I said that the "narrow gate" is really like a huge archway; just turn around and it's right there.  You can't miss it.  Once you walk through it, there's just open space.  You can't get lost.  You can't make a wrong turn.  You needn't worry about all of that because it's not the point.  I was simply telling people not to make it any harder than it actually is, not for themselves or for anyone else.  Don't impose artificial conditions.  Don't put up flaming hoops for people to jump through. 

You would not believe the kind of angry resistance I got.  Many Christians are deeply offended by the idea that it could be this simple, but there's nothing new about it.  Jesus says similar things to the Jewish religious elite time and again.  It's not heresy.  Patrick of Ireland (otherwise known as St. Patrick) composed this famous little prayer:

"God above me.
 God below me.
 God in front of me.
 God to my left, and to my right.
 God in every eye that sees me.
 God in every ear that hears me.
 God within me.
 Amen."

In Matthew 5:6, when Jesus says "[b]lessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled," he doesn't mean "good moral behavior."  The Greek word dikaiosune refers to one's covenant standing with God, which is purely a function of his gracious activity.  God's covenants, through which he expresses his love for us, are entirely one-sided.  The katharos kardia ("pure heart") Jesus mentions in verse 8 should be understood in that light. 

Later, in Matthew 7:7, Jesus says "[a]sk and it will be given to you; seek and you will find.  Knock and the door will be opened."  It's important to understand the way Greek grammar works here.  When we use the future tense in English, we typically are referring to some unspecified point in the future.  While that can be true in Greek, the future tense is also used in what is called the future imperatival sense.  It indicates a causal relationship, two things inextricably bound together.  If you do this, then that will happen.  The Ten Commandments in Exodus 20 are written in the future imperatival.  Why?  Because they come with an implied, "or else." 

What Jesus is saying, in other words, is that those who seek him will always find him.  He's not hiding.  He's not making himself intentionally difficult to understand.  He doesn't obscure himself in any particular culture or limit himself to any one sacred text or another.  While he refuses to be neatly packaged, marketed and consumed, he also refuses to be nailed down and defined in any one creed, tradition or experience.

He is not a narrow gate, or the eye of a needle.  Open your eyes and you will see him.  Turn around and you will find him.  You will find him in the words of many sacred texts because Jesus is not the container, but the contents.  He is not the menu, but the meal.

So relax.  There are many ways to seek God, and if you seek him you will find him.  When you do, he will make sense because he wants to make sense to you.  He wants you to understand him.  If God does not seem obvious, it's not because you're not trying hard enough, but probably because you're trying too hard.