You Might Be Wrong

How we grow in faith but how faith does not grow

08/13/2023

Mt 14:22-33 Jesus went up on the mountain by himself to pray. When it was evening he was there alone. Meanwhile the boat, already a few miles offshore, was being tossed about by the waves, for the wind was against it. During the fourth watch of the night, he came toward them walking on the sea. When the disciples saw him walking on the sea they were terrified. "It is a ghost," they said, and they cried out in fear. At once Jesus spoke to them, "Take courage, it is I; do not be afraid." Peter said to him in reply, "Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water." He said, "Come." Peter got out of the boat and began to walk on the water toward Jesus. But when he saw how strong the wind was he became frightened; and, beginning to sink, he cried out, "Lord, save me!" Immediately Jesus stretched out his hand and caught Peter, and said to him, "O you of little faith, why did you doubt?" After they got into the boat, the wind died down. Those who were in the boat did him homage, saying, "Truly, you are the Son of God."

Last week a parishioner sent me a Peanuts cartoon strip. Snoopy (a spotted white beagle) is seated very studiously on top of his doghouse hammering away at a type writer. In the second frame, Charlie Brown approaches and inquires: “I hear you are writing a book on theology.” Charlie Brown continues: “I hope you have a good title.” Above Snoopy’s head in the third frame appears a thought-bubble which reads: “I have the perfect title…” And in the last frame of the cartoon, Snoopy types his title: “Has It Ever Occurred to You That You Might Be Wrong?”

Now, that is a perfect title for a theology book. Why? Well, because human language (theology) inevitably falls short of adequately describing and accurately defining the Divine Being (God). Perhaps St. Anselm said it best when he wrote in the 12th century rather cryptically: “God is that than which nothing greater can be conceived.” That is, God is the peak of the highest thoughts that the brightest human mind has climbed to reach God. But God is still higher than that.

C. S. Lewis put similar words on the lips of his mentor George MacDonald. In one of Lewis’ lesser known novels, “The Great Divorce”, Lewis meets MacDonald in heaven and his teacher tells him: “That’s what we all find when we reach this country (he means heaven). We’ve all been wrong!...There’s no need to go on pretending one was right! After that we can begin living” (p. 102).

MacDonald’s lines can also be applied to faith and theology. Faith, like everything else we learn, grows slowly and matures gradually. But unlike other forms of knowledge, faith will never exhaust its subject Matter, namely, God. Has it ever occurred to us that we might be wrong and always have more to learn about God? St. Augustine, four years before he died, reread and corrected everything he had written, called his “Retractions.” Augustine knew he might be wrong.

This growing in faith can shed light on today’s gospel of Jesus and Peter walking on the water. We are all familiar with the story. The part I want to draw to your attention is when Jesus criticizes Peter saying: “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” Now if Peter had little faith but he was willing to get out of the boat and walk on water, how much faith did the other 11 apostles have who didn’t even dare to get out of the boat? A lot less than little, meaning almost none. In other words, the apostles had a lot more growing to do in faith.

Even after Jesus rises from the dead, and the apostles receive the Holy Spirit at Pentecost, their faith is still far from perfect. St. Paul has to put St. Peter in his place as he says in Gal 2:11, “And when Cephas (Peter’s Hebrew name) came to Antioch, I opposed him to his face because he was clearly in the wrong.” St. Paul could have said like Snoopy: “Has it every occurred to you, Peter, that you might be wrong?”

And even though the brilliant mind of St. Paul himself would flow freely through his pen to write 13 New Testament letters, he, too, humbly acknowledges the limits of his theology. He exclaims in Rm 11:33: “Oh, the depths of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How inscrutable are his judgments and how unsearchable are his ways.” Paul’s faith still had room to grow; he admitted he might be wrong, too.

Now, please don’t misunderstand me. I’m not saying faith is some vague science and that theologians are all wrong and wasting their time. Why not? Faith has specific content that comes to us from Scripture and Tradition, under the watchful guidance of the pope and bishops (the Magisterium). So even though Catholic theology doesn’t get everything right, there are some thing we never get wrong. Like what?

Well, there are four discernable pieces of the pie of faith. First, faith is professed in the Creed we recite every Sunday. You know, that moment at Mass when everyone yawns, wakes up after the homily, and stands up to recite this long prayer? That’s called the Creed, which means “I believe.” Second, faith is celebrated in the seven sacraments, especially the Eucharist each Sunday. Third, faith is lived in the 10 Commandments and 8 Beatitudes. Faith is not just for an hour on Sunday, but for every second of our lives.

And fourth, faith is prayed in the Our Father and the various forms of spirituality developed by the saints up and down the ages. In other words, Snoopy’s book title was not entirely correct: theology gets some things right. Even though God himself is utterly beyond us, and our theological language is imperfect, we do know some things about him. Why? Because God himself as revealed them to us in Jesus. Jesus takes the guess work out of theology.

Here’s my final point about faith. Even though we grow in faith in these four areas, did you know there will never be any new content to the faith? That is, we grow in faith but the faith itself never grows. How do we know that? Because public revelation – what we need to know to be saved – ended with the death of the last apostle, namely, St. John around 100 A.D. To paraphrase Ecclesiastes: “There is nothing new [in the faith] under the sun” after 100 A.D.

What Jesus and the apostles taught us is called the “deposit of faith”. Have you noticed how some people have a safety deposit box in a bank, where they keep their valuables and family heirlooms? The Church is the spiritual bank entrusted with the safe-keeping of our precious deposit of faith, so that it is available to each generation. Why? Because in every generation someone wants to step out of the boat and walk on the water, no matter how little faith they have.

Praised be Jesus Christ!