The World Could Not Contain the Books
Saturday, June 7th Readings Reflection: Saturday of the Seventh Week of Easter - Mass in the Morning
Today’s Gospel reading is taken from the very end of St. John’s Gospel. I would like to focus on the very last line, which reads: “But there are also many other things which Jesus did; which, if they were written every one, the world itself, I think, would not be able to contain the books that should be written” (Jn 21:25 DRB).
As always, the Angelic Doctor, St. Thomas Aquinas, gives a beautiful insight into the theological meaning of this verse. He explains that we can understand St. John’s words in a couple different ways. The first is the rhetorical sense; St. John deliberately uses the literary device of hyperbole to drive home the fact that Jesus performed so many deeds that he could not recount them all in his comparatively short Gospel. Aquinas explains that in utilizing hyperbole, the Evangelist is not lying but rather emphasizing the truth of the magnitude of Christ’s works.
There is also a deeper meaning to St. John’s words, as Aquinas also explains. St. John mentions “every one” of Jesus’ deeds. Aquinas explains: “For to write about each and every word and deed of Christ is to reveal the power of every word and deed. Now the words and deeds of Christ are also those of God. Thus, if one tried to write and tell of the nature of every one, he could not do so; indeed the entire world could not do this. This is because even an infinite number of human words cannot equal one word of God” (Commentary on John).
All the words written about God cannot adequately explain Him, for His Word, the eternal logos, is beyond human understanding. The spoken word is finite, for it is formed by vibrations that are detected by the physical tympanum of the ear. The physical words refer to spiritual—and, in this case, infinite—realities, but spoken words can never fully or adequately describe the essence of these things. In the face of the Beatific Vision in Heaven, our human language will seem as so much straw, as St. Thomas Aquinas describes his writings after his vision of Christ.
However, this should not lead us to despair or to discredit the authority of Sacred Scripture. Even though the Gospels themselves cannot reveal the power of every single word and deed that Jesus spoke and performed, they are nonetheless the Word of God, written in human language so that we might come to know Him. Written under the inspiration of the Holy Ghost, the Scriptures are infallible and eternal. As St. Augustine of Hippo discovered during his conversion, the Word of God often speaks to us in different ways through the same passage. What we may glean from a passage today may be different than our understanding when we pray with the same passage tomorrow.
May today’s Gospel renew our love for the Word of God in Sacred Scripture as we recognize His omnipotence and infinite love in granting us an intellect by which we can come to know Him—albeit imperfectly— through physical means such as language, so that we can, in turn, love Him.
"All the words written about God cannot adequately explain Him, for His Word, the eternal logos, is beyond human understanding."
That said, it is hardly beyond the capacities of individual communion with God to impart perfect knowledge of Him, even at the expense of only a moment. and even without the exercise of the pitiful capacities of human language at all.
The quote above might seem to explain a scenario that interrupted my contemplation of God years ago as I deliberated in His presence the magnificently compelling occasion before me of communion being conducted between God and men. I had been aware from earlier encounters with God that the work of many who make their livings hawking their wares on the basis of being theologians are constrained to do so largely on the thesis that our Unfathomable God can be, and must be understood, the ignorance of their position owing to the fact that they know Him not. It was at the moment the term "theologian" entered my consciousness that so too did what seemed to be raucous laughter from Heaven. This was not laughter of amusement or of mass ridicule, but of gross incredulity which appeared to be based upon the incongruity of what was being proposed by the use of word. The proposition that men could possibly evaluate and then propose to understand by study of the writings and conclusions concerning God of other men made no sense, however intellectually or spiritually astute, these men were regarded to be. The myth that one can understand even nominally the reasoning behind the thoughts, convictions, and conclusions of our unfathomable God in this manner appeared, as it does now, to be simply ludicrous. The next thought directed me to evaluate the number chosen by Jesus and included in the original Twelve, along with their contemporaries, that might have been considered to be esteemed theologians of their day. A contemporary of Judas who appeared in a later narrative seemed to be the only candidate. The point of this interaction seemed quite clear to me. The efforts of many scholars are misguided attempts to understand the mind or actions of God often employing the conclusions of other men, or they are are based upon the insupportable assumption that we, or even the Angels are so capable when we never can or will be. However, as a result of one's genuine and personal communion with Him, our God can be known, in the biblical sense, not only intimately but perfectly in a manner which reveals without a word passing between us and Him knowledge that words have no capacity to convey. Attempts to understand God, even in the least, are always outside of the exercise of our communion with Him and based upon pride, This is a pursuit that is always entirely invulnerable to God and never at risk to Him. When from the establishment of individual communion with God emerges intimate knowledge of Him as it did in the many scholarly and non scholarly Saints of our Church, that knowledge becomes perfect as also must become the recipient but it is never, nor ever will be, complete. True knowledge of God never ceases to be consummately vulnerable to Him and His convictions, even in eternity, and the convictions that arise from our communion with God will never be less than consummately at risk only to Him. The worst deception a theologian can fall for is the misconception that they are in pursuit of knowledge of God when, failing the required establishment of a personal communion between God and them, theirs becomes a pursuit that is invulnerable to God conducted in the spiritual desert of attempting to understand of God. Basing one's work and career on this lethal misconception will always defeat every effort to gain true knowledge of our Creator in the end.