faith and the impossible

I got an e-mail from Heather this morning in which she mentioned "infinite resignation." It's a reference to Kierkegaard's Fear and Trembling, and his "knight of faith." The book is a commentary on the Abraham and Isaac story. And the point is that faith goes beyond resignation, by (like resignation) accepting that what we hope for is humanly impossible, yet somehow hoping still—because with God all things are possible.

I wrote a few days ago that faith means waiting, that we can only have faith about something that we do not yet have. Perhaps, for faith to be stretched to its fullness, it must also involve the impossible. As Kierkegaard writes, this is not the same as "the improbable, the unexpected, the unforeseen." Abraham believed God would provide the sacrifice (and so spare Isaac), even as he lifted the knife that would kill his son. Abraham truly gave up Isaac to certain death, yet at the same time believed that God would not take away the son he had given. And Jesus even went further. He was actually dead.

And then faith received the impossible.


If we wish to follow Jesus, if we wish to live the life of faith, we should expect to be led into the impossible. Not just the improbable or the unexpected but that which is truly impossible for us, the impossibility that we can't face without trembling. So that the only thing that can save us is a miracle...