Praying there in his laboratory with his eyes open — his customary way — Carver noticed some peanuts drying on a nearby shelf, and he asked God to tell him the purpose peanuts were created to serve. The Almighty seemed pleased, and told Carver that if he would busy himself to separate the peanut into its many elements, then he would learn much about its uses. So, using what he knew of chemistry and physics, Carver worked and separated the oils, gums, resins, sugars, starches, and acids found in the peanut. In separating the constituent elements of the peanut in this way, Carver was working on a problem and, over time, his "solution" to the problem posed by the peanut uncovered or discovered or disclosed or invented new uses for the peanut — 300 new uses, actually — but the mystery of humans and the universe continued to haunt Carver's mind and spirit across the rest of his life. Dr. Carver rightly embraced the mystery of being human in this kind of world, aware that the mystery had embraced him!
Yes, a mystery involves us existentially, because we are embraced by it. We cannot dismiss mystery because we cannot isolate mystery from our own being. Mystery is something whose utter strangeness and stubbornness forever resists all attempts on our part to domesticate it, dominate it, define it or dismiss it. Life is a mystery! Death is a mystery! The Incarnation — the coming of God in Jesus Christ — is a mystery! The Resurrection of Jesus from death is a mystery! Our life on this planet involves us in mystery. The Story of God's gracious dealings with us through grace involves us in mystery! We can experience the mystery, but, try as we might, we cannot explain it. We who preach are stewards of the mysteries of God. What we offer and extend through preaching can be experienced but it is more wonderful — filled with what arouses wonder and awe — than we can fully explain.
Dr. Gardner Taylor has told about an experience he and Mrs. Laura Taylor had near the end of his first preaching mission in Australia years ago.2 They were treated by their host with a visit to the studio of an outstanding Australian landscape artist, a man whose work had earned him a British knighthood. As Dr. Taylor looked about in the studio, his eyes caught sight of a massive canvas on which the artwork was only half-finished. He asked the artist about it. The artist shook his head, a little sadly Taylor thought, and explained that the unfinished picture was to have been a scene he had experienced during a visit to Australia's northern territory, but after much trying he had been unable to depict the real beauty of the scene that had captured him.
Taylor saw in the felt limitation that artist confessed to a parable of the glory and pain of the preacher: while there is so much that can be seen and known and said about Jesus Christ, He is still a subject too vast to fully capture in our work because His sacrificial life and work are rooted in "the mysteries of God."