SCRIPTURE: 1 Timothy 3:16
(TM)
This
Christian life is a great mystery, far exceeding our understanding, but some
things are clear enough: He appeared in a human body, was proved right by the
invisible Spirit, was seen by angels. He was proclaimed among all kinds of
peoples, believed in all over the world, taken up into heavenly glory.
STORY: as told by Brett
Blair
Long ago, there ruled in Persia a wise and good king. He
loved his people. He wanted to know how they lived. He wanted to know about
their hardships. Often he dressed in the clothes of a workingman or a beggar,
and went to the homes of the poor. No one whom he visited thought that he was
their ruler. One time he visited a very poor man who lived in a cellar. He ate
the coarse food the poor man ate. He spoke cheerful, kind words to him. Then he
left. Later he visited the poor man again and disclosed his identity by saying,
"I am your king!" The king thought the man would surely ask for some
gift or favor, but he didn't. Instead he said, "You left your palace and
your glory to visit me in this dark, dreary place. You ate the course food I
ate. You brought gladness to my heart! To others you have given your rich
gifts. To me you have given yourself!"
OBSERVATION:
Accepting what we know about Jesus and committing ourselves
to move ever further into what we don’t unknown of Jesus is the challenge. On
the one hand this entire “God-becoming-man-thing” is extremely hard for some to
accept or deal with within the context of the reality of their life. It simply
doesn’t make human sense. But that is the point. God works in ways that, to our
human way of thinking, simply doesn’t make sense. This why it is called faith –
Forsaking
All
I
Trust
Him.
We will have nothing but Excedrin-headache #1 if we try to
reason ourselves into an understanding. God becoming man? Why? How? For what
purpose? Dying on a cross? Coming back to life? Truly it is a mystery … a
mystery known only to God … a mystery for us to accept … a mystery that can
change our lives. And, maybe that it the point of our Excedrin-headache – until
we reach the point in our life that we feel that a change should or has to take
place it will remain a mystery. But when we have our backs against the wall and
we have nowhere else to turn to for answers the mystery of the incarnation
becomes clear … the trust of faith becomes a living reality … we surrender
ourselves to what we know about Jesus and leave that which we don’t know about Him
to another day, a day of growth in the faith.
As was illustrated in the story, what happens in the
“God-becoming-a-man-thing” is that God was giving himself – not gold or silver
or a lottery win or a trophy spouse or a new job or better behaved children or
freedom from cancer or the elevation of pain or the selling of our home or any
number of other things we pray for – he gives us himself, to walk with us
through the ups and downs of life.
When going through pastoral care training we learn a lot of
things, but the greatest lesson was the one about simply holding a dying persons
hand – not what is said or what is prayed – just the presences with a touch,
holding the hand and sitting at the bedside. The dying person’s fears are eased
to know that whatever they are facing they are not alone. Therein lies the
mystery of God coming to us in Jesus in that whatever we have to face in this
life we are not alone, he is with us, holding our hand, going through it as we
go through it. We are not alone.
Dr. Eugene Peterson in his The Message translation/paraphrase of the 1 Timothy passage quoted
above expands the passage to include the full scope that mystery of the
Christian belief. It can help us understand a little more about the mystery
surround this “God-becoming-man-thing,” but it really won’t make much sense to
most of us until we need someone to hold our hand.
PRAYER:
Our hands are outstretched. We need to know of your
presence. What we have to face today is little more than challenging. So please
take our hand, we are scared, that challenge is great, and fear is starting to
take root in our souls. Our hands are outstretched to You.
QUOTE: “The
mystery of the humanity of Christ, that He sunk Himself into our flesh, is
beyond all human understanding.” Martin Luther
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