On Love, Marriage, Sex and the Family

On 14^th May, I attended a seminar for an IS module exploring contemporary trends in Singaporean society, delving into the topics of love, marriage and the family. 

I found the topic to be a bit less appropriate to our age range; we are a little too young to discuss marriage. While I did find the corporate seminars to be boring, I really enjoyed the individual breakout workshop sessions.

My workshop was entitled “For Better, Not Worse, till Death do us Part”.  The workshop lecturer had centered her talk around how “young people cannot differentiate between the myths and realities of marriage. She presented four commonly misconstrued myths: “Finding the perfect soulmate”, “Finding the perfect marriage”, “I can change my soulmate”, “Living happily ever after”. She supported these points with many quotes and examples, which I found very captivating, as it catered well to my personality; I am a big quotes-junkie, and am fond of pondering upon their philosophical premise.

The lecturer’s anecdotes were also very funny and engaging; she showed photos of her family and slightly digressed into their lives as well. Her vocal tone was also far from monotone; the circumflex inflection kept the disinterest level low and the humour level high. Another great tool she employed was physically interacting with the audience; she would literally walk right up to a random, unsuspecting member of the audience and use them as an example. The awkward, surprised factor that the subject felt was most appealing and amusing to the rest of the class. The workshop speaker had definitely elaborated upon the topic of marriage and the importance of family to extensive clarity and depth.

I agreed with many of her points:

• One being that love was found not within a perfect person, but by seeing perfection in another’s imperfections. [too often we forget that if we cannot accept people at their worst, we don’t deserve their best]
•   being that there are no perfect marriages. Just mixed ones, and only great marriages are birthed from it when imperfect couples learn to enjoy their differences. [in a way, I thought it could  also apply in a wider spectrum towards racism in all of humanity]
• Three being we don’t see things as they are but as we are [what we think of other people tend to be a more accurate reflection of ourselves than of them]

Personally, I found the mass talks that sandwiched the individual workshops to be quite boring; it didn’t captivate our demographic well.  However, the talks had provoked much interesting discourse among the students. One particular Q&A sparked the hottest debate – the controversial topic of same-sex marriage.

Sexy & I Know It

In Genesis 2:21-24, God specifically designed woman out of the man’s rib to be a “suitable partner” for man. Since the beginning of creation, God has placed a plan for man and woman to be united in one flesh. Therefore, homosexuality is a personal choice derived from sexual immorality that comes directly against the will of God in X and Y’s life.

Being raised as a Christian, I have a firm vocalization over setting a standard of sexual purity in my life. Metamorphic culture and legalistic religion do not dictate the processes in my life. The question would be: “Who gave you your perspective on sex, marriage and family?”

Nowadays, our pop culture has completely distorted our view of sexuality and morality - music videos, senseless lyrics, provocative actions and images wherever we walk, be it Internet or on the streets. One look at the worldwide trending topics on Twitter, and you’ll see a clear example. They’ve either completely destroyed our view on sexual purity (everyone famous is coming out of the closet nowadays; it’s the new “in” thing. Therefore, homosexuality isn’t REALLY sexual immorality), or they’ve compromised the image (It’s not that you can’t have sex before marriage, it’s just that it’s way better to have safe sex; so use a condom or birth control or contraception).

God made us all sexual beings, and as such, He also made us pure. As human beings, we tend to forget that physical intimacy inevitably grows; the key here is the feeding of lust. Since when have Hollywood marriages been successful and perennial? Since when did celebrity marriages and relationships teach us how love works? Relationship minus purpose equals pain; dating is not a buffet. Human hearts, souls and lives are not discardable playthings. Why commit a part of you when the other party’s not interested in all of you? Sex and marriage are something, but not everything.

I say, the union between husband and wife was designed to be a blessing from the Lord, and sex was the beautiful gift exchange of virginity presented to each other between man and woman that unites the flesh of both male and female as one body.

1 Corinthians 6:12-13 is a clear example that men have been given total free will to do anything they want and make their own choices; it sets us apart from any inanimate object. Personally, I have no complaints with the legalisation or whatever with same-sex relationships - I respect their decisions; however I do NOT support them. God is responsible for the FACT of freedom; we humans are responsible for our ACTS of freedom. Anything we choose to do is possible. But not everything done is beneficial.

A Helpless Lamb - the mightiest of all creatures

“I wept and wept because no one was found who was worthy to open the scroll or look inside.” –Revelation 5:4

Images of Jesus abound in Revelation, and one way to study the book is to follow a single image through the entire book. After His luminous appearance in the first chapter, Jesus is presented as a king, a child, a warrior on a horse, the Lord of the whole earth, the husband of a bride. Of all the images, however, none is so startling and unlikely as the one in John’s second vision. Yet it takes hold and appears repeatedly throughout the book

To set the stage for this vision, the book of Revelation uses more visual drama than a sci-fi epic like Star Wars. Lightning flashes, thunder growls in the skies, and awesome creatures encircle a throne. The four creatures symbolise the most impressive examples of creation:

 -The mightiest among the birds is the eagle.

-The mightiest among the domestic animals is the bull.

-The mightiest among the wild beasts is the lion.

-The mightiest of all is man.

ONLY ONE WORTHY

A question resounds in the heavens, “Who is worthy to break the seals and open the scroll?” (Revelation 5:2) Who is worthy to unloose the next phase of history? None can answer, as none of the four impressive creatures qualify.

But suddenly, John sees another creature: a “Lamb, looking as if it had been slain” (Revelation 5:6). The image contains a great paradox. None of the majestic angels or elders or living creatures has the right to break the seals. Only a Lamb – a helpless, slaughtered Lamb – does.

John records a song of celebration (Revelation 5:9), later set into Händel’s oratorio “Messiah”.  The power of the image is resurfaced often in Revelation, a book of warfare between the forces of good and evil. Christ the King is also the Lamb, the One who died for us. His death on the Cross ushered in the decisive victory for Him and for us. Good was not destroyed; it triumphed.

What meaning does the image of Jesus as a slain Lamb paint in your mind? What are your favourite images of Christ?

“This is the disciple who testifies to these things and who wrote them down. We know that his testimony is true.” -John 21:24

John wore an amusing nickname: the “Son of Thunder” [Mark 3:17], and several incidents in the Gospel hint that this reflected his stormy personality. John jealously resented competition from rival miracle workers [Mark 9:38], and he selfishly insisted on the best sea tin the kingdom of heaven for himself. Once, he wanted to call fire down from heaven to destroy a hostile town [Luke 9:54].

Yet somewhere in his life, the thunderclouds broke apart. Eventually he was bestowed a new nickname: “the apostle of love”. John’s books - the Gospel and the three letters he wrote - are marked by a recurring emphasis on love.

Naturally, the spiritual pilgrimage of John influenced his written record of Jesus’ life. His changed personality may provide a clue to his unique style of telling Jesus’ story through a handful of poignant episodes. Perhaps these few scenes are the memories of Jesus that finally convinced John himself that Jesus was, indeed, the son of God.

Encountering Jesus and getting to know Him changes a person. How have YOU been changed?

Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in me will live, even though he dies.” -John 11:25

Mary and Martha had widely contrasting personalities, but identical responses to pain. Both sisters, upon meeting Jesus, said the same thing: “If you had been here, my brother would not have died.” [11:21, 11:32]. They had asked Jesus to come, and for reasons unbeknownst to them, He had delayed; the healing they had hoped for hadn’t happened. Jesus gave the sisters no explanation of His timing, but showed that He had a reason: to demonstrate His power over death.

God is never rushed, He is never late; He always arrives at the very last moment - breaking through at your breaking point. Trust in His perfect timing, and lean not on your own understanding.

The woman said, “I know that Messiah (called Christ) is coming. When He comes, He will explain everything to us.” Then Jesus declared, “I who speak to you am He.”

-John 4:25-26

Water. Two hydrogen atoms and one oxygen atom. Where it’s plentiful, we tend to take it for granted, like air. Lingering in a hot shower, hosing your car and the driveway, allowing the sprinkler to water the lawn in excess to keep it green…

Not so in the desert, where even plants hoard water with their spiky defences. There, water takes on a mythical aura. Tantalising visions of pools and streams dance in the heat waves. a craving for water pushes out all other thoughts; one spoonful on a parched tongue is worth gold.

To a woman in a dry land who spent part of each day hauling clay jugs to and from a well, water was the most powerful symbol imaginable. Little wonder that when Jesus offered eternal “living water”, the Samaritan woman paid attention.

PROFOUNDLY SIMPLE WORDS

John presents Jesus’ teaching methods through a simple word or phrase. No biblical author used simpler words: water, world, light, life, birth, love, truth. Yet John’s use of those terms incorporated such depth that hundreds of authors have tried to decipher their meanings.

Reading John is like kayaking to the middle of a lake created by the snow covering an extinct volcano. The clarity of the water reveals everything under the surface… or so you think. Yet, as you gaze intently in longer, deeper periods of time, you can never actually see the bottom. Something always remains hidden.

Those who look for a neat scheme of organisation in John are unlikely to find one. John’s Gospel omits the prolonged speeches in Matthew, the chronicled events in Mark, and the parables of Luke. Its teaching emerges mainly through Jesus’ intimate encounters with a diverse range of people.

THE THIRD EAR IN PRIVATE CONVERSATIONS

Jesus spoke some of His most quoted material in the middle of entirely ordinary conversations. The Gospel of John rarely shows His preaching to large multitudes. Instead, we see Him meeting in secret with a genuinely interested Pharisee [3:1-21, upon which the most memorised Bible verse - John 3:16 - appears], or an unnamed Samaritan woman [4:25-26] beside a well. Both visitors carried away simple-yet-profound imagery (the second birth [or spiritual rebirth] and living water, respectively), and today we recall those words as among the most famous in the entire Bible.

The Gospel of John reads much like the meditations of an artist spending much time under a shady tree on reflection and retrospection. Instead of focusing on events Jesus did publicly, John selects vignettes from no more than twenty days of Jesus’ time on earth, and paints close-ups of individuals who responded to Jesus on earth. Some followed Him courageously, others remained skeptical, and still others reacted with hostility. John mulled often over the profound meaning of what Jesus had said and done. Often, John reports that the people simply “did not understand”, despite Jesus’ use of visual imagery. In short, response to the Son of God on earth two millennia ago bears striking resemblance to the world’s response to Him now, as you read this post.

Imagine you had an encounter with Jesus, and had engaged in private conversation with Him, much like the two people mentioned above. What would YOU want to talk about?

“For if there had been nothing wrong with that first covenant, no place would have been sought for another.” -Hebrews 8:7

To understand the difference between an original and a copy, consider trying to photograph the largest animal to inhabit this planet: the blue whale.

Educational channels such as National Geographic, Discovery Channel and Animal Planet often air documentaries on traversing the world’s many oceans in search for capturing a moment of the beauty of majestic creatures of the sea - particularly whales, the largest animals known to inhabit this planet. They would endure massive maelstroms, the risk of being sunk by the impact of the whale’s massive fluke, just to photograph that one magical moment. One adventurer’s tale went: “Once in Alaska, we raised a humpback’s spout and ran up close before the animal submerged. Ten minutes later, without warning, the floor of the ocean seemed to rise and a mountainous black body, dripping with foam, heaved upward, almost over our heads. It paused an instant, then fell sidewise to be swallowed up by a vortex of green water. The whale had dropped back scarcely twenty feet away; had it fallen the other way, the vessel would have been crushed beneath its forty tons.”

How can you adequately communicate the impact of something that immense? Photographers have recorded blue whales bursting from the water, surfacing for air, but no photograph can capture the sheer gargantuan size of such a colossus. Baby blue whales gain a ton of weight in a month. Adult blue whales’ hearts weigh a thousand pounds. How can any two-dimensional photograph convey such titanic dimensions?

COMPARING COPIES TO ORIGINAL

Even the best photographs are still copies - a representation of its subject’s reality. No 8 by 10 rectangle can contain a whale. No photo sequence of the Grand Canyon is as grand as the canyon itself. No long-exposure image can capture the essence of the Northern Lights amidst countless constellations. The photograph preserves a mere two-dimensional copy of reality.

Hebrews uses that word: “copy“ to describe the images and rituals of the Old Testament: Passover feasts, sacrifices, etc… They were mere shadows, expressing the reality to come in Jesus Christ. No ceremony or testimony alone, however elaborate, can adequately express experiencing God himself, any more than a photograph of a whale, or a mountain, or a galaxy can adequately represent a whale, or a mountain, or a galaxy.

According to Hebrews, Old Testament rituals were a copy, but Christ is the original. By referencing old Jewish tradition - sacrifices, laws, blood, the sacredness of the tabernacle, the role of a priest, the Day of Atonement - and explains how Christ revealed once and for all the meaning these images only hinted at. The incomplete, shadowy abstracts in the copy juxtaposes with the perfect, genuine reality.

SO WHICH IS BETTER?

Hebrews emphasises the benefits of living in the now, rather than in the Old Testament (“the first covenant” referenced in the opening verse). Because of Christ, sacrifices are no longer necessary [Hebrews 10:11-12], for Jesus became the sacrifice. God’s laws are now written in our minds and on our hearts, not in formal, physical code [Hebrews 8:10].

The finality of Jesus’ statement on the cross: “It is finished.” [John 19:30] is elaborated on in the book of Hebrews.

That being said, copies do have value. A photograph of the aurora borealis, or Northern Lights, for example, conveys much to those who will never have the opportunity to travel to the frigid Arctic Circle and encounter one. But who would prefer a copy to the real thing?

What practical advice does the author of Hebrews offer on reading the Old Testament? Of what value are the Old Testament laws and religious rituals?

“Jesus has been found worthy of greater honour than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honour than the house itself.” -Hebrews 3:3

A masterpiece by a renowned artist gains great value due to its creator’s reputation. The rejected scratches of a notebook, if belonging to da Vinci, would be instantly worth millions.

To dramatise Christ’s superiority to religious systems, Hebrews’ author analogises: “which has greater honour? The building of the house, or the builder of the house?” Obviously, the builder has more honour; the building is just an expression of his genius.

A SEPARATE CATEGORY

Likewise, Christ has more honour than anyone else on earth. Since He created the universe, He personally designed everything. This puts Him in a different category of greatness: above the worldly achievements of Moses, David, Elijah, and other Old Testament heroes.

“Therefore, fix your thoughts on Jesus” [Hebrews 3:1], He deserves all respect and allegiance we can possibly give Him. However, by becoming human, Jesus underwent everything we had to go through - temptations, sufferings, human emotion - so that He could be the sympathetic representative of us to God [Hebrews 4:14-15]. 

The author also goes on to prove that Jesus fulfilled all the Old Testament prophecies. He was the one priest who could permanently bridge the canyons between God and the human race [Hebrews 7:23-27]. And, as God, He had the power through His death to remove the final barrier of sin between God and humankind [Hebrews 9:11-15].

FREE ACCESS TO GOD

Over time, God had chosen many ways to reveal Himself: through the splendours of His creations, the scriptures of the Torah, the words of the prophets. However, the final, complete self-expression culminated in His Son.

Because of Jesus Christ, we don’t have to approach a “holy priest”, like the Israelites. Christ’s work makes God available to all who believe in Him whole-heartedly. And God no longer dwells in an elaborately designed temple; we have become His house [Hebrews 3:6], His work of art.

People sometimes say about Jesus: “I don’t believe He was God, but He was a very anointed, religious man - like Gandhi or Buddha.” What arguments does Hebrews’ author use to contradict these statements?

“He who listens to you listens to Me; he who rejects you rejects Me.” -Luke 10:16

People, Christian and non-Christian alike, speak “in the name of Jesus”. But that phrase may have lost meaning for some of us.

A college sophomore took a summer job as an intern on the US President’s saff. He spent the first few weeks cranking out memos, returning mundane phone calls, and straightening office files. But one day, his manager asked him to write a public statement on the new law enforcement program. The intern composed a brief announcement and took it to the President.

The next day, as he rounded the corner of a newsstand, his eyes snapped wide open. Headlined across the front page of USA Today was the announcement he had written. It dawned on him that, all over the city, people would be reading his very own words as the President’s.

Throughout that summer, the intern discovered the power of the governonr’s name. If he sent a letter to a governor under his own signature, it would likely be filed under “Ignore”. Who WAS this random sophomore summer intern? If, however, the President put his name at the bottom, the letter got instant attention anywhere in the state. That summer worked “in the name of the President of the United States”; he represented the President.

A CRASH-COURSE

It is one thing representing the President; it is quite another to represent God and use His name. Yet Jesus had exactly that in mind for His followers. He hand-selected simple folk like us to bear His name and represent Him to the world. In the same way the President delegates authority to people acting on his behalf, Jesus gave His followers His own authority and power.

Jesus’ time on earth was running out. Luke 9:51 records that He had “resolutely set out for Jerusalem”. Only a few weeks remained for Him to train the people who would be left behind to carry His name. Luke 9-19 contain many of Jesus’ events and sayings found nowhere else in the Bible. First He sent out the Twelve, then 72 others, to announce the good news to all who would listen. These chapters convey the final detailed instructions to His followers.

FINAL INSTRUCTIONS

Everything in Jesus’ life intensified along the treacherous journey to Jerusalem. While He taught His small group of disciples, crowds shoved themselves in from all sides. From them, Pharisees tossed out loaded questions, seeking to trap Jesus in His own teaching.

Jesus did not soften His words in the face of danger. Instead, He emphasised the severe cost of following Him. Frequently He talked about prayer, the life-giving connection of the Church for direct access to the Father. Later, Paul would say that we actually form Christ’s body in the world. By coming to earth, and then leaving, Jesus ushered in a completely new chapter in history. And as He prepared for departure, He called on His people - His disciples… His followers… us - to represent Him. In every sense, we bear His name.

So what does it mean to pray “in Jesus’ name”? How can your life have the power and authority of Jesus behind it?

“It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick.” -Luke 5:31

A doctor once compared his professional duties to working at the complaint desk of a large department store. “All through medical school, I studied the body’s wonderful engineering. A healthy body is perfect - absolutely beautiful to observe. But in practice I spend my time treating people whose bodies don’t work right. I hear only complaints. After a while, it’s easy to lose perspective.”

Luke, a physician, knew firsthand about sick and suffering people; he, too, heard their daily complaints. Yet somehow, he never be came callous. In fact, his Gospel focuses on Jesus’ ministry to society’s “complaint desk”: the poor, sick, and neglected.

JESUS ANNOUNCES HIS MISSION

Mary’s opening song strikes a chord for the poor and hungry [Luke 1:46-55]. Using his favourite title for Jesus (“Son of Man”) 25 times, Luke reveals Him as a true servant of all humanity.

Luke 4 shows Jesus boldly declaring why He came to earth. He had just resisted temptations of wealth and power, returning from a 40-day fast in the desert to His hometown. There, as a local village boy, Jesus announced His unique mission: to preach good news to the poor, liberate prisoners, heal the blind, and release the oppressed. [Luke 4:18-19]

With little editorial interjection, Luke follows Jesus from town to town. Jesus had avoided fashionable places, instead favouring nearby farming communities and fishing villages clustered around the Sea of Galilee, serving the needs of the humble.

Reactions to Him varied. Naturally, the sick clamoured for His attention, begging for healing. But the religious leaders constantly challenged His actions, and His own neighbours angrily chased Him out of town.

JESUS, FRIEND OF SINNERS

A gifted writer, Luke skilfully employs vignettes to bring his characters to life. Learned and sophisticated, he uses the most refined magniloquence of Greek in the Four, but ironically focuses mainly on the poor and the outcast. Women, playing a smaller role in ancient history, play a larger role; Luke introduces 13 women not mentioned in any other Gospel. He also shows delightful appreciation for the future generation.

It may seem strange that Luke, by education and profession a member of the higher caste in social hierarchy, emerged as advocate for the impoverished and oppressed. Evidently, Jesus’ message had impacted him to emphasise points that others wouldn’t bother touching on. As Jesus had said, “It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick. I have not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” [Luke 5:31-32]

As Luke tells it, Jesus was a threat to the rich and powerful, but appealed to the poor and outcast. If Jesus came today, how would those two classes in our society respond to Him?

“Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.” -Romans 12:21

Too often, theology is viewed as stuff for hermits and marooned shipwreck victims. When there’s nothing else to do, THEN is the time to ask abstract questions about God.

Such a notion would have exasperated Paul. To him, theology was worthless unless it made a difference in how people lived. Therefore, he concluded the most concise theological book in the Bible with a down-to-earth discussion of contemporary problems.

-How do Christians relate to the government? [Romans 13:1-7]

-What IS proper behaviour (eating meat, drinking wine, celebrating public holidays, etc…)? [14:1 - 15:4]

The apostle Paul did not live the life of an intellectual recluse. He applied theology to life, practising what he preached. In fact, he wrote Romans when raising money for famine victims in Jerusalem [Romans 15:25-27]

Questions such as the ones above, among others, were hotly debated from Nero’s regime down till our current revolution-oriented era. So what attitude should we have toward Christians we differ with?

“Very rarely will anyone die for a righteous man, though for a good man someone might possibly dare to die. But God demonstrates His own love for us in hits: while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.” –Romans 5:7-8

A missionary spent a few years among the Sawi tribe in New Guinea. He had come hoping to bring the Christian message to a stone-age village. But his message kept colliding with the tribe’s unorthodox beliefs.

Christian values of love and forgiveness had no appeal to the Sawi, for they held up deceit as their highest virtue, and saw no reason to change their cannibalistic ways. In fact, the only incident that sparked their interest in the story of Jesus was Judas’ betrayal. In their eyes, Judas was a hero; he had shrewdly penetrated the inner circle of trust before turning against their leader.

THE ENIGMATIC CEREMONY

 Every time the missionary shared the Gospel of Christ with the tribe, the attempt miscarried. In frustration, he prepared to leave New Guinea, despite the Sawi’s pleas for him to stay.

Just before he left, the Sawi and their archnemesis: The Haenam, staged an elaborate ceremony in front of his tent as a final effort of convincing him to stay. Both villages gathered to watch silently, except the chief’s wife, who screamed as the chief wrested their six-month-old baby from her arms and held him high in the air [a la Lion King]. The chief then carried his son to the enemy chief and gave him to his enemies. The ritual was so that the Haenam would rename the baby and rear him as one of their own.

BREAKTHROUGHS

Although the Sawi’s elaborate ceremony could very well be part of an elaborate deception, the missionary learned of one great exception: the peace child. A chief’s giving of his own son to his enemies – that profound, painful act would overcome all suspicion. By mutual agreement, as long as the peace child lived, no wars could be fought between the two tribes.

Kind of reminds you how God had sent His own Son, Jesus, to live among enemies, to make peace with humankind. [Paul presents this concisely from Romans 3:21-31]

#Fuel30Meditations in my Study Bible:

“He mocks proud mockers but gives grace to the humble.” -Proverbs 3:34

Our society tends to divide the rich and the poor. The two groups have minimal daily contact, and one would have great difficulty in communicating a single message to both classes.

Yet it seems James’ original readers included both these groups. In one paragraph, James addresses the haughty, privileged people of wealth, and in the next turns to the poor undergoing severe trials (Note the shift between 5:1 and 5:7).

Both had different problems: the wealthy were snobbish, insensitive, and selfish. The poor responded with envy and grumbling, blaming God for their poverty.

James gave advice on both specific problems, but also implied their commonness. For both social classes, the most important struggle is not outside - the conditions we live in - but rather inside. All of us experience the inner conflict of being pulled by powerful, contrary forces. Will we move towards Christ and the life He taught, or in the opposite direction? Will we trust or reject God?

James coined a new term to describe this: “double-minded” (see 4:8). For rich and poor, this conflict expresses itself in various ways, but double-mindedness is a tug-of-war between divided loyalties. The essential struggle to obey God is no different for either group.

James 2 warns against favouritism based on social class. Does such favouritism happen among Christians today? Is there any difference between the way rich and poor people think about following Jesus?

Faith was the light that guided me through my canyons of darkness. It was Your rivers of starlight that engulfed my shadow and transformed it into resplendent effulgence.

I no longer fear the night, for I have fallen in love with the stars. I gaze up at them, and I see my Father amidst the constellations breathing entirely new galaxies into existence in the same way He beaches galaxies of starfire into my soul.

“They were terrified and asked each other, “Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey Him!” -Mark 4:41

There once was a modern parable about a religious skeptic who worked as a farmer. One raw winter night, the mad heard an irregular thumping sound against the kitchen storm door. He went to a window and watched as tiny, shivering sparrows, attracted to the evident warmth inside, beat in vain against the glass.

Touched, the farmer bundled up and trudged through fresh snow to open the barn door for the struggling birds. He turned on the lights and tossed some hay in a corner. But the sparrows, which had scattered in all directions when he emerged from the house, hid in the darkness, afraid.

The man tried various tactics to get them into the barn. He laid down a trail of Saltine cracker crumbs to direct them. He tried circling behind the birds to drive them toward the barn. Nothing worked. He, a huge alien creature, had terrified them; the birds couldn’t comprehend that he actually desired to help.

The farmer withdrew to his house and watched the doomed sparrows through a window. As he stared, a thought him him like lightning from a clear blue sky: If only I could become a bird- one of them- just for a moment. Then I wouldn’t frighten them so. I could show them the way to warmth and safety.

At the same moment, another thought dawned on him. He had grasped the reason Jesus was born.

[WHEN GOD CAME TO EARTH]

A man becoming a bird is nothing compared to God becoming a man. The concept of a sovereign eternal being who created the universe, confining himself to a human body was - and is- too much for some people to believe. But how else could God truly communicate with us?

We don’t know what God looked like as a man; no Gospel writer described the physical appearance of Jesus. But, in other ways, Mark painted a full picture of his humanity. Jesus, who claimed to be God, didn’t have a supernatural “glow” about him. His own neighbours and family marveled that he seemed so… normal.

Mark does not diminish Jesus. He shows the power of a man who healed the blind with a simple touch (8:25), and the authority of a teacher so captivating that people sat three days straight, with empty stomachs, just to hear him (8:2). Even after Jesus hushed them, people wouldn’t stop talking about His miracles.

But Mark also reveals the full range of Jesus’ emotions: a surge of compassion for a person with leprosy (1:41), a deep sigh in response to nagging Pharisees (8:12), a look of anger and distress at coldhearted legalists (3:5), and then an awful cry on the cross (15:34). Jesus was sometimes witty, and He sometimes cried. He got tired: five times, as recorded by Mark, He sought a quiet place for rest away from the crowds.

[LIKE NO ONE ELSE]

Jesus was like no other person who ever lived. Twelve men left their jobs and families at a single command to follow Him. Yet Jesus was also fully “one of us”. He needed food and friends. He got lonely and tired. He showed anger and disappointment. Because Jesus experienced all we experienced as human beings, He can understand us completely, and share in our joys and sorrows.

Mark portrays both sides of Jesus - the divine and the human. The disciples needed to see both dimensions to give their lives to Him.

Suppose Jesus had never come, that God had merely sent an elaborate love note. What difference would that make?