Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be something else or someone else? What or who would you be if you could just for 24 hours not be you? Would you be someone famous; an actor, a politician, an athlete, a gifted musician, a great preacher? Would you be a different race or gender? Would you be a lion on an African savanna or your pet dog? Would you so enjoy it you would not want to return to being you? Or would you find it so distasteful 24 hours would be way too long?
Jesus did such a thing. He was the Creator and He became one of His created and not for 24 hours but for a shortened lifetime on this very small planet. He was rich and became poor. He was loved and became hated. Each of us searches for meaning for our lives. After the age of 13 He knew His meaning. He had sent ahead a manual (Isaiah) telling Him what He was to be and how to be it. He was to be wounded for our transgressions and be mangled by men.
I wonder if pigeons on a wire wonder about all the hustle that passes below and where is their place in the grand scheme. I doubt it. We seem to be the only creatures haunted by a quest for meaning. If my dog wonders about meaning it certainly is limited to the now and not related to eternity. She is here to bark at the UPS man and to tell me when the postman has arrived. Today she even had something to say about a small airplane that passed overhead. But we are different. We have meaning and purpose and that is our quest.
Written by Roger Bothwell on November 29, 2016
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