In the Flesh

Grace and greetings.

Here is my meditation from this evening's service. If you have not had the chance to read, "The Boy in Striped Pajamas" by John Boyne, please do so. I read it in its entirity in two sittings, so I am sure most people can read it just as quickly if not faster. For those who do not want to read the book and wait for the movie, it is suppose to be out in theaters, if not now, very soon.

In the Flesh, John 1.1-18

We are reading the book, “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” by John Boyne for the book club that meets at the Tizzy Library the last Friday of each month. It is a story about two nine year old boys on both sides of a fence, and they become friends by sitting and talking with each other. The two boys come from different worlds; one, Bruno, from Berlin, Germany and the other, Shmuel, from Poland. Bruno is a naive boy whose father is the commandant of the camp that he cannot correctly pronounce, so he ends up calling it Out-With; Shmuel’s family live inside the camp. They find out that they share a birthday, even though they are forever separated by the fence. As the two boys sit opposite each other throughout the year, Bruno cannot imagine the camp as Shmuel is describing it; after all, his father is in charge of everybody there. As luck would have it, both boys are given the opportunity to see how the other lives. Bruno, who wants to be an explorer when he grows up, agrees to explore the camp and help Shmuel find his lost father the day before Bruno moves back to Berlin. During the exploration, the boys make discoveries that frighten both of them, but they hold onto each other, hand in hand, to the end of the adventure.

Bruno and Shmuel, though the society at the time was telling them that they are mortal enemies, become friends to the end. They end up hand in hand during the times that seemed the darkest for them. That is what Christ is for us, somebody who will walk with us during our darkest times, our brightest of times, the times inbetween and hold on to us, even during the times we cannot feel Christ there.

God and Creation, mainly humanity, are like the two boys. They sit opposite each other at a fence, and talk with each other, but are not allowed to be on the same side at the same time. Humanity is naïve about God’s world, much as Bruno is about Shmuel’s world. In order to close that gap that separates us from God, God sent us Jesus. “In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The Word was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through The Word, and without The Word not one thing came into being. What has come into being in him was life, and the life was the light of all people. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overcome it.” (Verses 1-5) “And the Word became flesh and lived among us, and we have seen his glory, the glory as of a father’s only son, full of grace and truth.” (Verse 14).

In order for God to fully understand us and to give us a chance to understand God, Jesus came. Jesus came to hold us and to show us the Light that shines in our darkness, and our darkness cannot overcome the light. Jesus came, full of grace and truth, that we might receive from his fullness, all of us, all of Creation, grace upon grace. Jesus came and became flesh just as we are flesh.

Jesus came…

Peace and Blessings.