THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, December 16, 1995 TAG: 9512150049
SECTION: DAILY BREAK PAGE: E5 EDITION: FINAL
COLUMN: Issues of Faith
SOURCE: Betsy Wright
LENGTH: Medium: 84 lines
``SO WHEN ARE you going to convert?'' asked my friend and spiritual mentor, Gene Gee.
This was a few years ago and we were talking about Judaism. I'd been studying Judaism and, like Gene, who is a Methodist minister, had fallen in love with the Jewish faith.
``It's so beautiful, it's so loving and it makes so much sense,'' I said. ``It's just so very wise.''
``Yeah,'' Gene said with a twinkle in his eye, ``so when are you going to convert?''
``I would in a heartbeat, but you know the problem.''
``Yes, I think I do. What is the problem?''
Smart man that he is, Gene was forcing me to say the words. Forcing me, as he'd done a hundred times before, to confront my faith.
``It's the Jesus thing,'' I said. ``I just can't give up Jesus.''
I've thought of that conversation dozens of times since then, and lately it's been on my mind a lot.
Why now? Chalk it up to the double spiritual whammy of having a 7-month-old daughter and it being the Christmas season. Now, more than ever, I am struck by the awesome wonder that Almighty God would chose to humble himself by becoming a helpless, innocent baby.
When this happened, about 2,000 years ago, it wasn't God's first appearance on the planet. The Creator had walked in Eden with Adam and Eve and later been a burning bush for Moses.
This, however, was different. No majesty. No splendor. Just a baby.
What a great idea. Talk about your marketing genius. God chose to come to earth as something humans adore: a sweet, innocent little baby. As a mother, I can attest that nothing makes people smile quicker than a baby. Burly strong guys, grungy teenagers and grouchy old ladies all turn to jello when my little girl flashes her 2 1/2 pearly whites.
Babies are perfectly adorable. Perfectly lovable. Perfectly helpless and humble.
And yet, how often at this time of year do Christians really stop to reflect upon what God's coming to earth as a baby means? And isn't it this concept - that God, the holy, became Jesus, the human - that defines the Christian faith, separating it from it's parent faith of Judaism?
Christians believe that God chose to plant himself into the womb of a poor, unwed girl, going through the nine months of forming fingers and toes and ears and eyes.
Then there was the birth. Some schools of religious thought say there was no pain for Mary, no blood, no tears. They say it was an easier birth for both mother and child. I personally don't buy it. I believe God came into the world as do other babies. I believe the birth was like millions before and millions after. Tears mixed with laughter. Fear, pain, exhilaration, joy, exhaustion. Anguish for Mary. Trauma for God.
Finally, after all that, God drew his first human breath and smelled what? The warm stench of a barn.
You don't get more humble than that.
It is all this that makes me embrace Jesus so very much. In Jesus, God becomes totally accessible. In Jesus, God becomes as approachable as my innocent baby girl.
So now, does believing in a God who would humble himself to become human make me superior to those who cannot embrace this concept? Absolutely not. I once spoke to a rabbi about this. We agreed that the thing that I admire most about Judaism - it's ultimate reverence and respect for God - is the very thing that keeps Jews from accepting that God would become human. We also agreed that the thing that he admired most about Christianity - it's devotion to a deeply personal God - is the very thing that keeps Christians from accepting that God is too majestic to become human.
And so now, in this Christmas season, I come face-to-face with my faith. I have grown spiritually to love and respect the Jewish faith of Jeshua bar-Joseph and at the same time embrace Jesus the Christ, God incarnate, of my Christian faith. MEMO: Every other week, Betsy Mathews Wright publishes responses to her
opinion column. Send responses to Issues of Faith, The Virginian-Pilot,
150 W. Brambleton Ave., Norfolk, Va. 23510; call (804) 446-2273; FAX
(804) 436-2798; or send computer message via bmw(AT)infi.net. Deadline
is Tuesday prior to publication. Must include name, city and phone
number.
by CNB