incarnating into an aquarium

Here is a quote from Philip Yancy’s brilliant The Jesus I Never Knew. It highlights the radical nature of the Incarnation. (HT to Anthony Adams.)

‘I learned about incarnation when I kept a salt-water aquarium. Management of a marine aquarium, I discovered, is not an easy task. I had to run a portable chemical laboratory to monitor the nitrate levels and the ammonia content. I pumped vitamins and antibitotics and sulfa drugs and enough enzymes to make a rock grow. I filtered the water through glass fibers and charcoal, and exposed it to ultraviolet light. You would think, in view of all the energy expended on their behalf, that my fish would at least be grateful. Not so. Every time my shadow loomed above the tank they dove for cover into the nearest shell. They showed me one “emotion” only: fear. Although I opened the lid and dropped in food on a regular schedule, three times a day, they responded to each visit as a sure sign of my designs to torture them. I could not convince them of my true concern.

To my fish I was deity. I was too large for them, my actions too incomprehensible. My acts of mercy they saw as cruelty; my attempts at healing they viewed as destruction. To change their perceptions, I began to see, would require a form of incarnation. I would have to become a fish and “speak” to them in a language they could understand.

A human being becoming a fish is nothing compared to God becoming a baby. And yet according to the Gospels that is what happened at Bethlehem. The God who created matter took shape within it, as an artist might become a spot on a painting or a playwright a character within his own play. God wrote a story, only using real characters, on the pages of real history. The Word became flesh.’

January 1, 2008 | Filed Under following jesus, incarnational mission |  

Comments

7 Responses to “incarnating into an aquarium”

  1. don woolley on January 1st, 2008 1:52 pm

    beautiful. thanks and Happy New Year!
    His, don woolley
    Jesus Tribe
    http://www.jesustribe.org

  2. bjoern Wagner on January 1st, 2008 8:38 pm

    Thanks Alan! Good Quote. And a happy new year! I am looking forward to you coming to germay this year!
    :-)

  3. Erik on January 2nd, 2008 6:08 am

    Thanks Alan! Inconceivable to human thought but beautiful to the Soul! I have a bit of a photographic memory so in reading this again it took me back to all the emotions and internal “stuff” that I worked through while reading Yancey’s ‘The Jesus I Never Knew’. Thank You again and Happy New Year!

  4. steven hamilton on January 2nd, 2008 11:29 pm

    what a great illustration for incarnation! thanks…

  5. Fred on January 4th, 2008 4:24 am

    Great quote. May we continue to be full of wonder at God becoming man.

  6. Matt Stone on January 5th, 2008 12:41 am

    Oh dear, Ive managed to kill off most of my fish lately. Only have one left. He must think I’m a very vengeful god :-)

  7. Eduardo Buck Schmidt on January 18th, 2008 1:11 am

    Thanks so much for this quote. It made me realize that I had this book, but had never read it. I dusted it off, and I really enjoyed it.

Leave a Reply




Comment spam protected by SpamBam

Copyright © 2008 The Forgotten Ways • Linear WordPress Theme • Powered by WordPress • Maintained by Noble Design