both/and

This April we will be celebrating my youngest son’s third birthday. As clichéd as it sounds I must say, “It seems like just yesterday...” As with all my kids, the events leading up his birth are stamped into my brain. Like for example the day we had the ultrasound that would tell us the gender of our new little sea monkey.

With two boys and a girl already bouncing around our house, we were somewhat hopeful for another girl to balance things out. Yet, like most parents we were mostly concerned with having a healthy human being. Therefore we weren’t particularly invested one way or the other when it came to the sex of our wee one.

Arriving at the doctor's office we were quickly shuttled into our private screening room. Shortly after shellacking Julie’s expanding belly with jell-o they were able to get a picture of our baby. At least that's what we were told. Parents will tell you though that the image they point to looks decidedly not human. In fact what I saw looked mostly like a three dimensional Rorschach test.

“Congratulations Mr. and Mrs. Thomas, you're the proud parents of an inkblot.”

The doctor then proceeded to point out in specific detail the many physiological reasons we would be having a girl. “If you look here, and here, you will see clearly that you will be having a girl.” His rationale was solid; and not having experience reading inkblots, we assumed he was correct. That was until he left and the lead nurse came in. Walking purposely over to the ultra-sound machine and glancing at the results she declared, “Congratulations on your new baby boy.”

“What?” we say. “The doctor told us it was a girl.”

“Hmm. He did?” she replies. “That’s not what I’m seeing.” “It’s pretty clearly a boy.”

Again, we are taken through the 7th grade health class anatomy lesson detailing all the obvious reasons why we are having a boy. Now we are concerned. Two different specialists have presented clear arguments that are mutually exclusive. Either it’s a boy or a girl. The doctor and the nurse cannot both be right. It’s either one or the other. Both can’t be true.

“Either or” is a big deal for us as humans. Either you are male, or female. Either you are here, or there. Either yes or no. Either you like it, or you don’t. Either you prefer country, or you enjoy actual music.

“Will you marry me?” The options are either yes, or no. There is no middle ground. There is no allowing for both/and. We expect answers with clearly defined edges. We either want the veal piccata or chicken marsala. We don't want both. We want one or the other. Either this, or that. The idea of yes and no is troubling. We generally don't have room in our practical philosophy for things that are "this" and "that". Two plus two is four. It is not four and nine. Interestingly enough though, the concept of mutual exclusivity existing in literal harmony is at the core of who God is.

For in Christ lives all the fullness of God in a human body. Colossians 2:9

Don't let yourself gloss over the craziness of that verse. Too often, we pass through scripture like pushing a cart through a grocery store isle. The products we pass mostly fade into the background until we find the one item we are looking for. Resist the temptation to shuffle by this verse on your way to a "better" one. Albert Barnes' notes on the New Testament says this of Colossians 2:9, "The meaning is, that it was not any one attribute of the Deity that became incarnate in the Saviour; that he was not merely endowed with the knowledge, or the power, or the wisdom of God; but that the whole Deity thus became incarnate, and appeared in human form." The incarnation of Christ confronts all of us with a profound and absurd both/and.

This is one of many reasons why Jesus is difficult to grasp. Was he a man? Was he God? The answers don't fit neatly into our human, four dimensionally cemented minds. How can Jesus, a man whose mother wiped his poopy bottom, also be the Creator of the cosmos? How can the omnipotent, omnipresent God of the universe, be a man who was tired and worn out often from the crowds of people that followed him? Yet it is this duality of his nature that makes him worthy of our service, sacrifice and devotion.

The incarnation proclaims to all creation the worthiness of Christ. He is not like the fictional god's of Olympus. Sitting high, mighty and removed from the dirt, pain and toil of their creations. He is not just a man like countless other men before him spouting high ideals, platitudes and knowledge of the divine.

I and the Father are one. John 10:30

Through the incarnation we a see a God full of love and compassion for his creation, one who taught us how to love and be compassionate to others;  one who unites Himself with us so that you and I can go beyond what we are capable of;  in the Incarnation Jesus has come as both God and Man to lead us to God, to an intimate union with God.

For God in all his fullness was pleased to live in Christ, and by him God reconciled everything to himself. He made peace with everything in heaven and on earth by means of his blood on the cross. Colossians 1:19-20