Many of you are probably familiar with the work of California-born zoologist Dian Fossey among the gorillas of Africa. It is hard to imagine that the mighty gorilla has become an endangered species, but thanks to senseless slaughter by poachers, it is true. Dian Fossey left her home in California to live for 18 years among these fierce creatures, studying them closely. Gradually the gorillas accepted and trusted her. From 1967 until 1985 she carried on her work. It was in 1985 that evidently at the knife of a poacher from whom Dian Fossey had tried to protect her animal friends, she was murdered.
It is a long way from California to the jungles of Africa. It is much farther from the throne of God to a stable in Bethlehem. Yet Christ made that journey in our behalf. When Robert Louis Stevenson retired to the Samoan Islands for his health he became to the natives of that island a kind of generous friend. Stevenson was concerned that there was only a path leading form the harbor of his island over which his new friends must walk in order to bring provisions to the interior. With his own money and personal efforts, Stevenson had a good road constructed for his people. In gratitude the Samoans called it, “the road of a loving heart.”
I know of another road of a loving heart, don’t you? A young boy came to a missionary’s side and said, “I love you and I want you to have this. He pulled from a straw basket the most beautiful shell the missionary had ever seen. As she admired its beauty, she recognized it as a special shell only found on the far side of the island, a half day’s walk from the village. When she confronted the boy with this, he smiled and said, “Long walk part of gift.”
Crucial to everything we believe as Christians is THIS truth… that God loved the world so much that he made that long walk to come from where He is to where we are. When it was impossible for us to reach out to Him, He reached out to us. There may be differences among Christians on a host of other things. We may be divided by theologies, how we baptize people, or what versions of the Bible we prefer. But on one point we all agree: God become flesh and dwelt among us. That is the incarnation, and again we must say… no incarnation, no inheritance.
[see also HolwickID #4515]