Thought for Today
Genesis 48:1 After this Joseph was told, "Your father is ill." So he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.
1 Kings 17:17 After this the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, became ill; his illness was so severe that there was no breath left in him.
Luke 7:2 A centurion there had a slave whom he valued highly, and who was ill and close to death.
John 11:2 Mary was the one who anointed the Lord with perfume and wiped his feet with her hair; her brother Lazarus was ill.
“A crick in the neck refers to sudden stiffness and pain in the neck and shoulder muscles, often caused by awkward movements or poor posture.” (Copilot search)
Yesterday and again this morning, I woke up with a crick in my neck. Actually, I woke up several times during the night because of that crick. Of course, obviously, the first thing that crick brought to my mind is Christology.
“Christology (From Gr. Christos, ‘anointed one,’ and logos, ‘study’) The study of the person and work of Jesus Christ.” (Westminster Dictionary of Theological Terms, pg. 48)”
In seminary we studied and talked about a ‘high’ Christology, focused on the divinity of Jesus and a ‘low’ Christology focused on the humanity of Jesus. Yesterday and today, I cannot help but wonder whether Jesus ever woke up with a crick in his neck.
It may seem like a silly, petty distraction from more serious questions and concerns; however, a fundamental precept of our faith is that Jesus, as the Christ, was both fully human and fully divine. At every stage of our own human lives, sore muscles, aches, pains, minor colds and so on are an inescapable part of our humanity. The Bible tells us about sicknesses and illnesses. Kings were sick, Patriarchs were sick, slaves were sick. Illness struck men, women, rich, poor indiscriminately.
Was Jesus himself ever sick? We do know that Jesus and the 12 traveled throughout Galilee, Judea and even Samaria. They almost assuredly spent numerous nights ‘on the road,’ sleeping outdoors without benefit of shelter from the elements and certainly without feather pillows. Did anyone ever get a crick in the neck? Did anyone ever have a cold? And if they did, what did they do about it? There were no OTC nostrums available. This was long before the discovery of aspirin. In my youth, aspirin was the default resource to deal with almost anything. Now, of course, we know the ‘dangers’ of aspirin. But, “What Would Jesus Do?”
Maybe cricks, colds, sore throats and headaches are the underlying causes of some of the stories in the Bible I find so puzzling. “Matthew 21:19 And seeing a fig tree by the side of the road, he went to it and found nothing at all on it but leaves. Then he said to it, "May no fruit ever come from you again!" And the fig tree withered at once.” Did Jesus have a crick in his neck from sleeping outside the night before? Is that why Jesus destroyed that fig tree?
I do find some comfort in imagining that Jesus understood my (admittedly minor) discomfort from that crick in my neck. We can all find comfort in the thought that Jesus has stood in the same circumstances as so often do we. Jesus understands our moods, our aches and pains because, like us, Jesus was fully human. As we ourselves sometimes put it, “Been there. Done that.”
Jesus knows our angers, frustrations, elations and aggravations . . . because Jesus was literally ‘one of us.’ As I thought about all of this yesterday and this morning, I remembered my late brother’s favorite song, Bridge Over Troubled Waters, by Simon and Garfunkel. Next time you have a crick in your neck . . . or anything else is getting you down, listen to those words of comfort and reassurance. Trivial as my pain in the neck is, I am comforted by those words, “I will dry them all/I'm on your side/I will comfort you/I'll take your part/Oh, if you need a friend/I'm sailing right behind” and especially, “Like a bridge over troubled water/I will ease your mind”
Stay safe, let Jesus be your bridge, trust God,
Pastor Ray