Unimaginable Culture Shock
It is a blessing to participate in Bible classes that are both doctrinally sound and practical. I’ve recently had that privilege. To me, it is always an added bonus when the teacher gets me to think of something I had not really previously considered and/or helps me to consider something from a new perspective.
That was the case recently when the teacher was discussing what was actually a minor part of the lesson for that day. While that may have been the case, this point that he made almost in passing has occupied a major part of my thinking since hearing it. I may never “get over it.” In fact, I really hope that I don’t.
The teacher was discussing how incomprehensible the beauty and grandeur of heaven must be. He did not attempt to describe the indescribable. He just asked the class to try to imagine the unimaginable.
After doing this, the teacher made the statement that is still swirling around in my mind. I may not remember it verbatim, but I do remember the gist of it and the impact it made on me. The statement was somewhere along the lines of:
Can you imagine the culture shock that Jesus must have experienced when He came to earth?
For some people, “culture shock” may be only the subject of a discussion. There are others who have actually experienced it.
It has been over thirty years since I stepped off of a commercial jet and was confronted with (it would not be too much of a stretch to say assaulted by) sights, sounds, and smells that were very foreign to me. The climate in this nation was totally different from what I was used to. The people didn’t look like me. I had never heard the language they spoke. In fact, during the time I spent in this nation, I heard more than one language. I had never heard – or even heard of – most of those languages.
During the time that I spent in this country, I experienced living conditions, foods, customs, and so many other things that were very different to me to say the least. Even the season of the year was different than it was “back home.”
While I longed to be in a familiar environment, I realized that I had volunteered to spend some time in an environment that was totally foreign to me. I also realized that my reason for being there was to bring a message to the people there that was foreign to a great many of them. I was there to tell them about the One who left an environment with which He was familiar to bring to all people the hope of living with Him and His Father in that place with which He was/is so familiar.
We sing a song sometimes which contains these words:
He left the splendor of heaven
Knowing His destiny
Was the lonely hill of Golgotha
There to lay down His life for me.
I know that there is absolutely no comparison between my experience and that of the Lord when He left heaven and came to earth, but I am eternally grateful that He did. There are so many reasons to be thankful for that. The culture shock He experienced is just one of them.
An almost offhand comment by a Bible class teacher helped me to increase my appreciation for Jesus. Maybe it will do the same for you.
AUTHOR: Jim Faughn
