Why Can’t We See God?

Another Way for week of December 22, 2023

Why Can’t We See God?

Last in this five-week series on Biblical women—and their babies.

It was a few weeks before Christmas. Santa Clauses were everywhere: on the street, at the mall, in the yard, on porches or roofs.

This was back in the day when I shuttled nursery-schoolers back and forth to school, taking turns with other moms.

On their ride home, out of the blue a boy named Brian announced, “I don’t believe in Santa Claus.” I began preparing my speech or response. But before I could propose an answer, Brian settled the matter for himself: “’Cause how could he come down a chimney?”

But Brian wasn’t done, and before I could come up with a viable response, his wonderful mind had linked this problem with another. Pausing, he looked at me with big, black, beautiful eyes. “Why doesn’t God come down?”

“You mean to earth?” I asked.

“Yeah,” said Brian.

“You mean, why can’t we see God?” At that, Brian solemnly nodded. This daycare was held in a church basement and I had just come from a long meeting at my office talking about the shape of Christian education and its future. Here was a teaching moment more valuable than the best planned Sunday school lesson. Here was a bright four-year-old asking the question of the ages, a question theologians and philosophers have pondered and debated.

We were already at his stop. I put my van in “park” and gave him a big smile. “That’s a wonderful question, Brian, one that lots of people think about.”

Then I tried to put into brief, simple words that God did come down to earth in the form of baby, Jesus. But Jesus had to go back to live with God and that now, we can’t see Jesus anymore, except in the form of loving, sharing things people do for each other. That seemed to satisfy him as he hopped out of the van.

***

When the angel Gabriel popped in at Mary’s home over 2000 years ago, her questions must have gone way beyond a four-year-old’s musings. Indeed, the first question she asked was “How will this happen?” She knew her own life to that point and the angel assured her that “With God, nothing is impossible.”

***

Many of us have questions like Brian. As we reflect briefly on the mysterious appearance of an angel, and how and why Jesus came to earth, we wonder, why Mary? Why, of all the hundreds of thousands or maybe millions (population estimates vary from 170,000,000 to 300,000,000 people in the world when Jesus was born), why was Mary picked to give birth to the baby Jesus?

Everyone in the Jewish community knew full well that a Messiah had been promised to come among them. They knew from scriptures that God had promised this, and every young woman growing up (and her parents) wondered if she would be the one to birth this promised baby. I like the way Matthew 1:23 puts it in the New Life Version, quoting the prophet Isaiah: “The young woman, who has never had a man, will give birth to a son. They will give him the name Immanuel. This means God with us.”  

God is a mystery and we do not understand how the very special person who grew up to be Jesus came into being, but Mary was chosen for whatever reason. And the world has never been the same.

I hope you and yours had a blessed Christmas. God is with us! And our prayers go out to all those suffering illness, war, famine. This Christmas season (which goes to January 6), let us share with others and pray for an end to all war.

Amen.

***

Share your thoughts! Contact me at Another Way, P.O. Box 363, Singers Glen, VA 22834, or email anotherwaymedia@yahoo.com.

Get ready for an announcement early next week.

Another Way is a column by Melodie Davis, in syndication since 1987. She is the author of ten books, most recently Memoir of an Unimagined Career. Another Way columns are posted at FindingHarmonyBlog.com a week after newspaper publication.