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Here we are, in 2008, and we are still (on Easter) reminded of how humanity changed with the arrival of one person, Jesus. When studying human history, says Erwin McManus at http://www.mosaic.org/podcast/, some people say we can gain accurate understanding by only focusing on music, art and dance. Others think it can be summarized by the transitions brought on by war. We see how Solomon constantly writes about trying to make sense of humanity as we all do. In Eccl 3:1, he says there is a time for everything. This is the dichotomy of this world; where one person experiences love at the same time another experiences hate. While one person can't stop laughing, another can't stop crying. One gains while another loses. Solomon is saying in Eccl that, if this is what we are left to, God has given us a burden of eternity that is greater than we can bear, leaving us the question in our minds that there is always something more. But he observes that we are usually the artists of tragedy, while God is the artist of beauty. We are damaged, irregular, mosaic pieces that God brings together to make beautiful. If we would allow God to interweave the peices of our lives, He can create something anew in us. God certainly did this with His Son and the tragedy of the crucifixion. One of the reasons I really appreciate McManus and his church, is that he relies heavily on the influence of art. At this point in his message, he plays a video that reflects the beauty of humanity (about a guy who buys some ruined flowers from a struggling vendor on the street). Not a word is spoken and this is followed by a ballet representation of the same. It is well worth watching!! "Have you ever gone to a museum or to an art gallery and really not know what the good stuff is?" We have to almost take cues from other people who are looking. We can also see the number of zeros at the bottom of the painting as well but many of us don't have the capacity or knowledge to truly appreciate the value of some over others. Being from El Salvador, Erwin talks about how, growing up, most of the meat he ate was always well done or burnt. "Latinos think carbon is a food group." The meat wasn't always good, so the bad stuff had to be burnt out. Later on, Erwin got a job at a steak house and he ordered a steak well done, but the cook refused to overcook it. When Erwin insisted, the cook was more insistent. Finally, the cook introduced to him "Medium Rare" and even said he would give Erwin two steaks, one medium rare and the other well done. The cook came out to watch him eat the steak. Erwin didn't want to eat what he wasn't used to, like the blood sitting on it. "I met God that day." Erwin had trained his mind that the carbon taste was the best taste for steak, but later found out that the worst pieces of steak were saved for the "well done" orders because there's no point in ruining the good meat!! Is it possible that we train our minds to not be able to appreciate the best? It's the same with coffee. Erwin's wife, Kim, wanted to go get coffee one day and, when Erwin started going towards Starbucks, she said she really had McDonald's coffee in mind. Even as she chided him to go to McDonald's, he kept heading towards Starbucks. But finally, he headed towards McDonald's. Long lines, variety, atmosphere and wireless access are the changes to plain coffee that the modern coffee stops introduced. Maybe this is same magnitude of change we could have missed with the arrival of Jesus Christ. In Isaiah 53:3 generations before Jesus, Isaiah gives a detailed description of what we were to expect from a Messiah. But one verse Erwin skips is verse 2, which describes a man that had no beauty or anything physically that would attract Him to us! How is it that the most beautiful thing we've ever witnessed came in the form of something that is described as something that wasn't? God is the source of all love and beauty, but Jesus had the countenance of "one who is to be despised". While we're here, it's possible that we are so used to living life in a world that is so inhumane that we have forgotten what it looks like to be truly human and we have forgotten that the very best in us can be awakened. In John 1, John describes how this man, Jesus, was God who walked among us in all of his beauty, but there were those who remained blind to Him. Erwin was reminded this Easter morning, how sometimes, it's tragedy that makes us finally realize beauty. When Thomas heard about Jesus in John 20:24, he said he would not believe until he put his hands in his wounds. When Jesus shows himself to Thomas, he then says "Blessed are those who have not seen but believe." Might we see the beauty in Christ without seeing? Years ago, Erwin remembers going to mass as seeing the figure of the crucifixion mounted high up. He later went to another church where he saw a cross, but no Jesus on the cross. He didn't understand why and asked a woman why "Jesus was missing". She said, "Oh, Jesus died on the cross, but he's not there anymore." For Erwin, that was the moment he felt that Jesus moved past the cross in his life. God brought life and hope out of death and despair. Are we still stuck on Friday, the day of the Cross? Or have we moved to the third day, past the the cross and past hell? When Jesus rose from the dead, he didn't remember how brutally we had killed him, but he did remember how we needed his forgiveness. On a Resurrection day like Easter, this is a perfect time to see the Resurrection of our Savior.