72 - The body of evidence 

The incarnation clarifies why lock down is not natural for humans. The incarnation teaches us that the second person of the Trinity, the Son, took a real body to come and live amongst us. It was necessary for Jesus to dwell as a real man among us and not to remain in heaven. This was not only that he might come and die for our sins at the cross, but also so that we might have God tabernacle amongst us, witness his wonderful deeds, share common experience (and he ours) and experience the son of God close- up and personal.

That apostle felt it necessary to say, 'that which we have looked at and our hands have touched— this we proclaim...' 1 John 1:1

The Bible could not have anticipated the technology we have now, but it placed the highest value upon physical presence. Who knows what the emotional and psychological fallout will be from doing life remotely? People are certainly worried about the effect on mental health. While there are some perks, it is also deeply flawed as a long term strategy. As I said in a past post, it is life support, rather than real life.

Consider how physical we are as humans. Many people will acknowledge how much they need touch. We eat food to survive, which is a physical process. We consummate marriage with sex. We mourn both the physical loss at death as well as the emotional loss of the person. We treasure our bodies. We connect in communication by making eye contact and seeing each other face to face. But that is partly because of what it says. It says "you matter to me" and "I'm giving you priority." We can never say that in the same degree through a zoom chat.

And God has promised to transform our lowly bodies and give us new resurrection bodies. So there will be a bodily resurrection. I say again, bodily presence must really matter to the Lord.

The incarnation teaches us that God thought it wasn't enough to communicate at a distance. And this is partly why we should mourn not being together at the moment. And it is why we must resolve to pursue real community— fellowship— in church, when we have opportunity.