We say of our blessed Lord that he is our example as well as our mediator. Yet He was God as well as man. What is this then but saying that of such consequence was it to the happiness of man that he should know how to behave himself as a creature, that it was necessary the Creator should take a created nature, and come Himself to show how to wear it?
- Fredrick William Faber, The Creator and The Creature
I can remember the first time I got a necktie for Christmas. It was an experience that inspired mixed emotions. On one hand I was impressed at receiving such a “grown up” gift, my dad had an entire rack full of them, there was something manly about them. On the other hand it was not a toy, I couldn’t “play” with it and thus it fell into the category of gifts (sweater vests, underwear and socks etc.) that were useful but not always met with as much enthusiasm as say a toy fire engine or a Millennium Falcon (from Star Wars). As I held the smooth silk necktie in my eight-year-old hands, it occurred to me that I had no idea how to wear the thing. I knew how to tie my shoes and buckle my belt but this was distinctly different from either of those processes. I looked at my grandpa and my dad and asked, “Who is going to show me how to tie it?” They looked at one another and said almost simultaneously, “I’ll bet Uncle Bob could show you that.” Uncle Bob was my Grandpa’s brother in law, he and my Aunt Fran had never had children, so Uncle Bob was entirely unaware of how difficult it might be to teach an eight year old how to tie a necktie. But Uncle Bob was a dapper dresser (he was in fact the only one wearing a necktie at a casual family gathering, most likely out of sheer habit), he enthusiastically launched into an explanation of the several different options for tying neckties, the full Windsor knot, the half Windsor knot… I was lost within minutes and couldn’t seem to manage anything that looked neat, smooth and triangular like his. Finally Uncle Bob caught on that the best way to teach me how to tie it was to untie his and have me do exactly what he did. We stood side by side at a mirror and in fairly short order we both had tidy, triangular, half Windsor knots. He had shown me how to wear it.
This story is similar to the process by which God tried to teach us how to behave as creatures. First God sent the Law, a set of written instructions, we bollixed those up fairly badly, God sent some prophets to try and get us to follow the instructions, we mocked, ignored and generally abused the prophets, finally God had to come in person and show us how we ought to behave. God created us with the capacity to do some very fine and wonderful things with our created natures but because of our sinfulness we were as flummoxed as an eight year old with a necktie. It wasn’t enough for God just to tell us how to use our body, mind and spirit, even with a good instruction manual the best we could ever do was operating at minimum standards. For us to fulfill our potential as beings that live fulfilled and happy lives in relationship to our creator it was necessary for God to “show us how to wear it.”
Christ is our example, from the time He was born to the time he was put to death and beyond, Jesus showed us how we ought to wear this created nature of ours. Jesus’ life was the example for us to follow, the one who we can stand next to in the mirror and imitate. His life was full of good times and bad, happiness and sadness, celebrations and times of mourning. His life was just like ours but without the sin. Jesus showed us how to wear it.
