The Second Elephant

Most people have heard the story of the six blind men and the elephant. Each of them felt a different part of the elephant and came to a different conclusion about what an elephant was. The one who felt the trunk thought it was a snake, the one who felt the tusk thought it was a spear, the one who felt the ear thought it was a fan, the one who felt the leg thought it was a tree, the one who felt the side thought it was a wall, and the one who felt the tail thought it was a rope. Each was convinced that his idea about the elephant was correct and this led to constant arguments among them. The author of the story compared this with the way different people argue about their concept of God and are never able to come to an agreement.

Most people who read this story don't know of an event that happened to the blind men later. Someone else brought an elephant to the town where the men lived. However this was not a live elephant but a model elephant which was small enough for someone to hold in his hands. He heard about how the blind men were always arguing so he gave each of them an opportunity to examine his model elephant. As a result all six of the men finally came to an understanding of what an elephant was really like and this brought an end to their arguing.

Unfortunately it isn't possible for those who disagree about God to examine a small model of him and resolve their differences. Or is it?

The first chapter of John's gospel introduces someone called the Word who is also God. Verse 14 says that the Word became flesh and lived among us. Verse 17 identifies the Word as Jesus Christ. Jesus was actually God in human form and he said that anyone who had seen him had seen the Father also. Just as the blind men could understand what a real elephant was like by examining the model, we can learn what God is like by seeing what Jesus was like.