Everything is Metaphor

I was reading about crucifixion today, and thoughts returned to me about the true ignominy of the cross. Crucifixion in the ancient world was not only a punishment of death, but a debasing form of public humiliation - the crucified would hang naked in public squares for all to see. This is how Jesus was put to death.

My mind soon turned back to Christmas and I thought of the manger, the first crib of baby Jesus. It was a feeding trough for animals, probably full of filth and excrement. I imagined the resourceful young Joseph, dumping it out and wiping it down with a cloth, finding the cleanest hay possible. Here, Mary. It’s the best I can find.

This is how Jesus was born.

I am amazed.

Loneliness can be a beautiful thing.

The scene moves me every time. Bruce Wayne, alone in the dark, awakens a million bats. He has feared these creatures his entire life, but today he has come to the cave to face them. As the bats swirl around him, Bruce rises to his feet, lifts his arms, and breathes in.  What once brought him terror has now become his home.

Let’s be honest for a second.  Facing and overcoming your fear is hard.  I think if I was Bruce Wayne, I would have dismissed my fear with excuses. This isn’t me. I don’t like bats. Forget it!  I’m doing something else. But Bruce chose to face his fear, embrace it, overcome it. Beyond that, he chose to become what he feared.

How natural, how comfortable it is, to lean on your excuses, to dismiss something you fear, say this isn’t me, and move on.  The question invoked in my mind from the image of Bruce Wayne is this: What could we become if we embraced our fears? What would our lives be like if we chose not to be afraid?