The Dangers of Playing Airplane

Take a minute to consider the image above.

When your hands are wounded in the middle, as Jesus' hands were, you cannot work with them. When your feet are bound together, as Jesus' feet were, you cannot "go" with them. When "crown wearing" becomes an injury to you, as Jesus' crown of thorns was, you cannot delight in it. In this state the world will seek to pacify your complaints about it's ways with a "drug", as the world's soldiers did for Jesus, but only a drug offered at the end of a "ten foot pole". The world does not want to have com-passion, to "feel with" you, it wants to pity you from the aloof superiority of it's animal-like "survival of the fittest" mode of operation. If you do not accept it's drugs, it's pity, the world is compelled to reach out to you once again with a ten foot pole, as the world's soldiers did to Jesus, not to pacify you, but to pierce you and test how dead you really are.

I am not talking about grand scale events, I am talking about general every day interactions. These elements play out in all levels of interaction between the person "of the world" and the follower of Jesus.

The crucifixion of Jesus is not about "the way it was", but about "the way it is". The way that the world interacts with those on the path of Jesus. The crucifixion of Jesus is a representative case,

a literal presentation of a figurative reality. "Crucifixion" is "the way" of Jesus. This is why he said "Anyone who does not take up his cross and follow me cannot be my disciple." "Crucifixion" is an outlook on life, as Paul stated: "...far be it from me to boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world." (Gal 6:14). If Paul were to look at a Crucifix he would not say, "There hangs Jesus, who did it all", he would say, "There hangs Jesus and I, doing our thing".

When we realize that the true core of the works of our hands is self-serving, we will long to do "only the things we see the Father doing".

When we realize that all our running to and fro in the earth is to avoid the presence of God, we will seek to be bound to that presence.

When we realize that all our thoughts of superiority/judgement over others is self-delusion, we will find that type of thought painful (a crown of thorns).

The world that punishes and isolates a person for such things, will also seek to comfort that person with substances and vain pursuits to prevent them from rocking the boat and disturbing the world's pleasant, sleep-walking state of existence .

When the punished person does not accept the "drugs" offered to them, the world needs to investigate/interrogate more thoroughly, but it does not dare come within arms reach of the punished, just in case the disease may be contagious . Instead they probe the very heart of the victim with a "ten foot pole", to see if indeed this person truly is "through and though" what they claim to be.

It is said at the end of John's Gospel, that when the lance pierced Jesus' side, blood and water flowed out. Then it states that this was verified by an eye-witness, and that this eye-witness is trustworthy. Sounds like an important point, this: "water and blood" from the wound. Afterwards in the book of 1John, it says about Jesus: "This is he that comes by water and blood, not by water only, but by the water and the blood". Clearly this is referring back to the crucifixion in some way. The crucifixion of Jesus is the testing of Jesus by the world. Jesus proclaimed a death to self-centered living, and the world sought to know just how valid this "death" was. Upon inspection (piercing his side with the lance) it was found that at the heart of this man, at his core, there truly was divine inspiration, in other words, pure pursuit of God was "in his blood", just as anything may be said to be "in the blood" of a person. Secondly, along side that purity of motivation they found "water", the practical means of purification. Again, this is a figurative reality: Jesus, right to his very core, carried both the natural inner inclination and drive to serve God(the blood), and the practical method of cleansing the outward actions of man (the water). This is what was poured forth into the world when Jesus was pierced to his core, and it is what will pour forth from his follower when they are pierced to their core.

The way of Jesus is valid for these two reasons: It flows forth from a pure interior motive to seek God (symbolized by the blood), and it proclaims the practical method of external cleansing (symbolized by the water).

These two together are validated by the spirit of God (1Jhn 5:6), and this is either the dead end of the road, or the end of the runway at which we take flight.

Playing airplane like Jesus is dependent upon passing a pre-flight inspection. The "Tower" requires it before approval for take-off.

In the song below, you might see Major Tom as the seeker of higher things, Ground Control as the voice of the general population of the world. Major Tom is on a real journey into the unknown and at peace, yet he realizes that unlike himself, planet earth is "blue" (catch the double meaning) and there is nothing he can do about that. He senses fate's hand upon his journey (his spaceship knows which way to go). Ground Control has become very concerned about Major Tom because they have lost the ability to direct/influence him. Tom doesn't seem bothered by this, seeing as he has found weightlessness on his brave journey and no longer takes directions or bends to influence. In short, he is too busy playing airplane.