Original Blessing: Noticing Behavior

One morning before getting out of bed, my wife, who was looking out the window, asked me "Is that a creeper or a nuthatch?" She started to describe the color markings of the bird, but I responded with a question that I hoped would make the identification simple, "What is it doing?" I asked. Unfortunately, the answer was "going up the tree," which didn't limit the options. Had the bird been going head first down the tree, it could only have been a nuthatch. Although the practice is typically called bird watching, a lot of bird identification involves more than visual cues. As in this case, the bird's behavior can help in determining what species it is.

Using behavior in decision making is a good principle to apply to other areas of life as well. Regarding the judgment of others, the Bible reminds us that "by their fruits you will know them." Or in secular terms, the corollary of "don't judge a book by its cover" is good advice regarding the importance of taking note of behavior. We must also be careful when observing behavior not to be too quick to pass judgment even then.

You have probably seen Canada Geese flying in their common V formation. Flying this way puts the burden on the leader while reducing the drag experienced by the other geese in the formation by nearly three quarters! But have you ever watched long enough to see that the geese change leaders? This is a fine lesson is leadership and teamwork taught to us by nature. If you have watched spent time observing this behavior, you will also know that it is often accompanied by a lot of honking. If you or I were driving in traffic doing that much honking our intention would be pretty clear, and it would be far from positive. But how likely is it that the geese the rear are complaining about the goose in the lead? It is much more likely that they are honking as a form of gratitude and encouragement: another lesson from nature, this time about the risk of a rush to judgment.
Or consider a common behavior of crows, mobbing. Perhaps you have seen it. Often it starts with a single crow cawing loudly and repeatedly while swooping down on a perched bird. Sometimes it is hard to see the bird being mobbed. Soon other crows join in the fray. Eventually the bird being mobbed flies off the perch. The curious way that this behavior aids in identification is that if the mobbed bird flies out into open space then it is likely a Red-tailed Hawk. If the bird drops down and into the woods then it is more like a Great Horned Owl. Sure, it could be other species but these are the ones that typically are mobbed by crows, other birds of prey are more typically mobbed by other species, Blue Jays mobbing Barred Owls, for example. The purpose of mobbing is to drive out the predator who is likely to target the young on the nests of the mobbing birds.  There is irony in the crows’ behavior since they are sometimes the mobber and sometimes the mobbee as they are known to rob the nests of smaller birds. What goes around comes around.
Once again, we are on shaky ground should be try to pass judgment. Is the crow the hero for protecting its young or villain for preventing the hawk or owl from feeding their young?  Regardless of opinion, they are all just doing what they are hard-wired to do. They are doing what is in their nature.  Is that nature good or evil? It is complicated, isn’t it? And what about human nature?  It is good or evil? Is our behavior pre-determined and hard wired? How free is free will? It is complicated, isn’t it? So perhaps we should see what the Bible says.

Most of us probably believe that Bible teaches that we are born as sinners, born with what has been called original sin. That doctrine was first expressed by Augustine in the Fourth Century. So what did Christians believe for the more than 300 years before that insight? Likely they were not of one mind.

If you read the story of the Fall, in the third chapter of Genesis, as prescriptive then there is little hope for human nature, and God is in the cursing business because of what our ancestors did. We start the race with a handicap, leaving no hope unless this cursing God chooses to forgive and bless. But if you the story as descriptive then we can see the predicament without judgment: we are curious by nature, hardwired to seek knowledge, ethical decision-making is in our DNA. What is God to do with creatures like this? It is complicated isn't it?

Jesus wants us to understand that this loving God is, always has been, and always will be in the blessing business. Picture the scene where people fretting over the concerns of life have gathered around Jesus. They are feeling that God not only is not coming to intervene but is the very cause of the problems! Then a bird flies by and Jesus says, "Look! See that bird? Does it look worried? Does it look insignificant to you?" Then he pauses, and people start wondering. They think, "Why yes, I suppose it is worried, why shouldn't it be? And well yes, it is just a tiny insignificant bird lost in the flock of so many more. It is hardly worth my attention." But Jesus turns the story upside down telling them that that bird is carefree in the care of God. God not only notices, but God cares, and God provides. And guess what, God is not so busy caring about the little things that God would overlook the big thing that is you!

God is not in the cursing business. God is in the business of paying attention, showing up, providing, and caring. Perhaps it is high time that we stop limiting our knowledge by accepting a theology of original sin, instead learning the eternal story from the birds of the air and the flowers of the field that every little thing is going to be all right because of God's original blessing.