The movie, A Patch of Blue, is a 1965 film. In it, a young, blind, uneducated white girl and an old well educated black man are friends. In a moving scene, the girl speaks to her friend, “Old Paw, what’s green like?” Irritated, he answers: “Green is green, stupid. Now stop asking questions.” There follows a poignant scene in which the young girl claws the grass with her hands and gently rubs a leaf against her cheek, trying to experience the reality of “greenness”.
That is a parable of the human situation. We want to know why and what. We spend energy and time analyzing and trying to explain. God has helped us here. When He got ready to communicate His greatest idea, He took that idea and wrapped it in a person. That’s the meaning of the Incarnation.
Most of us know the power of an idea whose time has come. We know, also, that the most powerful ideas are communicated not by words, but by actions; not through the elaboration of principles, but through the examples of persons.
We have seen that dramatically demonstrated in recent weeks by Alexei Navalny, Russia’s most prominent critic and opposition leader of President Vladimir Putin. He ran for president against Putin in 2018, though barred from that election. He was poisoned, believed by most, by the government in Moscow. Very sick from the poisoning. he went to Germany. Five months later he returned to Russia, January 17, though he had been warned that if he came back he would be arrested.
The plane on which he was returning was diverted to another airport at the last minute because crowds of his supporters had gathered where he was supposed to land. His return is hugely important to people who oppose Putin. Many Russians have left Russia because of the repressive political climate. Navalny could easily have stayed in exile, but now he’s giving a signal that his place is in Russia, and he sees himself as a future leader of the country. He was arrested and jailed immediately on his return, and has been sentenced to two years and eight months in a penal colony. He is demonstrating his commitment by his willingness to suffer whatever comes. That’s the reason his followers gathered to welcome him, and 4,400 of them were also arrested.
Most of us know the power of an idea whose time has come. We know, also, that the most powerful ideas are communicated not by words, but by actions; not through the elaboration of principles, but through the examples of persons. The old poem stated that truth simply:
The eyes a better pupil
And more willing than the ear,
Fine counsel is confusing
But examples always clear.
There is also a line in the poem which says, “I’d rather see a sermon than to hear one any day,” I’m not going to quit preaching, but I am going to remember the truth that Navalny is demonstrating in Russia. Ideas have to be acted out.