As you might well know, I grew up on a dairy farm northwest of the Twin Cities (Minneapolis and St. Paul, MN). The farm’s acreage was just enough to sustain the needs of a dairy herd of 100 animals. A 1600-pound cow in full milking production can put away a LOT of roughage (hay and corn silage). Therefore crop husbandry was as important as animal husbandry. High-quality alfalfa crops were essential.
Alfalfa fields are a favorite of pocket gophers.
Pocket gophers are small rodents that live underground in burrows they dig. The burrows can be quite elaborate, with tunnels and chambers. Their favorite habitat is grasslands, thus their attraction to hayfields. They’re not very big – about 6ish inches long with brownish/gray fur. Their cheeks have special “pockets” or pouches where they can store food for transporting to storage chambers in their burrows.
As herbivores, pocket gophers thrive on roots, especially the substantial roots of legumes like alfalfa. Rarely do they surface. One of the most distinctive features of pocket gophers is their burrowing lifestyle. They are excellent diggers and create an intricate network of underground tunnels and chambers. These burrows serve as their homes, providing protection from predators and a controlled environment for raising their young. The mounds they create are depositories resulting from their underground feats of engineering.
A typical alfalfa field’s life expectancy is 6-7 years. Once the alfalfa plant population is significantly diminished, a hayfield is plowed up and rotated with crops like corn that thrive on the residual nitrogen produced by the alfalfa.
Though the gopher’s main chambers are several feet below the surface, when plowing an old hayfield, the plow would invariably cut across the more shallow tunnels. Every once in a while, a gopher would tumble out of its tunnel into the furrow created by the plow, unable to see (bright light!), and find its way back to the tunnel.
One time I was plowing and looked back to see one such gopher frantically trying to find its way back to safety. Having a big heart that day, I decided to stop the tractor and walk back to see if I couldn’t help the gopher find its way, to rescue it. First I provided protection from the sun which I thought would be helpful, but it was not. As my shadow cast over the little guy revealing my relatively immense stature, he became increasingly frantic.
So I tried to explain that I was there to save him and (pointing) could show him the way back to his tunnel. Apparently, he didn’t understand English and instead, he ran in the opposite direction. To no avail, I called out to him that he needed to turn around, that he was going the wrong way.
Recently I was reading the Apostle Paul’s letter to the early Church in Philippi. He was admonishing them to live in humble unity and to do that they might want to have the same mindset as Christ Jesus…
Let your attitude to life be that of Christ Jesus himself. For he, who had always been God by nature, did not cling to his privileges as God’s equal, but stripped himself of every advantage by consenting to be a slave by nature and being born a [human being].
(Philippians 2:5-7, JB Phillips New Testament)
What were Jesus’ privileges as God’s equal to which he did not cling in becoming a human being? For starters, he was omnipresent. He could be anywhere, anytime, all the time. He gave up his privileges as God’s equal, confined himself to the womb of one of his creation, birthed through a tiny canal into an environment that was 50ish degrees colder than the womb. Like every other human being, he needed to have his diaper changed, cried when it wasn’t, learned to feed himself, learned to walk, etc., etc. As an adult, he was limited to walking everywhere he went – at 3 miles/hour.
As God’s equal, Jesus was omnipotent. Relegated to a human body, he was susceptible to disease just like any other human, far from omnipotence. He needed nourishment and rest, just like any of us. He was at times exhausted and emotionally stretched. Though he healed many, he couldn’t heal everyone. What was it like for him to have to walk away from people in need?
And, of course, as God’s equal he was omniscient. He gave that up, for sure. His baby brain contained the same amount of knowledge as any other baby. He likely went to Torah school, learning the story of God along with his playmates. His brain became filled with the wonders of God (Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and man – Luke 2:52). Jesus was in constant contact with God (think prayer) learning and discovering the vocation to which he was called.
What’s this got to do with a gopher? If I really cared enough about that gopher to rescue him and show him the way, I would have needed to give up my privileges as a human being and become a gopher. I would have relegated myself to living underground on a diet of alfalfa roots, risking getting plowed up every once in a while. But I like pizza and sunlight. I wasn’t at all willing to give up my privileges as a human being for the sake of a gopher.
When it comes to gophers, I apparently don’t have the same attitude as Jesus!
Practical Theology Today 