In order to understand and apply our text, we need to understand an ancient custom.  Long ago, a person might show deep sorrow or anger by grabbing hold of their robe, or whatever garment they were wearing, and tearing it.  We have many examples of this in the Bible.  We mention only a couple.  When Joseph’s brothers presented Joseph’s blood-stained coat of many colors to their father and told him the lie that Joseph must have been killed by a wild animal, Jacob grabbed his robe and tore it.  He was devastated! 

What were Adam and Eve’s physical capabilities before the Fall into sin?  It’s an intriguing question.  What was the human body capable of before sin?  Theories abound.  There is one theory that holds that before the Fall into sin our world had a hyperbaric atmosphere.  That means the air pressure would have been higher.  This would mean that Adam would have had super-oxygenated blood.  One result of this would be that Adam could have run great distances without getting tired.  That is only speculation!  But it is fun to think about.  Wouldn’t it be fun to run and run and run and never get winded?

Paul was nuts!  That’s what some people thought.  The miles he traveled around the northern Mediterranean countries, the zeal, the focus, the determination with which he proclaimed the kingdom of God, the sufferings he endured.  Who does that?  “He’s not right!”  That was the conclusion of some.  Paul addresses this in the verse before our text.  He wrote, If we are out of our mind, it is for the sake of God. (2 Corinthians 5:13) 

An interesting study could be made of this:  unexpected places we find the Son of God.  It might begin with what we just celebrated.  Who would ever expect to find the Son of God in the womb of a Galiean virgin?  Who would ever expect to find the Son of God wrapped in strips of cloth and lying in a manger?  But the study would not end there.  It would expand to include the early life of Jesus.  Who would ever expect the Son of God to be a villager in Nazareth? 

There is a hymn we sometimes sing at Christmas called “Of the Father’s Love Begotten.”  It is one of the older Christmas hymns in existence.  It dates from the 1200’s.  Long before people were singing “I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas” they were singing this hymn.  The tune of the hymn is called “Divinum mysterium.”  That is Latin.  It means “divine mystery.”  That is the way the coming of Jesus was described.