A man becoming a bird is nothing compared to a God becoming a man. THe concept of a sovereign eternal being who created the universe, confining himslf to a human body was- and is- too mucjh for some people to believe. But how else could God communicate with us?

We don't know what God looked like as a man; no Gospel writer describe the physical appearance of Jesus. But in other ways, Mark painted a full picture of his humanity. Jesus who claimed to be a God, didn't have a supernatural "glow" about him. His own neighbors and family marveled that he seemed so, well, normal.

They were terrified and asked each other, "Who is this? Even the wind and the waves obey him!" -mark 4:41

American radio broadcaster Paul Harvey once told a modern parable about a religious skeptic who worked as a farmer. One raw winter night the man heared an irregular thumping sound against the kitchen storm door. He went to a window and watched a tiny, shivering sparrows, attracted  to the evident warmth inside, beat in vain against the glass.

Touched, the farmer bundled up and trudged fresh snow to open the barn door for the struggling birds. He turned on the lighgts and tossed some hay in the corner. But the sparrows, which has scattered in all directions when he emerged from the house, hid in the darkness, afraid.