When Apollo 11 neared the moon in July 1969, the editors of the New York Times felt their coverage of the first step on lunar soil should go beyond headlines and photos to embrace an achievement shared by all humanity. So they asked Pulitzer Prize-winner Archibald MacLeish to write a poem. The day after Neil Armstrong and Edwin Aldrin Jr. walked on the moon, the front page contained these words:
“You are a wonder to us,…..a light beyond our light, our lives——-perhaps a meaning to us…..our hands have touched you in your depth of night.”
That day, through the hands of others, we touched the moon.
The apostle John wrote some memorable words about an even more significant historical event—-the visit of God’s Son to this planet. He wrote, “That which was from the beginning….which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled” (1 John 1 v 3). As surely as John held Him in the flesh, we can grasp the Son of God through faith.”
Isn’t the moon sometimes simply fantastic? The reflection on the sea is beautiful and it is difficult at times to realise that a human has walked on the surface of it. An even bigger step than the first step on the moon was when Jesus came to earth. Let’s thank God that because Jesus came to us we can come to Him.