At that time the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Who is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?” And calling to him a child, he put him in the midst of them and said, “Truly, I say to you, unless you turn and become like children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. (Matthew 18:1-4, ESV)

I’m still reading the next book I’ll be reviewing (it’s a little slow, but I also have other business demanding my time just now). Last night I filled the void with talk about my work. Tonight I sink even lower – I’m going to write down my thoughts, such as they are.

Jordan Peterson’s most famous animal anecdote concerns lobsters. But he also talks about zebras, and what he says of them intrigues me.

He tells of some biologists in Africa, observing herds of zebras. They found it impossible to track any single animal. The moment you blink or glance away, you lose the individual. It disappears into the herd.

So the researchers tried marking them with paint.

The marked zebras were immediately chased down and killed by lions.

Because the zebra’s safety is found in the anonymity of the herd.

People, Peterson notes, used to wonder why zebras have stripes. Evolutionists suggested the stripes helped them blend into the tall grass. But that doesn’t work. Zebras stick out like hi-viz vests against the backdrop of tall grass.

No, what zebras blend into is not the grass, but the herd. Each individual gets lost to sight among all that chaos of stripes. It’s the individuals who stand out – either due to deformity or weakness or age (old or young) who get eaten. Individuals are lost, but the herd goes on and remains strong.

Which leads me to think about The World.

Growing up in a pietist church, I had clear ideas about what the World is. Drunkenness, and gambling, and questionable entertainment. The singleminded pursuit of money. Compromising one’s values to gain power and status.

But it occurs to me that, in a real sense, the World is the Herd.

The Herd is the place where safety is found in conformity. You do what the Herd does, and you maximize your chances of survival. Depart from the Herd, fail to conform, and you die.

And along comes Jesus saying,

Then Jesus told his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me. For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it. For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world and forfeits his soul? Or what shall a man give in return for his soul? For the Son of Man is going to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay each person according to what he has done. Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.” (Matt. 16:24-28, ESV)

Peterson likes to talk about this passage too, with a measure of fear and awe. As Bonhoeffer said in The Cost of Discipleship, “When Christ calls a man, He bids him come and die.”

That, I think, is what the Kingdom of God is – up until Christ’s return in power. A life lived outside the herd, a vulnerable life that rejects the sensibility of Herd existence. A living miracle that can only be sustained by supernatural power.