The McDonalds’ Logo

No. 10 - 16th October 2016

As I was coming out of Tesco onto Bell Farm Road, I glanced over to my right towards McDonald’s. It’s only a small, rather insignificant building, with the McDonald’s logo on the roof. But those two big golden arches tell a completely different story from the building itself. They represent a Brand value of more than 81 billion dollars. This fast food chain has about 36 thousand restaurants around the world with an annual turnover of almost twenty five and a half billion dollars. Who would have known that, just by looking at the squat little building on Bell Farm Road?

When people looked at Jesus, all they could see was a rather ordinary looking, Middle Eastern man in his early thirties. Yes, he was a lovely man and a great teacher, but behind that ordinary looking human being was something far greater. The miracles he was performing were like the two golden arches over the McDonald’s building. They told a completely different story. They were a sign that Jesus was part of a much bigger picture.

These days we rather devalue the notion of miracles. Leicester City winning the Premier League wasn’t a miracle, it was just unexpected. A miracle is an event that simply can’t be explained by natural or scientific laws. I’m talking about Jesus walking on water, raising the dead, making the blind see or just turning water into wine at a family wedding. Those sorts of things simply don’t happen in our world unless there’s something unique going on. One night, an elderly statesman came to see Jesus. He said, “We realise that you’re a teacher who has come from God. Because obviously no one could show the signs that you show unless God were with him.”

For me, the selfless life that Jesus lived, the miracles he performed and the claims he made about his unique relationship with God, all add up to the greatest proof we’re ever going to get, that God really does exist. (laugh) The next time I see the McDonald’s logo, I know what I shall be thinking about, and it won’t be a Big Mac.