Today, I've been thinking about how ordinary Jesus was. There was nothing about him that would draw attention. He wasn't movie-star handsome, he wasn't tall or short or popular. He wasn't in a band and he certainly wasn't rich. He didn't drive a nice car, or chariot or even have the nicest donkey on the lot. He also didn't treat others well or with kindness because they had something to offer him. He chose the weak, the broken, the outcast, the sinner. Others who, by circumstance or design or choice were of no reputation. Cast asides. The unlovelies. He didn't make grand gestures about how magnanimous he was for proffering his time or attention to someone of low estate. He simply did it because he, by nature, was love personified. He could see to the depth of their spirit, he found value in what we would consider mundane or broken or ugly. In contrast, he saw ugliness in pretension, in grandiosity, in the misuse and abuse of those who were weak or vulnerable. He not only saw them as lovely, he promoted them, encouraged them, and ultimately used them to turn the world upside down.
This particular issue is a hot button for me, it is a sore and painful spot on my wounded, human heart. I have often felt that I was the one overlooked. The unimportant. The ordinary. But I have to ask myself this: who in my path have I neglected, overlooked or swept aside because I didn't see them with Jesus' eyes? Sometimes I think we see people as commodities. We rank them in terms of what they can offer us rather than as an innately valuable creation. So I ask myself, "Who have I failed to show Jesus to? Who have I overlooked or deemed useless?". This isn't a small question. This is, in reality, the working out of my faith practically. I can say or teach or quote whatever I like, but if I don't have the genuine love of Jesus towards the least among us, I'm just another theory, loud and in your face. This love, this amazing, encompassing, transforming, believing, hoping love if Jesus is not in me.
The miraculous thing thing about Jesus is that he not only asks me to love like he does, to see people like he does,but he promises to equip me to do it. Because he IS love, and he has taken up residency inside of me, I can access his incredible, unfailing love at any moment. He also promises that he will transform me into his likeness. What will that look like? Quiet moments with him as he speaks his love over me, as he rejoices over me with singing. Not because of who I am, but because of who he is. He will give me his very own heart in exchange for my heart of stone. Little by little, day by day, he chips away at my pride, my insecurity, my doubt and my sadness and he replaces it with his very own heart. Soft and made of flesh, beating out a quiet, steady rhythm of redemption, forgiveness and wholeness. I can love because he loves me. It is all for him, by him and through him.
So he is making me soft-hearted when I have always taken pride in my stony heart. It's safer inside a heart of stone. People can be scary. For a person like me who feels each insult or unkind word to the core of my being, it is the ultimate trust exercise with the Lord. People can be ugly and hurtful, but also beautiful and miraculous. God made us in his image, after all, and he is glorious. And so, I started with how ordinary Jesus was, and I end with how glorious Jesus Christ is; the one who was and is and is to come. He alone can change my heart, he alone is worthy of my trust and devotion. He can and will change my heart to look more like his, and he will hold my hand through each up and down that comes with opening myself up to his most glorious creation, people.
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