Wednesday, April 7, 2004
Wednesday, April 7, 2004
But our citizenship is in heaven, and it is from there that we are expecting a
Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
(Philippians 3.20
NRSV)
Notice I did not say in the guise of a humble carpenter. I said in the life of this carpenter. Jesus was not God masquerading as a man. No, God emptied Himself and became fully human when Christ was born in the manger of Bethlehem. He cried real tears, and sweat real sweat and bled real blood. He was a real man, and yet God was in Him, "reconciling the world unto Himself."
Thus Jesus was more than just another hero. Heroes come and go. Want to hear an absurd statistic? There was a poll that caught my attention. It was by the Social Science Research Institute at the University of Tennessee, surveying 1,077 people concerning how they felt about the deceased rock-and-roll star, Elvis Presley. It found the following startling results: Twenty per cent of those interviewed believe Elvis never disobeyed his parents. Seven percent believe he never told a lie. Amazing!
Jesus was more than just another hero, more than another great teacher, more than a dedicated martyr. He was all these things, of course, but more. He was God emptying Himself and taking on himself our suffering, our sin.
Dear God, forgive me and fill my heart with Jesus my savior. Amen.
