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What if God was one of us?

Philip A. Gunther

Some years ago, Joan Osborne was vaulted onto the world stage with her song “One Of Us?” In it she asks the question: “What if God was one of us?” Her song moves listeners to envision a God who knows our hurts and longings, a God who can identify with the things that make up our everyday lives. Perhaps unintentionally, Osborne’s song communicates her own longing for a personal God, a God not “out there” somewhere but one right here with us.

As I listened to Osborne’s song, I immediately planned how I could witness to her apparent longing for a personal God. What surprised me, however, was a nagging feeling that I myself had lost a sense God’s historical incarnation and what that meant for my everyday life. I wondered if the cosmic mystery of the Christmas miracle had become something coldly routine.

I began thinking afresh of what it meant for the Creator of starfish and stars to suit up in mortal garb and become like me. I tried to imagine what He would have thought of His first attempts to walk or talk. What would He have been thinking when His flesh-and-blood human garment showed its first signs of weakness – a bruised knee, a cut finger or a sore throat? What deliberations must have been going on in His mind when He realized His need for food, water and shelter? I can only imagine His struggle with a full slate of human emotions – love, anger, joy. What kind of inner battle did He encounter with temptation and evil?

The Christmas good news is that God did become like one of us. The Bible proclaims that God appeared in a body, took on human likeness and made His dwelling among us. The Message Bible expresses it this way: “The Word (Jesus) became flesh and blood and moved into the neighbourhood (John 1:14).”

Maybe I’m the only Christian who is having such contemplations, but haven’t you ever wondered what life in Jesus’ neighbourhood was like? Thankfully, the Bible allows us to get a glimpse of what being one of us entailed for Jesus. We are told that Jesus experienced hunger after fasting in the wilderness. He experienced weariness from a long journey through Samaria. He experienced violent abuse after His arrest. He experienced thirst during His crucifixion. He experienced death through the most hideous form of torture known at the time. Physically, He was like one of us.

At the death of His friend Lazarus, Jesus wept. Angry at the abuse of the temple by moneychangers, Jesus chased these charlatans out into the streets. Often, when seeing the hurting throngs of people before Him, He expressed compassion. Judas Iscariot and Peter, both trusted disciples, betrayed Him. At His trial and when He was on the cross, people insulted, mocked and ridiculed Him. At the threshold of death, Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” (Matthew 27:46). Emotionally, Jesus was like one of us, able to experience heartache.

Before His ministry on earth even began, Jesus encountered the temptations of the devil. There were other moments when He faced the temptations of wealth, power and fame, temptations to travel a path other than the one to the cross. The Bible captures Jesus’ encounter with temptation as follows: “For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet was without sin” (Hebrews 4:15). When it comes to being tempted, Jesus was like one of us.

In short, Jesus did live within our limitations. God does know what we experience. I can’t help but be overwhelmed by the implications of God’s profound act of incarnational love.

Rolling Stone magazine’s review of Joan Osborne’s song claimed that the lyrics encouraged people to “imagine a God as hurt as any human”. The message of the Christian faith is that we no longer have to imagine such a miracle – it has already taken place. This December, I invite you to hear in a fresh way the good news of Christmas: “The virgin will be with child and will give birth to a son, and they will call him ‘Immanuel’ – which means, ‘God with us’ ” (Matthew 1:23).

Philip A. Gunther is senior pastor of Parliament Community Church in Regina.

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Last modified December 16, 2002.

© 2002 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
Published by the Canadian Conference of MB Churches.
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