Over the past couple of weeks I haven’t been able to get the tune out of my head.
What if God was one of us
Just a slob like one of us
Just a stranger on the bus
Trying to make his way home
One of Us Relish (1995) by Joan Osborne
Blue Gorilla Records/Mercury Records
For some reason, I’ve always thought that Sheryl Crow sang the song but I was set straight about a week ago – Joan Osborne recorded it. And a quick search of Wikipedia reveals that it was written by Eric Bazilian (Wikipedia.org).
Here’s the deal. God did become one of us. Jesus Christ – fully God and fully man – was conceived by the Holy Spirit, was born of the virgin Mary, and walked the earth with us. Suffered like us. Was tempted like us.
John 1:14
The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the One and Only, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
But I don’t wonder what it would be like if God was a slob just like one of us. I wonder what I would do if I came face-to-face with Jesus.
Would I mock him or honor him? Would I cower and hide or follow with abandon? Would I run away when he offers a hard teaching? Would I abandon or betray him in a difficult time? Would I question him in arrogance as though I had the right to hold Almighty God accountable to my perceptions?
How quickly I forget that I come face-to-face with God every day. I see him, though veiled, in the faces of the poor, the fatherless, the widow, and the alien. In pastors and evangelists. In those with whom I work. In that guy who just cut me off in traffic and the person in the hospital who just needs a friend.
Lord, grant us the grace to see you more fully. More completely. More honestly.
God wants you to see him. When you do, how will you respond?
