Jesus, the Down-to-Earth God

Much of the wrestle with my calling to Christian ministry has been against the forms it has taken in the North American church. As a woman of humble beginnings, I was glad to know Jesus could relate, only to find out some preachers didn’t want to.

I’ve always found it strange when persons say, “He was so down to earth.” They are surprised by the celebrity’s lack of arrogance.

Perhaps, we believe these starlets should not be found among us but seen only on television screens and stages. Surrounded by a security detail and a traveling band of screaming fans who just want to breathe the same air as them, the celebrity sighting is treated as a once-in-a-lifetime achievement.

This is a pop culture miracle. Let me pin it down with a picture and signature. Smile and sign here, please. 

Despite our advances in space exploration, we don’t live in the heavens. And even when astronauts do travel to outer space, they eventually come back down to earth.

Still, there are persons without stage names who feel they deserve a following, who write and report their own press, and oddly enough, speak of themselves in the third person. They are quickly identified as those who, when given the slightest bit of control or power, use it to make others feel small. 

You may know some of these people. You may work with them or perhaps they are in your family. Just keep reading so as not to draw attention to them.

I’ve met preachers who behave like this. The naivete of a minister as a humble servant was lost shortly after I graduated from seminary.  

I was sitting next to a male preacher who began bragging about all the things he was going to ask a church to provide him when asked to preach. He began to list off special bagels and exotic teas. I hadn’t asked for any of this information and yet, he kept talking.

I knew he wasn’t looking for a response but was, in effect, bragging about what he was planning to make churches do for him as he was a newly minted preacher. They owed it to him as he was a gifted speaker.

I didn’t like the air up there and wonder now if we were ever talking about the same Jesus. It is said that he lived in the clouds and was brought down to earth by way of an unwed teenager named Mary. 

Years later, I heard the young preacher had been served a large slice of humble pie. My mentor and pastor-teacher, the late Reverend Dr. Troy Anthony Bronner, once said, “It’s not hard to be humble when you’ve been humiliated.” 

Unfortunately, this is the way to humility for so many of us. Pride then fall is the order according to the writer of the proverb (16:18).  

Perhaps, it is a minor personal rebellion against the image of Jesus as a vulnerable infant and later, the teacher who stands in line with his disciples for baptism, the towel- toting God who washes feet, a suffering servant. It could be that we want God to be the “strong, silent type,” the proud God who is untouchable, unapproachable, followed by a crowd of angels and not us. But that’s not Jesus’s story.

Jesus was with God and now he is with us—without a bodyguard or special assistant. The sky did not come down to crowd him. The earth was not pulled from under our feet because he now walked among us.  

Jesus came down to earth not as a pompous mystery but as an unlikely savior. With Mary’s help, God reached out to us in the arms of a baby. No appointment needed.

The God of the Christian faith tradition is not above being human. Walking among us wasn’t beneath the dignity of the Divine. 

God came down to earth in person, but not before sending another prophet. Because even God does not assume we will recognize the holy and see the arrival of Jesus as a miraculous event.

Just a few days before Christmas, don’t forget where Jesus was found. He was not with the high and mighty. No, the homeless creator was down to earth.