"What if God was one of us?"

Dr. Michael Browder, Pastor
Sunday, December 21, 2008

I like to watch television. I am part of that first generation that grew up watching it. (We didn’t have video games yet.) Unfortunately, there are so many television programs nowadays that are not fit to watch. But, every once in a while, you can find a good one.

A few years ago, there was a program I really loved, called “Joan of Arcadia.” Joan was a high school student, living in the small town of Arcadia. It is no accident that her name sounds like Joan of Arc, because this modern Joan, on the show, would also hear messages from God.

In fact, God would appear to her in the form of various people she met. One day, God was a punked-out fellow student. Another day He was a homeless man. Then, a substitute teacher, a little girl, a policeman.

And every time God appears to Joan, He has a message for her, which leads to a special task.

The theme song for the show, Joan of Arcadia, was a beautiful, haunting if inspiring, tune by Joan Osbourne, “What if God was one of us?” The words are:

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

What would you do if God was one of us? What would you do if God spoke to you? Supposed God showed up as a stranger: What would you do?

Let me just say this: God is speaking to you. If you don’t believe it, just read the Bible. God shouldn’t be a stranger. The Lord has plenty to say to you. And the Bible reminds us that God is speaking to you in the needs of other people all the time. - Even strangers. Many times God is counting on you to speak a word to them on His behalf. He is counting on you to help them.

Christmas is the time when we come to grips with Jesus as the Incarnation: God with us. Jesus is, at the same time, 100% God and 100% human. It is very hard for us to understand that. First, it is very hard to grasp the fact that a human being could be God. Many of the scandals during Jesus’ lifetime, and many of the debates of the early church centered around this fact.

At the same time, it is hard to imagine God as a human being. The stuff that a human being is made of seems so different from the nature of God. How could God be made of the same material as a homeless person?!

One memorable illustration of God’s purpose in the incarnation, and our response, is a modern parable which is told by radio commentator Paul Harvey. This story is about a man who was a real Scrooge. He refused to go to church with his wife and children on Christmas Eve. “He didn’t believe all that incarnation stuff. It just didn’t make sense, and he was too honest to pretend otherwise. He couldn’t swallow the Jesus story, about God coming to earth as a man.”

While he was waiting for his family to come home from church, snow began to fall. After a while, he heard a thud on the window. He went outside and looked. There was a flock of birds freezing in the snow. One had tried in desperation to fly through the window. He realized that, if he could get them over to the barn, he could save them. He put out bread crumbs to guide them. But to his dismay, the birds ignored the crumbs. He tried to shoo them toward the warmth of the open barn door, but the birds fled in the other direction.

Finally he realized that they did not understand him. He was too strange and too big and too terrifying to the little birds. If only there was some way I could get them to trust me, he thought. To show that I am trying to help them, not hurt them. But how? The more he tried, the more he frightened them. “If only I could be a bird,” he thought to himself, “to mingle with them and speak their language. Then I could tell them not to be afraid. Then I could show them the way to the safe, warm barn. But I would have to become one of them so they could see, and hear and understand.”

At that moment the Christmas bells began to ring and he understood. He knew why God became a human being because God cared about him, and he wanted to help him, and show him the way. He sank to his knees in the snow, and gave Christ his heart.

When you and I see how much God loves us. When we see how he is trying to show us the way. We understand why Christ was born. We can see why God became a human being. And just as he came down to help us and save us when we give him our hearts, he lifts us up and gives us the blessing of eternal life.

What if God was one of us? Think of what a difference it would make!

What if God was one of us? He is!