Learning from Jesus – total immersion
There is a story of a doctor who worked devotedly among leprosy patients for many years. Every day, he would greet them, 'Good morning, my brothers and sisters'. What an affirmation of worth this must have been to those whose biological families, and whole society, had ostracised them. But one day his greeting changed, and they heard these doom-laden words, 'Good morning, my fellow lepers'. His identification with his patients was complete.
Jesus' incarnation was a similar kind of identification. Laying aside his divine majesty, he took on mortal flesh, and entered human society. 'Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity', wrote the author of Hebrews.
But Jesus did more even than that. As he went about, he identified himself not only with human nature but also with uncleanness, sin and death. When the desperate woman, suffering from incurable bleeding, reached out and touched his robe, Jesus could have ignored her. But in acknowledging her touch he was, according to the Levitical law, making himself ritually unclean. On other occasions, he took the initiative, as when he touched a man with leprosy and the dead body of a widow's only son. And ultimately 'Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: "cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree"' (Gal. 3:13).
How far such actions set Jesus apart from the gods of other religions! I hope that it is not irreverent to say that I would find it hard to believe in a loving God if it wasn't for Jesus.
Jesus' self-abasement is, however, far more than an argument for our view of God. It gives us deep assurance of Jesus' love for individuals - for you and me, for thug and granny, for prostitute and pimp, for president and pop star. Far more intimately than any human friend or relation, Jesus knows, understands and loves us, and wants to help us to become what he created us to be.
But we can also learn from Jesus to regard and treat people - all people - with the same passionate empathy and self-giving love.
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