Advent 3: You are Special ...

Tuesday, Dec 3, 2013. The bible tells us a lot about the birth of Jesus. Then, the next event we are taken into, is a visit of Jesus in the temple at the age of 12. And after that, we only hear from him when he starts his ministry, at the age of about 30, three years before his death and resurrection.

Ordinary Human …

Jesus lives as an ordinary human. From these 30 years, there are no miracles reported. There is nothing special about a kid growing up in a family of a skilled worker. He had brothers and sisters. He lived just a normal life, as we live our normal life.

For quite a while I have asked myself: why is nothing reported about Jesus during these 30 years (with the exception of the temple visit)? Why is an important part of his life missing in the biblical reports. It could have been different!

A lot of scholars have tried to write a life history of Jesus. They have tried to look through the reports of the New Testament, through the faith of the early church, into what they called the “historical Jesus”. But the whole project failed many times. It was just not possible, to look onto Jesus without the eyes of faith. But he lived a normal life for quite a while - that has a particular meaning!

Normal is Special …

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I believe that God wants to tell us something with the particular way the life story of Jesus is presented in the New Testament. God wants to be with us, with the humans, with you and with me. He wants to live with us. He wants to know our daily struggle. He wants to know how we feel. He wants to know our hopes and our fears. Everything!

So God became human, and lived among us. He did not live as a king, though he was a king. He did not perform miracles, though he would have been able to. He gave up his power, and became weak and normal.

There is an important meaning in this. Normal is special. The normal way we are, is so special to the God of the universe, that he became human himself to experience how we are. He created us and knows all of us. But more than that, he knows us from his own experience. He lived among us.

We are much more special, than we usually think. We are wonderful beings. We might feel ugly, or weak, or lost. But God values us very much, every single person. You are very special. And you are very of special value for him! (Roland Potthast) ... more texts