This is who Jesus was and this is who I want to be. Jesus was radically normal. A carpenter, a man of the people, working class, and someone who everyone around him seemed able to relate to.
He was at home relationally with fishermen, tax collectors, prostitutes, the wealthy, the poor, the disadvantaged, the sick. Coming from Nazareth he was even more normal. He was obviously approachable as so many engaged conversation with him and he with others.
But He was also radically abnormal in this: when engaged in conversation he was always upfront about His Father. He went to the heart of things which is the heart in non-offensive but clear ways. He simply shared the good news which was the heart of who He was.
I am no different than the people around me. I have challenges, a marriage with its complexities, relationships that are good and sometimes problematic, worry on occasion about finances, am overweight and trying to lose. I am radically normal.
But I also want to be radically abnormal - because I have something that many I bump into don't have: Jesus. I want to be radically abnormal because I am willing to be upfront with those around me about the change Jesus has made in my life.
If I am radically normal but never share Jesus, I am living in a cocoon of my faith. If I connect my normality with radical abnormality because I share my deeply held faith - then I am living like Jesus. And join Jesus in His Kingdom work.
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