Be a Person

"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth." -John 1:14          

  I just finished reading Ron Chernow’s book, George Washington: A Life. It was fabulous. If you are looking for a wonderful (and readable!) presidential biography, Chernow is among the top 5 authors to check out. Thinking about all the things that stand out to me the most about what I learned about George Washington in those 817 pages, my top three things are:
1)   He was totally obsessed with clothes. I’m not even kidding. He designed uniforms and custom suits for himself and for his soldiers and for his slaves!
2)   He was usually broke as a joke. Washington was not very good at living within his means and often had to threaten the people who rented his land just so he could collect their rent fees and pay his own bills. 
3)   He was completely human.
Number three might sound like a given. Of course Washington was completely human. He had a fiery temper and could be moved to tears. He was constantly anxious about his adequacy, but he was also very good at keeping his emotions in check in public. The human side of Washington, seeing more than just the marble statue I grew up with in school lessons, it made me come to the parts of the book where Washington got attacked by the press or betrayed by a friend, and I actually hurt for him. 
            And holy cow, did the opposition press go after Washington. 
            Reading a presidential biography humanizes the people of history in a deep, intense way. It strikes me that this is the way the Bible brings us people. There’s a human side to people in the Bible that we sometimes forget. Hebrews lifts up Abraham and Noah and Moses as men of faith, but they weren’t perfect. As one bookmark tucked into my bible reminds me, Abraham was a liar (he lied about his wife’s relationship status), Noah got drunk (and laid naked on the beach), and Moses was a murderer (he killed an Egyptian and then fled into the wilderness until God told him to go give Pharaoh a piece of God’s mind). Elijah was a great prophet, but he also made a she-bear kill some teenagers for making fun of his baldness. Gideon was a great warrior and considered a stellar judge, but he put God to the test (if this fleece is wet in the morning, I’ll believe. Well, that worked out. If it’sdry tomorrow, I’ll believe). King David and Bathsheba. Judah and Tamar. Solomon and his wives of foreign influence. 
            Jesus of Nazareth. 
I sat in a meeting a few months ago and the speaker mentioned that people in the Bible aren’t necessarily people we should try to be like; they are people we should recognize ourselves in. They aren’t always the best examples of good choices, but they are great examples of how people are people, and we are messy. We are beautiful, messy, broken, capable-of-amazing-goodness people.    
And then there’s Jesus. I listened to a podcast recently that talked about Jesus’ humanity and how we often forget that Jesus was both fully human and fully God. Jesus wept. Jesus got angry. Jesus felt joy and love and exhaustion. There must have been mornings when Jesus’ alarm clock went off and he considered hitting the snooze button. He must have seen stars when he slammed his toe into a bedframe and I bet he ate a few things that didn’t always agree with him (you ever wonder if Jesus was lactose intolerant? I mean, there’s no scripture passage about Jesus eating cheese…just saying.). 
            It helps to remember that Jesus was as much human as he was God. It helps because I like knowing that my savior gets me on the level of my own humanity. It’s also a reminder as we try to emulate Jesus, we have limits. We can’t emulate Jesus’ Godness, but we can emulate his humanity, to the best of our ability. 
             Saint Augustine said, “Man's maker was made man that He, Ruler of the stars, might nurse at His mother's breast; that the Bread might hunger, the Fountain thirst, the Light sleep, the Way be tired on its journey; that Truth might be accused of false witnesses, the Teacher be beaten with whips, the Foundation be suspended on wood; that Strength might grow weak; that the Healer might be wounded; that Life might die.” It seems to me that if Jesus had permission to feel, so do we. 
            So my message to you today it this: let yourself be human. Let yourself feel whatever it is you’re feeling, and know that I’m right there with you. Give yourself grace. Giving ourselves grace helps us give others grace. 
            And we need lots of grace these days.

            Be well, be blessed, be gentle with yourselves. 

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