I was watching videos of UPS and FedEx delivey persons doing their job rudely- making an obscene gesture, throwing packages around. It made me think of what could they been thinking. I could imagine that this attitude may be a result of not liking their jobs. One reason that some people don't like their work is they feel it is beneath them.

     It is part of the human will to despise certain kinds of activities that are not sinful, needed for the proper functioning of sociey, but they feel it is beneath them. I think about the frustrated doctor who came from a foreign country but does not have the convenience of getting board certified in America. He settles into becoming a nurse or even worse, he may become stuck cleaning toilets. I think about the college graduate who takes a job taking care of children who yells at her, becomes violent with her, and then having to clean up after them. To top it off, she does not feel she is being paid what she deserves. I think about the person who feels his talents are being wasted and resents that younger people are directing him in doing his job. I think about the bed-ridden old man who had to depend on others to clean him up. A little more sinister is the scholar who feels that having fun with children or talking about sports with other men is a waste of his time. Or the rich person who feels that he is too good to hang out on the other side of the tracks.  

     This reality made me think about the significance of the son of God comng into the earth. Here is the wisest, oldest, and most talented being in the universe becoming a baby. He became dependent on his mother for everything he needs, not being able to do anythng for himself, submitting to having to be cleaned up. He lived in a town that does not have a great reputation. He was a carpenter and probably have to deal with rude and unreasonable clients. He had to be taught and disciplined by teachers, definitely less wise than he is, being in a position of having to learn. He felt the ultimate demotion, the maker of the universe, building houses or even chairs. He hung out at parties, enjoying the company of others, including sinners, and apparently they felt comfortable around him. And others are shocked that he apparently looked comfortable around them, and he made no excuses for it.

    Remember that Jesus grew in stature and favor with men, just as the great men of the Old Testament. How does a person find favor? People probably saw someone who does not thumb his nose at them, willing to be with them- listening and responding to where they are. They must have felt valuable in front of him. People probably saw a person doing his duries without complaining, treating everybody fairly and being easy to trust. The prostitute who washed his hair with perfume saw the personification of the man who is worthy of worship.

    As we think of Christmas, the story of God becoming man, let's remember the depths in which the king of the universe stooped down, going to the point of ultimate humiliation called death, where glorious man becomes part of the ground that is trampled. He did not think of those depthts as something beneath him. If the king of the universe stooped down really low, who are we, despiite our degrees or our riches or our talents, to say that anything is beneath us? By coming to earth- experiencing disappointment, frustration, fear, humiliation, the son of God sanctified the depths of human experience. Human experience, with its joys and sorrows, is not something to be shunned, but becomes the context in which the son of God reveals himself.