A Season for the Spirit: Jesus' Solidarity with the Ordinary

Spirit like a dove descending, in spite of my timidity I am appealing to you to center my heart on this axis of truth in these forty days. Every small step you enable me to take towards a deeper compassion for my fellow human beings will lead me further into the experience of the Father's delight in me and care for me. And vice vesa. Every step I take in mediation to intensify my awareness of the love of God poured into my heart through the gift of your indwelling will take me into a deeper identification with the suffering world, "groaning in labor pains until now."
- Martin L. Smith

The baptism of Jesus was a mass baptism. How often do you imagine Jesus as the only one being baptized by John? Well, it is time for us to all...reimagine the scene.

The baptism of Jesus was a mass baptism. It is recorded in the Scriptures that many had come from the countryside and were being baptized. But we often ignore the references, or just forget, that Jesus' baptism was among the many.

So the question arises, "Are we bothered by an ordinary baptism of Jesus among ordinary people like me and you?"

We use up a lot of energy keeping Jesus at a distance. Although he understands us more than we understand ourselves and although he has kept every promise he has made...we often refuse to recognize his solidarity with us.

"His solidarity with the ordinary."

Jesus did not look down on the ordinary with confident guiltlessness. Rather he plunged, as he would continue to do for years, into the life of the crowd. "He threw away his separateness to take on the identity of struggling men and women who were reaching out in mass for the lifeline of forgiveness."

Here Jesus identifies with us and is seen as "The Human Being." He represents humanity and is given the necessary life-giving Breath for his mission.

"Can you feel and see yourself as part of that crowd of humanity in the muddy water and experience the entry of Jesus into our condition, into our needs?"

It is a valid interpretation if you draw a connection between the moment of Jesus' solidarity with ordinary people and the moment of God's revelation of intimate relationship with Jesus.

So where does this lead us on our journey? God's desire is that we become intimate and personal with him, especially during this season of Lent. But at the same moment it is important that we open ourselves to compassion, understanding, and solidarity with our fellow struggling, anxious, needy human beings.

To be open to the Spirit is to be open to humanity and all its fractured ways.