I often start my day, doing what I'm doing now, in the predawn on Christmas Eve. I look for something that jogs the mind--the unexpected twist--or something cute--the kind of thing that brings an "aww," especially from the ladies--or the holy grail, something profound. I'm not even sure how to adequately define profundity. It has to do with great power and wisdom being packed into a few words. The Book of Proverbs is packed with the profound. To hijack Judge Potter Stewart's words. "I know [profundity] when I see it." This is what I mostly see:
Most of Life is not profound.
The word mundane was invented to describe the day-to-day process that we call life.
Some two Millennia ago the life into which God the Son entered was mundane, profoundly mundane. Jesus' home was not one where daily existence could be taken for granted. Later, when He taught us to pray, "Give us this day our daily bread." He spoke not only from the perfect knowledge of Divinity--pray this way, because in the grand scheme of the universe this is what you should say--but from an understanding that came from human experience.  Joseph, and almost surely Jesus, after Joseph's death, knew the daily concern for making sure that there was food for the family. I think Jesus had prayed that prayer on occasions when the cupboard was bare. When He spoke of going the extra mile, rendering to Caesar his due, turning the other cheek, and being ready to forgive, profound as those concepts are, we need to remember that all of these virtues had been practiced thousands of times in the very mundane setting of a home and small business that had to deal with unreasonable people in a land controlled by foreigners.
In describing the incarnation, here and here, the Bible presents no "wink,wink" version of God becoming man. He was, and continues to be, in heaven, human. As I think about the totality of that "emptying" (Philippians 2) of Himself, I find great encouragement to come to Him. That is a point that is powerfully made in Hebrews 2 and 4.
Jesus did not just come and visit the high-points of human existence. At the end of most of His of His 12,000 or so days, the answer to the universal question was, "Not much."
On Christmas Eve 2015, that's profound.
Here is a site where you can find out about Jesus Christ and His plan for you. You'll find several opportunities to explore. If we can help you, let us know.
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