Ok so I can't take credit for coming up with that line. The song titled "one of us" and its writer, Joan Osborne received national attention in 1996 when the song reach the top of music charts and even earned a Grammy. According to Wikipedia, the song "deals with various aspects of belief in God by asking questions and inviting the listener to consider how they might relate to God."
I was very surprised and even shocked when I did a bible study on Revelation back at the end of April. My first question to the group what they thought the second coming of Christ would be like. Everyone was very quiet and I got the typical loud trumpets scenario but then two of the students said "I don't believe in the second coming." I was not expecting an answer like that. Their answers made sense in a way that they don't want to see the world end. The two students were very grounded in science and the whole idea of Jesus coming back to this world and everyone living under his rule could not work for them. It was just scientifically unreal to them. Needless to say, I had no idea how to respond to them. For me, Christ coming back has always been a great dream for me. Some days its the only hope that I have to hold on to.
Still I see my student's idea as a very valid point and I want to expand on their thought just for a moment. God was one of us. He was Jesus. Jesus experienced everything that we experience: loss of a love one, heartbreaks, hatred, persecution, etc. Jesus did promise to come back but did he really ever leave us? In Matthew, Jesus tells a parable and says "if you do it to the least of these, you have done it to me." Every time I come into work, I drive by numerous homeless individuals and I do nothing to help them. I use the excuse that I don't have enough money or enough time to make a difference in their lives. There are so many in this world that just need someone to love them. Could they be Jesus? Jesus may not be here in the flesh with his mighty sword ruling the world but he is still among us. Jesus is the single mother with two kids who are on welfare and has nobody to take care of her children. Jesus is the war veteran who has never been able to reenter society after the war. Jesus is in all of us and is with all of us. I really believe that last line of the Great Commission where Jesus promises to never leave us and that he is always with us. So until that last day, I will continue to wonder if God was one us? Just a stranger on a bus?
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