The Power of the Ordinary

   When I read the Gospels I am amazed at the people Jesus chose as His companions and disciples.  Why would He not recruit the most educated, well-known people to His mission?  Instead He selected the lowly, the uneducated, those who no one respected or had even heard of.

   Fishermen, tax collectors and sinners made up Jesus’ followers.  Those no one would have even considered as leaders were His chosen ones.  These men and women, sinners and outcasts, became the foundation of Christ’s Church on earth.  Their names are still known, and their stories still told over two thousand years later.

   I think He chose the lowly because He knew the leaders were too self-certain.  They could never accept that a simple carpenter from Nazareth could be the Messiah.  They were threatened by Him, afraid for their position and their own glory.  The simple had no position or glory of their own.  Their position and glory would come from Jesus.

   Even today those who are learned and highly respected by society are often those who deny Jesus as the Messiah and even deny the existence of God.  Yet a faith born of Jesus and spread by the lowly has encompassed the world.  Simple men and women strengthened by the Lord and the Holy Spirit faced incredible odds to share the love of Jesus with the world.  Many died for their faith and their blood is the lifeblood of the Church, giving all glory to God.

   Given what I know about the acceptance of the ordinary and the denial of the elite, I’m glad that I am not among the elite.  I have no great accomplishments or titles to my name; my greatest accomplishment is loving and accepting my Lord and that by His grace alone.  Perhaps simple is best after all.

Lord, You chose the ordinary.

You made them extraordinary in faith.

Increase my faith.

That I may serve You in all things.

Amen