Extra Ordinary

There was a time when instead of enjoying the final few days of my winter break, I would begin to mourn the end of vacation and dread the return to everyday life. My vacations generally coincided with the Christmas and New Year’s holidays. That was a time of festivities and revelry, a time of camaraderie and good will towards men. The holidays and vacations were special; I wanted to let them soak in as much as I could, because when they were over, it was back to the “Real World” until the next vacation or holiday rolled around. After all, special occasions were special and fun, and ordinary everyday life was ordinary, even boring.

So that tended to be the way I lived life. I would fatten up during the special seasons and somehow that would take me through the ordinary seasons in my life. It was similar to how a bear fattens up in late summer and early fall for the upcoming winter hibernation. As fascinating as hibernating is, it isn’t really living; it’s just stayin’ alive. Even worse, it’s a Bee Gee’s song. It just dawned on me that I must have really fattened up to survive the Disco Era. (My sincerest apologies to Disco Stu and anyone who is waiting to dust off the mirrored globe, break out the polyester suits, and hit the lighted dance floor.)

But seriously, many of us have an aversion to the ordinary. The proliferation of objects and activities in the marketplace that induce sensory overload, gives credence to the idea that the masses are screaming for something special. It even seems that special isn’t good enough. Things and events need to be extra special. If this behavior or attitude seems unique to recent generations, it isn’t.

Adam and Eve were not content with the ordinary. The people in the plain of Babylonia were not content with ordinary buildings; they wanted to build a tower to reach the heavens. The children of Israel wanted meat because manna was becoming boring. King David wanted to build a temple for the Lord to dwell in instead of a tent. Solomon pursued, in an extreme manner, every pleasure under the sun. The Pharisees wanted bigger, better signs and wonders. Even today there are people who pass up the Christian faith because it seems too simple. The list of people preferring the special to the ordinary is rather lengthy. There is, however, someone who is quite special, and no matter how hard you try, you will not find him on that particular list. It’s Jesus. In fact, His life has many examples of the opposite; there were many occasions when He chose the “ordinary” over the “special.”

He was born into an ordinary family that lived in a very ordinary village, and He lived an ordinary childhood. He could have bypassed the whole “being dependent on somebody” routine and materialized right on a throne somewhere in spectacular fashion; He didn’t. As a young adult, he performed manual labor in the occupation of tekton. (That’s the Greek word for craftsman of wood, stone or metal.) The prophet Isaiah tells us that there wasn’t anything special about his appearance. Jesus used everyday examples to teach people about the Kingdom of God. Prior to His crucifixion, He told the disciples to remember Him with bread and wine, two very ordinary and everyday staples. The manner of His death, though quite gruesome and shocking, was a disturbingly common form of punishment at the time. The Romans did not reserve crucifixion for the “celebrity” criminals. The ordinary criminals nailed to crosses on either side of Jesus are proof. Immediately after His death, he was laid in a simple tomb, not a great pyramid or a mausoleum like the Taj Mahal. After his resurrection (anything but ordinary!), He shared an amazingly ordinary campfire meal with His rather ordinary friends at the seashore.

The point of this isn’t that Jesus is ordinary; He’s not! The point is He - The Lord of lords and King of kings - has no aversion to the ordinary. He sustains it. He brings value, meaning and purpose to it. Jesus brings beauty, peace, and wonder to the ordinary; He brings Himself. Jesus by example teaches that the abundant life, the more and better life He offers, involves the ordinary days of life. God has blessed my eyes to see that the ordinary is actually special – extra special. So much so that I find myself not just wanting ordinary, but wanting extra ordinary. I find that “Extraordinary!” I hope you do too.

Grace to you.

Dave Paukner