What If God Was One of Us?

The icon of the week beginning tomorrow is Jesus' baptism by John the Baptist. This event appears in all four gospels but each account is different. Only Mark and Matthew say that John actually baptizes Jesus. Luke and John indicate he was baptized by only indirectly hint at who did it.

The word "baptize" comes from the Greek word baptidzo, meaning to immerse. Dyeing cloth, for instance, was baptizing or immersing it in the dye.

I like to think that Jesus' baptism not only marks the beginning of Jesus' ministry but it also makes a statement. Jesus immersed himself in our existence, with all its messiness and trouble.

A number of years ago a singer that I'm not familiar with, Joan Osborne, recorded a song entitled "What If God Was One Of Us." I won't reprint all the lyrics, but this text asks the basic question--what IF God was one of us?

What if God was one of us?
Just a slob like one of us
Just a stranger on the bus
Trying to make Its way home

God was indeed one of us, made real in the Incarnation, signified by Jesus' baptism.