A rising tide lifts all boats. That’s how the saying goes. Of course it is only partially true and any partially true statement is a false statement. A rising tide doesn’t lift all boats. It only lifts the boats above the water. A rising tide does nothing to a boat under the water.
One of the reasons the Jews rejected Jesus as messiah was that they were looking for the messiah to be a great king and military leader. Although Christ is the King of kings he didn’t meet expectations of the time. He was so…ordinary. Jesus preached this himself.
“Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For My yoke is easy and My burden is light.” – Matthew 11: 28-30
The Greek word translated as humble is tapeinos. It can also be translated as lowly or ordinary. The phrase ‘humble of heart’ means that he is someone reliant upon God and not himself. Jesus was ordinary. In fact, even his name was among the most common of the day. Perhaps the only name more common was Mary.
Jesus was born in a barn to your common, run of the mill, parents. He was raised and worked as a techton, a laborer. There is a tradition that he was a master yoke builder, making his statement about taking his yoke upon you a bit funny. Nothing about Jesus made him stand out for who he was about to become until he turned water into wine at a wedding reception. There is a reason why we know nothing about his life from the age of twelve until he started his public ministry at the age of thirty. He was off doing ordinary things.
Jesus came to be the salvation and redemption of the entire human race. But, just as a rising tide does not lift all boats, Jesus could not lift up all of humanity by starting out as a great king. He had to be among the lowest of us so that he could raise all of us to salvation.
Moses preconfigured Christ. Moses was born of a slave at a time that all male slaves from the tribes of Israel were put to death. He was raised as royalty, identity hidden. He had to become a slave again before he could lead the slaves on their exodus. Jesus was royalty. He hung his divinity up and was born a slave so that he could lead all mankind, lost in the slavery of death, to an exodus of rebirth.
Most of us long for greatness. We strive to become rich and famous. We want to be on top of the tide on a luxury yacht high above as many as possible. Yet the greatest in the Kingdom of heaven is the tide, the ones who lower themselves to raise up the rest. The greatest are the ones who lower themselves to the position of slave to serve others. The truly great are not the ones raising boats that float but the ones who reach down and pull up the boats sunk on the bottom.
Do not strive for greatness. Strive to be tapeinos, ordinary. Live in the ordinary. Love in the ordinary. Lift up others in the ordinary. This is the path to true greatness.
