Once again Jesus gives a curious, cryptic teaching that leaves us wondering. “I have come into the world to bear witness to the truth. Every one who is of the truth hears my voice.” These remarks are hard to interpret. Yet, as with all he says, we are inclined to believe they hold great value for us.

Not long ago in a study group a man asked me if Jesus were “ordinary.” The question was unusual. On the spur of the moment I replied, “Of course, Jesus is ordinary.” His reply, “Jesus is the ultimate ordinary.” I have thought about that a lot. It occurred to me: might it not be that if I pursued the meaning of “ordinary” I would discover what it is in all of us, since we are all ordinary, that bears witness to the truth of Christ?

Many times when we use the word “ordinary” it seems to me that the meanings are: low, inferior, cheap, demanding little effort. The dictionary, to the contrary, gives positive definitions. Let’s look and see.

1. Those parts of the mass that “do not vary from day to day” are ordinary. (Webster’s Ninth New Collegiate Dictionary) So important are these parts that they must be the same every time the mass is performed. The hub around which the mass revolves, they are not to be tampered with. Genuine worship hangs on them.

What in Jesus was ordinary in this way? It would be a quality that was always the same, a peg around which everything revolved, on which all else was hung. With Jesus, that which did not vary from day to day is easy to discover. He put God first. As the first act of his ministry in Luke Jesus entered into the temptations. His basic response to them and throughout his ministry: “You shall worship the Lord God and him only shall you serve.” (4:8b) Here was the ordinary pattern of his life, that which every day he offered up to God as his form of worship.

To be ordinary like Jesus: You and I must discover that which is most important and most real to us and be about daily faithfulness toward it. “This only shall we serve.” By learning, growing, and experimenting with it day-by-day we finally see the central place it has in our lives. Then we might move to loyalty to God who lies behind all things, for all along we have not varied in our loyalty. Being loyal is now ordinary to us.

2. “The regular or customary condition or course of things.” The ordinary is based on the behavior and values that are regular in our lives. The customs are those habits deeply grounded in tradition that have proven to be reliable. A long time in the building, customs are not to be tampered with casually. Such daily practices as manners, honesty, gift-giving, and many others bear witness that in them we discover human wisdom. They are ordinary ingredients of a stable society.

What in Jesus was ordinary in this way? As a child he was taken to the temple. During his ministry the Gospels speak of his attendance in the synagogue each sabbath. At the end of his life he was in the Temple in Jerusalem. His whole life was founded on the Law of God, and his avowed purpose was to fulfill the Law. Jesus kept faith with his tradition which was the ordinary framework of his life.

To be ordinary like Jesus we, too, will respect the customs and traditions in which we were born. Like him, we dig deep into their meaning for life and grow in the wisdom they give, from light to light. In time we, also, fulfill the deeper meanings in these customs. Such behavior can be described by others as ordinary for us.

3. “Tried in use.” In the ordinary the glitches have been ironed out by daily use. By keeping faithfully to what is customary, in good times and bad, foundational life skills become refined, burnished, perfected so that we become master of them. As a carpenter Jesus went about ordinarily perfecting the basic work skills of the trade. Good parents do likewise. Ordinary performance of good character leads to a confidence in one’s abilities and an assurance in performance. We are tried in use and know what we are about.

What in Jesus was ordinary in this way? No matter how sorely tried he was by the disciples, the Pharisees, the people, and the Romans, Jesus refined in use his skills in loving, courage, and dependability. As an ordinary expression of the person he was, no matter the circumstances, Jesus kept on doing and being these things. They were tried in use and found to be solid, reliable, of inestimable value.

To be ordinary like Jesus means that we are in public and private what we say we are. That which we hold out as promise to others or to ourselves, we deliver, in behavior, in good times and bad. That’s just the way we are, ordinarily.

4. “In the normal order of events, routine, usual.” To be ordinary is to live out an orderly life as a normal routine or usual self-expression. The habits that regularly make up a stable life are followed as a matter of course. Some people jump from one lifestyle to another to “find themselves.” Now, to find oneself is desirable, but to try to do so sporadically and frenetically is to invite chaos into one’s life. To live out the normal order which maturity requires is to discover in the course of experience whether another order might be preferred. If so we move to that but not in a distracted way. We cannot find order without pursuing it in an orderly fashion. We continue performing the everyday good works, keeping the fellowship, maintaining the values, distributing rewards, keeping health of body and mind until these become just ordinary daily practices.

What in Jesus was ordinary in this way? When he met people who were living out their lives in chaos the sick, the disturbed, sinners he brought order to them. By sticking to the normal flow of the good life, he lives out before them an example: in his teachings he showed sensitivity to their problems and offered options for new lives. By the way he lived he was reliable and in his reliability people found order. Such service to others was not exceptional for Jesus; he did these things ordinarily.

To be ordinary like Jesus means that we do not spread chaos around us. People look at us and know they can lean on the order we radiate until they find order of their own. It is usual for us to live life without airs or devious manipulation of others, and to be solid, reliable and dependable. In effect, we do the good as we know it as an ordinary expression of the person we are.

5. “Of common quality, rank, ability.” All people who belong to a certain rank or ability are taken to be ordinary by those in the group. For all members there are common qualities that bind them together. These common qualities bring forth identity and respect from all in the group. On a larger scale, this is true of all human beings. I do not know how to define it precisely, but there are mysterious interior values in every person whereby, merely by existing, each deserves respect and equality, and is of infinite worth.

What in Jesus was ordinary in this way? He found and persisted in respecting the inestimable worth in every person. No one of privilege got special treatment; no woebegone person received inferior treatment. The tax collector, the woman at the well, the prostitute, the Pharisee, and the rich young man all had ordinary worth in his sight. Being ordinary in this way did not downgrade others but upgraded all he met.

To be ordinary like Jesus we must rid ourselves of prejudice; we do not fawn over the rich or powerful; we give special treatment to all alike. We do what we say we believe: we undergird life, liberty and the option to pursue happiness for all persons. Perhaps we cannot define this common quality that bonds us but we live as though we do. We accept as an ordinary component of life together the precious worth of all we meet.

6. In Britain a meal served to all comers at a fixed price is an “ordinary meal.” This custom was common in early America, also. Ordinary in this case, means all are charged alike. There is no extra price for some or lesser price for others. Today we hear that a woman has to be twice as good as a man to compete with him. Or an African American needs to be three or more times as good as a white person to be allowed to compete. The fixed price would direct us to expect of all alike, even as we expect of ourselves.

What in Jesus was ordinary in this way? Jesus exacted the same price from all he met and called to follow him. Each person was to give him or herself fully to God. Self-surrender is the key to receiving good news. Even as he submitted himself wholly to God, so are we, as the ordinary price of our salvation, to do the same.

To be ordinary like Jesus indicates that we are to submit ourselves wholly to that which is higher than we; and, when we meet Christ, we are to do likewise with him. We do not play games with those who are powerfully placed in order to further our advantage, nor with the proud or hypocritical or greedy. We submit to all and expect from all the same submission to what is required if we are to live constructively with each other. In the ordinary course of life there are causes and values greater than our own egos. Here is a bond that ties us together in our higher aspirations and not in our lowest common denominators.

7. A regular diet. The ordinary in this regard is that which is needed to sustain life. We are in the area of need, not desire, and we find self-expression and self-fulfillment in things necessary for wholesome living. This saves us from delaying self-satisfaction until we can consume great quantities of goods conspicuously. The basic level of the daily human diet (of food, psychic warmth, and all relationships) in ourselves and in others becomes ordinary for us and others.

What in Jesus was ordinary in this way? He supplied to all alike what he knew to be needed for living with good news. He supplied love, pardon, personal self-giving, judgment when in error, fellowship, and finally suffering as a servant for our redemption. All these were directed to a single purpose, that all persons he met might grow up to tap the best in them to be saved.

To be ordinary like Jesus means that we respond to what we need for life. Then we transfer this sensitivity to others. We give them what they need. Insofar as we are in a position to do so, we ordinarily give the necessities of life: love, pardon, personal self-giving, judgment when in error, fellowship, and finally we too suffer as servants that others might be redeemed. Since we respect people’s abilities to do what is good for them, we are not sloppily sentimental but intelligently hardminded. We practice unconditional love which is often very demanding, and we expect it from others. We do not flatter but try to draw out in others the basic wonders every person has within the self and needs desperately to express.

Ordinary means those aspects of life that do not vary from day-to-day. When I keep faith with God and put him first every day, I begin to notice something substantial which I call “truth” and in it I hear the voice of Jesus. Further, ordinary means regular, customary condition or course of things. As I delve into my Christian heritage, learning more about it and doing better for it, I know about reliable forces at work in my life. It’s much like a tree growing. As it puts down its roots so it sends out its branches. At this point God’s voice comes louder to me.

To be tried in use is an ordinary experience. When I keep going in spite of obstacles and in the worst of times manage to be loving, courageous, faithful, I experience a power holding me up which I accept as truth at work in my life. I hear God’s voice in me, also. The normal order of events, the routine or usual these express the ordinary at its most dependable. As I experience chaos in my life and accept the demands which order puts upon me and do them, I grow surer that truth lies deeply embedded in order. The voice of Christ sounds even stronger in my soul.

The ordinary is of common quality, rank, ability. When I touch the infinite worth in others, my world takes on a splendor which seems right for human life together. The voice of Christ grows stronger in my soul. As an ordinary meal is one served to all comers at a fixed price, so I discover life exacts the same price from us all. Mystically, power rises out of submission. As I experiment in submitting, learning how to treat all alike and expect (it takes a lot of courage to make these expectations) the same from others, I know for sure that a truth of human value is living itself out in me. This “ordinary” quality of life-together brings me a vision of a just world. The voice of Jesus, champion of justice, comes through to confirm my vision.

Finally, a regular diet needed to sustain life is an ordinary diet. As I ponder our present-day world, with its passion for conspicuous consumption, I know something is flawed about it, not of the truth. To buy for vanity; to work for prestige; to sell one’s soul for success; and, at the same time, to fail to enjoy it all, instead living lives of great stress and turmoil I am in grips of a profound truth about me and others. The voice of Jesus is not in these desperate efforts. I look at what a regular daily diet provides: well-kept relationships; a good day’s work well done, rest and recreation enjoyed with peace of mind; and at the close of the day a profound satisfaction that steals over us. This is what the world needs. In this realization the voice of Jesus comes forth with new clarity and power of conviction, bearing witness to truth at work in us.

Across the spectrum of “ordinary,” the voice of Jesus calls, bearing witness to what I suspected all along about human life. “Ordinary” human qualities, habits, practices, and feelings hint at truth. They infer truth, human truth. Truth lingers like a suspicion that at last reveals itself. “Aha!” we exclaim. “I have seen the truth!” I am bold enough to be sure that what I proclaim as my testimony is shared by us all after all we are ultimately ordinary! The voice of Jesus weaves its way through all these insights, definitions, and confessions. The final clarity comes in his call:

Come to me, all who labor and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me. For I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. (Matthew 11:28-30)