A significant part of our perception of a person’s greatness
is our sense of their approachability. I am not alone in believing Abraham
Lincoln to be the greatest man in western civilization. Yet all with whom he
interacted were impressed with how common he was. He had the speech patterns of
someone born deep within the frontier—which he was. His laugh was unrestrained.
And his looks—“more like a gorilla than a man.
He loved being with the simple people, for that’s what he
was. The important people who surrounded him during his presidency were hugely
annoyed that Lincoln insisted on listening and talking to anyone who came to
see him. When he tipped his hat to a newly freed slave, this was seen as an
unacceptable political gaffe.
The disciples, as common as they were, did not understand
why their Lord gave His valuable time to a Samaritan woman, to children, and to
every beggar who hollered His name.
In Lincoln’s time, it was the poor and the needy who recognized
his greatness. We read that those who met with him spoke of their encounter
until the day they died. “He was just
like the rest of us,” they would say with great pride.
Imagine being Mary. Imagine her joy and her pride in Him after
His death and resurrection and ascension as she came to understand exactly who
it was that she had raised.
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