Trading divinity for life among sheep?

Today, I wonder about Jesus. I’m not asking “What would Jesus do?” I’m asking “Why would Jesus do that?”

If you were God, would you be willing to trade your divine form for that of a human being? Having been born as a human being, would you trade your life for that of an earthworm? The reasonable answer to both questions is “Of course not!” Yet that is precisely what Jesus did when he chose to be born among us, when he was made incarnate. Moreover, he was born of a peasant girl in a cattle stall, as if to underscore the fact that this child had no earthly standing or privilege.

Today we remember Olavus Petri, priest, died 1552; Laurentius Petri, Bishop of Uppsala, died 1573; renewers of the church.  Adapted from “Why Would Jesus Do That” by Susan Greely in the December 2014 issue of Gather magazine.