Incarnational Living

by J. Monty Stewart

Cory Booker is a unique individual. He has a degree from the Yale School of Law and his resume includes Oxford University as well. Cory could be doing something great with his life, according to some. Cory is the 37-year-old mayor of Newark, NJ. Newark is not one as one of those cities that people scramble to visit. It is a city riddled with crime and poverty.

Mayor Booker has chosen to live among the people that he serves. He lives on the top floor of a public housing project. He recently told National Public Radio that he has not had hot water since last November and during the last winter his heat did not work. He then went on to comment that what is an "inconvenience" for him is a "life and death" issue for others. He pitched his television because he did not want to be consumed with something that would take his focus off his people. Some of his people accept him while several gangs have issued death threats. Mayor Booker does not want to look to the past and cast blame. He stated,"We could all sit and talk about the historical causes for where we are, we can talk about the geopolitical causes, the massive shifts economically in our global economy. But, more productively, my question as the mayor of New Jersey's largest city and one of the majority African-American cities is, where do we go from here?"

His desire is to move the people he serves away from blame and on toward a future. Mayor Booker, whether he knows it or not, is living incarnationally.

Jesus Christ did just what Major Booker has done. He moved into the neighborhood of a people that were oppressed, downtrodden, and longing for deliverance. The Gospel of John, John 1:14, records it this way: "The Word became flesh and blood, and moved into the neighborhood. We saw the glory with our own eyes, the one-of-a-kind glory, like Father, like Son, Generous inside and out, true from start to finish.

He stepped into a political arena that was casting blame on everyone from the Roman Government to the puppet Jewish governor. Crime was rampant and everyone was looking back to king that had been a great warrior. The people desired a messiah, a kingly messiah. Here comes a man that wants to live among them and meet the needs of the poor, the hungry, the diseased, the outcast, etc. Many people flocked to be around him. Many others hated him and desired to kill him. In spite of all this, he lived and walked among them.

Christians are called to live the same kind of live. A lesson could be learned from the model that Mayor Booker has adopted. A lesson can also be learned from Christ who moved into the neighborhood. That is what it means to be a Christian people. So many Christians desire to remove themselves from secular life and living. They desire a "City of God" where they can have Christian television, Christian media, Christian music, Christian aerobics, etc.

Yet Christ came to live in the neighborhood. He lived, moved, and had his being among a people that he longed to care for, much like a mother hen caring for her little chicks. It is time to move back into the neighborhood.