I’ll be the first to admit that when I was in high school, I was at least ten years behind the pop music scene. While my friends were listening to Culture Club or Flock of Seagulls, I was listening to Jackson Brown, Jimmy Buffett, the Eagles, James Taylor, and Joe Walsh.
Joe Walsh. Perhaps rock-and-roll’s ugliest guitar player. The man who had the best album titles and cover art (Like Walsh sitting on top of a tank that just demolished a house. The title? “There Goes the Neighborhood”). Back in 1991, Walsh was a judge for the Miss USA Pageant. If I remember correctly, he favored blondes.
While scanning through channels on the radio, I heard an old Joe Walsh song that I had forgotten about. It starts like this …
I’m just an ordinary average guy
My friends all are boring
And so am I
We’re just ordinary average guys
We all lead ordinary average lives
With average kids
And average wives
We all go bowling at the bowling lanes
Drink a few beers
Bowl a few frames
We’re just ordinary average guys
Ordinary average guys
Ordinary average guys.
At Mountainview, we are preaching through the Gospel of John, chapters 18-20. These chapters focus on the last few days in the life of Jesus. This one week changed the world more than any other week, month, or year.
Yet many of the characters who play a role in the last week of Jesus’ life were ordinary average guys.
- Malchus – a servant of the high priest who gets his ear cut off.
- Barabbas – a rabble rouser who gets released instead of Jesus.
- Pilate – a low-ranking Roman official.
- Simon the Cyrene – picked from the crowd and forced to carry the cross of Jesus.
- Two Thieves – anonymous criminals executed on either side of Jesus.
- Roman Soldiers – tasked with the responsibility of carrying out the crucifixion.
Ordinary average guys.
Ironically, to many of his contemporaries — the religious leaders, Pilate — Jesus was the one who seemed like an ordinary average guy. This is not to say he didn’t ruffle their feathers. He certainly did … and it was mostly because they couldn’t believe that an ordinary average guy would — and could — make the claims Jesus made.
Even a few of his own followers wanted him to be the knight in shining armor, a role he refused to play.
Just an ordinary average guy who turned out to the Savior of the world.