As we are entering into Holy Week, we will hear a lot about Jesus’s death, burial, and resurrection. However, I want to tell you about something that often gets missed in all of the miracles, healings, and great power of Jesus. He is an incredible Savior, who gave all that he had for us, I’m not downplaying any of that. I just want to encourage your hearts about the beauty of his humanity, that existed within his divine authority. Jesus never sinned in his thirty-three years that he walked the Earth.
This is where we begin to think, well Jesus had it easier than us he’s a divine being! Yes, he was the Son of God and was not born into our same sinful nature, but he had conscious choices just like us. Remember in Luke 22, Jesus says, “Not my will but yours be done.” His night in the garden before his death, this time is often referred to as a wrestling in the Spirit. That same feeling we have too, the weight of our own moral choices. He also said that his life wasn’t taken from him, but he willingly laid it down. (John 10:18). We often miss how much his humanity affected him.
Things Jesus Did While On Earth:
- He wept. (John 11:35)
- He celebrated. He celebrated at a wedding, and even did a miracle for them when they ran out of wine. This was his first miracle. He celebrated all the Jewish Holidays.
- He danced. (We know weddings are joyous celebrations)
- He ate and had times of hunger. “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry.”
Matthew 4:1-2 NKJV - He slept. “And a great windstorm arose, and the waves beat into the boat, so that it was already filling. But He was in the stern, asleep on a pillow. And they awoke Him and said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?””
Mark 4:37-38 NKJV - He got tired. “Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.”
John 4:6 NKJV - He bled. “But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out.”
John 19:34 NKJV - He grew and matured. “And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.”
Luke 2:52 NKJV - He got angry. “And when He had looked around at them with anger, being grieved by the hardness of their hearts, He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored as whole as the other.”
Mark 3:5 NKJV - He felt betrayal. “Then Judas Iscariot, one of the twelve, went to the chief priests to betray Him to them.”
Mark 14:10 NKJV - Jesus was thirsty. “After this, Jesus, knowing that all things were now accomplished, that the Scripture might be fulfilled, said, “I thirst!””
John 19:28 NKJV
The life of Jesus was full of ups and downs like all of us. He embraced his humanity, while still staying fully committed to His Father. I saw a video where a guy said, I see why Jesus is the mediator between us and God the Father. He said, because God don’t play! He killed people dead in their tracks for simple acts of disobedience! However, in Jesus we have the heart of the Father. The way a Father feels towards his precious children. The grace, forgiveness, and reconciliation. God the Father and Jesus are One, but distinct personalities.
Jesus’s susceptibility to temptation makes him highly relatable. When we read the account of his life we see he experienced a variety of emotions. Jesus is often seen as our Big Brother, who goes to the Father on our behalf. He is able to express to his Father what we are dealing with and is moved to compassion. Even while being horrifically murdered, he has compassion on his attackers. “Father forgive them, for they know not what they do.” He never sinned but he became sin, and laid his life down for our lives to be spared! We are just foolish sheep, always going astray and he is our Great Shepherd.
How did Jesus remain faithful under temptation?
- He expected insults, slander, and hate. He was never shocked by it. He never retaliated, he stayed quiet or answered matter-of-factly. He spoke with authority and with the word of God.
- He taught by using stories. It made things easier to understand.
- He knew the importance of small group fellowship. His followers were 12 men. He spent day to day life with them.
- He loved and welcomed children, he didn’t turn them away. He listened to them and encouraged them. He told us that we need to be more like them!
- He knew he was misunderstood. The Bible says, “My people are a peculiar people.” He encouraged us not to try and fit in, because we are not meant to.
- He made prayer, and alone time a priority.
- He withdrew when weak. He took time to rest and recharge before returning to work.
Jesus modeled The Way we should live, and we have his accounts to relate to. It reminds us of how much we are loved, for our God to come down and walk amongst us in our form! Jesus always obeyed God, but he was learning too.
“For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin.”
Hebrews 4:15 NKJV
Jesus’s humanity gave us a beautiful picture of how our lives can be when we walk in obedience. We will see amazing things, and reach a lost and dying world. Even when he was resurrected he still had his scars, and wounds intact. Why did he not have a renewed body? He bore the physical proof of a love that could not be stopped by the power of death and sin! Friends we are loved beyond our own comprehension!
I hope you are encouraged to love Jesus even deeper this week. I hope you are reminded of the great lengths our God went through to have us to himself. I hope that in his likeness you see yourself. Then know how special we truly are, even in all of our human weaknesses.
All rights reserved. Photo is from today’s hike! Happy Ready! God bless! ShilohRose77©️
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