Our high priest is able to understand our weaknesses. When he lived here on earth, he was
tempted in every way, but did not sin. (Hebrews 4:15)
In what way does Jesus understand my struggle? How does one delineate His limitations while on earth? I mean, when did Jesus in his human
weakness, get to the line of demarcation and not cross over into the arena of
sin? Or of using his power to
remedy the situations he had to face.
For instance, I see where I am tempted to lose patience. I’m limited and cannot make others
think correctly, I cannot change their decision-making. I want to see them hear “wisdom calling
aloud” and yet they don’t. Did
Jesus experience this while walking on earth? When the disciples didn’t get it and were wanting to send
the 5,000 away, how did Jesus keep it together? I’d be like, “Dude, sit down and shut up. Don’t you remember the fishing boat?
The fish that filled your nets? Or
the man with the withered hand? Or the many other miracles? Weren’t you
listening and watching? You need
to change your thinking!
Meanwhile, I’ll feed the people.”
When his mother asked him to make wine, or called him to
come away from his work, did he experience similar feelings that I have when I
know truth and just want others to embrace it too? I mean, doesn’t Mary “get” that Jesus is following
God’s timeline and work? Not hers?
When he gave up his sovereignty to put on humanity, did he
feel those limitations? Having to
wait for others to choose him?
Loving them without knowing the outcome? Why not go in and “tweak” a few neurotransmitters? Change up the response a bit, you know,
for the good? Make people respond
correctly.
That lack of control thing is the hardest to navigate. Jesus was fully God and fully man, so
did he actually deal with not being in control? Or was it within his power, but he suppressed it? I would like to believe that he gets it
– where I am. That not only can I
come to him because He is in control, but also because he can sympathize with
my feelings of being “out of control.”
He knows what it is like to pray to the Father for a changed heart, and
not know if it will occur. He
knows how to run his cares to the Father because he needed the Father, like
us.
Jesus’ humanity.
I don’t often consider what it means, especially when I consider it
beyond scrapped knees and acne. By no means do I want to devalue Jesus’ deity. He is God, but His beauty is
magnified when I consider the length He was (and is) willing to come to
sympathize with and rescue me. The
human emotional and social experiences that he shares with us is real. Even while filled with mystery
for me, I am comforted. I am able
to talk to Jesus, say I trust him, because he really does understand. He has compassion not only because he
“knows we are dust,” but because he embraced the dust.
2 Corinthians 1:3-4: "Praise be to the
God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of compassion and the God
of all comfort, who comforts us in all our troubles, so that we can comfort
those in any trouble with the comfort we ourselves receive from God."
John 16:33: "I
have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you
will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world"
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