by Louie Lewis
If you ask the average nonbeliever who Jesus was they would most likely say he was a prophet, teacher, good man etc. Based on the fact that these people were nonbelievers you wouldn’t expect them to say Jesus was the Son of God rather they would think him merely human.
When asking the average believer in Christ who he was they would probably say he was or is the Son of God but rarely would they think of him as a human. What I would like to show you in this article is the part of Jesus that is the human part.
Sometimes when someone messes up they will say “Well, I am human.” While that is true, we are human, what I would like to say is there is nothing intrinsically wrong with being human. Now most Bible believers would say we humans were born sinful. I believe that is true but it doesn’t make being human a wrong or sinful thing.
Recently while reading through the Gospel of Mark I ran across several occasions when Jesus’ humanness became apparent. It seems that he was indeed fully human as well as fully God. He became angry on occasion, grieved, indignant, and even wept more than once. He seemed to weep the most over the apparent lack of faith of those around him.
Although I knew these things about Jesus before I was a little bit taken aback by the frequent occurrence of the emotional display. It seems, even though I know movies are just movies, I too have been influenced by them. Most depictions of Jesus in the movies seem to make him out to be this unflinching and unemotional guy. He walks through the scenes as though he has no personality even to the point of not blinking. An honest look at the scriptures will definitely tell us another story.
I find that Jesus being a human and sharing in all of our emotions is comforting. It makes me appreciate that these emotions are part of who we are and they are okay. We don’t have to stuff all of our emotional responses to life in order to be pleasing to God. He made us this way and, while he doesn’t want us to sin, he is fully aware of our ability to become overly heated or pulled emotionally in certain circumstances.
The book of Hebrews tells us we have a great High Priest that is fully aware of what we are going through. He has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin. Ahhhh, that’s nice. We can take a deep breath and relax in that can’t we? Jesus himself was fully human and tempted just like we are and yet he never sinned. Even in his moments of anger or indignation he never sinned. Wow! He was able to fully express his emotions and yet never be displeasing to God.
There is one more aspect to Jesus humanity I want to show you. He not only was fully human in the realm of his emotions but also in the fact that he was powerless as a human. I know some of you are saying “powerless?” Did he just say Jesus was powerless? Yes I did, let me explain.
Throughout the Gospels and especially in John we see Jesus telling us about how he doesn’t do anything in or from himself. He says “The Son can do nothing of Himself, unless it is something He sees the Father doing; for whatever the Father does, these things the Son also does in like manner.” Later in that same chapter he says “I can do nothing on my own initiative.” He tells us He doesn’t even speak on his own but only what the Father gives him to say. Jesus goes even one step further in that he tells us the Father is actually the one doing the works. He says not only are the words I speak not my own, but the Father abiding in me does his works.
Isn’t it refreshing to come to the conclusion that emotions are part of being human and not only are they a part they are okay? We are not expected to walk through life as if we are robots. The other part of being human is the fact that we are powerless to do anything apart from Christ. Just as Christ walked this human life in utter dependence on the Father we too have to walk in total dependence on the Son. Jesus told us “I am the vine and you are the branches; he who abides in me and I in him, he bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing.”
Please don’t think being human is a liability. While sometimes we may expect more of ourselves than what we see; God knows how and of what we are made. He loves us so much he sent his son here in the likeness of sinful flesh. He came here to condemn sin in the flesh not to condemn flesh. It isn’t being flesh or human that is wrong it is the misuse of it by Mr. Sin himself. The good news is that if we have been born again sin is no longer our master. We have a new master and he is righteous. With him dwelling within we can enjoy all that it means to be human.
