Jesus, wholly human

Jesus is fully God and fully human. It's probably easier to get our heads around the 'fully God' bit than the 'fully human' bit. But Hebrews 2:18 NKJV says, 'He himself has suffered, being tempted, he is able to aid those who are tempted.' Jesus went through real, human experience, including temptation (which, let's be clear, isn't a sin. Being tempted is part of being human. Giving in to the temptation, even for a second, is sin, which Jesus didn't do - he was without sin).

Max Lucado puts it pretty well: 'Jesus was angry enough to purge the temple, distraught enough to weep in public, fun-loving enough to be called a drunkard, winsome enough to attract kids, poor enough to borrow a coin for a sermon illustration, radical enough to get kicked out of town, responsible enough to care for his mother, tempted enough to know the smell of Satan, and anxious enough to sweat blood.'

So... our God gets it. And not just from a distance. He gets it because it happened to him, which means he's with us in our current situation. Whatever life looks like for us right now, Jesus has felt it. That's our God, alongside us, saying, 'I know. I hear you. I'm with you.'



So what now? Read the Max Lucado list again. Which are you feeling? Fun-loving? Anxious? Poor? Find a passage in the Bible showing this side of Jesus and ask God to help you learn something about your humanness from him.





— SCRIPTURE —

'[Jesus] himself suffered and was tempted.' Hebrews 2:18 NCV
— SOULFOOD —

Josh 19:24-21:45, Mark 10:23-34, Ps 111, Pro 23:4-6