(Note: I changed the title of this post from “Looking at the Humanity of Jesus #1″ to avoid keeping track of numbers and to be a bit more clear about the content.)
I’m beginning a personal study into the humanity of Christ. This morning I read Luke 2:1-20; Matthew 1:1-25; John 1:1-17. My quest is related to the statement in Jesus’ prayer in John 17: “I have completed the work you gave me to do.” For many years I thought the “work” he came to do was die on the cross for the sins of the world. I do believe He died on the cross for the sins of the world but he had not gone to the cross in John 17.
The “work” was to prepare a team of disciples who could carry the Gospel message to the end of the world by making disciples of others. If Jesus was fully man, what are the implications for us as disciple-makers? Do we have access to all the resources Jesus had as He prepared His disciples to reach the ends of the earth?
While I have been taught through the years that He was fully God and fully man, I have tended to see Him as more of a “super-man” than actually like us. So I am embarking on a study. For any who read these pages, feel free to wade in with additional questions or observations.
From these first chapters in the Gospels I wonder:
- Was Jesus as oblivious to his surroundings in the manger as other babies would have been?
- Did He have any memory of heaven?
- He obviously gave up his “omnipresence” to come to earth. Did He also give up omniscience and omnipotence?
- When did people begin to notice “his glory” (John 1:14)?
- Did he know about the visit of the shepherds or was He aware of the star or of the angelic chorus?
There are several things he would have experienced for the first time:
- Straw poking him through his infant clothes
- Hot and cold.
- Being held in the arms of a human mother and father.
- Riding on a donkey.
- The smells and sounds of a stable.
Why is all of this important? Why is it important for us to understand the humanity of Jesus? What are the implications for us. These become the important questions.
June 29, 2009 at 6:57 pm
That’s a new thought for me … that the ‘work’ Jesus completed was the work of disciple-making.
Was reading this morning in Hebrews 2, which provides a good theology for the humanity of Jesus.
‘Lower than the angels.’
‘Crowned with glory and honor because he suffered death’
‘taste death for everyone’
‘made perfect through suffering’
‘those who make men holy and are holy are of the same family’
‘made like his brothers in every way’
‘because he himself suffered … he is able to help’
Rather than rescuing us from the world he created, God embedded himself in it and made himself vulnerable to all the consequences of being in it. The humanity of Jesus reveals that being human isn’t some type of curse, but rather a blessing. We don’t need to be rescued from our humanity, just redeemed. God’s work takes place in real flesh and blood, space and time.
Looking forward to what else you have to say about this …
June 29, 2009 at 7:33 pm
I’m trying hard to set aside my theological training as I read. Imagine if Jesus had only gone to the cross and not prepared a team of trained followers – disciple-makers.
Perhaps the greatest tragedy in the church today is that we have built great religious, theologically sound organizations and have trained the next generation to keep the organization going but have failed to create a movement of disciple-makers.
Hebrews 2,4,5,10 and Philippians 2 all have great insights into the humanity of Jesus.