Tag Archives: human

Understood.

“You don’t understand what its like!” – perhaps we remember the cry as the typical complaint of the teenager. But it is not a feeling limited to the years of adjustment to adulthood.

Increasingly we hear people being pressured in their jobs, by managers themselves being pushed harder and harder for results. Too often the employee feels unheard and not understood as they are pushed.

More and more families are pressured by the varied wants and demands of different members. We are encouraged to be our own people and do our own thing – but no one explains how that will fit with the personalities and agendas of others with whom we share our lives.

There is a danger that church life can add to the problem: Live like this, support that, we must do more . . So Hebrews comes as a relief. (We read a short paragraph from the end of chapter 2 today – Hebrews 2:14-18)

Jesus shared our life. It was necessary for us to know he understands, even if he didn’t need that experience to empathise. A fully human – and not wealthy or favoured – life was lived before his death. And it was his death that set us free from the fear and power of death. Indeed, his death opens our way to new life.

If Jesus had not lived like us, there might always have been the suspicion that he didn’t – couldn’t – know what it feels like. We might have felt as if we were being shouted at by some drill sergeant, who had no intention of running the course, or facing the enemy. But v17 “For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God” – an intermediary, bringing us back to God.

We read this encouragement with the story of the Presentation in the Temple (Luke 2:22-40) – a helpless baby brought to the Temple to fulfill the requirements of Jewish Law. We are reminded of how fully Jesus was immersed in the life of a faithful Jewish family, and in time would take a full part in it. Of course, Simeon and Anna recognise something wonderfully out of the ordinary in this child. He will bring change, and fulfillment of many hopes.

The “growing up” of God’s plans for his people was not without some painful adjustments, just like the “growing up” of children taking their place in the adult world. The Messiah recognised in his mother’s arms turned out to be the Messiah who did not meet popular expectations, at least not in the way some looked for. People would struggle to understand the way God chose to work – as they have in every age, and still do. But at least we cannot doubt that God in Christ did “know what its like!”, and had every sympathy for what Christians would face and struggle with.

Why Jesus?

You can tell a great deal about a Church from its attitude to Jesus. Is he talked about a lot, or only a little? Is he seen as a leader, or more remotely as some sort of “patron”? Are the gospels read often, or less than other writings?

Jesus remains at the centre of Christian faith. The name comes from a “Christ men” nickname, noted in the New Testament (Acts 11:26), and apt. One of the important reasons why is noted by the writer of the letter to Hebrews (we read Hebrews 2:10-18 today). Jesus, who by nature, and from before the start of time, shares the status of God with the Father and the Spirit, chooses to come to earth. He volunteers to be born, vulnerable and poor, as a truly human baby – Mary’s child.

So begins a human life, which will share all the normal experiences, and several others. He will play, learn, celebrate – and suffer. He does not deserve that suffering, but it makes him a most appropriate Saviour, as he is fully identified with those he brings from darkness and despair to the glory of heaven and hope.

The writer of this letter to Hebrews will compare Jesus with the Jewish High Priest. The High Priest was well aware of the failings of the people, as he shared their life (and indeed their sins). But he was appointed to make sacrifice for them to God. It was something well understood by the Jewish Christians who first received this letter.

In the twenty first century, we may find it more helpful to think (with some early Christians) of Jesus making a bridge between earth and heaven. Both ends of a bridge have to be secure, and in the right place! The Son of God belonged in heaven. He had the right. But in being born human, and sharing the ups and downs of human life before offering himself as a sacrifice for sin, he establishes the other end of the bridge. So, as Hebrews says:

“he had to become like his brothers and sisters in every respect, so that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make a sacrifice of atonement for the sins of the people.
Because he himself was tested by what he suffered, he is able to help those who are being tested.”

Hebrews 2:17-18

That he should choose to live a human life, suffer, and die, remains for many a puzzle. But it is God’s wisdom, establishing the offer of salvation, without any coercion. The bridge between earth and heaven is open, both ends secure and well placed. Those who doubt, and want to paddle themselves across the flood, are foolish indeed.

Normal

You might think it strange that the Sunday after Christmas we read of Jesus as a 12 year old. (Luke 2:41-52), but it makes clear that Christmas is no “baby story”. The baby grows to a normal youngster, here on the edge of adult status.

There is a play on words when Mary and Joseph catch up with Jesus in the temple. His mother speaks of her anxious search with “your father” – as Joseph was in many ways. Yet Jesus speaks of “my father’s house”, meaning the temple, and God. Jesus has come to know who he is, and to recognise God for himself. It does not mean that he rejects his human family, nor the need for obedience to them. Nor was he teaching in the temple – he was listening, though his questions were full of insight.

This is our only glimpse of the story between the visit of the Wise Men and the start of Jesus’ public ministry. It shows a real child, though one in whom there is a growing understanding of a special status and purpose. It reminds us that the one who comes into our world is God, and also fully human.

It is also important in reminding us that the Son of God has, in his perfect humanity, to be obedient, and submit to those who do not understand as he does. If he was hurt by the rubuke and frustrated by their lack of understanding, it is not made the excuse for an argument, still less for abandoning his family. It is not always easy for people who understand to do that.