So the word became human and made his home among us. John 1:14 (MSG)
Understand His Humanity – A Vast Joke Series – Part 1
Frederick Buechner said: “The incarnation is a kind of vast joke whereby the Creator of the ends of the earth comes among us in diapers… Until we too have taken the idea of the God-man seriously enough to be scandalized by it, we have not taken it as seriously as it demands to be taken.”
We know less about Jesus than we think we do.
The Biblical text only covers a few years of his life, and only SOME of the things that he experienced. Even then, the details differ from account to account, book to book! We can read about his miraculous birth and his three to four years of “ministry.” We can picture him turning water into wine, walking on water, calling Zacheaus out of a tree and Lazarus out of a tomb, turning the temple tables over during Passover, unknowingly healing a woman who touched his clothes in a crowd.
Jesus seemed to do a lot in those few short years of his life that we can read about in the bible.
Do you ever think about the other years?
The thirty odd ones missing from the pages of the Bible?
What happened there?
Perhaps, Jesus was being a regular, first-Century Jewish Rabbi kind-of-guy.
It’s not Jesus godliness that makes him so wondrous – it’s his humanity. These days, the thing we look to as God’s first significant demonstration of his love for us is the cross. But if we look back just another thirty three-ish odd years or so before the crucifixion, we see another incredible act and declaration of Divine love:
The incarnation.
God became a human.
Jesus.
“…a kind of vast joke whereby the Creator of the ends of the earth comes among us in diapers.”
He didn’t arrive on earth as an established ruler, or an obvious diety, wielding power and might in his hands and voice; he didn’t bring a fierce army with him ready to wage war on all who opposed him!
He took on flesh and blood. And not as a full grown man, but an infant. Right into our origins. He bestowed upon humanity the honor of joining us, being one with us. Becoming one of us. Sacred. Holy. Human.
We cannot understand Christ’s divinity unless we first understand his humanity. We cannot understand his supernatural essence if we can’t see his normality and everyday ordinariness.
Those thirty years of Jesus that we know nothing about would have been filled with all the things that our “nothing years” are filled with. Waiting, learning, working, eating, living, laughing, crying, growing, dreaming; the discovery of purpose and desire and discipline. Do you think he knew by age five that he was the Saviour? Destined to die on a cross? And rise again? I think Jesus discovered his destiny the same way we all do… heart and soul passions, prayer, connection, a belly full of fire… he was just like us, in these things.
When we think of Jesus birth, we would do well to remember that it isn’t just a time to celebrate a baby or give gifts or eat copious amounts of food. We woldu do well to wonder at the miracle of the Incarnation. To look deeply into this beautiful hope-filled moment and consider the humanity of Jesus, and wonder what else there is to him that we don’t yet know.
It’s a time to believe that the hope of salvation began the moment Jesus quickened in his mother's womb.
Go to A Mighty God to Save Us – A Vast Joke Series – Part 2
Written by Lizzy Milani
[font_awesome link=”https://www.instagram.com/lizzy.milani/” icon=”instagram” color=”000″ size=”16px” margin_right=”” margin_left=”” margin_top=”” margin_bottom=””] lizzy.milani [font_awesome link=”https://www.twitter.com/lizzymilani/” icon=”twitter” color=”000″ size=”16px” margin_right=”” margin_left=”” margin_top=”” margin_bottom=””] lizzymilani
[vcex_image_grid columns=”3″ pagination=”false” thumbnail_link=”custom_link” link_title_tag=”true” custom_links_target=”_blank” overlay_style=”title-category-visible” columns_gap=”5″ img_hover_style=”fade-out” image_ids=”20934,20935,20937″ custom_links=”https://itunes.apple.com/app/apple-store/id1239768002?pt=118656308&ct=blog%20footer&mt=8,https://www.pktfuel.com/dailyemail,https://www.pktfuel.com/support” img_height=”350″]