The Humanity of Christ

From "Vintage Jesus" by Mark Driscoll and Gary Breshears:

The Bible teaches that Jesus Christ is fully God who became a man and is "Immanuel," which means, "God with us." It is important to note that this is the opposite of many religions that teach that men and women can become God or at least gods. This was Satan's first lie! Conversely, our God Jesus Christ humbled Himself and entered into human history as a man to identify with us as our humble servant. As both God and man, Jesus alone can reconcile us to God as the only perfect God-man mediator. As theologian Donald Bloesch says, "Jesus therefore differs from other human beings in kind, not simply in degree."

One of the most astonishing things about Jesus is that as God He actually chose to come into our fallen, sick, twisted, unjust, evil, cruel, painful world and be with us to suffer like us and for us. Meanwhile, we spend most of our time trying to figure out how to avoid the pain and evil of this world while reading dumb books about the rapture just hoping to get out. Jesus truly lived a painful life that was fully human:

• Jesus was tempted to sin by the Devil himself
• Jesus had money troubles that included being poor, getting riped off, struggling to pay His taxes, and being homeless
• People attacked Jesus by spreading vicious rumors, physically abusing Him, and mocking and spitting on Him
• Jesus was continually jacked with by religious neatniks
• Jesus had some bummer days marked by lonliness, deep sorrow, exhaustion, and weeping
• Jesus' friends were a joke and no help in times of crisis; they even betrayed Him and turned their backs on Him
• Jesus' family thought He was a nut job
• Jesus bled
• Jesus died
• Jesus used His final breaths to forgive those who destroyed Him

For those who are sick, abused, burned out, tired, bedridden, flat broke, tempted, weary, hated, lonely, and dying, the humanity of Jesus on His darkest days is encouraging. Without these insights into Jesus' life, it would be difficult for us to run to Him in our time of need because we would be unaware of the similar experiences He had during His life on earth. Those experiences make Him a compassionate friend. Therefore, the humanity of Jesus is as important for our love of Christ as His divinity.