The Human Jesus

In Matthew 14, Jesus finds out that his cousin and prophet, John the Baptist, had been killed by Herod. Verse 13 says, "On hearing this, Jesus set out secretly by boat for a secluded place."

The first thing that strikes me about this verse is that the pain Jesus was in must have been incredible. Forget for a second that Jesus is God and think about what the human Jesus was feeling. One of His family members was jailed and killed for proclaiming the Word of God, something He himself was doing as well. This must have served as a strong reminder that His time to suffer was approaching very, very quickly. Can you imagine the fear a man feels at this news? He knew He was next. He came into this world a normal man, like you and I. He had His own fears, He had His own hopes, anxieties, worries, and dreams, just like you and I do. It's so easy to forget this when we feel that God just doesn't understand us because our problems, our sufferings are so big that there's no way He could ever help, but you are so wrong! The glory of God is that He loves us so much that He lowered Himself by becoming one of us and living a human life just like the rest of us. There's nothing you can go through that He can't understand. And probably even more so because although He is God, He never chose to avoid His pain and suffering but accepted humiliation and a death on the cross, seeing it all through with faith. Because He is God it doesn't mean that things didn't hurt Him the way things hurt us, or that God the Father lessened the embarrassment or the humiliation He faced during His last hours on Earth. As a matter of fact, when Jesus prayed in the garden before He was arrested, it says that He was so worried, so scared, that He sweated blood! He said to His disciples, "My soul is filled with sorrow even to death." How then can He not truly understand you in your sorrow?

The second thing that strikes me is Jesus' actions upon hearing the news. The verse says "secretly" and "secluded." Secretly and secluded because this world will never let us be in peace. There are demands coming at us from all angles and we are pressed for time. In the same way, so many people depended on Jesus for teaching and for healing, so He made sure He had His own time, away from everyone else to spend with God. The Son of Man, the human Jesus knew that He was in pain and He needed to be alone to be refueled by God. We have all been taught that the body and the spirit are separate. We eat food to energize our bodies, but it is through prayer and this secluded time with God that our spirits are strengthened. If you are feeling emtpy and alone right now, I guarantee it is because you have not taken the time today to be strengthened by God. Your spirit is hungry, give it nourishment.The Lord Jesus Christ has set before you a perfect example of how to act for He led an exemplary life. He came down from Heaven to show us that if He could perservere in the faith through trials and tribulations, so can we.

Today's Prayer:
Lord Jesus, thank You for having come down from Heaven to share in our pain and suffering. You are my rock and with my eyes set on You and Your life, I know I can overcome all adversity by being strengthened by You. In Your Name we pray, Amen.