Today many spend a good part of their Christian life trying to defend the deity of Christ and, in the process, ignore His humanity. However, when Jesus walked this earth, quite the opposite was true: His deity, not His humanity was questioned. It is hard to imagine Jesus as fully human, walking on this earth, experiencing the same emotions as us, doing the same daily tasks, and simply being human. However, that is exactly what we would have seen if we’d walked with Him in first-century Palestine. 

Although Jesus is God, He experienced humanity just like you and me. From the Bible, we know that He was born and was a baby (Luke 2:7). He grew (Luke 2:40, 52). He became thirsty (John 19:28), hungry (Matthew 4:2), and tired (John 4:6). He gained knowledge (Luke 2:52). He experienced the same human emotions that we share: anger (Mark 10:14, John 11:38), marvel (Matthew 8:10), and compassion (Matthew 14:14, 15:32, 20:34; Mark 1:41, 6:34). Zeal consumed Him (John 2:15-17). He was troubled (John 11:33, 13:21), and He wept (John 11:35, Luke 19:41-44, John 11:35-36). Jesus rejoiced (Luke 10:21). He loved (Mark 10:21; John 11:5) and was joyful (John 15:11). He attended dinners and ate with friends: the one given to Him by Matthew after Jesus called him to be a disciple (Matthew 9:9-13); the one at Zacchaeus’ house (Luke 19:7), and at Lazarus’ house (John 12:2). Finally, Jesus bled, and He died (John 19:30-34).

JESUS SHOWS US HOW TO BE HUMAN

If we were to have observed Jesus in first century Palestine, we would have noticed His humanity: we would have seen him laugh, cry, rejoice, get angry, show compassion and most of all we would have seen His love. We should never ignore the humanity of Jesus because He serves as the perfect example of how we should live our lives.

Prayer Focus: Lord, thank you so much for sending us a perfect example of how to be human. Through Jesus, we see that your plans for us are good! In Jesus name, Amen.