Member
I would like to take a look at the Humanity of our Lord & Savior, Jesus Christ. I chose Phillippians 2:6-8 as my starting point:
"Who being in the very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness, & being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself, & became obediant to death-even death on a cross!"
Now I will be the first person to acknowledge that all the many movies that have made about Jesus, have been very correct in their reverence of who Jesus was-the Son of God. But all too often, people are unwilling to accept the EQUALLY IMPORTANT FACT, that Jesus was also HUMAN!
There have been two specific instances in cinema that I have seen the humanity of Jesus represented:
1.In the movie-'THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST", people were getting very upset that when Jesus was on the cross, He was pictured hallucinating about what it would be like to have sex , or be married to Mary Magdaline.
Whether of not this really happened, no one can really know. But the real issue here isn't what He was possibly thinking about-what matters was that when a person is very close to death, it is very common that they might see visions, or anything similar. This show that Jesus WAS fully human, because it showed His "humanness."
2.A more recent example, would be from the movie, "THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST."
For those of us who have seen this movie, we remember, when there was the flashback to before Jesus had started His ministry, when He was joking around with His mother.
This was absolutly brilliant! It really showed a truely "human" Jesus!
That is what we truely need, if we wish to truely get the full picture of just who Jesus really was!
Yes, He was fully God, ( & Praise God, still is! ), but we only have to look at the fact that He was also fully human.
Look at some of the examples of Jesus' humanity.
1. He was hungry. Matthew 4:2
2. He was thristy. John 19:28
3. He was tired. John 4:6
4. He showed human emotions. John 11:35
I could go on & on, but I think you can see where I am going with this.
I like to think of other circunstances in His life that probably showed His humanity.
Look at the wedding at Cana-John 2:11
Now, what is usually done at a wedding? Laughing, dancing, drinking, maybe singing? As we read through the Gospels, & we see so many examples of Jesus' humanity, is it really so improbable, that Jesus Himself took part in the dancing, laughing, may even (GOD FORBID -DRINKING?!!!!!!!).
Jesus really had a very good sense of humor as well. Look at the parable of the rich man in Matthew 19:24, Mark 10:25, & Luke 18:25 Can You imagine a camel trying to fit through eye of a needle? That really IS a very funny mental picture!
Going back to Phillippians 2:6-8-we also have to take a very serious look at the humanity of Jesus as well.
Nowhere in the Gospels, did Jesus EVER claim superiority over the Father. He ALWAYS deffered to the Father's will, & the Father's leading. Luke 2:49, John 6:40, John 8:38, John 10:25, John 10:29, John 15:8, John 15:10.
And then we see the greatest example of the humanity of Jesus-verse 8-"He humbled Himself & became obediant to death-even death on a cross."
That, my beloved Brother's & Sister's is the true Jesus! That is why He is so unique in the entire realm of history-because He WAS human-BUT-without sin-I John 3:5-"..........And in Him was NO SIN".
This is the true duality of who Jesus was, is & ever shall be! Look at Hebrews 13:8-"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, & forever."
No matter what we may be feeling- Jesus DOES know how we feel-because He IS, & was fully human. We truely CAN come to Him with ANYTHING-because He went through it all Himself.
Let us pray.
"Lord Jesus: we have truely seen that you were not just God, but that You were indeed human, just like us-us poor pitiful humans, that You died for, because You loved us. Lord Jesus: we confess our reluctience to come to You for EVERY need in our lives. We so often forget that You DO know how we feel. We ask forgiveness for ignoring Your humanness, because it IS what make You so accessible to us. It IS what makes You & You alone unique throughout all history! It IS what makes You our Lord & Savior! For no one went went through so much for us. We humble ourselves before You, Lord Jesus! We cry out with all the love that we have, & ( 'Oh so desire to have), for You! We cry out that we want YOU & YOU alone to rule in our lives, Lord Jesus! We want to serve only you, Lord Jesus! We are Your servants, Lord Jesus! Use us, Lord Jesus! Use us for Your glory, & Your Glory alone! We surrender unconditionally to You Alone, Lord Jesus! We Surrender all! In Your Name, ALONE do we pray. Amen."
In Jesus Name!
Bill
(All Scripture references from the New International Version of the Bible)
_________________
"If my people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves & pray, & seek my face, & turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from Heaven, & will forgive their sin, & will heal their land." (II Chronicles 7:14) (NIV)
"Who being in the very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made Himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness, & being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself, & became obediant to death-even death on a cross!"
Now I will be the first person to acknowledge that all the many movies that have made about Jesus, have been very correct in their reverence of who Jesus was-the Son of God. But all too often, people are unwilling to accept the EQUALLY IMPORTANT FACT, that Jesus was also HUMAN!
There have been two specific instances in cinema that I have seen the humanity of Jesus represented:
1.In the movie-'THE LAST TEMPTATION OF CHRIST", people were getting very upset that when Jesus was on the cross, He was pictured hallucinating about what it would be like to have sex , or be married to Mary Magdaline.
Whether of not this really happened, no one can really know. But the real issue here isn't what He was possibly thinking about-what matters was that when a person is very close to death, it is very common that they might see visions, or anything similar. This show that Jesus WAS fully human, because it showed His "humanness."
2.A more recent example, would be from the movie, "THE PASSION OF THE CHRIST."
For those of us who have seen this movie, we remember, when there was the flashback to before Jesus had started His ministry, when He was joking around with His mother.
This was absolutly brilliant! It really showed a truely "human" Jesus!
That is what we truely need, if we wish to truely get the full picture of just who Jesus really was!
Yes, He was fully God, ( & Praise God, still is! ), but we only have to look at the fact that He was also fully human.
Look at some of the examples of Jesus' humanity.
1. He was hungry. Matthew 4:2
2. He was thristy. John 19:28
3. He was tired. John 4:6
4. He showed human emotions. John 11:35
I could go on & on, but I think you can see where I am going with this.
I like to think of other circunstances in His life that probably showed His humanity.
Look at the wedding at Cana-John 2:11
Now, what is usually done at a wedding? Laughing, dancing, drinking, maybe singing? As we read through the Gospels, & we see so many examples of Jesus' humanity, is it really so improbable, that Jesus Himself took part in the dancing, laughing, may even (GOD FORBID -DRINKING?!!!!!!!).
Jesus really had a very good sense of humor as well. Look at the parable of the rich man in Matthew 19:24, Mark 10:25, & Luke 18:25 Can You imagine a camel trying to fit through eye of a needle? That really IS a very funny mental picture!
Going back to Phillippians 2:6-8-we also have to take a very serious look at the humanity of Jesus as well.
Nowhere in the Gospels, did Jesus EVER claim superiority over the Father. He ALWAYS deffered to the Father's will, & the Father's leading. Luke 2:49, John 6:40, John 8:38, John 10:25, John 10:29, John 15:8, John 15:10.
And then we see the greatest example of the humanity of Jesus-verse 8-"He humbled Himself & became obediant to death-even death on a cross."
That, my beloved Brother's & Sister's is the true Jesus! That is why He is so unique in the entire realm of history-because He WAS human-BUT-without sin-I John 3:5-"..........And in Him was NO SIN".
This is the true duality of who Jesus was, is & ever shall be! Look at Hebrews 13:8-"Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, & forever."
No matter what we may be feeling- Jesus DOES know how we feel-because He IS, & was fully human. We truely CAN come to Him with ANYTHING-because He went through it all Himself.
Let us pray.
"Lord Jesus: we have truely seen that you were not just God, but that You were indeed human, just like us-us poor pitiful humans, that You died for, because You loved us. Lord Jesus: we confess our reluctience to come to You for EVERY need in our lives. We so often forget that You DO know how we feel. We ask forgiveness for ignoring Your humanness, because it IS what make You so accessible to us. It IS what makes You & You alone unique throughout all history! It IS what makes You our Lord & Savior! For no one went went through so much for us. We humble ourselves before You, Lord Jesus! We cry out with all the love that we have, & ( 'Oh so desire to have), for You! We cry out that we want YOU & YOU alone to rule in our lives, Lord Jesus! We want to serve only you, Lord Jesus! We are Your servants, Lord Jesus! Use us, Lord Jesus! Use us for Your glory, & Your Glory alone! We surrender unconditionally to You Alone, Lord Jesus! We Surrender all! In Your Name, ALONE do we pray. Amen."
In Jesus Name!
Bill
(All Scripture references from the New International Version of the Bible)
_________________
"If my people, who are called by My name, will humble themselves & pray, & seek my face, & turn from their wicked ways, then will I hear from Heaven, & will forgive their sin, & will heal their land." (II Chronicles 7:14) (NIV)