I Feel Your Pain

We talk about the deity of Jesus, His power, His glory, and His sacrifice. We often forget to realize that Jesus was born in the flesh. He was still fully God, but He was also fully man. Jesus often displayed His human side while concealing His deity from those around Him. I think this is wonderfully amazing.

Tired and Hungry

In John 4:6, we find Jesus at the well of Jacob. Here, at the well, Jesus met the Samaritan woman. Not only was Jesus tired, but He was thirsty. He had been in the day's heat, and it affected Him. Jesus needed rest and sustenance just as we would. Next, in the Gospel of Mark 6:31, after the apostles had told Jesus of their works, Jesus said, "Come away by yourselves to a desolate place and rest a while." For many were coming and going, and they had no leisure even to eat." Again, Jesus was tired and hungry, just like his apostles.

The Loss of a Loved One

If we next look at Lazarus's resurrection, we see another human side of Jesus. Lazarus had died, and Jesus had come to visit Mary and Martha, the sisters of Lazarus. When Lazarus' sister Mary came to Jesus, she spoke to Him, and Jesus wept at the loss of Lazarus. I find this fantastic because Jesus knew He could and would raise Lazarus from the dead. Jesus experienced loss and shared the loss we feel when a loved one dies. Jesus loved Lazarus and mourned his loss, nonetheless. We read of Jesus' emotions, "Jesus wept. So the Jews said, "See how he loved him!" Quite a display of the duality of Jesus. On the one hand, He in his humanity experienced this loss even though He in his deity had the power to erase that loss and knowledge that it would happen.

The Master of Creation

We will find the last passage I would like to review in Mark 4. Jesus had set out across the sea of Galilee when a storm came upon the boat. Jesus was tired and had fallen asleep. He must have been wholly exhausted because He remained asleep amid the winds and waves. We read in Mark verses 38-40, And they woke him and said to him, "Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?" And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, "Peace! Be still!" And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm. He said to them, "Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?" Here an exhausted Jesus is awakened by the apostles who are afraid they will die when the man in the boat with them, Jesus, is a man who can immediately calm the storm. They still did not get it. They did not understand who Jesus was, the son of God.

He knows you

Jesus experienced life as a human. We know He was still God because He revealed this on the Mount of Transfiguration. Here, He pulled back His humanity like a curtain revealing His deity. What we should understand from these examples is that Jesus understands us. He lived among us; He was the Word made flesh that dwelt among us. So, when we experience these things in our life, our God understands our emotions. Our God is personal, not a God who rules strictly from above, from a distance, but a God who held our hand, ate our food, and slept among us. He experienced life and gave up that life so that you could live an eternal life experiencing life with and in the presence of God. Jesus walked a mile in our shoes; I cannot wait to slip on His sandals and walk among the angels. God's Blessings!