Jesus Christ was, is, and forever will be fully God and fully man. Aspects of his divine nature are a mystery to us because we only share in his humanity.
I want to explore the humanity of Christ, what it means for me, and for all his disciples.
The Birth of Jesus
Luke and Matthew write detailed accounts for the birth of Jesus. They write about the virgin conception, the manger he slept in, and even his circumcision after eight days.
This is evidence for Jesus' humanity because we know that God always existed. God had no birth. Yet Jesus was real, like you or I, born from his mother's womb, not a phantom spirit that meerly appeared to be human.
And she gave birth to her firstborn son and wrapped him in swaddling cloths and laid him in a manger, because there was no place for them in the inn.
Luke 2:7 ESV
His beginning is humble by earthly standards. Kings and queens are often born and raised in palaces.
However, the Lord and Creator of the universe was placed in a feeding trough for animals. It's both a reflection of God's humility and humanities contempt for the King of Kings.
The Maturity of Christ
Once born, Jesus grew and matured like you and I. Slowly he increased in wisdom. Despite being fully God, Jesus veils his divinity and fully experienced childhood, adolescence, puberty, and adulthood.
Whereas God's nature is omnipotent and omniscient. God neither matures nor gains strength but the growth of Jesus shows that he truly lived his life without sin. He didn't use a 'divine cheat code' to skip obedience to God or his parents.
And the child grew and became strong, filled with wisdom. And the favor of God was upon him.
Luke 2:40 ESV
And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.
Luke 2:52 ESV
To fully obey the Law, Jesus had to obey his parents as written by Moses:
Honor your father and your mother, as the Lord your God commanded you, that your days may be long, and that it may go well with you in the land that the Lord your God is giving you.
Deuteronomy 5:16 ESV
Luke is careful to note that when Jesus stayed behind in the temple, though they worried about him, he did not disobey them. Returning with them, Jesus continued to submit to his mother:
And he went down with them and came to Nazareth and was submissive to them. And his mother treasured up all these things in her heart.
Luke 2:51 ESV
For us as disciples it can be helpful to remember that Jesus experienced growth. In our own lives as Christians we will experience similar growth and transformation. We don't wake up one day and suddenly it all clicks.
The Temptation of Christ
When Jesus is led by the Holy Spirit into the desert, he stood before the enemy and faced temptation. Temptation is a weakness of created beings, God never tempts and is never tempted.
Jesus demonstrates his humanity in allowing himself to be tempted. He experienced temptation deeper than we do because he never sinned. Where we would fail, Jesus reaches the furthest depths of temptation and overcomes it.
Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
Matthew 4:1 ESV
Let no one say when he is tempted, “I am being tempted by God,” for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one.
James 1:13 ESV
There is great comfort in knowing that Jesus was tempted to the maximum extent humans can be tempted, but never sinned. While we sin knowingly and unknowingly, willingly and unwillingly, he gives hope that we can one day live fully in fellowship with God.
The Sustence of Christ
Like any human, Jesus experienced the necessity to eat, drink, and sleep. God is creator and has no dependency on creation, but Jesus willingly experienced our physical needs.
Though the New Testament focuses on the acts of Jesus, it's clear that he experienced hunger, thirst, and fatigue.
And after fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry.
Matthew 4:2 ESV
After this, Jesus, knowing that all was now finished, said (to fulfill the Scripture), “I thirst.”
John 19:28 ESV
And behold, there arose a great storm on the sea, so that the boat was being swamped by the waves; but he was asleep.
Matthew 8:24 ESV
Physical hunger is a part of our human nature. When God created Adam, while he was still sinless, food was a necessity. Jesus experienced hunger and knows our needs, as God he has no need for sustenance, but partook in our need.
Poverty is an injustice in our society, and the disparity between those who have unlimited food and no food is unfair. At times, we even use food supply as a weapon against each other. Jesus knows our need for food, we can have confidence that justice will come to those who hunger.
The Death of Christ
Finally, Jesus willingly experienced death, the trajectory for all of mankind. Our Creator God is eternal and immortal, but in Christ Jesus we have a God that understands our grief and fear.
When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled. And he said, “Where have you laid him?” They said to him, “Lord, come and see.” Jesus wept.
John 11:33-35 ESV
The story of Lazarus is powerful. Jesus shows us his heart for humanity, weeping at death. As God, Jesus has the power to conquer death, capable of giving Lazarus new life. But the destruction and pain it causes to everyone is not unknown to our God.
However, before Jesus experiences death for himself, we see him agonised by it.
Then he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.”
Matthew 26:38 ESV
And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.
Luke 22:44 ESV
There's a real sense of Jesus not wanting to experience death. He is described as sorrowful, troubled, or agonised. It is the final test for Jesus and he like all humans does not want to die.
It's important to note, Jesus truly died. He is not a phantom being as Docetism suggests, nor did he escape and replaced by a lookalike as Islam suggest. People witnessed his death, buried him, and witnessed his risen body with holes in his hands and feet.
Pilate was surprised to hear that he should have already died. And summoning the centurion, he asked him whether he was already dead. And when he learned from the centurion that he was dead, he granted the corpse to Joseph.
Mark 15:44-45 ESV
See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Touch me, and see. For a spirit does not have flesh and bones as you see that I have.”
Luke 24:39 ESV
But if there is no resurrection of the dead, then not even Christ has been raised.
1 Corinthians 15:13 ESV
The death of Christ is necessary for the resurrection, which without leaves us still dead in our trespasses. Nothing should fill us with more joy than Jesus' death and resurrection story. He is our hope; the way, the truth, and the life.
Final Remarks
It can be easy to box Christ into the category of divine, forgetting his very real humanity. When we diminish his human suffering on account of being divine, we only experience half of Christ.
He was born in the flesh, putting aside his divine nature, veiling his glory for a while. The summary in Hebrews most perfectly summarises the importance of his humanity:
Therefore he had to be made like his brothers in every respect, so that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in the service of God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.
Hebrews 2:17 ESV
Jesus is like us in every respect of our humanity. He is and forever remains fully God and fully human.
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