Was Jesus Human?
Introduction
I grew up in St. Catharines and I have many memories of the Niagara area. I spent a lot of time during the summer exploring in the area of Queenston’s Heights. One of the highlights was always climbing the stairs of Brock’s monument. We would be exhausted afterwards but it was worth it. Brock’s name would enter my life again in my late teens and early twenties as I attended Brock University. The memory of Major-General Isaac Brock is strong in the Niagara area. This man, known as the hero of Upper Canada, proved his worth in the very places I played as a child. It was 1812. Brock had already demonstrated that he was a capable military leader, despite difficult circumstances. The hardest part was yet to come. Brock was stationed at Fort George, another place of my childhood memories. The Americans had crossed the Niagara River and had invaded Canada. The American troops had disabled the British cannons and things were looking very bad for the British. Brock had a number of options. He could have escaped the battle area with as many troops as he could gather. This would have enabled him to carefully and safely plan a counter-attack at a later date. He could have gathered with other military leaders in a board room and make decisions about what strategy they would take. But that is not what he did. He gathered some infantry and attacked the Americans head on. True to his philosophy of never ordering his soldiers to go where he would not lead them, Brock lead the charge in person. An easy target in his general’s uniform, Brock was shot and killed by American sharpshooters. It was later in the day when Roger Hale Sheaffe, the next highest officer, planned a more cautious strategy that the British were successful and the Americans were defeated. The funny thing is, I never saw any mention of Sheaffe any where in Niagara and had not even heard of him until preparing for this message, even though he was the officer who ultimately accomplished the victory. Why? Because Brock proved his heroism in his humanity. He got right into the battle, putting his life at risk as he became as one of the men. There is something in that choice that rings true to our souls, much more so than a successful strategy planned in safety. The reason I talk about this is that this illustrates the attractiveness of Jesus. The reason that I have been drawn to Jesus is not His eternal origin or involvement in creation but His humanity. Jesus was a hero like Isaac Brock who got into the trenches with His people rather than directing the battle from a board room. Ironically, they both gave their lives for those they cared for. I speak of this as we continue to look at the nature of Jesus. Last week we saw that Jesus was God. But was He human as well? To answer that question, we are going to put the humanity of Jesus on trial.
The Case for the Non-Humanity of Jesus
The first challenge of the first followers of Jesus was to demonstrate his divinity to their initial Jewish audience. But things quickly changed. As more Greeks became followers of Jesus, they eagerly accepted Jesus as God. Then they began to reason: If Jesus is God, He can only be the best. Since we know that spirit is much better than physical flesh, then Jesus must have been a spirit and only appeared to have a physical body. It actually got to the point where people were doubting the humanity of Jesus. This was a huge problem as the Gospel required Jesus to be both God and human. In 1 John, we find John actually saying those who deny that Christ came in the flesh are led by the spirit of anti-Christ. Those are strong words. Obviously the belief that Jesus was a non-human spirit ran deeply in the early church. What other arguments do we have against the humanity of Jesus? We have the miracles. We really do not see people today very often walking on water or calming the sea. Mind you there are other examples of people in the Bible performing miracles, although it is not common. It would be easier to accept the miracles if Jesus had no humanity and only divinity. We also have the authority of Jesus. Jesus does not seem to have any formal rabbinic training. Yet we find Him as a twelve year old discussing theology with the teachers of the Law. We see Him as an adult debating the scholars and giving authoritative interpretations that people seemed to accept. How could Jesus be human and do such a thing? Finally, we have the atonement of Jesus. The cross is the means of reconciliation between God and humanity. How could a human being possibly pay for the world’s sins, past, present, and future? At this point, it is looking unlikely that Jesus was human. Perhaps Jesus was a spirit manifestation of God that only looked human, a disguise to fool the unspiritual. But let us hear the other side of the story.
The Case for the Humanity of Jesus
How do we know that Jesus was human? Both Matthew and Luke begin their Gospels with the story of the birth of Jesus. Although it was obviously supernatural, the message is clear that Jesus was an embryo and a fetus and a baby and that He was in His mother’s womb for nine months and was delivered the way all babies were delivered in that day. That sounds rather human. The Gospels, while generally glossing over Jesus’ childhood, do make this interesting statement: “And Jesus increased in wisdom and in stature and in favor with God and man.” (Luke 2:52) Development and growth are basic to human existence. Jesus’ ministry is described in three of the Gospels as beginning with the experience of temptation. An interesting story in the Gospel of John tells of one of Jesus’ first miracles. A wedding runs out of wine and Jesus’ mother Mary suggests that He should do something about it. Jesus’ preference is not to but Mary goes on to act as if Jesus was going to do it any way. That relationship with a mother looks very human. There is so much that we could look at. There are examples of Jesus getting hungry and thirsty and tired, things a purely spirit being would not experience. We have Jesus cleansing the Temple and demonstrating the emotion of anger. We have Jesus at Lazarus’ funeral shedding tears. In Matthew 26:36-46 we have Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane, described as being sorrowful unto death, pleading with the Father that He would not have to go through the suffering. While Jesus was on the cross, He called out the words of Psalm 22, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” How many of us have cried out those same words in the time of our distress? After looking at both cases, it is clear that Jesus was a unique individual. There was something supernatural and authoritative about Him. He was not just the average person. But Jesus’ humanity shines through very clearly. He was not just an illusion of humanity but was God made flesh, deity incarnated into a real human being. Jesus was very human.
Conclusion
I have been trying to tie all of these messages together with a practical point. Our starting point was the passage from Hebrews 4 about Jesus as our high priest. The author spends a lot of time building his case as to why Jesus is our high priest and it would be easy for us to tune this out as being irrelevant. But notice how the author concludes his argument. This is not just any high priest, it is one that is able to sympathize with our weaknesses and who has been tempted as we have. In ancient Israel, the average person was not able to identify well with the high priest. But we as Christians have a high priest that we can identify with. As much as Jesus was God and able to pay the ultimate price, He was also human and was able to stand in our place. Think about your life and the challenges that you are going through. How present do you see Jesus in your trouble and how comfortable are you in bringing your needs to Him? Are you financially challenged? So was Jesus. Are you hungry and in need? So was Jesus. Have you been betrayed by friends and family? So was Jesus. Are you afraid? So was Jesus. Do you feel abandoned by God? So did Jesus. Do you see how powerful this is? We can go to Jesus, not just as the exalted Son of God, but as the Man of God who knows our troubles. In that identification we can find hope and comfort. May you truly know that Jesus will never leave you nor forsake you because He has been where you are and He cares where you are now.
