MAN JESUS
Sunday, February 14, 2016
“Greater love hath no man than this, that a MAN lay down his life for his friends” (John 15:13)
He was a man, yes a man died for you. He was not in a supernatural body; he was in a body subject to the same emotions, passions and feelings as yours. Everything he did, he did as a man partnering with God. He faced the temptations of the flesh…
If he was not a machine, he felt tired. Yet he walked through cities on foot, he was weak but he persevered, placing the things of God in the office of utmost priority. One day he was hungry and tired, but there was a frustrated Samaritan woman, and so he chose her over his food…
Sometimes he was really tired, we saw him sleep on the ship after a stressful day, and the faithless disciples considered it a careless attitude; with tightened face they said, “Carest not thou that we perish?” I think Jesus should be the one asking them, for he was a man subject to stress
The pain of a pin piercing some layers of the skin could lead to some horrific screams, yet Jesus without going to a gym, or pain control rehearsal went to the cross, we easily forget that he did it as a man. We don’t meditate on it, we easily forget, it was the height of pain, more than you have felt.
But the passion of Christ was not just the physical pain but also the spiritual pain, for when he carried the sins of the entire earth, and mine inclusive, the Father turned away, and the Spirit of God left him, it was the first time, and it was his greatest pain, his greatest passion.
His words reflected his greatest passion, and so he said (on the cross), for the first time he called the father God, because it felt so distant. He said; “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me” Imagine you have trusted in someone all your life, and then the person leaves you with nothing but your pains.
Now if Jesus suffered all this for us as a man, what sacrifice would be too much for him, for his kingdom and for his children, both inside and outside. Why do we minimize our commitment and get easily swayed by some little stress, it is time we build sacrifice upon the altar of sacrifice.
SELAH: Be careful what you build upon Christ!
Shalom
