The grand miracle of Christmas: the humanity of Jesus

Introduction: December, 2009 I held a newborn baby…14 years ago I cradled a tiny infant in my arms; ney! I barely needed my arms, almost just my hands. Talk about stopping to consider and having a little perspective. Many of you have held an infant, perhaps not in December, but that barely matters; tiny hands, barely there toes, and that newborn weak, but insistent cry-drawing attention to their own needs and desires. In so many ways, babies are the epitome of humanity. Cute, but a lot of work :-). Totally dependent on an outside source for everything. They need fed; not just anything, but their mother’s milk or a carefully crafted formula made just for a newborn. They need love, sleep, clothing, medical care, and again, like the rest of us they need an occasional bath. And though their brains, bodies, personality are not totally developed, they are as human as you or I.

This time of year we begin to hear songs on the radio, carols in stores, and sing praise at church celebrating our Infant Lord. But have you stopped to consider that despite our corporate recitation in chorus of a silent night or

poem put to music that we recite declaring the

The cattle are lowing The Baby awakes But little Lord Jesus No crying He makes,

but let me tell you He must have cried,

when he had hunger,

and needed to tell his young mother

he peed when his blatter was full because that’s how human anatomy works.

He died when he was deprived

of air in His lungs

as He hung on the cross for you and for me,

representing all of humanity because he was as human as you or me.

any who come and repent to the one who was sent from Heaven for you and for me. Not just an angelic-like deity, but fully God and fully man. His deity was simply concealed, not fully revealed.

His deity, while fully possessed could not be fully expressed due to his having taken on human nature, you see?

He had a name. It is Jesus

He had to sleep when He was tired.

He hungered and thirsted, not just after righteousness, but for bread and for water.

He had human parents that provided for Him and raised Him. He siblings, and cousins, and expectations placed upon Him that He somehow navigated without sin.

He had to learn to walk

He had to learn to talk

Jesus navigated relationships with his mother, his brothers,

his disciples, even when they trifled with God the son. Had denials of even knowing their master.

Jesus was as human as you or as me, a part of of all humanity

when He was a baby, when He grew up, He was tempted, He was trialled, he laughed, He cried, He gave His blood and then he Died. Jesus was as much a part of humanity as you or as me, let’s turn to the text and see.

Philippians 2:5–8 (ESV): Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6  who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7 but emptied himself, by taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.

“his deity, while fully possessed, could not be fully expressed due to his having taken on human nature.” -Bruce Ware (Chair, Department of Christian Theology at Southern Seminary, formerly of TEDS)