His Humanity
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Communion: John 3:16
16 For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
In the early days of the railroad, a man worked as a bridge keeper for a massive drawbridge over a river. One day, he brought his young son to work. While the father was in the control room, the boy began exploring and accidentally fell into the massive gears that operated the bridge.
Just as the father saw his son fall, he heard the whistle of an express train coming. It was full of hundreds of passengers. If he didn't lower the bridge immediately, the train would fly off the tracks and into the river.
But if he pulled the lever, his son would be crushed in the machinery.
With great agony and tears streaming down his face, the father pulled the lever.
The passengers on the train sped across the bridge, laughing and eating, never knowing that their lives were bought at the cost of a father’s son.
While this is an imperfect illustration (because Jesus was a willing sacrifice), it reminds us of the cost of our atonement. What is atonement?
Jesus Christ’s sacrificial death and resurrection bridged the gap between humanity and God, repairing the relationship broken by sin is our atonement.
We "ride the train" of salvation often forgetting the heavy price paid by the Father and the Son to keep the bridge down.
Communion Reflection: Let’s take a moment now to thank the Father for the "lever" He pulled on our behalf.
Relatable: His Humanity
Relatable: Possible to understand, like, or have sympathy for, because of similarities to oneself or one's own experiences.
Jesus didn’t just create humanity – He entered into it.
Because Jesus became human, no part of your life is unknown to Him.
14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
Do you even hear those words? Sometimes I think we’ve heard them so many times that they just don't register anymore. We’ve domesticated the Creator of the universe.
Think about it like this: Imagine you’re walking through a park, and you see this massive ant hill. And you see these ants, and they’re destroying each other. They’re fighting, they’re lost, they’re starving, and they have no idea that in ten minutes, a lawnmower is coming to wipe them all out.
Now, you love these ants. I don't know why—maybe you’re a weird ant-lover—but you want to save them. So what do you do? Do you stand over them and yell, 'Hey! Stop it! The mower is coming!'? No, they can't hear you. They don't even know you exist.
The only way to really reach them, to really show them the way to safety, would be to become an ant.
But think about how ridiculous that is. You’d have to give up your human life, your family, your ability to see the world from six feet up, and you’d have to shrink down into a tiny, fragile, six-legged body. You’d have to crawl in the dirt. You’d have to eat what they eat. You’d risk being stepped on by your own friends.
That’s a lame illustration because the gap between you and an ant is nothing compared to the gap between the Holy God and a human being. Yet Jesus didn't just look like an ant; He became one. He took on the flesh—the weak, breakable stuff that we are made of.
14 The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen his glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth.
He is full of grace and truth. Not 50/50. 100% grace, because we’re a mess, and 100% truth, because He won't leave us in that mess.
No part of your life—the parts you're ashamed of, the parts you hide—is not unknown to Him. He entered our world so He could lead us into His.
Grace gives us the safety to be honest about our lives, and truth gives us the direction to change.
Because Jesus lived a human life, He’s relatable.
14 Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might break the power of him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil—15 and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death.
Jesus faced death and conquered it. So can we. The difference between those that know Jesus and those that don’t and their reaction to death.
Jesus didn't just come to give us a ticket to heaven; He came to change how we live on earth by removing the power of fear the fear of death.
This is the Easter story.
17 For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people.
Does it ever strike you how intentional this was? The author of Hebrews says Jesus had to be made like us. It wasn't a suggestion; it was a necessity.
He became fully human in every way. Not just kind of human. He felt the cold. He felt the hunger. He felt the temptations and everything else we experience.
17 For this reason he had to be made like them, fully human in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people.
Remember the train? Jesus who was sinless, took on our sin, so we could be made right with God.
18 Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.
I love that word: help. Not just judge. Not just tell you to try harder. He helps because He knows the weight of the temptation.
He knows what it’s like when your flesh is screaming for something that isn't God. Because He became human, there is no part of your struggle that is unknown to Him. - Every thought about Jesus as a teenage boy coming into puberty? - Yet still did not sin?
When someone has gone through what you are going through they understand and can help in ways others can’t. They can relate and are Relatable!
15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.
One of the biggest lies in our lives is the feeling that we are alone in our struggles.
The word empathize in the Greek, is sympatheo, which means to suffer with and have sympathy for, which is empathy.
We don't have a God who is unable to suffer with us.
Sympathy vs. Empathy.
Sometimes I look at my own life and I’m so frustrated with my own weaknesses. I think, God must be so tired of me.
But Hebrews says the exact opposite. Jesus isn't looking down with disgust; He’s looking at you with empathy and understanding.
Religion says, You must be strong for God to accept you. The Gospel says, Jesus became weak so that God could accept you in your weakness.
I want you to leave this first week of our Relatable series with this truth: Jesus can relate and understands you and gets you.
6 Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; 7 rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death— even death on a cross!
This passage always floors me. It says Jesus made himself nothing. Think about who we’re talking about! We’re talking about the One who is in very nature God.
Your life—even the small and insignificant parts—is fully known to Him because He made Himself nothing just to be relatable to you.
Leading up to the Easter story in scripture, you will see over and over again how relatable Jesus is.
1.Have you ever had your own family not believe in you?
5 For even his own brothers did not believe in him.
Jesus would say “I get it”.
2.Have you ever been misunderstood?
At his trial Pilate thinks he is a rival king.
36 Jesus said, “My kingdom is not of this world. If it were, my servants would fight to prevent my arrest by the Jewish leaders. But now my kingdom is from another place.”
Jesus would say “I get it”.
Ever have someone attempt charter assignation and smear lies about you?
19 The Son of Man came eating and drinking, and they say, ‘Here is a glutton and a drunkard, a friend of tax collectors and sinners.’ But wisdom is proved right by her deeds.”
Jesus would say “I get it”.
Have you ever had a friend betray you?
47 While he was still speaking a crowd came up, and the man who was called Judas, one of the Twelve, was leading them. He approached Jesus to kiss him, 48 but Jesus asked him, “Judas, are you betraying the Son of Man with a kiss?”
Have you ever had your closest friends abandon you? Jesus can relate.
50 Then everyone deserted him and fled.
Have you ever prayed for a problem you were facing? Begging God for another way? And the answer was still no.
39 Going a little farther, he fell with his face to the ground and prayed, “My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”
As the band comes up.
If you feel abandoned today, remember: His friends fled.
If you feel slandered or misunderstood today, remember: They called Him a drunkard.
If you feel like your own family doesn't get your faith, remember: His brothers didn't believe Him either.
Church, we don't serve a distant God. We serve a Savior with scars. We serve a King who had dust under His fingernails and tears on His face.
He didn't just come to give you a ticket to heaven; He came to walk with you on earth. He took on your flesh so He could give you His Spirit.
He faced death so you could face tomorrow without fear. Let’s go out into this week knowing that we are never, ever alone.
Because He was made like us, we can become like Him.
