Life
of Christ 15
Jesus grew. For some reason, there is a tendency to think of Jesus as being hatched, full-fledged, from the womb, wearing a robe, with long hair dangling down, and his hands held out in blessing. Well, He wasn't. Jesus grew.
At the
risk of sounding heretical, one of the things I want to do with this series
this year is to show you the humanity of Jesus. Yes, He was God, but He was
just as much human as He was divine (I Timothy 2.5) and that is all too often
forgotten. He got hungry (Luke 4.2). He got thirsty (John 19.28). He got tired
(John 4.6). He got sleepy (Mark 4.38). I love the way Hebrews phrases it,
careful to incorporate His humanity while not denying His deity, 'For we have
not an high priest which cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities;
but was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin (Hebrews 4.15).
I
believe in the omniscience of God, but I also believe that Jesus laid aside
this omniscience when He clothed Himself in flesh (Mark 13.32). Luke said, 'And
the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, filled with wisdom: and the grace
of God was upon him' (Luke 2.40). I realize it is somewhat controversial to
assert that Jesus lay aside some of Deity's attributes but that is the only
conclusion to which I can come. He had to learn to crawl, and then walk, and
then talk. He had to learn how to tie His sandals and how to brush His teeth.
He had to learn the alphabet, and how to read. He had to study in school just
like you did. I realize He never sinned, but just because He didn't disobey His
parents doesn't mean that He stepped from the manger knowing everything. He
still had to be taught, and He still had to learn.
He
would have learned first at home, being taught to read by Mary. Then His
schooling would have shifted to His local synagogue in Nazareth where the
course of education would have been almost exclusively religious. This was not
because He was some gifted and spiritual boy, but simply the custom of the time
for observant Jews such as Joseph and Mary were. He clearly applied Himself,
for as an adult He spoke Aramaic, Greek, and Hebrew, and He knew the Law and
the Prophets inside and out.
Most of
all, He grew spiritually. In this, I think, He was different from us, for we
grow two steps forward and one step back. He, on the other hand, never had to
conquer a sin. He never took a step back. But He did have to mature, and mature
He did.
He grew
in spirit. We are triune creatures, consisting of a body, soul, and spirit.
Your body is the part of you that is sitting in that chair reading this. Your
soul is the part of you that looks out behind your eyes, and thinks and feels
and experiences. Your spirit is the part of you that communicates with God. In
those quiet years in Nazareth, the child Jesus grew spiritually. He learned
from the Torah what God expected of Him, and He learned to yield Himself to
God. At the same time, He developed His ability to talk to God in prayer, to
communicate with God in His spirit.
Luke
also tells us He grew in wisdom. Wisdom is seeing life like God sees it, from
His perspective, so that you can make the correct choice when you are faced
with a decision. Wisdom is knowing how to do something. Jesus gradually matured
in wisdom to the place where His entire perspective on life was God's
perspective. He was filled with wisdom.
In the
context of the same verse Luke mentions that the grace of God was upon Him.
Grace enables Him to serve His Father. Grace filled His lips. Grace helped Him
to deal with the imperfections of every person around Him. He grew in an
atmosphere of grace. He came to understand clearly the relationship between
grace and the Law. He cultivated the Christian graces like faith, boldness,
knowledge, diligence, love, mercy, and generosity. He grasped the grace
necessary for a perfect young man to remain humble.
Can you
imagine what His parents thought and felt as they watched Him mature, never
sinning, never taking a step back, just constantly growing and growing and
growing? Can you imagine being His siblings? How they must have struggled with
jealousy, never being able to measure up to their older brother. In their turn,
Joseph and Mary must have struggled a fair amount in parenting, dealing with
such unequal children at home, especially when your first is the perfect one.
No one knows us better than those who share the same home with us, and although
there was clearly a measure of hostility between Jesus and His siblings during
His lifetime, in the end they also came to believe on Him. How humbling that
must have been for them, to put their faith in their own brother. He must have
been completely real, completely genuine, and completely filled with grace and
truth as He grew else surely they would have known. One of the greatly ignored
evidences that He was not a fraud, and was Who He claimed to be is that His own
siblings eventually believed on Him.
The
Bible is largely silent about these years, but to me they are precious years.
They show His humanity while not detracting from His deity. And in that very
humanity there is such an example for you and I, a practical, real life, day by
day kind of example.
Jesus grew.
Are you?
Jesus grew.
Are you?
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