Jesus as a Human
The baptism of Jesus
The book of Matthew gives us a tour of the two sides of Jesus and his transition to the Christ
100% Human
100% God
Because of both of the above, Christ
Perception of Jesus
Floats 2” above the ground
Always benevolent
100% God only
Truth of Jesus
Definitely a man and has human emotions and needs
Eat & drink
Anger
Fear
Resignation
Jesus was sent to represent what we could and should attempt to be while at the same time being what we can never be.
Jesus was baptized although John the Baptist didn’t want to baptize him
Matthew 3:13 - 17
“Then Jesus came from Galilee to the Jordan to John, to be baptized by him. John would have prevented him, saying, “I need to be baptized by you, and do you come to me?” But Jesus answered him, “Let it be so now, for thus it is fitting for us to fulfill all righteousness.” Then he consented. And when Jesus was baptized, immediately he went up from the water, and behold, the heavens were opened to him, and he saw the Spirit of God descending like a dove and coming to rest on him; and behold, a voice from heaven said, “This is my beloved Son, with whom I am well pleased.”
The beginning of Jesus’ ministry starts the moment he is baptized. Although there had been hints before this of who he was, this is the moment things became definite.
Jesus was tempted immediately after his baptism
Matthew 4:1-11
Then Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. After fasting forty days and forty nights, he was hungry. The tempter came to him and said, “If you are the Son of God, tell these stones to become bread.” Jesus answered, “It is written: ‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.” Then the devil took him to the holy city and had him stand on the highest point of the temple. “If you are the Son of God,” he said, “throw yourself down. For it is written: “‘He will command his angels concerning you, and they will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone.” Jesus answered him, “It is also written: ‘Do not put the Lord your God to the test.” Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. “All this I will give you,” he said, “if you will bow down and worship me.” Jesus said to him, “Away from me, Satan! For it is written: ‘Worship the Lord your God, and serve him only.” Then the devil left him, and angels came and attended him.
There is no reason for a being that is entirely and only God to be tempted.
This is the first proof that Jesus is human.
Jesus performs his ministry as we all know it.
There are times that Jesus expresses himself entirely as God.
Sermon on the Mount
The Parables
He still needed to eat and drink and several stories revolve around these human needs.
Matthew 14:13 Jesus feeds the five thousand
Matthew 15:32 Jesus feeds the four thousand
Jesus is both entirely God and entirely human throughout his entire ministry and life
Jesus predicted his death with growing accuracy three times
Matthew 16:21
From that time Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and on the third day be raised. And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord! This shall never happen to you.” But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance to me. For you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of man.”
Mathew 17:22
As they were gathering in Galilee, Jesus said to them, “The Son of Man is about to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him, and he will be raised on the third day.” And they were greatly distressed.
Matthew 20:17
And as Jesus was going up to Jerusalem, he took the twelve disciples aside, and on the way he said to them, “See, we are going up to Jerusalem. And the Son of Man will be delivered over to the chief priests and scribes, and they will condemn him to death and deliver him over to the Gentiles to be mocked and flogged and crucified, and he will be raised on the third day.”
Each time he becomes a little more specific about the events that are about to transpire.
This isn’t an example of Jesus being human, but the knowledge of these events weighed very heavily upon his mind.
Jesus enters Jerusalem on Palm Sunday
Matthew 21:1
Now when they drew near to Jerusalem and came to Bethphage, to the Mount of Olives, then Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go into the village in front of you, and immediately you will find a donkey tied, and a colt with her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, you shall say, ‘The Lord needs them,’ and he will send them at once.” This took place to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet, saying, “Say to the daughter of Zion, ‘Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of beast of burden.’” The disciples went and did as Jesus had directed them. They brought the donkey and the colt and put on them their cloaks, and he sat on them. Most of the crowd spread their cloaks on the road, and others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road. And the crowds that went before him and that followed him were shouting, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” And when he entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred up, saying, “Who is this?” And the crowds said, “This is the prophet Jesus, from Nazareth of Galilee.”
The amount of detail Jesus offered on something as seemingly inconsequential as to where and in what condition livestock will be is proof that he is God.
Jesus the human knows that he is riding this animal to the events that will directly lead to his crucifixion.
The people are loudly acknowledging that Jesus is the messiah sent to fulfill the prophecies as well as his being a direct descendant of David.
Jesus cleanses the temple on Monday
Matthew 21:12
And Jesus entered the temple and drove out all who sold and bought in the temple, and he overturned the tables of the money-changers and the seats of those who sold pigeons. He said to them, “It is written, 'My house shall be called a house of prayer,’ but you make it a den of robbers.” And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple, and he healed them. But when the chief priests and the scribes saw the wonderful things that he did, and the children were crying out in the temple, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” They were indignant, and they said to him, “Do you hear what they are saying?” And Jesus said to them, “Yes; have you never read, “‘Out of the mouths of infants and nursing babies you have prepared praise’?” And leaving them, he went out of the city to Bethany and lodged there.
Jesus flashes anger immediately upon entry but then begins healing
The priests cannot let go of their need for power even in the face of miracles, so they need to diminish Jesus.
Jesus is quoting Psalm 8:2
Out of the mouth of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger.
God has come to silence his enemies
Jesus shows anger again on Tuesday when his authority is challenged
Matthew 21:23
And when he entered the temple, the chief priests and the elders of the people came up to him as he was teaching, and said, “By what authority are you doing these things, and who gave you this authority?” Jesus answered them, “I also will ask you one question, and if you tell me the answer, then I also will tell you by what authority I do these things. The baptism of John, from where did it come? From heaven or from man?” And they discussed it among themselves, saying, “If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will say to us, 'Why then did you not believe him?’ But if we say, ‘From man,’ we are afraid of the crowd, for they all hold that John was a prophet.” So they answered Jesus, “We do not know.” And he said to them, “Neither will I tell you by what authority I do these things.”
Jesus purposely laid a trap for them that they would not be able to get out of. They have been silenced.
Jesus prays in the garden of Gethsemane on Thursday
Matthew 26:36
Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, “Sit here, while I go over there and pray.” And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me.” And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.” And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, “So, could you not watch with me one hour? Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak.” Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.” And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. So, leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words again. Then he came to the disciples and said to them, “Sleep and take your rest later on. See, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand.”
So much to unpack as a tug-of-war between the human Jesus and the Christ Jesus unravels
Jesus is very sad that he is being called to die. He begs God to change the course of events but understands that he is called to God’s will and not his own human will
Jesus shows his humanity as he pleads with God a second time hoping that there might be any other path except his crucifixion, which he has predicted.
Fear and sadness are explicitly human emotions and the only way to overcome them is to resign entirely to God’s will.
Jesus is betrayed & arrested early Friday
Matthew 26:47
While he was still speaking, Judas came, one of the twelve, and with him a great crowd with swords and clubs, from the chief priests and the elders of the people. Now the betrayer had given them a sign, saying, “The one I will kiss is the man; seize him.” And he came up to Jesus at once and said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” And he kissed him. Jesus said to him, “Friend, do what you came to do.” Then they came up and laid hands on Jesus and seized him. And behold, one of those who were with Jesus stretched out his hand and drew his sword and struck the servant of the high priest and cut off his ear. Then Jesus said to him, “Put your sword back into its place. For all who take the sword will perish by the sword. Do you think that I cannot appeal to my Father, and he will at once send me more than twelve legions of angels? But how then should the Scriptures be fulfilled, that it must be so?” At that hour Jesus said to the crowds, “Have you come out as against a robber, with swords and clubs to capture me? Day after day I sat in the temple teaching, and you did not seize me. But all this has taken place that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled.” Then all the disciples left him and fled.
Resignation
“Friend, do what you came to do.”
Jesus was crucified on Friday
The physical pain of Jesus is never mentioned outright, but Is alluded to
Jesus was offered wine with gall. Gall is a vegetable based narcotic meant to settle and stupefy the person receiving it. It would be difficult to run nails through the hands and feet of a person fully in control of their body. Jesus refused this pain killer once he tasted it.
Taking the gall would lessen the punishment HE was accepting for OUR sins by numbing the physical pain
The last thing Jesus did before his death on the cross was display fear in Matthew 27 45-46:
Now from the sixth hour there was darkness over all the land until the ninth hour. And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” that is, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?”
The human in Jesus feels that God has left his side
Keep in mind Jesus the human as you celebrate his death and resurrection.
Jesus made several conscious decisions about his commitment to God’s will as a human, and sometimes those commitments seemed more than he could handle. But he did all of this with God’s help.
As he entered Jerusalem, he knew he was going down a path that had a singular ending. He continued to reveal details of this ending throughout his ministry to an ever-growing number of people.
Jesus the human had to resign entirely to God’s will in order for the prophecies to be fulfilled. This is how Jesus became Christ.