Jesus’ Humility to Leave Being God and Become a Human Who Get’s Tired
I will be starting a mini-series comparing Jesus’ diety (the fact that He is God) to His humility. Specifically, I want to look at statements that indicate Jesus was alive before He became a human being. Since Jesus is God, it follows that He has always existed. Contrasted to His eternal identity, I want to explore the amazing humility that He demonstrated while He was a human. I am hoping that the two will bring us to various points of awe and wonder and thereby drive us deeper into worship!
John 8 is a truly fascinating passage. At several points the Pharisees attack Jesus relative to his parentage. Specifically, they accuse Him of being illegitimate. Presumably, they have sent people to Nazareth to find out about his family and childhood. They probably hear stories that Mary got pregnant without Joseph doing his part. Verses 19, 39, 41, 48 (Samaritan means ‘half breed’ in this context) bring out the point of the attack very clearly.
As Jesus is defending Himself, He makes an amazing statement in verse 56: “Your father Abraham rejoiced at the thought of seeing my day; he saw it and was glad.” The Jews respond, “You are not even 50 years old! How could Abraham who lived almost 2,000 years ago have seen you!” (paraphrase)
Jesus responds with an earth shattering declaration: “… before Abraham was born, I am!”
In a single sentence Jesus reveals that He existed before Abraham was even born! In response to Jesus claim to have always existed (only God has always existed), they pickup stones to kill Him for claiming to be God! They know what He is saying. It is very similar to John 10:33 where they tell Him why they are trying to stone Him to death, “We are not stoning you for any of these [good works]… but for blasphemy, because You, a mere man claim to be God.”
Ponder that revelation of Jesus for a moment. If He is really God that means He has always existed. That means He was alive and living during the entire Old Testament. He was alive and living before the earth was even made.
Now, let’s contrast that with something. Flip over to John 4:1-42. As Philippians 2:6-11 says, Jesus left His life as God and became a human being. He was born as a human baby and grew into a boy and ultimately a man.
John 4:1-6 focuses on Jesus trip from Judea in the South to Galilee up in the North of Israel. Jesus was walking with His disciples. It was about 60 miles between the 2 locations. They pass through a Samaritan village called Sychar. When Jesus came to the place where Jacob’s well was, He sat down “… tired as He was from the Journey…” (John 4:6)
Think about that for a moment. Jesus was alive and interacted with the Saints and Prophets of the Old Testament. He has always existed. Then, at one moment in time and space He becomes a human. One day as He is walking from Judea up North to Galilee, He stops by Jacob’s well because He is so tired.
What humility! How does God Himself become a human and then experience tiredness on a daily basis? Why does He become a human? Because He desires to rescue every human being from sin and death! He wants every person! And He goes to radical lengths to bring people back to Him! He is committed to every one of us at a depth and level we cannot fully understand. How great is His love!
In depths of humility beyond what we know, He submits Himself to live in an earthly body, so that He can sacrifice Himself to pay for our sins, and thereby He can set us perfectly free!
Usually we think that ultimate power goes hand in hand with “lording it over others.” In Mark 10:42-45 Jesus completely reverses this assumption. Jesus communicates to His disciples saying that in the Kingdom greater power and authority are linked to greater service and love for others.
Take Away:
God Is Just Like Jesus
Jesus humility to give up His divine life and become a human reveals the Father’s humility. “If you have seen Me, you have seen the Father.” (John 14:9) Jesus’ humility to endure all the stresses, stains and tiredness of human life reveals the lengths to which the Father has gone to save us! There is nothing He will not do for us to draw us to Himself!
1st Commandment Prayer:
Jesus, my heart is softened by the thought that you are all powerful and you gave up a truly divine existence to become one of us! And you did it to rescue any of us who would turn to You! It is amazing to see that you allowed yourself to become tired and strained in daily life as you declared your message to humans! Seeing your humility makes me want to follow you … completely!