Jesus: the Man

by Rev. Gina Johnson

Today we're going to begin a three-week series on Jesus the man, the myth, the legend and as we are moving through this series I'm gonna throw some things your way. Don't be surprised that you might be like you know I've never thought of that before. I don't know if I like that or not. But that's the whole idea, that later on this week you're either thinking about me in this message and thinking man she did great or you're thinking, “Oh that Gina she's got me thinking. I don't know if I like what she's got me thinking about.”

That's the success. The Spirit moves in your heart and your mind and your soul while you're reading this and you take it out and you apply it to your life in the week whether it's in your personal life, whether it's in your relationships, whether it's when you finally approach that stranger that you've been wanting to talk to forever, you finally have that motivation.

So today as we look at Jesus the man the first question that I want to ask you all is who is Jesus? You know what comes to your mind when you hear the name Jesus? I think for a lot of people it's easy to come to Savior.

Well, he's God's son. If we're gonna take it biblical he's God's only begotten Son and he came to save the world from their sins. Other people call him a healer, a teacher. The point is Jesus has many personalities that we have chosen to give him over time based off of what we know about him and some of them ring truer for us than others. Others we may not be able to wrap our mind around when we think about that. What do you mean that Jesus took on the sins of the world to give us eternal life? How many people have really dove into that and were able to come back out of it with a clear understanding? Because I know that my understanding is probably different from yours and your understanding is different from the person sitting right beside you. So we're just going to do some exploration and see what we can learn and how we can apply the life, the character, the being, the essence of Jesus to our own life.

They say in Hebrews that Jesus was the pioneer and perfecter of our faith. That is why we fix our eyes on him. So what exactly is a pioneer? Well a pioneer is the first to explore or the first to develop or the first to apply and Jesus in all of his enlightened wisdom, all of his beautiful awareness, he was the first for many of these things. He was trying to show us the way.

I know you've heard me a number of times say Jesus is a way shower and when we think about Jesus's life how do we relate to him? Because a lot of times we're so quick to look at Jesus the miracle worker, Jesus who walked on water, Jesus who raised someone from the dead, that we just jump past Jesus and his humanity.

Jesus being human, Jesus being a spiritual being in a human experience, is how he was able to walk among us, to teach us, to love us, to show us the way to other things. He came here in order to show us and teach us things that we may not remember or be aware of when we are caught up in the day-to-day trials of the human experience. We know that when we look at Jesus when he was very young he was found in the temple after his parents could not find him. He was 12 years old and they found him in the temple. When they found him, what did they see? They saw him teaching some of the religious leaders, some of the religious scholars, the religious authorities.

Of course, first they were relieved, with a little bit of parental anger. “Jesus where have you been?” But they also stood there in amazement because, though they had an understanding of who their son was to be, to some degree like all those other people there, they saw this boy from Nazareth as he stood there teaching, quoting scripture, enlightening their minds and he's 12. That is the human Jesus.

How many of you all as parents have heard your children say something and you're just like wow that is really wise for your age? How many times have you heard something from, maybe not even one of your children but just another child, and you're just taken back by how much wisdom they have, by how they have grown, and they have such maturity and maybe they're four or maybe they're seven or maybe they're 15 and already they're considered an old soul.

I'll never forget one day with my daughter Rain. We were living with her grandparents and Rain walked in and she says, “I'm turning over a new leaf today.” She was four and we were just all so amazed. “What do you mean you're turning over a new leaf?” And she goes on to articulate to us the changes she's going to make as she is turning over this new leaf. I think all the adults in the room could have sat at her feet in that moment and learned what it means to recognize where you are challenged to turn over a new leaf and make some profound decisions. And this was coming from a four-year-old Dora hopping in the room saying, “I'm turning over a new leaf today.”

You know how we relate to Jesus. Well, there's a lot of places in the Bible that show us Jesus was born just like we were, a human birth. He grew. He grew in stature. He grew in wisdom. Jesus, from his journeys, became tired. There are many a times where he told his disciples go on I will catch up. There are many times where he would retreat to pray and just to recharge from being worn out from his work and journey. He experienced hunger. He experienced thirst and he too became physically weak. Jesus was a man living in the human experience just like we are. And we know that Jesus went through baptism. Jesus was at the temple. Jesus was in the wilderness preparing for what was to come in life.

But then what tends to happen is we tend to look at the other side that's revealed to us in the Bible and those things are the miracles. You know, Jesus came up against Satan and he was able to hold his own and say no you won't tempt me. I won't throw myself from this mountain. I won't turn these stones into bread. I don't care for all of the glory that you're going to offer me because I know that all of that is the world and I have something greater and larger, more significant, profound, and eternal already within me. And we see Jesus resist Satan. We see Jesus go out and give sight to the blind and he clothes the naked, he feeds the hungry, he brings people back from the dead, and what do we do from that point on? We put him up on a pedestal.

We see him on the cross and recognize the enormousness of what that cross means. We recognize that Jesus went to the cross, rose from the dead in three days, and through that we have eternal life and so to hear of a human being who can do those kinds of things, no wonder it gets difficult to bring Jesus down beside us. No wonder that we're raised in a culture where we worship Jesus, where we pray to Jesus to forgive us, where we ask Jesus to make us whole, where we go to Jesus with fear and apprehension because we're not living up to the standard of Jesus.

Now this is just Gina's opinion but I do not believe that's what Jesus would have wanted from us. Jesus did not want us to look at the things that he was doing and then place him at arm's length, stand aside and worship him and only visit him when we read the Word or attend church or a small group class. Jesus wanted us to look upon him and to know him, to try to learn from him, to glean lessons and understandings so we could follow him.

It's interesting I try to stay away from the word worship a lot of times because to worship someone is a very beautiful, wonderful thing, but Jesus doesn't just want us singing about him and talking about him and telling everyone that if you check all these boxes then he's gonna give you eternal life. Jesus wants us to know him and not just know of him. Jesus wants us to look at the things that he was able to do and recognize how we too have the ability to do that.

I hear the phrase a lot out in the world that Jesus was fully human and fully divine and I've said multiple times that we are spiritual beings in this human experience, so I believe that we, too, are fully human and fully divine. So how can we look at Jesus's life, how can we look at the things that he did in his humanity and learn from that?

Well, I'm gonna tell you that there's a big gap when it comes to the Bible between roughly around that preteen age of 12-ish/13-ish to about 29/30 where we don't get to read what was Jesus doing. That leaves a lot of those questions that we don't usually ask in church, but people want to know. Did he get angry? Did he get jealous? Was he ever tempted by women? Did he ever fall in love? Did he ever fight with his parents?

For some people to even think about those things they consider it like, “Oh not our Jesus. Jesus was sin free and Jesus was perfect. There's no way.” But you have to understand in order for Jesus to fully relate to us he, too, had to know and experience everything that we experience. Perhaps he didn't make the same choices that we made. Perhaps in his enlightenment and the being of who Jesus is he didn't fall prey to the same decisions that we may fall prey to, but to make it sound that Jesus was born and walked in this perfection and never stubbed his toe, never had a moment of “Dang it, mom! I don't want to do that,” it's just silly. Why would we want to strip away the humanity of Jesus? How are we supposed to relate to our Savior if we put him so high up out of reach?

I want to encourage you all to do some reading beyond the Bible. There's some great resources out there. There is a book called The Infancy Gospel of Thomas and it's a book that basically talks about Jesus as a child and you may read some of it and think, “Oh, you know, I don't think that could be.” You may read something and be like, “Wow! Here's some missing pieces.” There's another great book called Jesus and the Mastership and that's about Jesus and the time that he spent with the Essenes. It answers the question: how do you go from being 12 in the temple teaching the leaders and then being 30 calling your disciples and leading them into the way of what would later become the church and the evolution into Christianity? Where are all those missing years? I would encourage you to look into some of these books. There are books that talk about his parents and who they were. There's even a book out there called The Protoevangelium of James that talks about Mary's birth, her upbringing, and her time in the temple. It's about her parents and it's about the experience of her giving birth to Jesus.

All of these things help us grow closer to Jesus just like when you're getting to know someone and you learn their history, you learn their past, you learn about their family and the experiences and celebrations and trials that they've had. The more you learn about Jesus the more you can come into relationship with him. That's the part where I just want to encourage you to dive into it more. Dive into the scriptures. Dive into some of these resources. Get to know Jesus the human, Jesus the man. Challenge yourself and allow yourself to say, “You know what, I bet he did have days where he was tired and he thought, ‘Man I got to get up and deal with those 12 people out there who just can't seem to get the message I keep giving them. Gosh, every time I walk through town someone wants me to heal them, someone wants me to help them, someone wants me to teach them and feed them.’” You don't think Jesus ever had that moment of like, “Man, I just want to sit here in my father's care all day and just put my feet up and relax,”?

I encourage you to get to know the character, the human Jesus, but for today's story I want to take you to a very human moment in Jesus's life in hopes that you can see how we to walk through those same places day in and day out. We're going to Matthew 26 verses 36 through 46.

Then Jesus went with his disciples to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to them, “Sit here while I go over there and pray.” He took Peter and the two sons of Zebedee along with him, and he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.”

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.”

Then he returned to his disciples and found them sleeping. “Couldn’t you men keep watch with me for one hour?” he asked Peter. “Watch and pray so that you will not fall into temptation. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak.”

He went away a second time and prayed, “My Father, if it is not possible for this cup to be taken away unless I drink it, may your will be done.”

When he came back, he again found them sleeping, because their eyes were heavy. So he left them and went away once more and prayed the third time, saying the same thing.

Then he returned to the disciples and said to them, “Are you still sleeping and resting? Look, the hour has come, and the Son of Man is delivered into the hands of sinners. Rise! Let us go! Here comes my betrayer!”

So imagine yourselves in Jesus's shoes, or should I say sandals, kneeling in the garden of Gethsemane, facing an extremely challenging moment in his life. In this situation Jesus is fully aware of the burden of the mission that is before him and you have to think at this point in his life he's been carrying the awareness of this burden for years—for years—and we hear the very human expression of falling to his face. It’s that human moment where the horror of the cross is before him and he's allowing it to grip him, he's fearing, he's doubting, and anxiety is gripping his heart. He sees his disciples, his friends, this newfound family of his, and they're sleeping, so he is now abandoned. He is alone and perhaps he's even unsure of what it means to endure what lies ahead.

Have you been there? Have you been there in your own life, whether it be with a relationship, a job, illness, an unforeseen circumstance, where you're thinking, “Wow! I mean I knew there was a possibility, but I didn't see this coming. Wow! I felt pain before, but I've never felt something like this. Man, is there no one here that understands me? Is there no one here that's gonna walk beside me? Is there no one here that's gonna help me through this?”

How would you not, in that moment of your humanity being fully on display just like it was for Jesus, how would you not cry out that prayer that says, “Man, God, if there is another way, please, if there is another way other than watching my beloved spouse pass away, if there is another way other than dealing with the death of my child, if there is another way other than losing my job that is feeding my family of five, if there is another way other than watching something that was built so beautifully with all the right motives now being destroyed and torn down, God if there is another way…”

Perhaps it's something small. Perhaps it's something big. Perhaps it's something new to your life. Perhaps it's something you've been carrying around forever, but do you have that moment? Do you have that place where you find yourself on your knees saying, “God if there is another way I'll take it, but if not I understand. Your will, not mine. I'm here to serve you, not me.”

You see in this moment where Jesus's humanity is fully on display, he's not just the Son of God. He's a man. He's the guy that came up out of Nazareth and people said, “Does anything good come out of Nazareth?” He's the guy that probably, I believe, did fall in love and wondered, “Man, do I get to experience that or is this just all about saving the world?” He's the guy that probably wanted to be caught up in what some of the other young boys, teenagers, and men his age were doing, but he knew deep within him that there was something calling him.

Not everyone is meant to be a teacher. Not everyone is meant to be a healer. Not everyone is meant to go out and take on these missions. But Jesus knew. In all of his enlightened understanding he knew, “I am. I am meant to move forward in doing this.” Even in that moment as sweat was bleeding, as his sweat was drops of blood, as his mind was racing with the consequences of what's going to be with the future of humanity, he's praying. He's praying so fervently. He's seeking comfort and strength and guidance. He is in that moment of human emotion and fear and he shows us that even in the most challenging moments of life you don't have to put on your cape and stand up and say I got this. I am Superman. I'm gonna take it on with no problem.

He shows us that you can actually fall to your knees and you can cry and you can embrace that emotion of saying I know I'm going to get through this. I know that I have everything it takes inside of myself to get through this, but in this moment, if there is another, way I'm up for that, too. If there is another way, take this cup from me, but, again, if not, then I will trust. I will allow. I will believe that God has got me because there is no separation from God. We're not looking for something outside of ourselves. Jesus wasn't in that moment hoping that all of a sudden someone was gonna drop down say, “Hey, buddy, get up off the ground. I got this. You go about your way.”

Jesus was just looking for that comfort. He was just looking for that reminder. Can we do that when we are faced with those challenging situations we are faced with, those very human moments. Despite knowing that we are children of God, knowing that we have limitless capability, knowing that we are blessed to abundance beyond which you can even imagine, we are faced with human situations. Can we hold on to our divinity? Can we let the emotions settle in? Can we let the emotions rile us up, pull us this way, stretch us that way, and still keep it all together and say, “It's okay. The challenge is before me, but what's on the other side of the challenge is remarkable and it's beautiful.”?

When I was a teenage girl my dad gave me this poem called “Don't quit.” No, I can't recite it line for line but the whole purpose of it is you're gonna be going uphill, you're gonna be going through these things, and you just have to remember don't quit because what's outside of you does not stand a chance against what's inside of you. What's happening before you cannot hold any weight against what you are bringing within you. Can we remember who we are? Can we sit with the weight of a situation paired with our emotions and not let those emotions become stories and limitations that lead us to abandoning our mission?

I know my congregation feels it when we sit in church and we see the empty pews. You know I usually don't get caught up in it. I'm usually very good about staying the course and looking on but for whatever reason I stood in the back one Sunday and I started counting heads and there were like 25 people. Then I saw another person walk in. All right 26! Come on baby! And I was thinking, “Okay. Their wives have got to be here. Their wives have got to be here. Wow! 28!” And, you know, it's funny. It's easy to let 28 be this number that spins in my head and says things like, “Gina, what are you doing wrong? What are you not doing good enough? Dang, you guys! Haven't you been inviting people to church? Haven't you been asking your neighbors and your friends and everyone you run into?”

But guess what. I haven't. I'm guilty. But that's the thing. Just counting the people could easily turn those empty pews into this looming nightmare. I could stand up there trying to give a message and would be like, “Gosh, these pews are empty. Okay, stay the course. Stay the course. Jesus. Humanity. Struggles. But, damn, these pews are empty. Okay, wait. Wait. Stay the course. Stay the course.”

You see? Every situation we face has the opportunity to become something huge looming over us, presenting the image of darkness, hopelessness. Every situation we face could tear us down. Every situation we face could cause us to question who we are and whether or not we can make it through the mission and that's where I'm telling you these are those moments that you recognize that Jesus, fully human, understood the struggles just like he understands our struggles. He had his doubts and he understands our doubts. He saw his own weaknesses and he understands our weakness. And what does he do? He empathizes with our human frailty.

He went back and forth three times. He went in there and said, “Hey, God, dad, any other way we can handle this?” And then he went back. “Hey! I'm back again. Not to be a broken record, but this doesn't look that great. Could you take the cup?” And he comes back again and he prays the prayer again and sometimes that's what it takes. Sometimes it takes looking at your situation once, twice, five, ten times and reminding yourself, “I got this. I am the Christ. I am empowered by my heavenly father, by the creator, by father/mother God, by the sovereign being. I am the I am and I can get through this if I just hold on to that.”

And it's okay if along the way we have to have a few of those moments, blood, sweat, tears, falling on our face. It's just making sure that when the emotions rise, when the challenge is before you, when the storm is just hitting you from all angles, that you hang on to who you are, that you remember that everything outside of you is no match for the one that is within you and that is you.

Jesus the man, the myth, the legend, is all one. The man is also the divine and the stories that we hear about him have their truth and they have their falseness, as well, but ultimately he is the legend and so are we. It's important that you recognize that Jesus chose to face the cross. Jesus chose to prove to us that there is no separation in humanity, that there is no such thing as a death that can put an end to his human life, that he chose to show up so we could learn that we, too, are eternal, that we, too, can overcome any situation.

When we look at Jesus as a Redeemer and we think that we have to have some kind of redemption we're almost buying into that idea that we've been separated from God. If you're gonna look at Jesus as a Redeemer, then let him be a reminder that there is nothing to be redeemed from. That you are one with God. You are one with the Spirit. And let Jesus's example in the Garden of Gethsemane inspire you to confront your fears and your doubts, to confront your weaknesses, and to find that true inner strength, to find that opportunity to surrender, to trust, to allow, and in some cases, to even obey because sometimes that mission before you is gonna look really difficult and you're not gonna want to do it.

When you stare at the challenges in front of you, turn inward and find that strength, find that peace, find that compassion, then you can move forward and you too can follow in Jesus footsteps of completing your mission at hand. I just want to encourage you that we all are gonna have a Garden of Gethsemane moment and in that time I invite you to remember Jesus the man who, from being a man and understanding the power of weakness and being able to triumph over the challenges, gave us the way, the teaching, that gave us eternal life.

Please pray with me. Our most gracious and loving God, we affirm that we have been created in your image, that we are vibrant, that we are vessels of peace and love and hope. We affirm that in the face of any challenge, any obstacle, any struggle, that we have the power, that we have the gifts, that we have the ability to overcome. So God we give you thanks for all the places where we have opportunity. We give you thanks for all the things that come into our life to remind us of who we are, to remember the fullness and the wholeness that we see in ourselves, that we see in Jesus. It's in his name we pray. Amen.