Jesus. Fully Divine. Fully Human.

Remember those times when you said you would never do something? And then you end up doing exactly that? Presently I'm attending seminary and the thought of it is continually baffling to me, but I am so blessed to be a student again, but also as part of a great community. I appreciate being challenged in my thinking as I continue to grow and be transformed in relationship with God. So, this is one of my posts where I process some of the things I have been thinking through from class. 

Jesus. He's the crux of my faith, yet I don't really have a great grasp of who he is. Sure, I know the stories and can tell you a lot about it, but it has never really clicked with me until recently. Over this last year, I have been struggling through who Jesus is and praying that I would come to a greater understanding and revelation of the person of Christ. So... here's some thoughts...

Last year I taught History of Christianity and it was fascinating to me to look at all the different groups of people that cropped up as heretics that were against the church. The main area of contention was the humanity and divinity of Christ. It's a tension that is very difficult to reconcile and accept, so most groups would choose one over the other. In reading about this, it seemed crazy that people would cling to one extreme to the point of leaving the church. Yet, recently upon deeper reflection of my own views of Jesus, I have come to realize that my own views are heretical in that I focus on the divinity of Jesus and discount the humanity of Jesus.

There were things that Jesus did not know (Mt. 24:36-the coming of the Son of Man), things he could not do (Mk 6:5) and his miracles were performed by the Spirit of God (Mt. 12:28). This would reveal the humanity side of Jesus. In Philippians, it talks about Jesus emptying himself, and it is suggested by some that "in becoming like a human being, the Son of God willed to renounce the exercise of his divine powers, attributes, prerogatives, so that he might live fully within those limitations which inhere in being truly human" (Gerald F. Hawthorne). So it is possible that the divine attributes were still present in Jesus but not exercised (for example, as seen in the gospels, he was not omnipresent or omniscient).

In this case, as I often assume, perhaps Jesus' understanding of his identity and mission were not pipelined into him, but rather they were developed through his life, through revelation, intuition, crisis, prayer and communion. Jesus was not able to sin, but was he aware of it? When Jesus went to the cross, did he know 100% that he would rise from the dead (before going to the cross, Jesus prayed that if it was possible, that the cup be taken from him, Mt. 26:39, suggesting that he didn't know). I read the gospels with the assumption that Jesus was born with all the knowledge of Scripture and who God is... but what if he learned it?

Here's another quote from Gerald F. Hawthorne to think about:

"God the Son, who became flesh in Jesus, became a real human being, and as such he needed the Spirit's power to lift him out of his human restrictions, to carry him beyond his human limitations, and to enable him to do the seeming impossible….to be sure, the Spirit met with no natural resistance in Jesus as in those of us whose lives have been hardened and scarred by sin"

There are moments when Jesus' divinity shine through, but I think I focus on those and read with the assumption of his divinity, neglecting his humanity entirely. If Jesus had everything pipelined into him and was able to do everything on his own, this is a Jesus that is difficult to follow. Perhaps even impossible to follow.  But... if Jesus, in his humanity, learned these things and built a relationship with the Father and depended FULLY on the Father, realizing he could do nothing without the Father, this is a Jesus a can follow, because he lived a beautiful life of full dependence on the Father and as a result had an intimate relationship and was a reflection of God's glory and image on earth.

Furthermore, as I have been experiencing lately, the humanity of Jesus, along with the pain and suffering he experienced, can meet my humanity and my pain in a real, tangible way. That's pretty powerful.

Jesus. Fully divine. Fully human. Just some food for thought-would love to hear your thoughts. And please don't call me a heretic as these are things I'm processing and thinking about, not putting out there as absolute truths.

May the humanity of Christ meet your humanity in a profound way today.