"And behold, you will conceive in your womb and bring forth a son and shall call His name JESUS. He will be great, and will be called the Son of the highest; and the Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David. And He will reign over the house of Jacob forever, and of His kingdom there will be no end." Then Mary said to the angel, "How can this be, since I do not know a man?"
Luke 1: 31 - 34 NKJV
I ran across a video this week, a snippet from "The Chosen" series. In the scene, the disciples ask Mary to tell what the birth of Jesus was like. She is reluctant but eventually reveals a few details about her child's birth. Something I found interesting was how she described Jesus' need for her once He was born. He needed to be cleaned. He needed to be fed. He needed to be kept warm. This Savior of all mankind entered the world He would save...needing the help of those He would save. This is the humanity of Jesus, and a part of Him which we very seldom notice. When we hear His name, we automatically began to think of the man on the cross. Seldom do we think of the young boy at Josephs feet learning from His father in his workshop. Not often do we think of the young Jesus being held by his mother. All too often, we prefer to see Jesus as the man He would become. This is the Jesus most of us can relate to. It is, in fact, the Jesus we've all been taught. One of my biggest gripes about the bible has been that we have cheated ourselves by not including more of the history of the early formative years of the life of Jesus. I believe that we do ourselves a discredit by doing this. I feel that there would be much to learn from an extra chapter or two devoted to the early years of Jesus. Fortunately for us, we have the history of the traditions of the Jewish people to fall back upon. We have the history of the thousands of years of children being raised in the environment which Jesus was raised in. Although it is not written about in scripture, we can assume that a young Jesus partook in the very same activities and behaviors which boys of His age did. Can you imagine Jesus running through the village chasing other children? Perhaps, but I can also see Him faced with the very same problems which the other children had. Provided of course the other Childrens families did not have a child born out of wedlock or a boy who would one day save the world.
And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.
John 1: 14 NKJV
What is your view of Jesus helping you through your life? Do you believe simply because you're told to? Or, as the scripture tells us, you believe that Jesus can help you because He's been where you are. That's right, whatever situation you are encountering, we can be assured that Jesus has faced it in His time. It was Jesus who, as the writer of Hebrews tells us, was tempted as we are {Hebrews 4:15}. Wait, Jesus faced the same temptations as me? Yes. Remember the humanity of Jesus? That young Jewish kid running through the village getting into who knows what? Yeah, that Jesus. This is the Jesus who was tempted as we are. Can we honestly say that Jesus could share our humanity and yet somehow escape temptation? Good luck with that. I believe that as Jesus grew and matured, that He was bombarded with many of the same temptations which all of us have fallen victim to. He knows what you're going through because He's been there. So, Jesus was tempted to take something that was not His? He was tempted to lie? He was even tempted by more than a few of the girls in His village? Yes. For a minute, can you imagine what it must have been like for Jesus facing the peer pressure of His friends? Jesus undoubtedly knew the difference from right and wrong, His parents would have made sure of that. But how would He face the temptations of life? We're told that Jesus was tempted as we are...yet WITHOUT SIN. So, even though Jesus stared down the temptations of life, he never once succumbed to their enticement. There is something to be learned from this. Whatever it is that life is throwing at us, we can rest assured that Jesus has already been there and done that.
For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in al points tempted as we are, yet without sin.
Hebrews 4: 15 NKJV
~Scott~
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