by Steven Gledhill for FREEdom from MEdom Project
Sympathetic Savior… Christ’s Humanity
“Some guy”… “A cool guy back in his day”… “Historical figure”… “A man with an extraordinary ability to link with the Creator”… “A revolutionary”… “An amazing man”… “Messiah to some”… “Role model”… “Spoke the Word of God”… “Prophet”… “Son of God”… “Savior”… “Died for our sins”
—Responses to the ‘man on the street’ interviews below responding to the question, “Who was/is Jesus?”
“The Jesus story sort of borders on history and myth for me… but I don’t believe that it could have permeated our culture so fully and so long if there was nothing to that.” —From an unbeliever in the above video
At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! 2 Corinthians 5:16
Unto us a Savior was born… a Sympathetic Savior
Why is Jesus the remedy for our problem of lingering and deepening dissatisfaction? Besides being the plan of God, why is Jesus uniquely “qualified” as the acceptable sacrifice for our selfish sin? Why is Jesus our sole advocate before the Father? How can it be said that Jesus can honestly and completely sympathize with your plight and mine in this life?
You know the generous grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. Though he was rich, yet for your sakes he became poor, so that by his poverty he could make you rich. 2 Corinthians 8:9 (NLT)
What does that mean “by his poverty”?
The Sympathetic Savior series will dig deep into the poverty of our Lord Jesus. To leave the fullness of deity that was His as God, Jesus humbled Himself to the point that the Apostle Paul wrote that He emptied Himself of His deity: “Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.” Philippians 2:6-7 (NIV) The New Living Translations says that… “he gave up his divine privileges.” Some of what is written here will challenge you doctrinally, or you may think it theologically flawed. All I ask is that you read it through and withhold judgement until getting through it.
The purpose here is to recognize and appreciate the immeasurable, unimaginable sacrifice of God in the fully human person of Jesus Christ; who left the divine union that is God (had to as I’ll explain) for a period of some thirty three years to fully experience life as a human being with real human experiences and issues. Apostle Paul wrote that Jesus surrendered completely His divine privileges so as to not use his “God-ness” to his advantage, which would minimize His human experience, particularly when it came to authentic temptation, pain, struggle, and suffering. It is necessary to comprehend that Jesus took on the full blow… all of the impact of suffering from birth to death to three days of condemnation in the belly of the earth… hell (Romans 8:3). This is prayerfully supported by Scripture sensitive to being contextually accurate in the interpretation of it.
“I can do nothing on my own. I judge as God tells me. Therefore, my judgment is just, because I carry out the will of the one who sent me, not my own will.” John 5:30 (NLT)
Paraphrasing in context to what Jesus was responding to, it might go something like this:
“As a man, I admit that I would not have the authority or the power to heal the man on the Sabbath unless that authority was empowered by God the Father. As I hear from Him and believe in Him, I act according to His authority, which means my actions are right and best. Since that is the case, why would I seek my own desires and intentions when they on their own are insufficient? It makes sense that, in dependence and submission to the will and plan of my Father, I commit to going where He tells me to go, and doing what He tells me to do.”
“For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten (created, bred, made, produced) Son…”
John 3:16
Ask yourself this question: Why is it so hard to believe that the three-person union that is God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) could by choice “create” the visible manifestation of Himself to be of a fully human nature, void of His divine nature, with a need to depend on the divine nature and authority of the other two persons of God? Is it because it would be too great a shock to our religious traditions and customs of what we claim to be sound (and untouchable) doctrine and theology? Some will not even ask the questions or have a discussion about it; perhaps since such a discussion would lead to ‘quarreling about doctrine’ as I’ve been told it does. I am asking that you be open to asking the question guided by Scriptural truth, particularly that spoken of by Jesus himself about himself while flesh as a human being.
So then, since we have a great High Priest (advocate) who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most. Hebrews 4:14-16 (NLT)
(Note: Sympathetic Savior is a four part series. The following are links to the other parts:
Part 2: Christ’s Temptation, Part 3: Christ’s Relationships, Part 4: Christ’s Sacrifice)
But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ. Yet indeed I also count all things loss for the excellence of the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them as rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him, not having my own righteousness, which is from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is from God by faith; that I may know Him and the power of His resurrection, and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death, if, by any means, I may attain to the resurrection from the dead. Philippians 3:7-11 NKJV)
There are numerous translations (including the NIV and NLT) that interpret this passage to suggest that Paul wanted to experience the suffering that Jesus experienced in order to realize resurrection from the dead. This is difficult for me to swallow since Jesus suffered as he did for the express purpose of sparing us what he suffered; especially had he experienced condemnation for my sin to spare me condemnation. Paul would not marginalize the human experience of his Savior’s suffering.
I believe, however, that Paul wanted to maximize his understanding and appreciation of Christ’s suffering; that he wanted to most fully realize who he is and what he had or did not have against the standard of what Jesus had and did not have in the context of his human experience. Compared to what Jesus experienced in his suffering, death and resurrection, Paul counted everything in his personal experience (from material wealth and fame to beatings and imprisonment) as waste not to be missed on any level because the prize is resurrection into life that matters with Jesus. This is the fellowship to be gained in all facets of relationship with His Lord.
In order to better understand and appreciate the sacrifice of the person of God who we call Jesus, we need to examine Him humbling Himself to the point that His initial sacrifice was laying down His function and authority as God; to become entirely man He can sympathize with your weakness and mine. To begin, let’s define the word ‘sympathy’.
Sympathy—from Latin sympathia, from Greek sympatheia, having common feelings, sympathetic, pathos feelings, emotion, experience—pathos means an element in experience or in artistic representation evoking pity or compassion
Sympathy—1 a: an affinity, association, or relationship between persons or things wherein whatever affects one similarly affects the other b: mutual or parallel susceptibility or a condition brought about by it c: unity or harmony in action or effect 2 a: inclination to think or feel alike: emotional or intellectual accord b: feeling of loyalty: tendency to favor or support 3 a: the act or capacity of entering into or sharing the feelings or interests of another b: the feeling or mental state brought about by such sensitivity
Savior—1: one that saves from danger or destruction, 2: one who brings salvation
As defined by Merriam-Webster, Inc.
The objective here is to really get to know Jesus Christ as the person who knows you intimately, and has experienced personally—physically, emotionally and spiritually—all that you and I have experienced in our lifetime. He knows the emotional spectrum from human triumph and elation to deep sorrow, paranoia, fear and devastation until finally the experience of death.
The Humility of God
Somehow God, in the person of Jesus Christ, humbled himself to the point that he became human, born from a young virgin woman. I cannot explain this. Just like I cannot explain where God came from, except that he has always been. I can describe for you the Holy Trinity (God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit) but I cannot fully comprehend it or explain it in a way that makes much sense. Jesus was chosen as the one sacrifice for my sin and yours. I can explain, according to Scripture, why it was necessary for there to be a sacrifice for sin but I don’t fully comprehend how God became human for the specific purpose of dying for my sin for the possibility of forgiveness.
From the beginning Jesus was the sacrifice intended to restore mankind into relationship with God. Because we are not and never were God, we were by our nature prone to choose independently from the perfect will of God. God, knowing this, had already prepared a way for mercy for the imperfect choices and behavior of mankind.
The Bible says that God gave us His only begotten Son. But, the word ‘begotten’ used to describe how God gave us Jesus means, ‘brought forth’, ‘produced’, or ‘created’. Jesus has always been, from the beginning, God, as the Bible tells us he has. So perhaps He was identified by God as His Son for the first time when He was conceived inside the womb of his earthly mother Mary. 
While the person of Jesus always existed as God, His humanity was “created” or made for Jesus, becoming the begotten Son of God as conceived by a human being to be born human.
(Note: In attempting to describe the humanity of Jesus, John used the term “begotten” from the word ‘beget’ in John 3:16. It is said that ‘begotten’ translated in the original Greek means “to be uniquely God’s son fully divine.” But that would mean that Jesus would have complete divine authority, which Jesus disputed in John 5:30 when questioned about his authority. Jesus fully divine would mean that the obedience of Jesus is merely symbolic if Jesus is fully divine in the flesh. It would also seem to contradict Scripture in Philippians 2. Why can it not be possible that Jesus, fully God, humbled Himself to the point that His humanity in the flesh was ‘produced’ or ‘created’, beginning as a seed in his mother’s womb; then after resurrection and upon ascension He is exalted once again into full authority to His rightful place as God on the throne?)
What killed the body, mind, and human heart of our Lord Jesus was the sin of mankind that, not only killed Jesus on the cross, but also was responsible for Jesus being exhausted, hungry, thirsty; and able to experience pain, sickness, fear, discouragement, and even despair at Gethsemane.
This is important to better comprehend and appreciate the degree to which Jesus was actually human as He demonstrated His dependence on God the Father to live out His life of humanity—what the Bible refers to as “flesh”—without sin. Jesus modeled for us the perfect example of recovery from flesh as he would admit powerlessness, believe that His Father, God, would empower Him with authority over his mortal body and mind of flesh, and commit to depend on God the Father for everything. The approach of Jesus to His own recovery from the human plight was as though his life depended on it. Jesus understood that His very breath was dependent on God to survive His life as a human being.
We may not be able to understand how Jesus, as God, made himself to become this “creation” of human flesh by the reproductive processes created by God, but the Bible explains why Jesus became flesh.
That being said, God somehow caused a virgin to conceive and the human experience of Jesus began. The human life of Jesus began when the egg of the virgin Mary became fertile and formed into an embryo, which grew into a fetus with the exchange of human blood and DNA from his mother.
He had His Heavenly Father’s Spirit, but the Bible tells us He was fully human. Jesus had the full deity of who He was as God but somehow laid it down in order to fully experience humanity in order to better relate by identification with you and me.
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 (NASB)
What does it really mean that “The Word became flesh”?
Does it merely mean that Jesus was God manifest in human form by means of flesh and bones, or was Jesus born of and in the flesh as it speaks to the whole person – body, heart, mind, and soul (the character, or spirit of a person)?
Was Jesus fully God and fully man? That is what most of us have been taught but is it an accurate interpretation of Scripture? Does it make sense even in a Biblical context?
God is never tempted to do wrong… Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. James 1:13-14 (NLT)
Start with these questions:
- Can God sin?
- Can God be tempted to sin?
- Can God die?
- Can God forsake (abandon) God?
“My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?” (NLT: “…abandoned me?”) Matthew 27:46
Could Jesus be tempted to sin in all aspects as we are if He was fully God in his “human” experience? It is important to understand the human condition of Jesus to appreciate the scope of His sacrifice in order for us to have a restored relationship with God. Jesus, was “made” to live the full human experience, the Bible says. I’ll ask it again, Can God die… really? He must have miraculously made Himself fully human, empty of His divine nature as God. I won’t speak for you, but I believe it is the only thing that makes real sense; magnifying all the more the sacrifice of the triune union that is God.
Being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross! Philippians 2:6-8 (NIV)
This is a revelation given to us by the Apostle Paul, to describe for us the nature of the man, Jesus. Observe the pattern of submission within this verse. While being in “very nature” God, meaning before becoming human, Jesus, fully God, decided within the the three-person union that is God to place Himself under the authority of God the Father. Jesus never ceased to be God. So, in being God, He would not consider it robbery to be equal with God. Paul wrote that Jesus, fully God, made Himself “nothing”. Nothing in relation to what? Who He was as God, that’s what. Somehow He made Himself fully human—not fully God anymore until He was resurrected and exalted to the throne as King of kings and Lord of lords. I don’t have to understand it… because I don’t… but I do accept it.
The Bible in this passage tells us that in His humanity Jesus gave up the function of being God by the laying down of His deity and divine nature so as to have no advantage in His human experience. He humbled himself absolutely to be a man of no reputation to the point that, in his humanity, He was subject to the law of sin that leads to the decay and death of his human flesh—body, mind, heart and soul. He also did not consider Himself to be equal with God, in terms of function (power and authority) while in human flesh. This fact came from the lips of Jesus Himself, delineating between God’s perfect goodness and His own humanness.
Now a certain ruler asked Him, saying, “Good teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?” So Jesus said to him, why do you call me good? No one is good but one, that is, God.” Luke 18:18-19 (NKJV)
“Consider how our Lord regards His own Sonship, surrendering His will wholly to the paternal will and not even allowing Himself to be called ‘good’ because Good is the name of the Father. Love between father and son, in this symbol, means essentially authoritative love on the one side, and obedient love on the other. The father uses his authority to make the son into the sort of human being he, rightly, and in his superior wisdom, wants him to be.” —CS Lewis, The Problem of Pain
The relationship of God the Father and God the Son had been established. Exactly when this relationship between God the Father and Jesus, the Son of God, was established is hard to say. The prophets were given revelation of the father-son relationship between God and Jesus way back in the Old Testament (Psalm 2:16). The prophet Isaiah referred to Jesus as God’s beloved Servant (Isaiah 42:1, 53:10). Revelation tells us that Jesus was slain from the foundation of the world. As stated previously, I believe that Jesus became God’s begotten Son at the point He became flesh in Mary’s womb even though it was planned from the beginning (remember that ‘begotten’ means ‘made’ and ‘created’ while also being uniquely God’s son since as God He humbled Himself to be made human in the flesh).
What is remarkable, in close examination of this relationship, is that it appears that Jesus, as God, humbled Himself out of necessity to fulfill His purpose of becoming a submissive servant. While still being God, according to these verses in Philippians, Jesus chose to lay down His divine nature and authority. Then, after Jesus lowers himself, as if to initiate a divine hierarchy, He offers Himself in submission to God as His servant, as a son under the authority of His Father, and reduces Himself from who He is as God to the form of a human being. Paul writes in Philippians that Jesus emptied himself of being God for it to be even possible to become authentically human.
John wrote, “The Word became flesh and dwelt among us… the only begotten of the Father.” What does scripture say about the flesh? The flesh is imperfect. It is by nature unclean because of sin, and it is decaying to death because of the law of sin. Remember that the law of sin dictates that what is made alive on this earth must die. The Bible tells us that Jesus humbled Himself and became obedient unto death, meaning He was subject to the law of sin. His body would eventually get worn out, grow old and die.
What is so interesting in determining to what extent that Jesus the Son became flesh is that the original Greek word for flesh in the Bible is the word ‘Sarx’.
The meaning for ‘Sarx’ is as follows:
- the soft substance of the living body covering the bones and permeated with blood
- the sensuous nature of man
- the physical man subject to suffering
- human nature apart from divine influence, and therefore prone to sin
A root word for ‘Sarx’ is ‘Sarkinos’, which means:
- consisting and composed of perishable flesh
- wholly given up to the flesh, or rooted in the flesh
God cannot be tempted to sin… Jesus was tempted
God is never tempted to do wrong. James 1:13 (NLT)
Another problem with Jesus being fully man and fully God simultaneously lies in the fact that God absolutely cannot sin. How could Jesus the man be tempted to sin if He was at the same time divine and not capable of sin? It does not make sense to me that God would become flesh in the form of man, but still be all God. It does not make sense to me that Jesus could be tempted to sin if it was impossible to sin if he was in fact divine as a human being.
Do me a favor. Go out and lift your automobile over your head with your own two hands. You can start by lifting up the front end so you can get under the vehicle until you are able to get enough leverage, and with a little more effort, lift with everything you’ve got to get your car over your head. Aren’t you going to step out and at least try to lift your vehicle over your head?
Someone might say that my challenge tempted you to lift your car over your head just because I said it to you. But, at any point were you actually tempted to lift your automobile over your head? Of course not, it’s ridiculous. It is impossible. You are not tempted to do something that is impossible. I can offer you the world and the moon and you still would not be tempted to lift your car over your head because it is impossible. Therefore, you will not even try. It should also be said that a person is not really tempted unless there is at least desire for the object of temptation. If Jesus was fully human then he would have desired what human beings desire.
If it was not possible for Jesus to commit sin, how and why would he be tempted to sin? Do the math. It doesn’t add up that Jesus could be tempted to sin if in His deity it was not possible for Him to do so. But, if Jesus laid down his deity, denying His divine power and authority, He could then give in to temptation, and yes, actually be tempted in weakness as a human being to sin. Central to His position as a spotless lamb to be sacrificed, Jesus did not yield to temptation. Jesus did not sin. While flawed by his flesh, He remained innocent of sin.
What makes this necessary for our discussion is that the original meaning of the word flesh in Scripture could mean flesh in appearance, or completely flesh all the way into the soul of a person. I contend that for Jesus to be tempted to sin (Hebrews 4:15) there needed to be human desire that is prone to independence by nature from God. I understand that it can sound heretical saying that out loud for all to hear. But I contend that for Jesus to genuinely sympathize with the human experience he needed to be genuinely and completely “given up to the flesh—rooted in the flesh”. Only then, in my opinion, could he be entirely subject to the lure and the laws of the flesh, that being lure and the law of sin. Without desire where is the attraction? Without attraction where is the desire? Without desire and attraction where is the temptation?
Was Jesus subject to the law of sin in his soul? I believe that we learn that Jesus, a man of flesh, was vulnerable, and even “obedient” to the reality of sin in the world as a person of human flesh. I will not pretend to comprehend this; however, this point needs to be made for Jesus to be authentically human, having the will of the flesh, meaning the full measure of human desire. It is important, then, that we accept that God the Son essentially emptied Himself of being God in order to become flesh.
Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness. Philippians 2:6-7 (NIV)
We observed in Genesis that our sin is predicated on our desire for control in order to minimize our discomfort. This would suggest that Jesus the man experienced human dissatisfaction. This is astounding to me; and here lies the irony. We strive to be more our own god in our pursuit for control, which we eventually learn by experience is impossible to attain (even though we may resist admitting that), and Jesus who is God, completely lets go of the control and authority that is His, to become flesh as Jesus the Son, and must totally trust in the control and power of God.
God the Son surrendered authority
For what the law could not do in what was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin: He condemned sin in the flesh. Romans 8:3 (NKJV)
Being made in the likeness of sinful flesh is not about flesh and bone but is about the flesh between the ears of a person; brain matter. The flesh then involves the mind, the body, the behavior that emanates from the heart, and most importantly, the soul of a person. Jesus would tell His disciples that His death would place His soul in the belly of the earth for three days and nights. Jesus took in His soul of flesh, the sin of your flesh and mine to experience condemnation for it for three days and nights. He suffered fully human before the cross, on the cross, and for three days and nights until the resurrection.
Jesus said, “For as Jonah was in the belly of the great fish for three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth for three days and three nights.” Matthew 12:40
In my sin and yours, Jesus experienced the full impact of falling out of divine favor—even though he prayed three times in the garden for grace instead of the suffering… and three times was denied grace since He had to die… drinking from the cup of God’s wrath for man’s sin (according to most scholars)—and therefore by His sacrifice became grace for you and for me.
Then Jesus left them a second time and prayed, “My Father! If this cup cannot be taken away unless I drink it, your will be done… So he went to pray a third time, saying the same things again.” Matthew 26:42-44
How often do you hear about Christ’s human experience for the three days between the crucifixion and the resurrection? It’s rarely examined. It wasn’t some romantic dive into the pit of hell (or even Hades) to wrestle the devil and rescue lost souls. It was however, absolutely heroic what He did for us. Fully man, having emptied Himself of the advantage of being God, the suffering of our Lord was at the very least unimaginable. Here’s the thing: Jesus even sympathizes with the suffering of the human souls condemned to the worst places in hell—condemned only because they chose to remain in relationship with their selfish sin rather than surrender into relationship with their Sympathetic Savior. Please keep this in mind as this discussion continues.
In laying down His God nature, to by experience know the nature of man, Jesus became human. The nature of human flesh was created intentionally by God to be independent from His will. God already had the universe and everything in it as a means to express and receive glory. But nothing else in the universe was independent and able to choose on its own. God gave us free will—the independent spirit to make up our own mind. God desires that we choose to love Him, to worship Him, and to serve Him. We know by our experience that independence from God means that we are prone to make mistakes by choice since we are not God. Jesus left heaven and the glory that was His as God, and was made in our likeness with the independence from God to choose. As a human man of flesh, even Jesus was prone to make mistakes by choice. Therefore He had to choose daily, moment by moment, to turn away from what might appear to make sense according to human reasoning, capturing every independent thought and obediently depend on His Father God, according to what made sense in relationship with God (2 Corinthians 10:4-5).
Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Hebrews 4:14-16 (NKJV)
Please allow me to paraphrase so that Paul’s double negative in his original translation is in the singular positive translation: “Seeing then that we have an advocate in Jesus Christ in His heavenly position as God, let us be free to come to Him as we are with our confession. For in Christ we have an advocate who understands us; even sympathizes with our weakness since He was in His human experience vulnerable to weakness and susceptible to the draw of temptation in every way we are. The difference is that He did not sin. Now let us with full confidence come to His throne where grace abounds so that we may obtain mercy and experience His grace in our time of need.”
Central to Christ-centered recovery that works is centering on recovery the way Christ himself modeled recovery for us. Jesus surrendered his life into the care and plan of God. He depended on God absolutely every day of his life. If that was the recovery model for Jesus, who vacated his authority as God so that he could get to know us intimately (as a person of flesh), who are we to think we can realize authentic recovery into freedom any other way? Now fully God, Jesus Christ invites us into the fullness of our new life experience. We must, however, be willing to lay down the former life that is in one way or another killing us. In other words, we must be willing to die to the life that is death to us in the end. How much more sensible can it be?
So we have stopped evaluating others from a human point of view. At one time we thought of Christ merely from a human point of view. How differently we know him now! This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! 2 Corinthians 5:16-17 (NLT)
Jesus Christ understands the human experience but make no mistake; He is no longer in human form. He is all God with full authority. He loves you like crazy. Jesus is your Sympathetic Savior.
Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every; tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:9-11 (NLT)
(Please watch this amazing video to “Revelation Song”. It’s absolutely worth the six minutes.)
“Light of the world, You stepped down into darkness, opened my eyes, let me see. Beauty that made this heart adore You; hope of a life spent with You. King of all days, oh so highly exalted glorious in Heaven above. Humbly You came to the earth You created, all for love’s sake became poor. I’ll never know how much it cost to see my sin upon that cross.” —Tim Hughes
When Jesus heard what had happened (to a blind man he had healed), he found the man and asked, “Do you believe in the Son of Man?” The man answered, “Who is he, sir? I want to believe in him.” “You have seen him,” Jesus said, “and he is speaking to you!” “Yes, Lord, I believe!” the man said. And he worshiped Jesus. John 9:35-38 (NLT)
“The Father loves me because I sacrifice my life so I may take it back again. No one can take my life from me. I sacrifice it voluntarily. For I have the authority to lay it down when I want to and also to take it up again. For this is what my Father has commanded.” John 10:17-18 (NLT)
These two passages are from the same message from Jesus to the blind man, to the Pharisees, and to the worshipers. This is the key passage of Scripture speaking to the authority of God in the flesh. It’s not that there were those who believed and worshiped that speaks to His deity as a man. There have been icons throughout history who were treated like deity and worshiped. At issue are the words of Jesus as He speaks of authority regarding life itself. Please look at this very carefully. Notice that Jesus attributed His authority as coming from the Father through Him. He continued to be fully dependent on God the Father until He ascended to heaven and retained His place on the throne of God as fully God in position and function.
Then Jesus told him, “I entered this world to render judgment—to give sight to the blind and to show those who think they see that they are blind.” John 5:39 (NLT)
Wow, it seems that I am working awfully hard to “discredit” Jesus in some way by setting out to prove that He was not fully God during His time as a human being in the flesh. Might I be wrong? Certainly. I admit that this is my opinion. Please understand that I love Jesus. Fully God He became poor as he lived in poverty in that He laid down His divine nature as God to be entirely human. Since ascending to the throne of grace, He is exalted to His rightful position as God, King of kings and Lord of lords.
What about scriptures that read, “I and the Father are one” and “When you have seen Me you have seen the Father”? It must be said that Jesus was filled with the Spirit of God. We today are to be filled with the Spirit of God and to be doing greater works than even Jesus, according to Jesus. Scripture says that you and I in relationship with Christ are clothed in righteousness and when God sees us He sees Jesus. We are not God, yet the Bible says that in Christ, God sees Himself in us. This is amazing truth!
I suppose the only discrepancy between what I have written in the Sympathetic Savior series and the teachings of popular doctrine is that I contend that Jesus was fully man while somehow making Himself less than God while in the flesh. I don’t comprehend how the Son becoming less than God is possible any more than I could comprehend that somehow God can be tempted to sin and that somehow God can die if the Son while fully human is also fully God. Both precepts seem just as ridiculous to my human finite mind but I guess something’s got to give here. Should I get that check in my spirit by His Spirit of conviction, however it comes, I will respond accordingly. For now, I believe from the bottom of my heart that this word is from God through me to you. I can live with that.
Knowing Jesus in the fellowship of His suffering
The purpose is to better understand His suffering while on earth to better know Him. I want to more fully appreciate His human experience. I believe Apostle Paul did as well when he spoke of wanting to share the fellowship of His suffering. Paul didn’t want to take on Christ’s suffering. That would demean His suffering since He suffered on our behalf so that we would never experience the consequence of eternal suffering for our sin. Paul did, though, want to fellowship with Jesus in the truth of His human suffering. He wanted to know that Jesus; the Jesus that I believe I am talking about here; the Jesus that paid an unbelievable price so that you and I can live forever, beginning today in recovery and throughout eternity.
Look again at the Magi in the image above staring into the face of baby Jesus; and then notice Mary Magdalene, John, and Mother Mary looking into the face of Jesus having died for their sin and ours.
Continue reading by clicking Sympathetic Savior – Christ’s Temptation.
From O’ Holy Night:
Long lay the world in sin and error pining.
Till He appeared and the Spirit felt its worth.
A thrill of hope the weary world rejoices,
For yonder breaks a new and glorious morn.
The King of kings lay thus lowly manger;
In all our trials born to be our friends.
He knows our need; our weakness is no stranger,
Behold your King! Before him lowly bend!
Truly He taught us to love one another,
His law is love and His gospel is peace.
Chains He shall break, for the slave is our brother.
And in His name all oppression shall cease.
Led by the light of faith serenely beaming,
With glowing hearts by His cradle we stand.
Fall on your knees! Oh, hear the angel voices!
O night divine, the night when Christ was born.
Lesson: Understanding the Sympathetic Savior (TWIRL 031)
Sympathetic Savior… Christ’s Temptation
“Sympathetic Savior, Christ’s Humanity” addressed the matter of Jesus coming into the human race “in the likeness of sinful flesh” (Romans 8:3), concluding that the human nature of Jesus, God made fully man in the flesh, was vulnerable to selfish sin with intentions and choices independent of a Divine nature. It concludes that Jesus the human being could have sinned or it wouldn’t make sense that he could be tempted to sin. What this is not meant to be is a point of contention or something to squabble about regarding Scriptural interpretation, doctrine, or theology; rather the intention is to consider the entire scope of the humanity in the flesh for the person who is today the King of kings and Lord of lords as He was prior to being made human for the better part of thirty three years. While in the grand scheme of things the humanity of Jesus might not be that important of a discussion, it is important to me and I am sharing it with you if you are interested.
You must have the same attitude that Christ Jesus had. Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. Philippians 2:5-7 (NLT)
For what the law was powerless to do because it was weakened by the flesh, God did by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to be a sin offering. And so he condemned sin in the flesh, in order that the righteous requirement of the law might be fully met in us, who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. Romans 8:3-4 (NIV)
One might suggest that Jesus, while born in the likeness of sinful flesh, did not live in the flesh but lived in the Spirit, fully God while in the flesh. I do not believe that is what this passage of Scripture is teaching. While Jesus DID NOT sin, I suggest he could have. If not, then the temptation he endured was not authentic temptation… it wasn’t real temptation (how could it be?)… because he was not able or have intentions toward selfishness. But what if, as Apostle Paul wrote, that Jesus literally gave up—laid down—his divine privilege and became something less than fully God? What if Jesus actually could sin as a human being, fully human, less than God? Only then, could Jesus sin, and therefore be tempted to sin. Only then could Jesus die, having taken into his human soul all of the sin of every single person that ever lived and will ever live.
So then, since we have a great High Priest (Advocate) who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most.
Hebrews 4:14-16 (NLT)
Ask yourself this question: Why is it so hard to believe that the three-person union that is God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) could by choice “create” the visible manifestation of Himself to be of a fully human nature, void of His divine nature, with a need to depend on the divine nature and authority of the other two persons of God? Is it because it would be too great a shock to our religious traditions and customs of what we claim to be sound doctrine and theology? Some will not even ask the questions or have a discussion about it; perhaps since such a discussion would lead to quarreling about doctrine. I am asking that you be open to asking the question guided by Scriptural truth, particularly that spoken of by Jesus himself about himself while flesh as a human being.
“I can do nothing on my own. I judge as God tells me. Therefore, my judgment is just, because I carry out the will of the one who sent me, not my own will.” John 5:30 (NLT)
Sympathetic Savior is a four part series. The following are links to the other parts:
Part 1: Christ’s Humanity, Part 3: Christ’s Relationships, Part 4: Christ’s Sacrifice
Early Childhood
Jesus, the Bible says, was conceived of a virgin, that being Mary, a virtuous young woman God found favor with. History suggests that Mary was no more than thirteen or fourteen years old. Joseph, the man Mary was engaged to marry, was likely in his late twenties or early thirties. According to the culture of the day, boys were considered men around age thirty and girls were considered to be eligible women in their early teen years. It was common, and even expected, for thirty-year-old men to marry teenage women. Jesus was born into a family that knew and loved God. This is important when considering that Jesus was in human form.
Jesus, born as a baby, needed the love and support of strong godly parents that would be committed to raising their son in the ways of the law of God. Jesus, in early childhood, would need to be taught the difference between right and wrong, and good and evil. He would need to learn about God from his earthly parents. He would need to learn how to walk, how to talk, how to read, and most importantly, how to pray. Along the way, as a young child, Jesus likely made mistakes. At times as a young boy, too young to discern the difference between right and wrong, Jesus likely behaved mistakenly in ways that were unacceptable to his earthly parents, whose authority he was under.
Jesus, as a small child, likely took something that didn’t belong to him. In ignorance of what is good, fair and just, young Jesus likely hurt someone’s feelings, likely had a temper, likely got lazy (“I’ll do it later, mom”), and likely got into stuff he shouldn’t have, not knowing any better. In my opinion, to suggest otherwise, when small children react impulsively and compulsively in ignorance and innocence, you would then also have to conclude that infant Jesus never screamed or cried out when he was hungry, cold, tired, or had a tummy ache. You would have to conclude that he was never in need of support, affection, or encouragement from mere earthlings at any point in his human existance. Children behave compulsively according to their nature.
Appropriate behaviors ideally are encouraged and rewarded by parents and others in authority, while inappropriate behaviors are discouraged and often punished by parents and others in authority. At 3o years old, Jesus said that he had no divine authority as a human being (John 5:30), what does that say about where he stood on the matter as a child? Does this mean Jesus sinned if he behaved impulsively in manners considered inappropriate, dare I say, disobedient, as a child?
Absolutely not!
Are we to conclude that as a young boy Jesus had the ability to control himself, his impulses to act out spontaneously in the moment, as a small child? We cannot conclude that either if he was indeed fully human. It is important to consider that this is not an issue of sin for a young child. If it is, then non-repentant young children would have an eternity issue should they die before having the authentic belief in Jesus as their redeemer.
To be sure, sin was in the world before the law was given, but sin is not charged against anyone’s account where there is no law. Romans 5:13 (NIV)
Bible translators have translated this Scripture to say that people were sinning but because there was no law until Moses, it was not counted against them as sin. If that is true, then Adam and Eve did not sin since there was no law given yet. While Cain killed his brother Abel, it was not the sin of murder since the law had not been handed down to Moses. I believe that Apostle Paul wrote that until a person discerns right from wrong—the law being written on his or her heart—selfish choices and behavior are not counted as sin. Therefore, Jesus the small child, could have selfish thoughts resulting in impulsive child-like behavior while acting out human selfishness and still be innocent of sin.
Children are innocent until they have understanding of right and wrong, just as Adam and Eve were innocent until they ate of the fruit that revealed to them knowledge of good and evil. In the time of Christ, the law was documents written on scrolls that were held and read in the temples and synagogues. As Jesus, the boy, learned to discern the difference between right and wrong, and as he learned to discern the difference between what was honorable and pleasing to his Heavenly Father, and what was sinful, Jesus chose rightly and fairly.
It must have been difficult for Mary and Joseph to convey to their son, Jesus, the exact nature of his pedigree as the Son of God to be the savior of his people. I have imagined that they encouraged Jesus to ask God to reveal to him the thing he was destined to fulfill. I wonder if Joseph explained to Jesus as a boy that God was his father in a different way. I can see the earthly father and mother of Jesus encouraging him to ask his Heavenly Father to reveal to him his calling. I can see Joseph and Mary repeatedly insisting to Jesus that there would be a day in which he would be about the business of his Heavenly Father. Until then, I assume that Jesus was a boy being a boy in a “boys will be boys” kind of way.
When Jesus was an adolescent, there was at least one occasion when he behaved in a way that did not exactly honor his parents. When Jesus was twelve years old, he accompanied his family to Jerusalem for the Feast of the Passover. It took a few days for families that lived considerable distances from Jerusalem to get there. A number of families would often travel together in a caravan-type fashion. The children probably had fun running around, playing games, perhaps games of tag and hide-and-go-seek. It is likely that during their travels they did not see their kids for substantial periods of time. Families and their relatives and friends stuck together.
The Adventure
After participating in the Passover Festival, it was time to head back home. The families packed up their gear and began the journey back to Nazareth. It is safe to assume that Mary, a mother responsible for the son she knows is the Christ, believed that Jesus was, or would soon be, with the group returning home.
By now, Jesus was likely a responsible young man upon whom his mother generally could depend. When it was time to go, he would certainly be obedient and responsible to return with his family. I have a difficult time believing that Mary and Joseph would have clumsily lost track of the Son of God. Jesus was likely at some point with the group and seen by his parents and siblings as they prepared for the trip back home.
Perhaps as they were all leaving from Jerusalem, they passed by a synagogue. Jesus stepped in to listen to educated scholars of the Law of Moses in deep thought and discussion. It would just be a minute or two and then boy Jesus would catch up with the group. Perhaps these scholars debated interpretation of principles within the document written on a scroll. One of them notices boy Jesus just inside the gate, and says facetiously, “Hey, let’s see the kid thinks!” The scholars all look to the kid in the doorway and one of them says with a condescending voice, “Got an opinion, kid? Enlighten us!” Then after stumbling over his words for a moment, boy Jesus shares his perspective on the topics they were discussing. What we know for sure, is that those in the Jewish temple were astounded by his insight and continued asking him questions and continued to be amazed by his answers. I can imagine them wondering to one another, “Who’s protégé is this young fellow?” Well, you know how kids are, especially young boys. It appears Jesus forgot where he was expected to be and continued to be caught up in the moment. The attention was likely thrilling for him, and perhaps a bit spellbinding.
Search & Rescue for the Savior of All of Us
The families and friends with the family of Jesus had traveled for most of the day, when Mary put the word out, “Have you seen Jesus lately?” Someone shouts back, “I haven’t seen him…Let me ask my boys if they have seen him.” Eventually, the word gets around camp that Jesus is missing. They could not find Jesus anywhere. He was nowhere to be seen. Mary may have recalled when Herod set out to kidnap and kill her son when he was a year or two old. At that time, Joseph took his family in the middle of the night and fled to Egypt until Herod was dead. What could have happened to Jesus, this time? Where was the Son of God? Mary, only about 26 or 27 years old at this point in time, is entrusted by the God of the universe to care for His Son, and now he’s missing.
What might have happened? Could Jesus have been killed by an animal? Could he have been kidnapped by bandits who could have profited much turning the boy in to the authorities who’d escaped King Herod ten years ago? So Mary and Joseph traveled the rest of the day, into the evening, back to Jerusalem to look for Jesus, their missing son. They hope he simply got adventurous and trust they will find him before too long. However, there is no sign of him anywhere. Their sense of panic intensified the longer they searched without finding him. Where could he be? Who knows how long they searched, and how many people a desperately frantic teary-eyed mom asked, “Oh, please tell me, have you seen my son?”
The boy Jesus lingered behind in Jerusalem. And Joseph and His mother did not know it; but supposing Him to have been in their company, they went a day’s journey, and sought Him among their relatives and acquaintances. So when they did not find Him, they returned to Jerusalem seeking Him. Luke 2:43-45 (NKJV)
Finally someone responded to Mary, “I saw him not so long ago in the temple.” Can you see Mary running ahead to the temple, anxious tears streaming down her face? There he is, the Son of God, mystifying religious scholars with his knowledge of, and insight into the law.
And all who heard Him were astonished at His understanding and answers. Luke 2:47 (NKJV)
“Jesus!” shouts an incredibly relieved mother who has found her son after hours upon hours of searching. 
She runs to her son and exclaims how worried she’s been.
So when they saw Him, they were amazed; and His mother said to Him, “Son, why have You done this to us? Your father and I have sought you anxiously.” Luke 2:48 (NKJV)
Jesus must have seen the emotion in his mother’s eyes and face. Perhaps due to having the maturity of a 12-year-old boy, it is possible that he did not appreciate how Mary agonized for son to be alright when he responded,
“Why do you seek Me? Did you not know that I am about My Father’s business?” But they did not understand the statement which He spoke to them. Luke 2:49 (NKJV)
Moral Dilemma
Do you see the conflict for us as we examine this response more closely? We tend to contextualize the response of Jesus as a moment of clarity for Jesus, as he understood that he is the Christ. Perhaps it was. I do not doubt for a moment that Jesus was wise beyond his years as he was full of the Holy Spirit. I have been reminded in discussions on this topic that children called to ministry have deep insight into what God is preparing for them at an early age. And in this case we’re talking about the Son of God; God made flesh. But still we need to remember that Jesus was a kid—a sixth grader by our standards. It would be close to twenty years yet before he would enter into full-time ministry.
We should recognize that, while he was gaining insight into who he was as the Christ, with the acumen to discern the law and teachings of the prophets, he likely had the maturity of the adolescent he was at that time (though he was likely more mature than most). His response to Mary, a mother in a desperate crisis until she located her son, may not have been the most mature thing to say to his mom at that moment. Mary knew her son, and did not understand his response to her; didn’t understand because she didn’t get the meaning, or she didn’t understand because she didn’t get the timing. While the response of Jesus is revealing about his position as Savior, Mary at the very least did not at all appreciate the timing of what her 12-year-old son had just said to her.
Did Jesus, compulsive and unaware, behave in “disobedience”, on some level, against his parents? Perhaps, unwittingly or lacking full maturity, he did… perhaps. He may have lost track of time. You know how kids are at that age. Then, when he realized he missed his ride, Jesus continued to hang out in the temple until someone came back to get him. What else was he going to do? It would be almost two days before his parents would find and retrieve him. Where did he sleep overnight? What all did he do while he waited? Did he get scared, even a little bit? Or was he so engrossed in being about his father’s business that he threw caution to the wind knowing that his Heavenly Father had his back? That’s certainly possible. I imagine that Jesus had it drilled into his head by his parents as he grew up that he had been chosen to be a king for all the Jews. He likely was told repeatedly of his mother’s story about her experience with the angel when she was told that she was going to bear a son, God’s Son.
I’m sure Jesus was taught throughout his early childhood that God was his Father in heaven with a mission for his only Son. It is more likely to me that Mary and Joseph probably did not tell Jesus that it would require his death in order to save the world. That would certainly be a tall order for a young boy. It likely was point that the parents of Jesus had not yet considered themselves.
As 12-year-old Jesus gained insight into the law and perhaps had an idea of his calling, to have the attention of the teachers of the law in the temple must have been quite a delight. He was told again and again that he would someday be at the business of what he was doing in the temple at that very moment. He was about his Father’s business. He had no idea of the consternation his mother was going through for a number of hours trying to find him. So boy Jesus got caught up in the excitement and having a blast while his mom was caught up in the trauma of losing track of the Son of God. Then they finally encountered one another. Mothers reading this can certainly relate to Mary. Mothers with boys can recall similar experiences. Jesus behaved the way a young boy would behave, full of excitement, busting at the seams to tell his mom and dad what he’s been doing. He’s feeling really good about himself. Mary and Joseph on the other hand, have been scared to death for their son for hours. When it all comes together you have what we’ve seen in Scripture. Panicked parents scolded their boy, saying, “What were you thinking?!” while their son responds, “Why are you worried? I’m doing what you said I’d be doing, the business of my heavenly father.”
Was He Disobedient? Did Young Jesus Sin?
Was young Jesus disobedient as an less mature, impulsive adolescent boy? I suppose concerned parents can draw their own conclusions. Did Jesus sin? No. This is an important point to consider. He was an idealistic young boy that did what he believed was right. And maybe he was right. Or maybe he made an error in judgment. Maybe he was just a kid who erred when he chose to hang around a little while longer in a place he truly came to love. He was developing a deeper relationship with his Heavenly Father, and perhaps he felt ready to jump into the fray of his calling. Boy Jesus did not really understand the emphasis of his earthly parents. This is what adolescent kids do. He had enough of an independent mind to decide on something without enough awareness and/or maturity to recognize how his decision affected other people. Do you know any kids like this? Of course you do. Most kids behave this way. The worst thing Jesus may have done under the circumstance was behave with the maturity of a 12-year-old boy. While he was most likely mature and wise beyond his years he was still a boy none-the-less.
Remember what we observed earlier from the Bible:
For before the law was given, sin was in the world, but sin is not taken into account when there is no law. Romans 5:13 (NIV)
One might argue that I am saying here that Jesus sinned but was not held unaccountable for it until he learned that he was a sinner. That is not what the Bible says, nor am I suggesting that. All I am supposing is that Jesus was flesh, as the Bible says he was (“in the likeness of sinful flesh” per Romans 8:3), and that he behaved in the flesh, yet without sin. I am suggesting that he made mistakes. He erred in his human understanding as a child. Jesus was imperfect in the flesh, yet led a sinless life. Once again, if it cannot be said that Jesus could have made imperfect behavior choices when he was more likely to give in to impulsivity as a boy, how could he realistically be tempted to give in to temptation when he is far less impulsive and under far stronger conviction and control as a man?
Jesus spoke of his imperfections in Scripture, which will be addressed in subsequent chapters. Jesus needed to depend on his earthly parents for guidance and direction until he discovered the full essence of his relationship with his Heavenly Father. Jesus, the little boy, needed parental supervision and discipline. He needed the love of godly parents. His relationship with his parents likely had conflicts like most relationships between sons and parents. He needed to model the behavior of godly parents. He needed to learn from godly parents. He needed to learn from them about God. He needed to learn from them about sin. My point in going on about this is to establish the human weakness of Jesus Christ. It is in his weakness in the flesh that he sympathizes with your weakness and mine.
No Doubt, Jesus Needed His Mother
Jesus experienced most everything that people experience in a lifetime. Because of this he would know the emotions associated with life’s ups and downs. Jesus experienced grief since, during life on earth, he buried his earthly father. Though Joseph was not his father by blood, Jesus was raised by this man appointed by God in Heaven to raise the Savior of the world from infancy to adulthood. Jesus learned his trade as a carpenter from his earthly father. He developed a strong and steady work ethic by watching his dad and then by working with him. As a boy, Jesus was taught by Joseph how to treat people. He learned how to appreciate women, watching his father adore, encourage, comfort and provide for his wife and family. Jesus must have had great love and affection for Joseph. He must have mourned when his dad died. This was not the only time Jesus would mourn the loss of a loved one. John (the Baptist) was beheaded in a grueling bloody execution for preparing the way for Jesus to begin his ministry. Jesus, a young adult barely thirty years old, was affected profoundly by the death of his cousin.
His mother Mary was the role model that Jesus would emulate as he grew into adulthood. Jesus listened to, paid attention to, and respected the wisdom of his mother throughout his life – even in his ministry. The Bible shares a key moment with us early on in the ministry of Jesus when Mary is insightfully instrumental in the timing of His first miracle. 
On the third day there was a wedding in Cana of Galilee, and the mother of Jesus was there. Now both Jesus and His disciples were invited to the wedding. And when they ran out of wine, the mother of Jesus said to Him, “They have no wine.” Jesus said to her, “Woman, what does your concern have to do with me? My hour has not yet come.” His mother said to the servants, “Whatever He says to you, do it.” Setting there were six waterpots of stone, containing twenty or thirty gallons apiece. Jesus said to them, “Fill the water pots with water”…And He said to them, “Draw some out now, and take it to the master of the feast.” And they took it. When the master of the feast had tasted the water that had been turned to wine, he did not know where it came from, but the servants who had drawn the water knew…” John 2:1-8 (NKJV)
It is clear in this passage of scripture that Mary, led by the God’s Spirit, was influential as to when it was time for her son to begin the business of his heavenly father. When she approached her son about the matter of the wedding reception being out of wine, Jesus responded, “What does this have to do with me?” I think it’s safe to assume that when Mary addressed the servants, saying to them, “Do whatever he says” she is doing so right there in the company of her son, as if to communicate to him, “It is time, let’s go.” And so the season of miracles, signs and wonders in the ministry of Christ Jesus began. This is monumental in the ministry of Jesus, as he trusted and submitted to the wisdom of his mother as being led by God. It speaks to the amazing human relationship Jesus had with his mom. I detect a bit of irony here.
At twelve years old, Jesus seems to be brimming with confidence in the temple about being about his Father’s business. Then, eighteen years later, Jesus was hesitant about the timing of being about his Father’s business. His mother, sensitive to the Spirit of God, persuaded her son to realize the time is now. Jesus, now a mature adult, listened to his mother and responded with his cooperation. Kids often don’t appreciate the wisdom of their parents until they are grown up. I suppose it requires a degree of maturity to submit to the will of the ones that really know better. Wow! My guess is that there has never been a tighter bond between mother and child in all of history than the relationship between Jesus and his mom. We can only imagine, after everything Jesus and Mary experienced throughout Christ’s life on earth what they must have been feeling while Jesus was on the cross as the only sacrifice for sin. Mary would see her son spat on, rocks thrown at him, screams and shouts of ridicule from every direction mocking him—how tempted Jesus could have been to react but only if received from God the Father to react. In the midst of it all, Jesus would glance down and see his mother in her own agony as she watched her son executed to death.
Tempted until the Very End
This study for me was important to gaining a deeper insight into the human life of the one the Apostle Paul writes sympathizes with my weakness because of how fully human He was during His time with men and women, boys and girls, mother and father, brothers and sisters, friends and enemies. 
The extent to which Jesus was tempted to sin, whether it be dealing with the Pharisees and so-called merchants in the temple (when he could have been tempted to sin in his anger), or with Mary Magdalene (someone Jesus was obviously close to and quite fond of and was likely vulnerable to sensuous temptation), one can speculate but will we will never know. What we do know is that Scripture states matter of factly that Jesus was tempted in every way, while remaining innocent of sin.
Jesus also knew what it was to be entirely misunderstood by the best of family and friends. His purpose for coming to earth was challenged by those He knew best and hoped knew Him best. Jesus was tempted until the very end. Peter tempted Jesus to seek another means to carry out the necessary sacrifice so that Jesus would be around to fulfill His promise to restore Israel (something that would not happen until 1948). Rather than respond to Peter, Jesus responded to His real tempter (Satan), saying to Peter, “Get behind me Satan!” (I could not imagine Jesus saying that to me.)
While praying in the garden, Jesus asks that if there is any other way… not my way, but “Your will be done.” One of the thieves on a cross next to Jesus chides him that if he is everything he says he is, Son of God, King of the Jews, and all that; “Save yourself! And oh by the way, rescue me too.
We tend to say that Jesus had the authority to come off the cross if he so chose to do so. Maybe he did. But maybe he didn’t. Jesus said that on his own he had no authority and only received authority as he chose the will and purpose of his Father (John 5:30). We can safely conclude that it was not the will of the Father that Jesus come down from the cross alive. His sacrifice was indeed the mandate for our reconciliation with God because of sin.
Thank you Jesus, that in the midst of insurmountable temptation You chose not to satisfy your need to survive since You would not have been You defying the will and plan of God—Your will and plan from the beginning. Thank you for being faithful until the very end of your time on earth. Thank you for sticking to the plan in the face of temptation and opportunity to attempt to deviate from that plan. Thank you Jesus for putting it all on the line to understand human frailty, limitation, and weakness to really get to know me in every way, on every level. Thank you that today you are my High Priest advocating for me until the very end.
So then, since we have a great High Priest (Advocate) who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most. Hebrews 4:14-16 (NLT)
Sympathetic Savior… Christ’s Relationships
Ask yourself this question: Why is it so hard to believe that the three-person union that is God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) could by choice “create” the visible manifestation of Himself to be of a fully human nature, by willing choice void of divine nature, with a need to depend on the divine nature and authority of the other two persons of God? Is it because it would be too great a shock to our religious traditions and customs of what we claim to be sound doctrine and theology? Some will not even ask the questions or have a discussion about it; perhaps since such a discussion would lead to quarreling about doctrine. I am asking that you be open to asking the question guided by Scriptural truth, particularly that spoken of by Jesus himself about himself while flesh as a human being.
“I can do nothing on my own. I judge as God tells me. Therefore, my judgment is just, because I carry out the will of the one who sent me, not my own will.” John 5:30 (NLT)
Sympathetic Savior is a four part series. The following are links to the other parts:
Part 1: Christ’s Humanity, Part 2: Christ’s Temptation, Part 4: Christ’s Sacrifice
So then, since we have a great High Priest (advocate) who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most. Hebrews 4:14-16 (NLT)
In talking about the relationships of Jesus in the context of his humanity, we need to continually be mindful of how incredibly difficult and complex it must have been to be in his sandals while he lived as a person of selfish flesh. He must have been entrapped by temptation day and night.
While Jesus certainly had a number of interesting human relationships while living in his human experience; whether it be the close relationships with his earthly parents, friends and supporters of his ministry and the hundreds of disciples, of which the closest were the twelve, including perhaps his best friend and confidant, John; or whether it be adversarial relationships such as Pharisees and scribes; among the most complicated relationships of Christ during that time I suspect were with Peter and Mary Magdalene, which are of emphasis here.
Jesus had celebrity status in the latter days of his ministry. You might say that he was somewhat of an icon in his era. So many Jews had pinned their hopes on Jesus to lead them out from under the thumb of the Roman Empire. Crowds numbering into the thousands followed him wherever he went every day. I wonder how I would handle that.
What do we know about celebrities? They work their whole lives to be good enough at what they do to be famous and make reams of money, and then, when they have made it to the big time, they resist their fame and complain about it. They often plead to reporters and to their fans, “Please, please leave me alone and let me lead a normal life.” Huh?
I wonder if Jesus ever struggled with pride from all the attention he received. I would imagine he did. He was considered a rebel by the mainstream society, which brought even greater attention. 
One thing we know, too, about famous rock stars, movie stars and athletes, is that there are those of the opposite sex throwing themselves at them willing to do just about anything to touch them and be close to them. I tend to think that Jesus had this dilemma with all of the popular attention he was receiving.
Early on in his ministry around the age of thirty, Jesus began to draw attention to himself by performing a miracle or two. I’m sure there were those who enjoyed the performance, even if they missed the point of what he was doing. 
As he grew in popularity and people began to follow him around, I would imagine that women found Jesus to be attractive and deliberately sought him out in that context. It must have been tempting even to Jesus as a single man.
There may be some at this moment a bit taken back that I’ve even gone there. I may be presumptuous in going there, but if Jesus was never tempted sexually as a man—a single man at that—then he was not tempted in every point common to the human experience as Scripture says he was (Hebrews 4:15). As a man tempted, I have no problem with this presumption.
Mary Magdalene
The most interesting of the relationships Jesus had with women is his friendship with Mary Magdalene. I admit that there is something curiously fascinating in my own mind about the relationship Jesus had with Mary Magdalene. Did he sin in this relationship? No, he did not. Is it possible that Jesus could have had a physical attraction and/or feelings of fond affection for her? Not only possible but, in my opinion, likely. 
Is it possible that he may have felt (do I dare say?) sensual feelings for her? I dare say it is at least possible. He may have felt romantic love for her. Why not? As God, He invented romantic love. To feel it as a man would allow him to understand this kind of love as a human being, and to sympathize with our weakness when it comes to romantic love as well as the sensuality of it. I do not intend to refuel any controversy, but Mary had become a close dear friend as a disciple of Jesus. Would a fondness for Mary deter Jesus from his calling and purpose to redeem mankind? While it may have affected him in ways we will never know, clearly, it did not stall his mission.
If we are honest in our interpretation of Scripture, for Jesus to be tempted in “all points”, his sensual senses must have been awake, experiencing some degree of temptation. Once again, I do not write this to stir up controversy. I am simply being honest as a man. To more fully appreciate his sinless life in the flesh, I need to consider that Jesus struggled in the flesh and overcame his natural tendency to give in to selfish human desires.
To some, it might sound like heresy to consider at all that Jesus, as an adolescent and then as a grown adult man, would have to wrestle with the issue of lust. Think about it, even Satan tempted Jesus with a lust for power at the outset of his ministry. Pride and lust are prime sources of considerable temptation for men. Men of faith are chronicled throughout history as having struggled with, and given in to, pride and lust from Adam to Abraham to Samson to David to Solomon, and throughout the generations to people of faith we have seen fall.
Jesus was bigger in popularity and fame than all of them. If I am to believe that Jesus was tempted in every way so as to be able to fully sympathize with my human experience, then he was tempted as well to give in to selfish pride, selfish ambition, and even selfish passions. Yet he never did. The addictive seduction of temptation on Jesus was powerful, yet he resisted each and every time. It was not merely a given that Jesus endured in the flesh without having sinned. Let’s not take that for granted. As I’ve said, when we can better comprehend this, we can more fully appreciate the sinless life of Christ.
Peter, the disciple of faith
Simon Peter, another disciple of Jesus, also had a special relationship with Christ during his time on earth. Peter, known as Simon until Jesus began calling him Peter, had heard of Jesus healing people. When Simon’s mother-in-law was sick with a severe fever, he sent a message to Jesus, requesting that he come to his house. According to Scripture (Luke 4:38-39), Jesus left the synagogue, where I suppose he was worshipping, arrived at Simon’s home, and stood over his mother-in-law and rebuked the fever, and it left her. She was healed, and got up immediately to serve Jesus and care for those at her home.
Early on in his ministry, Jesus was developing a growing following. Jesus knew he needed help and began to recruit a team that he could rely on to support his ministry. The crowd followed Jesus to a lake called Gennesaret where he noticed two boats unattended. He climbed into one of the boats while the fishermen were washing their nets.
It was probably in the early light of morning, after the fishermen had worked through the night. Jesus was talking to the crowd that morning from the boat, Simon’s boat. He asked Simon to push away from shore a bit as he continued teaching the crowd that gathered along the shore.
When Simon Peter and his co-workers returned to the boat, Jesus stopped speaking to the crowd.
He said to Simon, “Launch out into the deep and let your nets down for a catch.” But Simon answered and said to Him, “Master, we have toiled all night and caught nothing; nevertheless at your word I will let down the net.” And when they had done this, they caught a great number of fish, and their net was breaking. So they signaled to their partners in the other boat to come and help them. And they came and filled both the boats, so that they began to sink. When Simon Peter saw it, he fell down at Jesus’ knees, saying, “Depart from me, I am a sinful man, O Lord.” For he and all who were with him were astonished at the catch of fish which they had taken; and so also were James and John, who were partners with Simon. And Jesus said to Simon, “Do not be afraid. From now on you will be catchers of men.” So when they had brought their boats to land, they forsook all and followed Him. Luke 5: 4-11 (NKJV)
What fascinates me about the relationship Simon Peter strikes up with Jesus here is what it will cost him to be a disciple of Jesus Christ. Simon was a married man. He was a family man. He was employed and a responsible provider for his family. The Bible says he “forsook all” to go into a traveling ministry with Jesus. Synonyms for the word ‘forsake’ include words like, abandon, renounce, and disown. Did Simon literally abandon his family to follow Jesus? Did he disown his wife who he loved?
This could not have been an easy decision in this man’s life. It took incredible courage, not only on Simon Peter’s part, but the courage and commitment to the ministry of Jesus on the part of his entire family. They didn’t know the man Jesus all that long, but they were confident that he was special. He healed Simon’s mother-in-law. And he provided Simon’s family with such a phenomenal catch of fish that financially his family could have lived off the profits of that single day’s catch for some time.
Simon Peter was going into the kind of service that, on many occasions, definitely proved to be a battle. He humbled himself, leaving everything that was comfortable—the life he knew and loved—to venture into unfamiliar territory with a group of men, some he barely knew, serving the people with the man Jesus, who Simon believed in from the depths of his soul.
Jesus led by example. He taught Simon how to forgive and even how to love his enemies. He taught Simon how to pray, and how to have confidence in God by faith.
It is important to appreciate the culture of the day in which Simon Peter was living. The Roman Empire was the governing state over the Jewish people. Its territory extended well over two thousand miles from as far west as Spain, up to what is now Great Britain, throughout most of Europe, including France, Italy, Greece, and Turkey. 
Rome’s rule extended into the Middle East by what is known today as Israel, Syria, Jordan, and into Asia to the east. It also covered vast territory along the southern shore of the Mediterranean Sea, including what today is Libya and Egypt.
The Jews longed to be a nation again, to be an independent state, something that would not occur until 1948 after World War II. But back in the day of Christ, the Jews saw Jesus as a powerful force, their deliverer from the rule of the Romans. As their Messiah, believing Jews eagerly anticipated becoming an independent state again under the reign of their new King, Jesus of Nazareth, King of the Jews. They had even hoped to have the military might capable of dealing with Rome, as the Israel of their ancestors had defeated their enemies with God on their side.
“But we were hoping that it was He (Jesus) who was going to redeem Israel.” Luke 14:21 (NKJV)
Therefore, when they had come together, they asked Jesus, saying, “Lord, will You at this time (post resurrection) restore the kingdom of Israel?” Acts 1:6 (NKJV)
Simon Peter hoped to reign with Christ in this restored kingdom (statehood) of Israel when that day of independence would finally come. Simon had the privilege of traveling with Jesus from city to city proclaiming that Jesus was sent by God to heal the sick, forgive sins, perform signs and wonders, and to be King, leading all people to the Father. There would be no mistake that Jesus had ‘other-worldly’ capability and power.
While traveling by boat, Jesus and his disciples encountered a mighty storm. Their boat was thrown about like a play toy in the sea. The Bible says that the boat was covered with the waves, 
but Jesus was asleep. The disciples were in fear for their lives as they believed this gale would rip their boat to shreds and that they would be swallowed up by the sea.
The disciples, in a panic, woke Jesus from his sleep, saying to him,
“Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?” Mark 4:38 (NKJV)
“Lord save us! We are perishing!” But He said to them, “Why are you fearful, O you of little faith?” Then He arose and rebuked the winds and the sea, and there was a great calm. So the men marveled, saying, “Who can this be, that even the winds and the sea obey Him?” Matthew 8:25-27 (NKJV)
This is an amazing event in the lives of these men who were in a panic, scared to death on that boat. It must have blown their minds that Jesus could remain asleep through such a vicious storm. The difference is that Jesus was the source of their belief and faith.
In this story, it is clear that the disciples had in fact learned something about who they were in the midst of their dire circumstances, compared to who Jesus was. They knew they were powerless, and were at the mercy of the wind and waves of the sea. They admitted their powerlessness to Jesus when they pleaded with him to save them. They evidently believed that Jesus could help them as they woke him up and cried out emphatically, “Lord save us!” Where they lacked, it seems, was in their confidence that Jesus would rescue them by the power and authority given by God the Father. They woke him up, and asked him, “Do You not care that we‘re going to die in this storm?” (Mark 4:38).
The disciples, in this case, hit rock bottom. Unless Jesus intervened, they would die. They had one option. They were committed to trusting him for their recovery from the perilous sea. Jesus did for them just what they needed. He saved them from the threat of death as he commanded the wind to settle down, which it did since even the wind was subject to the authority of Almighty God who imparted his authority to his Son. So I suppose the question is, “Would I rather be in the storm in the boat with Jesus, even when it might seem to me that He isn’t paying attention that the boat is filling with water and about to sink, or would I prefer to be in the storm on the shore (solid ground) without Him? Either way I am in the middle of the storm.
Walk on water, lately?
Well, feeding thousands of people and cleaning up after them was a great deal of work. Now it was about time to have some fun, time to play. For Peter, it was time for a swim.
Now immediately Jesus had His disciples get into the boat and go before Him to the other side. And when He sent the multitudes away, He went up to the mountain by Himself to pray. By evening, He was alone there. 
But the boat was now in the middle of the sea tossed by the waves, for the wind was opposing them. Now in the forth watch of the night Jesus went to them, walking on the sea. And when the disciples saw Him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, “It is a ghost!” And they cried out for fear. And immediately Jesus spoke to them, “Cheer up, it’s Me! Don’t be afraid.”
And Peter answered Him and said, “Lord if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” So He said, “Come.” And when Peter had come down out of the boat, he walked on the water to go to Jesus. 
But when he saw that the wind was boisterous, he was afraid, and beginning to sink, he cried out, Lord save me!” And immediately Jesus stretched out His hand and caught him, and said to him, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?” And when they got into the boat, the wind ceased. Then those who were in the boat came and worshiped Jesus, saying, “Truly You are the Son of God.” Matthew 14:22-33 (NKJV)
I love this story. What a moment in the relationship Jesus had with Peter. We can all agree that Peter was the one that had enough faith to get out of the boat. There were two people in the Bible that walked on water. Jesus, of course, but the other person that walked on water was Peter. We often focus on the fact that Peter doubted and began to sink. We tend to forget that Peter’s faith in Christ was quite impressive. Peter did indeed walk on water—an impossible feat.
Peter recognized that Jesus was doing something that was impossible for him to do. He could admit that it was outside of the realm of his own ability to walk on water. Peter shouted out to Jesus, “If it’s You, Lord, command me to walk on the water.” Peter believed that only Jesus could command the water to support his body so that he could walk on it. Jesus responded to Peter, “The water’s nice, come on in!” Peter committed to trusting Jesus. He got out of the boat and walked on the water. Peter did well trusting Jesus until he realized he was walking in the middle of the sea surrounded by waves blown about by boisterous winds, and he became overwhelmed by his circumstance and wavered in his commitment to trust Jesus to help him with his problem.
Gripped by fear, Peter dropped like a rock, but Scripture assures us that Jesus was right there to catch him. As soon as Peter began to sink he reached up and Jesus caught him. He would not let Peter drown in his circumstance.
Here is something else to think about. How far was Jesus from the boat when Peter got out and began walking on water? Jesus was far enough away that the disciples were not sure they recognized him. Remember, Peter said, “If it’s you…” Wherever Jesus was in the sea relative to his distance from the boat, Peter walked on water to within an arm’s length of Jesus. I don’t know but Peter may have walked some distance before he sank and was caught. While it was definitely a teaching moment, I tend to think Jesus had a smile on his face when he said to Peter, “O you of little faith, why did you doubt?”
I imagine that Jesus displayed a grin, perhaps even chuckling, as if to say to Peter, “What’s the problem, big guy, you’re only walking on water?” Peter walked on water! The Bible says Jesus was received into the boat, but what about Peter? Peter walked on water together with Jesus back to the boat. I’m sure Peter was still quite frightened even as he walked with Jesus back to the boat. I’ll even guess that Peter hung on for dear life to the arm of Christ as they walked. I’ll say more about this later.
My friend, Pastor Fran Leeman, has said that if it was him on the boat in the storm, he’d be screaming out, “Lord, if it’s you, do something extraordinary and save us again!” Instead, Peter said, “Lord, if it’s you call me to do something extraordinary because I believe in you to empower me to be special.” Jesus replied, “Come out of the safety of your life and be special.” What an awesome example of relationship between Jesus and those of us who choose to trust in Him.
Let’s also observe here the special relationship that Jesus had with his Heavenly Father. We tend to talk about the faith required by Peter to walk on water and to believe in Jesus to command the water to support his ability to walk on it. What we tend not to pay attention to is the faith that Jesus, a man of mortal flesh, had in his Father God to command the water to support his ability to walk on it. Jesus, in his human nature, could not simply walk on water. He needed the power of supernatural God to empower his natural human body to do such a thing. We know that at some point Peter lacked faith and “began” to sink. In that moment, Peter reached up and took the hand of Jesus who was reaching down to him. This is a symbol to us of the entire human experience of Christ. Jesus would not be human if there were not times he might have doubted. Jesus expressed an element of doubt, and for certain, great concern in the garden prior to his arrest. I believe that throughout the human experience of Jesus that he had his hand extended upward to God the Father, who was always at every moment extending his hand to his Son imparting divine authority. Just as Peter and Jesus locked hands to prevent Peter from sinking, Jesus locked hands with his Father to keep from sinking in his humanity. Just as Peter walked on water hand in hand with his Lord, Jesus walked on water hand in hand with God throughout his lifetime as a human being, right up until he took our sin which changed everything.
Simon and his friends continued to witness firsthand the source of their faith—the man they believed in—demonstrating power not of this world. They came to trust that all is possible as long as they were with Christ, staking their very lives in the hope of what he promised them.
Simon and his fellow disciples and friends would grow in their commitment and steadfastness to the ministry of Jesus. As they would see miracles and healings, their expectations grew and their imaginations ran wild. If even the forces of nature obeyed the commands of Jesus, who were the Romans of mere flesh and blood to stand up to him. They grew by faith in their sure certainty that Jesus would indeed be their king. It wasn’t a matter of if but of when.
Jesus asked the question to his disciples,
“Who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven. And I also say this to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.” Matthew 16:15-18 (NKJV)
By now, Peter had seen enough to know in his spirit that Jesus was indeed the Christ. Jesus said, “For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father in heaven.” This revelation is not simply a deduction that Peter arrived at in his own mind, this was revealed to him by faith. Peter needed to have a genuinely spiritual relationship with the Father in order to hear from him concerning God’s Son.
When Peter said, “You are the Christ” he acknowledged that Jesus is sent from God to deliver God’s people. By faith, Peter came to believe that Jesus was sent by the Father with full authority and power given him by God. For Peter and the disciples, this meant that Jesus had power and authority over all things, including the Roman government, and that he would someday be, not only king of the Jews, but King over all, as he was sent by God. First, however, as far as Peter and the disciples were concerned, Jesus the Christ (the word ‘Christ’ means ‘Messiah’, and ‘Messiah’ means ‘to redeem’, ‘to save’, ‘to deliver’), would deliver the chosen people of God from under the reign of the Roman Empire and reestablish Israel as an independent state.
Peter’s mandate
Peter’s relationship with Jesus would soon take a twist. Jesus began to clue his disciples in on what it would cost for him to redeem his people. He spoke of how he would need to go to Jerusalem and suffer a great deal at the hands of the elders and chief priests, and that ultimately he would be killed. Neither Peter, nor his friends, understood that the people of God extended beyond the Jews. They really had no comprehension that Jesus was sent to redeem—or bring freedom—to all mankind from the beginning to the end of time. They did not comprehend that Jesus was the blameless sacrifice, the price to be paid for the forgiveness of all our sin. Peter even argued with Jesus, suggesting that he was being a bit extreme in talking about his death.
Then Peter took Jesus aside and began to rebuke Him, saying, “Far be it from you, Lord; this shall not happen to you.” Matthew 16:22 (NKJV)
Peter must have been thinking, “Come on, let’s get real here. A hurricane-like storm in the midst of the waves couldn’t kill you. In fact, you told the raging storm to shush, and it immediately became calm. If you can command the forces of nature, if you can heal the sick and cast out demons, how is it that the Romans or anyone can have their way with you?”
But He turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are an offense to Me, for you are not mindful of the things of God, but the things of men.” Matthew 16:23 (NKJV)
On the one hand Jesus is assuring Peter that he did hear from God, when he referred to Jesus as the Christ, but then on the other hand, Jesus told Peter that he was not focused on God by faith, but rather was relying on his own understanding. So which is it? It’s both. We can be full of faith trusting in God, but then when the crisis hits, as we become distracted by our anxiety and apprehension, we tend to take our eyes off God to “better” focus in on our problem. We can get lost in our doubt and argue with God. “Even you can’t fix this Lord, it’s so bad …I mean, it is really bad this time!”
And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore God also highly exalted Him and given Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of those in heaven, and of those on the earth, and of those under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. Philippians 2:8-11 (NKJV)
Peter, nor the rest of the disciples, really had any idea, after everything they’d experienced, that Jesus would actually die at the hand of the Romans. Everything they had hoped and dreamed was hinging on Jesus establishing his kingdom on earth, thereby setting the Jews free once again.
Followers of Jesus expected him to be the Christ. Not only the disciples, but thousands of people followed and supported the ministry of Jesus. Many gave of their possessions and resources to his ministry. Many were excommunicated from their families for following a man who made outrageous claims of being sent by God to be the King of the Jews. For Jesus to die would be to invalidate such claims. It would mean that those who followed him, would be made fools of by him should he die and not deliver on his promise to be their king. The death of Jesus was simply unacceptable since it would render their independence from the Romans impossible from their point of view.
Jesus calls his disciples his friends
I believe the disciples, friends of Jesus, may have had a similar mindset. They were not ready or willing to give up the dream. Again Jesus would speak from his heart about what it meant to sacrifice himself through his death.
Look to these words of Jesus, spoken so eloquently to these friends who he loved.
“As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in His love. These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full. This is My commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. Greater love has no one than this, than to lay one’s life down for his friends. You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I call you My friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. You did not choose Me, but I chose you.” John 15:9-16 (NKJV)
To be referred to by Jesus as a friend of his must have meant the world to these guys. Jesus was the Christ who would be king. Peter, John, James, Mary Magdalene, and friends were on the inside with Jesus. Together with him, the disciples would lead the Jewish people to freedom as an independent people once again. What a privilege it would be to serve Christ, the King of kings. In time they would indeed serve the King of kings, but not as they had expected. When Jesus entered the holy city of Jerusalem on a donkey as a peaceful king, it was as though the day of reckoning was at hand. Jesus would restore his Jewish friends by delivering them from the hand of those brutally oppressive Romans, right?
Why would Peter deny Christ?
The disciples gathered together to honor the Passover in what we affectionately refer to as “The Last Supper.” The disciples had no idea, really, what would ensue.
Jesus said that night,
“All of you will be made to stumble this night because of Me, for it is written, ‘I will strike the Shepherd, and the sheep will be scattered.’ But after I have been raised, I will go before you to Galilee.” Peter said to Him, “Even if all are made to stumble, I will not be.” Jesus said to Peter, “Assuredly, I say to you that today, even this night, before the cock crows twice, you will deny Me three times.” But Peter spoke more vehemently, “If I have to die with You, I will not deny you.” And the rest of the disciples said likewise. Mark 14:27-31 (NKJV)
Peter’s denial of Christ in the temple courtyard is well-documented. It is written about in each of the four Gospels. But Peter’s uncertainty about Jesus was visible and thusly written about. The rest of the disciples, except Peter and John, had fled the scene.
Why would Peter deny Christ, his Savior?
It is generally felt that Peter feared for his life and so he denied knowing Jesus in order to save himself. Peter had been through so much with Jesus. He experienced first hand the awesome power given to Jesus by God the Father. He had seen miracles; he’d seen the lame walk, the blind see, the mute talk, and the deaf hear. He had seen demons cast out of a person and driven into a herd of pigs that drown themselves into the sea for fear of what Jesus would do to them next. Peter heard the actual voice of God at least twice. He saw Jesus command the forces of nature. He saw Jesus raise a man and a twelve-year-old girl from the dead. Peter walked on water with Jesus! Peter would boldly attack the leader of a battalion of soldiers with a sword at the time of Christ’s arrest.
It was not really in character for Peter to be afraid, or to shy away from a challenge. Sure there was intense fear, but the fear was in the realization that their world was caving in. I believe there was something else going on within Peter that profoundly affected him. He was certain that Jesus was chosen by God to lead the Jews to be a free and independent nation once again as the prophets predicted. He gave up everything to follow and serve with him. There must have been days and nights when he deeply missed his wife and kids. He left it all behind for a greater calling. He loved Jesus with all of his heart. Peter believed in him. He believed in the mission. Jesus was the Christ who would be king and deliver the Jews.
Suddenly, everything changed. It started to sink in for Peter in the garden of Gethsemane. Jesus even sounded like a dead man walking.
Jesus took Peter, James and John with Him, and He began to be troubled and deeply distressed. Then He said to them, “My soul is overwhelmed by sorrow, to the point of death.” Mark 14:33-34 (NKJV)
Jesus was no longer using metaphors or talking in parables to make his point. The point he was communicating was that he knew his betrayer was coming and he was deeply agonized in his human spirit. It was time. He would be beaten and tortured, and executed on a cross with nails in both ankles and hands (archeological evidence suggests victims of crucifixion straddled the cross and nails were driven into each ankle connecting them to each side of the cross) in order to fulfill the words of the prophets. Jesus was a mere man who desperately needed his friends to support him and pray for him.
Before drifting off to sleep, Peter, James and John watched Jesus pray.
Jesus went a little further and fell on the ground, and prayed that if it were possible, the hour might pass from Him. He prayed, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for You. Take this cup away from Me; nevertheless, not what I will, but Your will be done.” Mark 14:35-36 (NKJV)
Peter heard his dear friend praying in agony. Peter had never seen his master and friend behave this way before. Wherever they were, or whatever they were doing, Jesus was always in command. Now Jesus seemed to be falling apart at the seams. Even an angel hoped to strengthen Jesus. But even the angel was helpless to provide him with sufficient comfort or strength needed in such a time as this.
Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him. And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling to the ground. Then when He rose up from prayer, and came to His disciples, He found them sleeping from sorrow. Luke 22:43-45 (NKJV)
Jesus must have felt utterly alone. He could have felt alienated by his friends. He likely sensed their lack of confidence in him at this point because of their unbelief in his eternal kingdom.
Peter, James and John woke up and may have been mystified by what they saw. The man they believed would one day be king and restore them as a nation, was a mess. He was in such agony and torment that his body could not contain it. Perhaps he had developed sores or blisters of some kind on his skin from the stress to his body from anticipation of the immense torture to come, that “great drops of blood” fell to the ground.
Right up the moment of Christ’s arrest, Peter witnessed the power of God on Jesus as he knocked his captors down to the ground. That’s right, the army sent by the high priest to arrest Jesus spent time flat on their backs while attempting to apprehend Him.
When Jesus finished praying, He went out with His disciples over the Brook Kidron, where there was a garden, which He and His disciples entered. And Judas, who betrayed Him, also knew the place; for Jesus often met there with His disciples. Then Judas having received a detachment of troops, and officers from the chief priests and Pharisees, came there with torches, lanterns and weapons. Jesus therefore, knowing all things that would come upon him, went forward and said to them, “Who is it that you are seeking?” They answered Him, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus said to them, “I AM He.” And Judas, who betrayed Him, stood with them.
Now when He said to them, “I AM He,” they drew back and fell to the ground. Then He asked them again, “Who is it that you are seeking?” And they said, “Jesus of Nazareth.” Jesus answered, “I have told you that I am He. Therefore, if you seek Me, let my friends go their way.” Then Simon Peter, having a sword, drew it and struck the high priest’s servant, Malchus, and cut off his right ear. But Jesus responded and said, “Permit even this.”
And He touched his ear and healed him. John 18:3-10, Luke 22:51 (NKJV)
This is an amazing look into the event when Jesus surrendered to the battalion of soldiers the chief priest sent to apprehend Him. According to John’s gospel, Jesus walked ahead of his disciples, and asked, “Who are you looking for?” When they answered, “Jesus of Nazareth,” Jesus responded, “I AM he.” Then something incredible happened. The power given him by his Father hit this well-armed battalion with a mighty force like a mighty wind causing the soldiers to stumble back and down they went.
Peter saw his Lord Jesus win a battle against hundreds of armed soldiers with the two words that most represent the sovereign authority and supreme power and control of Almighty God. The moment Jesus spoke the words, “I AM”, in the full authority given him by his Heavenly Father, the army of Rome found itself pinned to the ground in a defeated position. What Peter, and Judas for that matter, must have thought and felt about their chances to be finally free of the Romans one can only imagine.
Then Jesus, on his feet looking down at them, asked again, “Who did you say you were looking for?” They replied, “Uh, Jesus of Nazareth?” Jesus responded, “You found me, now here are the conditions for my arrest…First of all, your weapons and armor are of no use here. You are flat on your back and you can’t move, so when I let you up, you might as well put them away. Second, you’re going to let my friends go.” Of course, I have paraphrased what he said.
At that point, with the troop of the high priest pinned down under the power of God, Peter drew his sword and swung at the head of Malchus, the servant of the high priest. Malchus turned his head and Peter’s sword clipped his ear. His opponent was defenseless against Jesus, pinned down by the power of God. Jesus would reprimand Peter for getting involved in his business. You see, Jesus was about his Father’s business.
The fact that a battalion of troops were on hand to arrest Jesus, suggests that they arrived expecting a battle. Even though it was the middle of the night, they were not taking any chances. If these forces were to come against an army they were prepared to defeat them. Jesus did not have an army, though, he had his friends. Jesus then offered himself in surrender to these same troops whom he could have so easily defeated. They would take him and beat him to within an inch of his life, the Bible says. Peter, along with his friend John, saw it all. Peter must have been devastated as he witnessed his Savior and King endure such unimaginable internal torment. He must have wondered, “How can this be?” as he watched the kingdom and prospective rule of Jesus, the Christ, unravel before his eyes.
Peter would soon deny knowing Jesus, just as Jesus said he would. What I believe Jesus understood is that, while Peter was adamant about proclaiming Jesus to be the Christ, he would soon have doubt about Jesus as the king of what he believed was an earthly kingdom. Let us once again examine what the Bible says pertaining to Peter’s denial of knowing Jesus Christ.
And Simon Peter followed Jesus, and so did another disciple. Now that disciple was known to the high priest, and went into the courtyard of the high priest. But Peter stood at the door outside. Then the other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out and spoke to the servant girl who kept the gate, and brought Peter in. Then the servant girl, seeing him as he sat by the fire, looked intently at him and said, “This man was also with Him.” But Peter denied Him, saying, “Woman, I do not know Him.” John 18:15-16, Luke 22:56-57 (NKJV)
Peter would emphatically deny knowing Jesus two more times. He denied also being one of those associated with being close to Jesus. It is interesting that the servant girl refers to Peter as also being with Jesus. Why does this passage say “also”? It does so because John was also there with Peter in the courtyard. The servants of the high priest likely knew John. They knew John as being closely associated with Jesus? So, if the other disciple is John, why isn’t he scared? He’s the writer here. And if the other disciple is indeed John, he even used his connection to the high priest as his pass to get into the courtyard. Peter wanted in, and John talked to the gatekeeper and was able to get Peter in. It’s as if, John said to her, “This man is with me,” and she figured it was alright to let him in.
Some scholars will argue that the other disciple was Nicodemus or someone else. That, of course, is possible. It makes more sense to me however that the other disciple was someone who was out with Jesus during the night and into the early hours of the morning. John and Peter were often together with Jesus, and it makes sense that they were together in this circumstance, as well. If it can be established that the other disciple is John, then it can be established that fear is not the primary motivating provocation for Peter’s denial of the man he worshipped for three years and believed would be the new king of the new Israel. In Peter’s mind, it was a matter of seeing what Jesus would do next to free himself and the nation of Israel. But then he would look on in horror as Jesus, Peter’s friend and leader, would be tortured like anything he’d ever witnessed before in his life.
This was an ending to a dream that Peter never would have imagined. Jesus no longer even looked like the man Peter knew. It seemed that everything he knew was either a gross deception, miscalculation, or wasn’t real. What if, in the mind of Peter, Jesus was a prophet that performed signs and wonders, but in the end was never meant to be king? What if he was sent by God to replace John the Baptist to call all men to repent, but became misguided and was never intended by God to be the Messiah, the Christ? What if Peter and his friends were wrong about that? Could it be that these were real questions that tested and bewildered the mind of Peter? Could it be that Peter and his friends misunderstood Jesus to be the Christ? They did not have spiritual discernment and indeed did not conceive what it would take for Jesus to release all people from their obsession with themselves—that Jesus was required to die to accomplish the full mission of his coming.
Peter may have felt like he really didn’t know much about anything at that point. He may have felt betrayed by his friend Jesus and feeling like he didn’t know him at all. His heart was broken. He may have been feeling like he’d been made a fool of because of all he had sacrificed to follow a man that wasn’t all he made himself out to be. (Judas, the disciple who betrayed Jesus, may have found it to be tantamount to treason that Jesus would lay down and give up the fight to defeat the Romans. Judas took his misunderstanding of Christ’s mission and purpose to the fullest extent and turned him over to be punished, resulting in his execution.)
Here is something to think about. Like Peter, the high priest and his servants are Jews. The servants of the high priest may have been persuaded by those in authority that Jesus is a blasphemer, misdirecting thousands of people with claims that he was sent by God to be a king for the Jews. The servant girl and others in the courtyard, rather than pose a threat to Peter and John, may have felt sorry for their Jewish “friends”, and having pity on them, said, “You were with Jesus, right? How sad. You must be horrified learning he wasn’t who you thought he was.”
Peter, thinking, “I thought I knew Him, but now I’m not sure about anything,” responded to the servant girl, “I’m not sure I knew the man at all.” Perhaps someone else in the crowd noticed Peter and immediately recognized him as someone who followed Jesus, who by this time was either quite a famous or infamous figure in Jerusalem during the Passover week depending on whether one believed or disbelieved (thinking Jesus to be zealous blaspheming fool). A disbeliever in the crowd may have pointed at Peter and mocked him, saying something like, “This fool ran around with Jesus for years acting like they were gonna save the world or something.” And Peter responded, “I don’t know anymore…I just don’t know this man.” Then a third antagonist chimes in, “You thought you were really something, didn’t you, following ‘the son of God’ (said sarcastically) around like some blathering idiot. Peter, Scripture says…began to curse and swear and says, “I don’t know the man!” Matthew 26:34 (NKJV)
Pardon the language, but it could have sounded like: “Damn it, I didn’t know that man!” Then, the Bible says, the rooster crowed, and Peter thought of his friend, Jesus, who he loved. Peter might have heard the groaning of his friend as he was whipped and beaten. He remembered that his friend said that he would deny him three times before the rooster crows.
Peter left the courtyard and wept bitterly. Matthew 26:75 (NKJV)
Peter wept bitterly why, because he denied Christ like Jesus said he would? I’m sure that was at least part of it. I also believe Peter was absolutely devastated by what he’d just witnessed. His “king” was being tortured and could not be the redeemer, the promised Messiah, which Peter believed he was. He was watching his dear friend suffer a ferocious beating. At the same time, Peter may have felt betrayed by this well-trusted friend, and could have doubted the essence of what Jesus claimed to be. Peter called him Master, a term of authority, believing Jesus to be his Lord and Savior. Imagine if your spouse, your best friend, or your pastor perhaps, turns out not to be what you thought him or her to be—that you’d been had. Peter must have been extremely conflicted as he considered Jesus to be the Christ.
We have had this notion that when the eyes of Peter met those of Jesus that Peter then felt incredible shame and remorse and regret for having denied his Lord Jesus. That may have been the case. I tend to have the opinion, though, that while Peter experienced remorse and regret, it centered on his own feeling of having been betrayed and rejected by the one man who had the ability to change the world. He may have felt that Jesus betrayed not only him but all Jews still suffering under the heavy hand of the Roman Empire. As Peter would watch Jesus die, he could see the hopes of millions dying with him.
Could Jesus have sensed this in Peter, even when he predicted that Peter would waver to the point of denying him those three times? I believe Jesus had this insight and that it broke his heart. I believe, even as Jesus predicted to Peter that he would deny him, he had a lump in his throat and his eyes full of tears. Jesus may have known that he would be grossly misunderstood by even those closest to him but it couldn’t have made things any easier. Peter denied Jesus, not out of fear for himself, but from a broken heart as he saw the fate of his people and the hope of salvation for the Jews vanish as Jesus was being taken away to die. Peter missed the point, which in the moment must have been eating into the heart of his Savior.
Peter denied Jesus, not out of fear for himself, but from a broken heart as he saw the fate of his people and the hope of salvation for the Jews vanish as Jesus was being taken away to die. Peter missed the point, which in the moment must have been eating into the heart of his Savior.
Perhaps the cruelest torture of all, was the emotional suffering Jesus must have experienced in his keen awareness that hundreds, maybe thousands of people, including his closest friends, felt betrayed by him for not living up to the promise that he would be their king and bring freedom to them from their Roman oppression. Feeling so misunderstood as perhaps a villain in the moment he was acting as Savior must have broken the heart of Jesus. In the end he was left alone to die.
Note: There were so many more relationships of Jesus that could have been explored here. The relationship that Jesus had with John, the beloved disciple that may have been closest and most dependable to Jesus. He likely was with Jesus when Jesus met with Nicodemus, the Pharisee (in its own right a relationship worth exploring). There were the relationships Jesus had with Lazarus and his sisters, Mary and Martha. What about the relationships Jesus had with Zacchaeus, Judas (Christ’s betrayer), the thief on the cross, and the list goes on. This is a fascinating study that I hope to write about in the not-too-distant-future.
Sympathetic Savior… Christ’s Sacrifice
Three times Jesus pleaded to our Lord for grace
Three times he was denied grace by the plan
Three times he was denied grace by a man
Three days he was denied grace by the debt
The third day our Lord Jesus became grace for us all
Amazing love! How can it be,
That Thou, my God, shouldst die for me?
As we remember the sacrifice of our Savior and Lord celebrating His resurrection, it is important to consider the weight of the burden He carried and the pain He bore in the sacrifice for all sin. If this is your first visit to FREEdom from MEdom Project, everything that you read and experience throughout your time here is built on the premise that in relationship with Jesus Christ is the promise and opportunity for healing and redemption into new life, or what I like to call, the best of a new life experience. Let it all seep into the depths of your heart, mind, and soul.
Ask yourself this question: Why is it so hard to believe that the three-person union that is God (Father, Son, and Holy Spirit) could by choice “create” the visible manifestation of Himself to be of a fully human nature, void of His divine nature, with a need to depend on the divine nature and authority of the other two persons of God? Is it because it would be too great a shock to our religious traditions and customs of what we claim to be sound doctrine and theology? Some will not even ask the questions or have a discussion about it; perhaps since such a discussion would lead to quarreling about doctrine. I am asking that you be open to asking the question guided by Scriptural truth, particularly that spoken of by Jesus himself about himself while flesh as a human being.
(Sympathetic Savior is a four part series. The following are links to the other parts:
Part 1: Christ’s Humanity, Part 2: Christ’s Temptation, Part 3: Christ’s Relationships)
So then, since we have a great High Priest (advocate) who has entered heaven, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to what we believe. This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin. So let us come boldly to the throne of our gracious God. There we will receive his mercy, and we will find grace to help us when we need it most. Hebrews 4:14-16 (NLT)
I think what we need here is a both/and approach to this revealing aspect of the humanity of Jesus. Jesus is both, by nature God, and, he chose to humble himself from heaven all the way down to the essence of earth and flesh, to lay down his divine standing, and become fully human.
Though he was God, he did not think of equality with God as something to cling to. Instead, he gave up his divine privileges; he took the humble position of a slave and was born as a human being. When he appeared in human form, he humbled himself in obedience to God… Philippians 2:6-8 (NLT)
Having sacrificed his own divine nature to fully experience our human nature—a decision made prior to the creation of any living thing—it was paramount that Jesus surrender himself to doing the will of God. Remember that he said that he came not seeking his own will. Why not? Could it be that the human intentions of Jesus were flawed; compromised by his human intentions and desires of the flesh?
“Consider how our Lord regards His own Sonship, surrendering His will wholly to the paternal will and not even allowing Himself to be called ‘good’ because Good is the name of the Father. Love between father and son, in this symbol, means essentially authoritative love on the one side, and obedient love on the other. The father uses his authority to make the son into the sort of human being he, rightly, and in his superior wisdom, wants him to be.” —CS Lewis, The Problem of Pain
Recognizing his human inadequacy in comparison to who and what he was fully God, Jesus spent more time in prayer and communal fellowship with God than any person that lived before him and anyone since. (It was not merely a formality or ritual that Jesus went off alone with the Father fasting for forty days as he prayed fervently and most likely with a sense of desperate urgency preparing for an undertaking like no one has ever known.) Jesus did not act sinfully on his willful intentions in any way. He did not entertain his selfish desires in his mind or they would have conceived in him sin. Jesus grew to understand that his will was by nature flawed and weak, and he was powerless against it. It was, therefore, imperative that he direct his intentions unto submission to the will of God by way of willing obedience.
“I can do nothing on my own. I judge as God tells me. Therefore, my judgment is just, because I carry out the will of the one who sent me, not my own will.” John 5:30 (NLT)
A. Jesus admitted that his will was inferior in the flesh rendering him powerless.
“I can do nothing on my own…”
B. Jesus believed that the will and authority of God the Father was superior to his own.
“I judge as God tells me… Therefore, my judgment is just.”
C. Jesus committed to turn his human will over to God in submission to his perfect will.
“I carry out the will of the one who sent me, not my own will.”
Is this over-parsing the words of Jesus, or is it taking him literally at his word… that he meant what he said? Jesus did not tell us as merely a command to obey the commandments to love God with all of our being, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. Jesus knew that the only way he would survive the tug of temptation to satisfy his own selfish desires in the flesh, he must be obedient to the will of God, and to trust and depend on him so long as he was fully human in “the likeness of sinful flesh”, according to Apostle Paul.
Jesus sympathizes with our condition that leads to complex difficulties, not only because we have a sin addiction but because we are under the lure law of sin. We learn obedience because of consequences we suffer under the impact of sin. According to Scripture, this was the experience of Christ as well.
For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin… He can have compassion on those who are unaware and going astray, since He himself was also subject to weakness… Jesus, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to God who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear, though He was a Son, learned obedience by the things which He suffered. Hebrews 4:15 (NIV), 5:2, 7-8 (NKJV)
The Bible tells us that Jesus learned obedience by the things which he suffered. One aspect to learning obedience through suffering is having to suffer the consequences of, 1) your own selfish sin and, 2) enduring the consequences as an inhabitant of a world dominated—owned and enslaved—by selfish sin, or in other words, subject to the “law” of sin.
In our condition of human flesh we will definitely die. The body of Jesus was obedient to the law of sin, just as yours and mine is. Jesus needed rest and food in order to survive. Had he not died by way of execution, he would have died of old age, or from disease or injury. The physical body of Jesus would have declined and decayed as ours does as we get older, even though he did not sin, because he was affected by, even under the authority of, the law—the mandate—of sin. As we as human beings obey the law of gravity as a constant inevitability, we learn to obey the constant inevitability of sin by what we suffer at its hand. Jesus learned this as well by the way he suffered as a human being. The Bible tells us that Jesus was subject to weakness, and that he learned obedience by the things which he suffered, which I was the result, or consequence, of his weakness as a person of flesh. In other words, Jesus would, in his body and mind, be subject to the forces of natural laws.
I cannot know what kind of sacrifice this was on the part of Christ. I’d be lying if I said I understand how Jesus “gave up his divine privileges” (Philippians 2:7 NLT), that as God He came to us “in the likeness of sinful flesh” (Romans 8:3) in order to share in our human experience. Jesus was obedient in his humanity to remain committed to serving us in human form to the extent that he would die sacrificially on a cross as the payment for your sin and mine. He would then rise up from the dead as the precursor of our resurrection from the graveyard of our sin.
Overwhelmed
As he rode along, the crowds spread out their garments on the road ahead of him. When he reached the place where the road started down the Mount of Olives, all of his followers began to shout and sing as they walked along, praising God for all the wonderful miracles they had seen.
“Blessings on the King who comes in the name of the Lord!
Peace in heaven, and glory in highest heaven!” Luke 19:36-38 (NLT)
What a difference a week makes!
One week later, Jesus would be so stressed and overcome about the immeasurable beating that would be levied against him; the unbearable pain of dying on a cross to take into him our sin disease; the immeasurable tragedy of being separated from God his Father; one week after being celebrated by thousands he would sweat blood through his pores anticipating the locomotive of torment coming right for him. Jesus would experience a deep sense of helplessness and despair, to the point that death itself may have been less painful than what he would have to endure through the events leading up to it, ultimately hanging by spikes on the cross.
He began to be sorrowful and deeply distressed. Matthew 26:37 (NKJV)
“My soul is overwhelmed by sorrow, even to death.” Matthew 26:38 (NKJV)
As he prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, Jesus was in such agony and torment that even when the angel appeared to strengthen him, he sweat blood. His physiological and psychological condition was such that blood came through his pores and dripped to the ground. Jesus was already shedding his blood.
“Then an angel appeared to Him from heaven, strengthening Him. And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” Luke 22:43-44 (NKJV)
We see in the garden and at the cross that the heart of Jesus bleeds for us. I think his Gethsemane experience reflects the phenomenal compassion that it took for him to go through with all of it. Anyone else executed by crucifixion was taken by force. Jesus did so willingly by choice.
Jesus, the physician for sinners
This incredible sacrifice; who is it for? It is for you and for me. Who are we? We are sinners addicted to self-centered sin. Jesus hung out with sinners, according to what we see in Scripture.
Then all the tax collectors and the sinners drew near to Jesus to hear Him. And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, “This Man receives sinners and eats with them.” Luke 15:1-2 (NKJV)
Now it happened as Jesus sat at the table in the house, that behold, many tax collectors and sinners came and sat down with him and his disciples. And when the Pharisees saw it, they said to His disciples. “Why does your teacher eat with tax collectors and sinners?” When Jesus heard that, he said to them, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those do who are sick. But go and learn what this means: ‘I desire mercy and not sacrifice.’ For I did not come to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance.” Matthew 9:10-13 (NKJV)
We are all sinners! We are addicted to sin. (Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave of sin.” John 8:34) We are sick with the sin disease. We are in bondage to it. Jesus died so that we would be forgiven of our sin and freed from our bondage to its addictive power and control.
There he was, in the middle of that huge crowd hanging on a piece of wood, with open wounds rubbing against it every time he would push against the spikes driven through his ankles in order to catch a breath. I don’t mean to sound redundant but you need to see this picture. And yet, until the very end he was not even thinking of himself.
Jesus was passionately focused on others. Jesus prayed for others while on the cross. Perhaps he was praying for the soldiers that nailed him down, or the Jewish priests that brought him to the place of his death. Perhaps he was praying for the multitudes looking on, either mourning his fate or mocking it; or for those he would consider friends that felt betrayed and denied knowing him. Maybe Jesus was referring to us; you and me, who willingly choose our self-centered wants over what God has and wants for us. Jesus, moved with compassion, humbly asked God,
“Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do.” Luke 23:34 (NKJV)
Yet, after even that, he ministered to the criminal on the cross next to him and led him to faith. That very day the man would join God in Paradise. Considering he had a captive audience, Jesus likely would have tried to reach out to both of the criminals on either side of him. One criminal would believe that Jesus was indeed the way to God, while the other would reject Christ even as he hangs there to die. One would submit to the freedom only Christ could offer him, while one would remain submitted to his own cross for sin that bound him to death. As Scripture says, one will be taken and the other left.
“Then two men will be in the field; one will be taken and the other left. Two women will be grinding at the mill; one will be taken and the other left. Watch therefore, for you do not know the hour that the Lord is coming.” Matthew 24:40-42 (NKJV)
In the case of the two thieves Jesus died next to, both had the opportunity to meet Jesus. One received his blessing of merciful forgiveness and the other rejected it. One was prepared that day for the coming of the Lord, and the other wasn’t. To the one who received Jesus, he said, “Today, I take you with me to Paradise.” The other will be eternally bound to his sin having separated himself forever from the generous mercy and love of his Savior, Jesus Christ.
Dr. Michael Easley (Moody Bible Institute) points out that when Jesus said in John’s Gospel, “Let my friends go”, he was saying, “Take me instead of them”. Peter, as most of us are until truth is unveiled, did not understand that he was condemned for eternity unless Jesus takes his place. Jesus died and experienced condemnation on our behalf for the self-centered deeds we are responsible for. Dr. Easily points out that it’s as though Jesus essentially said to God, “Take me and let my friends go free.” In relationship with Christ, Jesus says that we are his friends. You are and I am a friend of Jesus as we are willing to participate in friendship with him. What breaks his heart is when we choose to reject the friendship Jesus offers. As our friend, he carried our cross and then died nailed to it. We were loosed from the master (sin) and set free (John 8:32-34).
Jesus could have established himself as the vehicle of God’s authority at any time. He in fact put his power and authority on display in the Garden of Gethsemane. He was approached by a battalion of Roman troops; hundreds, perhaps as many as a thousand trained soldiers. Here is what happened.
Jesus fully realized all that was going to happen to him, so he stepped forward to meet them. “Who are you looking for?” he asked. “Jesus the Nazarene,” they replied. “I Am he,” Jesus said. (Judas, who betrayed him, was standing with them.) As Jesus said “I Am he,” they all drew back and fell to the ground! John 18:4-6 (NLT)
Imagine that scene; an entire regiment of soldiers pinned to the ground by the Spirit of God long enough for Peter to draw a (from a soldier that couldn’t move?) and take a swipe at the head of the servant of the high priest and slice his ear. Imagine the look on the face of Malchus when Jesus healed his ear. Was it scary arresting Jesus at that point? Do you know why it wasn’t? Jesus surrendered willingly as yet another powerful act of sacrifice. Incredible. Even in the splendor of authority and glory in the garden that night Jesus lovingly set aside his will in yet another gracious act of compassion for your sake and mine.
Forsaken… Abandoned
What came next was the terror contained in his sacrifice. He would be abandoned by God: Father… Creator. Having by choice fallen from glory as himself Creator, Jesus the man would take the full blow of the tragedy of human selfishness.
Jesus would be blindfolded to suffer brutal torture from the soldiers of the high priests. Officials in authority struck Jesus in the face with the palms of their hands. They mocked Him, mercilessly, spitting on him while spewing crude remarks like, “You’re a prophet… you know all… who just hit you?”
The following is the actual description of what Jesus actually experienced:
Some of the governor’s soldiers took Jesus into their headquarters and called out the entire regiment. They stripped him and put a scarlet robe on him. They wove thorn branches into a crown and put it on his head, and they placed a reed stick in his right hand as a scepter. Then they knelt before him in mockery and taunted, “Hail! King of the Jews!” And they spit on him and grabbed the stick and struck him on the head with it. When they were finally tired of mocking him, they took off the robe and put his own clothes on him again. Then they led him away to be crucified. Matthew 27:27-31 (NLT)
Jesus must have understood at some point that the sin of the world had entered him. It must have been dreadful. Our sin carried within him our dissatisfaction, our pain, our anger and rage, our frustration, and our resentment and bitterness. Our sin filled the person of Jesus with our pride, our lust, our shame, our regret, our loneliness, our depression, and our failure. Ultimately, Jesus was profoundly connected to our isolation, our alienation, our desperation, and our despair. It must have left a bitter taste in his mouth, a foul smell in his nostrils, and perhaps the screams of demons in his ears. It must have been dreadful and gut-wrenching. He may have seen unspeakable filth in his imagination, and felt sensations of paranoia and fear from his insides. We cannot even imagine what Jesus experienced.
Then finally, when it didn’t seem anything could be worse, the unthinkable occurred. Jesus felt all alone. He sensed that the one sure thing he could count on was missing. Where did his Heavenly Father go? Jesus felt abandoned by his Father, and cried out, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken he?” This is first time we see Jesus responding to his own need as a man. Suddenly, something was missing in his spirit. All along the way until now, amidst the disappointment, discouragement and even despair, he had known and felt his Father’s presence. God’s Spirit had been alive in him… or as John Eldridge would say… God’s glory was what made Jesus fully alive while a man of flesh. No matter how treacherous the road of his ultimate destination would become, Jesus walked in the affirmation of his Father’s love and approval. As close as Jesus was to Mary his mother, their bond paled in comparison to the unique bond he had with God his Heavenly Father at this time in his adult experience.
In that moment, Jesus was in the deepest, darkest and most unbearable place of desperate need. He was feeling his insides pulled down by gravity against the nails in his hands and feet. (Note: According to a television documentary regarding archaeological evidence of Roman crucifixions, an ankle and foot were discovered with a nail through the ankle from the outside to the inside of the ankle, suggesting that Jesus’ legs and feet may have actually straddled the trunk of the cross, as if his death could have been more gruesome.) He could barely withstand the collapse of his torso causing him to literally suffocate as he attempted to push up to breathe. In the moment he took our sin into his being, Jesus needed his Father to be there for him now more than at any other time.
Something, or should I say, someone seemed to be missing.
And at the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which is translated, “My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?” Mark 15:34 (NKJV)
Where was he? Where was God? Why was he not there?
What were the thoughts and feelings desperately coursing through the mind of our Lord alone on the cross?
“Father, I need you so much!”
“Where are you?!”
“How can you leave me?!”
“Why now?”
“O God, it hurts!”
“I beg of you, Father, return to me!”
“Oh please, come back to me!”
“I can’t take it anymore!”
“Make it stop!”
“Please, take me home!”
I suspect that went on for three days and nights as Jesus experienced the horrific torment for the sin he didn’t commit, yet became responsible for. Jesus was a human being like you and like me.
“My God, My God, why have you forsaken Me?”
When Jesus needed the support of his Father more than at any other time, as he experienced something he was not familiar with, he no longer sensed the presence of his Father. We can know for certain that this was unfamiliar territory for Jesus because he cried out emphatically, “My God, Why?!”
I wonder if just maybe this was not part of “the plan”. Of course it had to be this way, but… I wonder if God the Father had every intention to be right there for his Son Jesus. Why would God forsake his only Son? I wonder if God the Father, in the moment that Jesus took our sin into his body, was Himself in deep anguish?
Had God abandoned his Son to the point that he didn’t even hear his cries for help?
Does God forsake sin as a matter of divine law or principle?
I was taught growing up that God cannot be in the presence of sin. It is almost as though sin is to God what kryptonite is to Superman, or sunlight is to Dracula. Superman and Dracula become less of what they are in the presence of these adversaries. Sin and the evil within it do not make God any less of who he is. There is no doubt that God finds sin to be utterly offensive and is repulsed by it and is saddened by its effects against his creation. But if God is bigger and more powerful than evil and our addictive sin, why would he have to turn away from it?
Consider this, that perhaps it is not God forsaking his Son, but that perhaps Jesus, having been consumed with our sin, had forsaken God his Father as you and I forsake fellowship with God when we submit to selfish sin. Think about it. That is what we do when we are consumed with addictive sin. It so affects us spiritually that we don’t even hear God when he calls out to us. Adam had sin in him and God called out to them, “Adam, where are you?” (Genesis 3:9) Adam forsook God in his sin against God. There was consequence for Adam’s sin, but God did not forsake Adam. I think it is possible that Jesus was so defiled by our sin, that he could no longer remain connected to God. I think it is the sin in the soul of the humanity of Jesus that broke the fellowship between Jesus and his God, not necessarily God breaking fellowship with his Son. While his body lay in the tomb, the sin absorbed into the soul of Jesus would experience condemnation.
Jesus likened the time between his death and resurrection to spending three days and nights in the belly of a great fish.
“For as Jonah was for three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be for three days and three nights be in the heart of the earth.” Matthew 12:40 (NKJV)
We have a tendency to ignore those three days and nights. Our focus is on the cross and resurrection, but what about the three days in between when Scripture tells us that our sin was condemned in the human soul of Christ?
Let’s look at the story of Jonah for a moment. Jonah chose a course for his life that was in opposition to the will of God. The consequence of his choice not only brought grief and suffering to his own life but affected the lives of those touched by him along the way.
The men were exceedingly afraid and said, “Why have you done this?” For the men knew that he (Jonah) fled from the presence of the Lord, because he told them so. Then they said to him, “What shall we do to you that the sea may be calm for us?” – For the sea was growing more tempestuous. And he said to them, “Pick me up and throw me into the sea; then the sea will be calm for you. I know that this great tempest is because of me.” Nevertheless the men rowed hard to return to land, but they could not, for the sea continued to grow more tempestuous against them. Therefore they cried out to the Lord and said, “We pray, O Lord, please do not let us perish for this man’s life…” So they picked up Jonah and threw him into the sea, and the sea ceased from its raging. Now the Lord had prepared a great fish to swallow Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish for three days and three nights. Jonah 1:10-15, 17 (NKJV)
We need to consider Jonah’s description of what that was like. Jonah felt as though he had died and gone to hell, the Bible tells us. He cried out to God from the depths of his grave in the belly of the giant fish and God rescued him from the pit of death and destruction.
From the inside of the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God. He said, “In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me. From the depths of the grave I called for help, and you listened to my cry. You hurled me into the deep, into the very heart of the seas, and the currents swirled about me; all your waves and breakers swept over me. I said, ‘I have been banished from your sight; yet I will look again to your holy temple. The engulfing waters threatened me, the deep surrounded me; seaweed was wrapped around my head. To the roots of the mountains I sank down; the earth beneath barred me in forever. But you brought my life up from the pit, oh Lord my God.” And the Lord commanded the fish and it vomited Jonah onto dry land. Jonah 2: 1-6, 10 (NIV)
I can only imagine what Jonah must have experienced. In the belly of a whale for three days and nights must have felt like hell. It must have been pitch black in there—utter darkness. There was seaweed and likely scores of fish and a whole bunch of cold water. However, Jonah did not belong in the belly of the whale. Jonah’s presence there did not agree its stomach. Ultimately, Jonah, a disobedient prophet of God would look to the holy temple of God and vow to serve him. He would be restored by God and brought up from the depths of the grave into new life.
What happened to Jesus after he said, “It is finished” and died? Where went the soul of Jesus the man once his body was dead? Is it possible that the human soul of Jesus, having been infected by the sin of mankind, was condemned to a kind of hell, one that Scripture refers to as Hades? Did Jesus actually incur in his human experience condemnation of his soul of flesh? If so, it would be a human experience of the worst kind. It would imply that Jesus can even sympathize with all who are ultimately condemned to hell by their sin.
Look at what Jesus says to John in the book of Revelation.
“I am He who lives, and was dead, and behold, I am alive forevermore. Amen (so be it). And I have the keys of Hades and of Death.” Revelation 1:18 (NKJV)
I believe this is most revealing about what happened to Jesus during the time between his death and his resurrection. His resurrection was not merely resurrection from his physical death, but resurrection from condemnation by way of our sin in him. As Jesus took our sin into himself, he was condemned.
For what the law could not do in that it was weak through the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin. He condemned sin in the flesh. Romans 8:3 (NKJV)
Condemned in the flesh? In who’s flesh? Not yours; not mine. Sin was condemned in the flesh of Christ Jesus. That the human spirit (soul) of Jesus experienced condemnation is not popular theology. I have been criticized harshly at times for such a suggestion. Did Jesus not at the cross say out loud, “It is finished… Into thy hands I commit my Spirit”? What did he mean? He told his disciples that his death would be like that of Jonah in the belly of the fish for three days and nights. Jonah was not dead. He experienced everything that was to be experienced being digested by a large fish. I gave you Jonah’s own depiction of his experience above from Jonah chapter 2. It was hell for Jonah. It was dark, cramped, and cold. It stank like death. He could barely breathe. Jonah depended entirely on the presence—the companionship—of God to survive with his life.
The difference for Jesus is that his fellowship with God was broken as he suffered the consequence for your sin and mine. While Jonah became angry that his experience led to God being merciful to repentant sinners (Jonah 4), Jesus experienced death into broken fellowship so that repentant sinners would be reconciled into new life in right relationship with God. I contend that when Jesus said, “It is finished… Into thy hands I commit my Spirit”, that the next three days were indeed out of his hands. He was finished following through on the mission to sustain obedience in the flesh. I contend that outside of fellowship with the Father he was lost—having not known grace until He became grace—until the Father would raise him up from the dead and Jesus would be exalted, returning to His rightful place on the throne as King of kings and Lord of lords; the throne He vacated when He humbled Himself into the “likeness of sinful flesh” (Paul’s words not mine).
The Apostle Paul said of wanting to know Jesus,
I want to know Christ and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, becoming like Him in His death, and so, somehow to attain to the resurrection from the dead. Philippians 3:10-11 (NIV)
We need to realize that it is in his human experience that Jesus came to sympathize with our weakness, our vulnerability, our inner conflict, and our discomfort. The realization of the power Christ’s resurrection comes from understanding where he came from because of what he suffered. Jesus submitted himself to unimaginable suffering, falling from the heights of divinity to the depths of condemnation. Can we even begin to imagine condemnation? I imagine that Jesus experienced the horror of the worst of human suffering. I also imagine that Jesus experienced the horror of the worst of human need and want: greed, lust, rage, bitterness, fear, pride, jealousy, covetousness, and gluttony. I imagine that while he experienced the pain of victims, he also experienced and the sickness and horror of villainous depravity. But as condemned, he took it all—the full impact of our sin—so that we could be free. Our sin was condemned in the human suffering of the soul of Jesus Christ. Let us fellowship together in appreciation of the sufferings of Christ as we attain to the resurrection from the dead.
God ultimately removed from the human soul of Jesus our sin as far as the east is from the west. God resurrected his Son from the dead of sin into new life, and would exalt him, having defeated sin once and for all. God the Father exalted Jesus into his rightful position as God to be our higher Power. God does the same for us who turn away from addictive sin and are committed to him by faith.
We, like Jonah, have chosen to go our own way by choosing a course that is sinful. Our sinful course, like Jonah’s disobedience, carries the consequence of disruption, chaos, destruction and ultimately our death. Choosing a course of selfish sin not only drags us down, it takes others in our life down with us, no matter how hard they try to bail us out.
Jesus Christ, a fisher of all mankind fished us out. We were going down. But then he took our sin overboard into the depths of hell on our behalf. For three days and nights, Jesus, all alone, having broken fellowship with the Father over your sin and mine became lost in the pit. After three days in the belly of condemnation, hell got a stomach ache, because once Jesus the Son was restored by his Father, he no longer belonged there. Scripture tells us that the grave could not hold Jesus as he was exalted from the depths of condemnation to the heights of his throne as God. Just like a Jonah was rejected by the giant fish and thrown up and out of the whale, so was the restored Savior resurrected from the depths of hell. The human soul of Christ left hell empty-handed, having disposed of our sin there.
Because of what Jesus has done for us the key to passing from condemnation in our addictive sin into new life is only through Jesus. As the Scripture says, only Jesus Christ has the keys out of condemnation. We are condemned by our sin and must believe that Jesus is our Savior who can unlock and open the way to free us from condemnation.
And you He (Jesus Christ) made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world. Ephesians 2:1-2a (NKJV)
For the law of the Spirit of Life in Christ has freed us from the law of sin and death. For what the law could not do in that is was weak in the flesh, God did by sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh, on account of sin; He condemned sin in the flesh, that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not live according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. Romans 8:2-4 (NKJV)
These verses clarify what I believe Jesus is telling us in Revelation 1:18. The only path to freedom from condemnation is through a relationship with God committed to Jesus Christ. The Apostle Paul wrote in these Scriptures that because of the law of sin, we would all die since we do not measure up, and our sinful flesh condemns all of us, since we have all sinned. God, in realizing that we would all perish in our flesh according to the law of sin, and desiring that none perish, made a way of condemnation for sin so that we could live in fellowship with him.
Remember, there had to be a sacrifice for our sin. It was all necessary.
According to Scripture, it was mandatory that the most innocent and least blameless blood sacrifice be offered once, blamed for all into guilt and shame of the worst kind, so that you and I could be reconciled into agreement with God. Jesus would become the sacrificial lamb for our sin. Jesus voluntarily submitted himself to take on our flesh, coming down from heaven, giving up all he was and had as God, and laying on that altar, shedding his blood, as the lamb sacrificed for your sin and mine.
(Please watch this amazing video to “Revelation Song”. It’s worth the six minutes.)
Jesus is Risen, Jesus is King!
Remember that the disciples, like most of his followers, did not believe that Jesus would rise from the dead. It is my opinion that they may have very well figured Jesus not to be who he said he was, and even felt betrayed by their friend. They lost in the death of their dear friend their hope for a better life. They did not have spiritual discernment or spiritual faith to believe that Jesus was dying intentionally as heaven’s requirement to forgive their sins in order to restore them under grace back into fellowship with God. Their faith had diminished. All they could comprehend in their distress and sorrow was that their dreams of being an independent people had been dashed—their hopes and dreams shattered.
Then something amazing would unfold. But it wouldn’t come easy to them.
Now when He rose early on the first day of the week, Jesus appeared first to Mary Magdalene, out of whom He had cast out seven demons. She went and told those who had been with Him, as they mourned and wept. And when they heard that Jesus was alive and had been seen by her, they did not believe. Mark 16:9-11 (NKJV)
The eleven disciples of Jesus did not believe Mary Magdalene. Why not? Jesus told them he would arise from the grave on the third day, and it was the third day. Why would Jesus appear to Mary first? Perhaps because Mary still had hope as she went to treat his dead body in the tomb. The hearts of the eleven remaining disciples were hardened in their grief and unbelief. “They mourned and wept,” the Bible says. I agree that they mourned the loss of a friend they dearly loved. They also mourned their fate without Jesus leading them to their promised land where they would live freely, no longer held captive by their oppressors.
Later Jesus appeared to the eleven as they sat at the table; and He rebuked their unbelief and hardness of heart, because they did not believe those who had seen Him after He had risen. Mark 16:14 (NKJV)
So when did the disciples believe that Jesus was the Christ risen from the dead to be their King everlasting?
Then, the same day at evening, being the first day of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were assembled, for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood in their midst, and said to them, “Peace be with you.” When He had said this, He showed them His hands and His side. Then the disciples were glad when they saw the Lord. John 19:19-20 (NKJV)
One of the eleven, Thomas, takes a lot heat from some today for doubting the authenticity of the risen Christ until he put his fingers into the nail holes in Jesus’ hands. However, it does not appear that any of the disciples believed that it was him who had died and was now alive standing in front of them until they saw the physical proof of the resurrection of Christ with their own eyes.
After Thomas puts his fingers into the hand of Christ, and reaches and puts his hand in to his side, he believes, drops to his knees and proclaims,
“My Lord and my God!” John 20:28 (NKJV)
Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” John 20:29 (NKJV)
Jesus asks you today,
“What do you believe about me? What proof do you need? What do you need to see with your eyes?”
Ask Jesus to reveal to you the truth of His Word to you. Let Him know that you want to more fully believe but that you need help with unbelief, when you feel you doubt and lack faith.
“I do believe, but help me overcome my unbelief!” Mark 9:24 (NLT)
If you are looking for Jesus on the cross, you’ll not find Him there. The crown of your shame, like His crown of thorns, has been lifted from your head. Your sin that He took to the grave has been removed from your past, present, and future. The stone that has kept you in bondage has been rolled away. You have been raised up through relationship with Jesus. It is time to realize that your wounds have been healed, leave the stench of the grave clothes of your past behind, and step out into the sweet aroma that is the freedom of new life. He has extended grace to you. Get up and walk into your new life experience. Soak yourself in it.
Trapped in a House on Fire!
It’s been said that the first of the twelve steps is a step of surrender… to admit that I am powerless over my addiction and that my life is unmanageable. This may be true, but the whole truth is that surrender can go one way or the other. I might admit that I am powerless over my addiction but then still surrender to my addiction when there isn’t a viable higher power. My addiction is a power greater than myself. I can’t change it; I can’t stop it; and if I can’t beat it, I might as well join it and surrender to the ritualistic power that my addiction has over me. OR, I can come into a connection with a power greater than myself; and more powerful than my addiction.
The Prodigal Son that Jesus talked about had to make that call when it finally dawned on him that he was going to starve to death if he continued down the path of destruction he was on. Coming to his senses meant that he realized what was at stake in his addiction. He could have chosen to remain in it and, like it or not, live with what may have come with the temporary gratifications in his mess of a life.
I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t. I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it. I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. I love God’s law with all my heart. But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Romans 7:18-24 (NLT)
What does it really mean to admit that I am truly powerless?
I am trapped in a house on fire… thick flames and smoke is all around me… everything is on fire. I admit I am powerless to the fire, but there is nowhere to go. I am on the floor breathing my last breaths as smoke and flames are overtaking me. But then suddenly it happens. Someone is lifting me to my feet. It’s the fireman. He is fully equipped to not get burned. He wraps me in his coat, puts an oxygen mask over my face and says, “Let’s go… come with me!” There is no doubt in my mind that I am not better off without the fireman. I believe, or at least hope enough, that the fireman can and will rescue me if I give up my position from where I am and go with him. (Step 2 suggests that I have come to believe in a power greater than myself who can restore me to sanity… to right living.) I suppose I could look back or try to hold on to some things in the house; maybe grab onto some things I can carry with me while being rescued. Some things are just hard to let go of.
Then the fireman says, “Let go… that’s too much weight… and besides, it’s all on fire!” I decide that the fireman is right and I let it go and do what he says for me to do, and go where he says for me to go. (Step 3 suggests that I have decided to turn my will and life over to the care of God, or in this case the fireman, as I understood him, or have come to believe in him and what he is equipped to do for me.)
Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death. Romans 7:24-25, 8:1-2 (NLT)
You see, the house is my life and the fire is my addiction. The fireman is my higher power that saved me from my addiction. I look back at my life and it’s smoldering. It’s in ruins. I look back at the fireman and he is dressed like a doctor. The doctor helps me to heal. I look at myself and see that I am much better. I look back at him and he is dressed like a construction worker. He is wearing a tool belt and hard hat. He also has a tool belt and hard hat for me, and says to me lovingly, “Let’s go… we have work to do.” He is committed with me to do the work to rebuild my life until it is working better than ever (steps 4-12).
Every day, as I surrender to my higher power in recovery, compelled by loving kindness, my Higher Power is committed to me and the work of rebuilding the house that is my life… it was a cottage; but I have seen the blue print… my life’s not a cottage according to these plans… it’s a castle. From inside this castle, I look to my Higher Power, and listen to him. He is a father to me; he is my brother; and and he is my friend.
But because I still have a tendency to start fires that affect my life and those living in the house that is my life… you know, because I am still selfish… my Higher Power comes in like a fireman whenever I call for help. I need not use the phone, though, to contact Him. You see, He lives in my house. So He is always there; always available; always accessible. He is still the doctor that heals my wounds since I tend to carelessly walk right into the fire. I can be ignorant like that; so caught up in my indulgences that I pay no mind to the fires. After putting out fires and patching up my wounds, He does the patchwork around my life when its beyond me to repair things. Otherwise, He provides me with the ability and will to do some self-repair. And most valuable is that He is faithful; faithful to equip and help me, heal me, and remake me.
It’s often said that the third step is the hardest of the twelve steps. The illustration of the fireman as the rescuer from a life on fire suggests that the third step is the easiest of the steps. What is so difficult is that I see fires burning all over the house but don’t act to put them out until the fires become one massive fire raging out of control and I am powerless and desperately in need of help. When the help comes in my desperation, surrender makes the most sense; you might say that surrender comes easy as if I have no other choice. The issue is that I might not realize my need until it’s too late and I am consumed by the fire.
Don’t ever wait too long to call on the fireman. Call on him, today.
BRAINWASHED into Something Beautiful… New Life
Anyone reading this struggling with smoking cigarettes? Anyone trying to lose weight or stick to a healthy diet? Anyone trying to cut spending and stay on budget? Anyone trying to quit or cut back on alcohol consumption? Anyone trying to stop their drug use? Anyone feeling conviction about exceeding their pain medicine dosage or staying on prescription medication that might not be so necessary? Anyone feeling some guilt or shame about pornography, or with the positive attention and perhaps affection exchanged with someone that is not your spouse? Anyone out there having a hard time controlling your temper or with lying or gossip? Can’t get off the computer or away from the television?
- “I hate that I smoke but I love the feeling and satisfaction it brings.”
- “I hate that I overeat but carbs and preservatives are so satisfying.”
- “I want to have money but spending it and having stuff… also so satisfying.”
- “I’m a fool and embarrass my family when I drink but how else can I have a good time or relax?”
- “Illegal drugs? Awful but how do I survive without them?”
- “I don’t like that I can’t get off this medicine but how else do I manage my pain?”
- “My spouse won’t give me the attention I need so what’s wrong with some harmless attention from…? I make sure it stays innocent.”
- “I can’t stand the way I can get when I’m angry but it’s so hard to keep cool in the heat of the moment.”
- “I have to cheat in my line of work or I won’t survive.”
- “It’s called tough love when I scream at and belittle my kids.”
- “My spouse can handle it when I yell.”
- “They don’t miss me that much when I don’t come home… gotta keep food on the table.”
- “I don’t watch that much TV, do I?”
- “Once I get going playing video games or chatting online, I can’t stop. I hate it that my kids can’t get off their computer or their phone!”
- “How do I stop? What do I do? I love the Lord! I want to do the right thing!”
Yes we need to begin in Romans Chapter 7, beginning in verse 14, reading through the end of the chapter. Then we will look at what God will do to rewire this brain of ours back to the way He wired it to begin with before we went and scrambled the thing into something brutally selfish.
14 The trouble is with me, for I am all too human, a slave to sin. 15 I don’t really understand myself, for I want to do what is right, but I don’t do it. Instead, I do what I hate. 16 But if I know that what I am doing is wrong, this shows that I agree that the law is good. 17 So I am not the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.
18 And I know that nothing good lives in me, that is, in my sinful nature. I want to do what is right, but I can’t. 19 I want to do what is good, but I don’t. I don’t want to do what is wrong, but I do it anyway. 20 But if I do what I don’t want to do, I am not really the one doing wrong; it is sin living in me that does it.
21 I have discovered this principle of life—that when I want to do what is right, I inevitably do what is wrong. 22 I love God’s law with all my heart. 23 But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. 24 Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death? 25 Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin.(NLT)
The first two steps of the Twelve Step model state the following:
1. We admitted we were powerless over addiction* – that our lives had become unmanageable.
2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.
* “addiction” is substituted for the word “alcohol”
Step Three of the Twelve Steps says, “Made a decision to turn our will and lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.” Many will say that this is the Commitment or Surrender Step. I have said that and will continue to say it. It is probably more accurate to state, though, that Step Three is the decision to surrender. It is steps four through twelve that one acts out surrender and commitment in recovery.
It is often said that this third step is the most difficult of the twelve, which is understandable… you know… because it’s about commitment and surrender and all that. Let me suggest that when one is truly working in the truth of the first three steps that step 3 is the simplest step of the twelve. Step three is the only thing left to possibly do and is an instinctual response to the first two steps. Below, I copied some text from the “Recovery that Works!” home page.
Why is it that I deceive myself into believing that I can save myself from these raging flames out of control bringing down the house that is my life? Why is it that when the fireman appears fully equipped to rescue me that I cling to all that I believe I can save… which, by the way, is all on fire… when I can’t even save myself? The fireman says, “Follow me!” and I say, “I appreciate that you can help me but I am better off on my own. I won’t burn, I’ve got this. I am all that I need.” On the other hand, if I recognized and then admitted that I am utterly powerless in the flames of such adversity, when the fireman came to my rescue I would most certainly believe my odds improve greatly doing whatever it is he says to do. Believing enough, or call it hope should I doubt, I would commit to going with him since it has to be better than what I’ve got going on. So why the reluctance? Why resist?
The evil in your addiction wants to sabotage your peace and steal your joy by deceiving you into believing its lies about you. The lie is that you need to come clean before God, even though His Word says that because of what Jesus did as the sacrifice for your sin, you can approach God with bold confidence as you are in the shape you are in. The shame of your past is on fire. Who you are in your addiction is on fire. Your past failures are on fire. Your weaknesses are on fire. Your selfish pride is on fire. The jealousy and resentment you can’t seem to shake is on fire. What you covet is on fire. Your hypocrisy in trying so hard to do right and good in your own strength is on fire.
The lie is that while the fireman fully equipped has arrived to deliver you from being engulfed in the flames, you’ve been duped into believing that while it is not possible for you to fight fires, that somehow you can. Honestly, if you were trapped in a burning building and the fireman stormed in to rescue you, 
would you for one second attempt to send him away so that you could put out the flames with your bucket of water? Or, would you admit sensibly that you are powerless to save yourself; believing that the fireman is your only real chance to survive, would you by necessity commit to following the fireman, doing whatever he says to save your life?
This decision to surrender is predicated on the belief in a power greater than ourselves who can rescue us to safety; then restore us into sanity. As we come to understand who we are in relation to who God is, the decision is remarkably sensible to turn our unmanageable lives—our mess—over to the ONLY ONE with the authority to renew and restore us through His plan of surrendered recovery. It is so sensible that to decide anything else only adds to the insanity of our addiction to selfish obsessions.
Temptation comes from our own desires, which entice us and drag us away. These desires give birth to sinful actions. And when sin is allowed to grow, it gives birth to death. James 1:14-15 (NLT)
“Gives birth to death“… how insane is that? When we come to understand how our brains work—selfish to the core—with automatic thoughts based on chemical reactions in the brain, fueling beliefs so irrational that they generate feelings that drive behavior willing to risk so much for instant gratification (reward), we do so at great risk and cost. The result is loss: lost peace, lost hope, lost trust, lost love… lost life. I am often asked, “Why do I settle for that?” It is our nature. When we seek to know ourselves through an honest inventory of ourselves, hoping to identify the exact nature of what is wrong with us, the more our self examination breaks down to our deeply rooted selfishness. We can try this and try that to fix ourselves, but it’s like pulling weeds that break off but the roots are too deep and they always grow back, bigger and badder than ever.
We have taken the brain that God created in us to be good, and allowed evil to come in and spread like a cancer until we are rotten to the core in our selfish thoughts, beliefs, and behavior. How does that change? It changes when we come to believe that we are powerless to our selfish motivations and intentions, come to believe in what can and will do to wash our brains, transforming them into something new, and the commit daily to letting Him brainwash us since He has afforded us the opportunity to enter into relationship with Him as an act of our will.
Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world (‘aeon’ or ‘age’) but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is—his good, pleasing and perfect will. Romans 12:1-2 (NIV)
– To read more about the translation of this passage, click “New Age Living (and oh by the way, your feet smell)”
While God’s love for us is unconditional, the quality of relationship we have with God is conditional. This is evident throughout Scripture. Relationships always have a when-then quality to them. When one thing happens in relationship, then another thing happens in response. To experience the life of transformative recovery empowered in relationship with God, we need to be about the when in the relationship. God will then change us into something new.
Pastor Fran Leeman unveiled from Scripture some truth I had not seen before. He said that the Greek word for ‘world’ in Romans 12:1 is ‘aeon’ (pronounced ee-on). The word means age. Apostle Paul is writing that we are not of this age who have come to believe into relationship with God through Christ Jesus. We are no longer tied into the fate of this age once transformed into new life, so why reach back thinking as though we are still what we were. God desires to change our thinking by the renewing of our minds so that we come to believe and live in the new age of the coming of the Kingdom of God, which has come by way of resurrected Christ.
This means that anyone who belongs to Christ has become a new person. The old life is gone; a new life has begun! And all of this is a gift from God, who brought us back to himself through Christ. 2 Corinthians 5:17 (NLT)
There is what we do in this transformative relationship, and there is what God does. What we do is offer our bodies to God sacrificially with our actions–our behavior. It is what we do with our eyes and our ears. It is what we do with what goes in and what comes out of our mouths. It is what we reach for with our arms and hold on to with our hands. It is where we go with our legs and where we stay with our feet (Romans 12:1). It is with our bodies that we give in to selfish urges and fall into addictive patterns, and it is with our bodies that we quit giving in to them.
The Greek translation of ‘transform’ is ‘metamorphoo’, like a caterpillar transforming into a butterfly
There is what we do from the outside in when we offer ourselves sacrificially to God by the way we behave with our bodies. Then there is what God does in us from the inside out to completely transform us by the full renewing of our minds—literally rearranging our brain chemistry so as to empower us to live better and to think and feel healthier. God exchanges our desires and intentions with His desires and intentions. We then can resist self-centered addictive urges through the power of prayer and actually live in freedom, proving that God’s plan for us is perfect and beautiful. (Romans 12:1-2)
“Be transformed by the renewing of your minds” (Romans 12:2). The word “be” is a passive verb, meaning that it is not something we do but rather something that is done to us when we act sacrificially with our bodies committed to God’s way of behavior. Then what God does is completely transform our character and our thinking by rearranging the way our brain works, restoring it to what He created in the first place. The promise is of this transformation is that when we live according to our new God-given desires and objectives, both our behavior and what we think about and feel is healthy again. We are better having become well. We then prove in this new life that God’s plan for us is perfect and beautiful. This is how we can know and experience God’s will for us.
When we offer our bodies, meaning our physical strength to God as a living sacrifice, no longer committing our bodies to addictive patterns of behavior;
Then God completely transforms (metamorphoo) our hearts and our souls by the renewing of our minds (Romans 12:1-2). Then we can love God with our whole being, and our neighbor as ourselves.
When we commit to change externally from the outside in, changing what we do (Romans 12:1-2a),
Then God changes us internally from the inside out, changing who we are and what we think (Romans 12:2).
When we delight in the Lord in our action,
Then God gives us the desires of our heart (Psalm 37:4) by changing what we want according to his will and purpose.
When we rejoice, celebrating our recovery in relationship with Christ, offering praise and presenting prayer requests with our mouths, as well as showing considerate acts of service with our physical ability;
Then God replaces our anxiety with peace to our souls, guarding (covering) our hearts and our minds by the Spirit of Jesus Christ, empowering us to do anything (Philippians 4:4-7, 13).
When we commit to doing the will of God,
Then God changes our intentions and motives, according to His will (Philippians 2:13).
When we take responsibility for our behavior, repenting of our guilt (godly sorrow),
Then God mercifully removes our shame (worldly sorrow) and pain (2 Corinthians 7:10).
When we seek to know and see Jesus through prayer and a lifestyle committed to his will,
Then Jesus Christ will turn our sorrow into joy (John 16:20-22).
When we are committed to action according to the will of God, as his will takes over in us converting our intentions into doing what he intends we do,
Then we can ask him for anything and he promises to grant our requests (John 15:7).
When we commit to behaving according to the will of God, imitating the model of recovery set for us by the life of His Son Jesus,
Then we have joy overflowing as true friends of God (John 15:9-16).
“That is why the Christian is in a different position from other people who are trying to be good. They hope, by being good, to please God if there is one; or, they hope to deserve approval from good men. But the Christian thinks any good he does comes from the Christ-life inside him. He does not think God will love us because we are good, but that God will make us good because He loves us; just as the roof of a greenhouse does not attract the sun because it is bright, but becomes bright because the sun shines in it.” —C.S. Lewis, Mere Christianity
These promises from the Bible reveal a when-then relationship. When we are committed to turning away from the things of our addictive flesh—outside-in change, then God is faithful to transforming us from the inside out. The original Greek translation for the word ‘transform’ is metamorphoo, meaning to metamorph from one thing into another; like a caterpillar changing into a butterfly. As God transforms our character into a new person by changing how we think, it is like starting a new life. We not only do what is healthy, mature, responsible, and godly, we want to willfully do that which pleases God. Whenever we do what pleases God it is always to our benefit, never to our detriment. That doesn’t mean we never have problems again. It means that we have his powerful support to manage and resolve problems and conflicts. When we commit our will to do the will of God, doing recovery God’s way, we do much better.
It is entirely possible with God’s help that when we pray with our mouths, and read the Bible, God’s written word, with our eyes, that our minds will be changed. We read in Romans 12:2 that the perfect will of God for you and for me is realized as we come to trust him completely and commit to our recovery his way. This is God’s way of challenging us to prove that his will for us is ideal. What an opportunity we have to experience all that God has and wants for us. Our lives make sense again as we commit to the sensible will of God and experience what God has for us in every facet of our livelihood.
