In the Incarnation, the eternal Son of God entered into the full range of human experience. As we encounter Jesus in the New Testament, we learn that Jesus wasn’t play-acting as a man. Jesus was fully human, a real man, subject to the limitations and vulnerabilities of life in this finite, fallen world. The Son of God didn’t have a quasi-human or super-human existence; he didn’t use his high rank or divine power to minimize his experience of humanity.
The issue is not whether Jesus would use his high rank and divine power. The issue, rather, is for what purpose would he use his privileged position. For the Father’s glory or for his own self-defined glory? For his own advantage or for the good of others? In Matthew 4, Satan tempted Jesus to seek his own advantage and glory. But Jesus sought only to glorify his Father and do the Father’s will.
Yes, Jesus would later multiply the fish and the loaves. But why? For the Father’s glory and for the good of other people. Jesus exercised power over demons and disease and death. But why? For the Father’s glory and the good of others. Jesus performed miracles in order to reveal the Father’s glory and to reveal his own glory as the Son of God. This, too, was according to the Father’s will and for the good of his people. What Jesus wouldn’t do was use his high rank and divine power in order to have a more comfortable human existence, a more convenient lifestyle, an easier life, or to “cash in” on the excitement of the crowds by pursuing worldly fame, worldly power, or worldly wealth.
Jesus, following his earthly father’s trade, would have been a carpenter (Mark 6:3). If he worked with wood, he wouldn’t have used his divine power to instantaneously turn wood into a table. He would have taken time, thought things through, applied strength and skill, worked the edges, hammered the nails, and perspired.
Jesus didn’t use his divine power to instantaneously have a Ph.D.-level knowledge of theology at the age of 3. He learned. He studied. He asked questions. He listened. Scripture says, “And Jesus grew in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men” (Luke 2:52 NIV).
Jesus didn’t use his high rank as a reason not to submit to human authority. At the age of 12, Jesus “went down to Nazareth with them [his parents] and was obedient to them” (Luke 2:51 NIV). The perfect Son of God was obedient to his imperfect parents, Mary and Joseph.
Jesus didn’t use his high rank and divine power to create 5-star hotel accommodations wherever he went. On the contrary, Jesus experienced need. He said, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head” (Matthew 8:20 NIV).
On the eve of his crucifixion, Jesus was resolved to fulfill the Father’s will. He prayed to the Father, “Not my will, but yours be done” (Luke 22:42 NIV). In the face of his unjust arrest, Jesus had ready access to the armies of heaven: “Do you think I cannot call on my Father, and he will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels” (Matthew 26:53 NIV)? But Jesus didn’t come to preserve his own life in this world; he came, rather, to lay down his life – to offer himself as a sacrifice to God and to thereby be our Savior from sin.
Dear friends, behold the grace of God in the humanity of our Lord. “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” (Hebrews 4:15 NIV).
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