We always hear (and know) that Jesus was a ‘man like us in all things but sin’. Sometimes I think that we hear this so often that it becomes familiar and we seldom think about it and all that it implies.
A man (person) like us….think about it. This Jesus experienced everything that we do throughout our lives. Everything! This means, of course, that he felt lonliness, fear, grief, joy, love. But it also means that he felt doubt, that he was confused, that he fell in love, that he fell ‘out’ of love, that he wanted to quit, and that he felt jealous and proud. Every single thing that we have felt, that anyone has ever felt, he experienced. That is what we belive. Or else, how could it be said that he was like us in every way. Every way but sin…so, what did he do with these emotions and feelings? Well, if we believe that sin is separation from God, then he was able to experience these feelings, put them in perspective and not allow them to create any distance from his Father.
It’s not the ‘feeling’ that gets us into trouble. It is what we do with it. Do we welcome it and then get beyond it by giving it to God, or do we let it begin a downward spiral into ourselves? Do we then build that protective shell and keep God out? Do we let it become yet another layer of our false self?
A man like us…..in all things….. united with Our Father………
Reflections on the Journey 
Andie, I will be carrying this with me for a long time… “It’s not the ‘feeling’ that gets us into trouble. It is what we do with it.” Thank you my friend! Such wisdom!
Fully God, Fully Man…..it boggles my mind always. To think that He was at creation and then chose to come down to this planet as a man is beyond me…..it is just too wonderful and terrible to believe, and yet we do! The whole thing is a miracle! Lori
Fabulous closing paragraph, Andie. As Fran said, such wisdom!
Thank you.
The older I get the more important it is to me that Jesus was ‘fully human’, the more I envision him as someone who has all the mudane bodily functions; development; aches, pains and emotions and feelings as we do. It’s not what we feel it’s what we do with it – not using or allowing the feelings to move us away from God’s presence.
As man, Jesus shared our every emotion and felt them as we do.
But as God, He knew, from a very early age, what is to happen to Him. The arrest, betrayal, beatings, torture, humiliation, and the most horrible and painful death on the Cross.
Yet He went through with it. In obedience to His Father and for our sake.
Imagine we knew everything that would happen to us in our lives in future. Would we be able to handle it?
God bless.
I wonder if he didn’t know, that he knew the risk and the challenge his Father has set him but not the details. I wonder if that was the reason for his Baptism – and the times when he returned to pray with his Father as the ‘story’ unfolded and his Father and Spirit revealed themselves in unity and pride-as he became more anxious that he was doing the right thing – wholly human. Just as we do when life unfolds before us.