(Continued from previous entry)

With gods in other religions, when they took on mortal form, they usually went for the best form that they could. There are many stories about Zeus taking on forms so gorgeous that no woman could resist him. But what about Jesus? Well, we don’t have a very specific description of what He looked like – other than that He was a human being, and Jewish – but we have this one line:

“He had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him, nothing in his appearance that we should desire him.” (Isaiah 53:2b)

That’s it??? Our one description of the very Son of God’s appearance, and all it says is that He’s not particularly attractive? That’s not even flattering!

But that’s the point. God took on human form to be approachable. God has always been amazing, almighty, and majestic. What He added for us in Jesus was the ability to relate to Him, and a clear demonstration that He could relate to us as well. We don’t just need somebody tall and imposing and better than us. We need somebody that we feel can sympathize with our struggles. This is stated directly in the Bible:

For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin. Let us then approach God’s throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need. ( Hebrews 4:15-16)

Take Jesus’ temptation in the desert. Satan tempts Jesus to skip His difficult time of fasting (Luke 4:2b-3), and gain immediate power (Luke 4:5-7) rather than the slow, painful road to power He would take through His journey to the Cross. Jesus turned away these temptations, knowing these things were not the divine plan God had sent Him to accomplish – but they were real temptations, that Jesus felt vulnerable to, or else the Devil would not have bothered mentioning them to Him. And again we see Jesus struggle about the path He’s meant to take, on the night before His death (Matthew 26:38-44).

This entry will be continued in next week’s edition.

SCRIPTURES:

(To read scriptures online I recommend Biblegateway.com [not affiliated with this site].)
Matthew 26:38-44

Isaiah 53:2b

Hebrews 4:15-16
Luke 4:5-8

Luke 4:2b-4

I think that if all the gods of all the religions were absolutely real, and they had to run campaigns against each other like a presidential election, I would vote for Jesus, whether or not I was a Christian. Why? Because as far as I know, He’s the only god to have ever held a regular day job. It’s like how presidential hopefuls want to distance themselves from being thought of as career politicians, and instead emphasize the jobs they had before campaigning. Many religions believe in a god or gods that have interacted with human beings, some of whom have taken human form. But all of those – Hercules and Thor come first to mind – spent their time doing interesting stuff. Jesus, instead, spent 15 years working a manual labor job while paying taxes and dealing with His family. All the amazing stuff came after.

This thought will be continued in next week’s post.
Scriptures:
Luke 3:23; Mark 6:2-3; Hebrews 2:17-18; John 1:14a

I found a note from a journal while cleaning that reminded me of an experience I’d almost forgotten. It came one night when I was especially distraught, begging God for some confirmation that He loved me. Confirmation never came during my prayers, but I dreamed about God that night.

7-28-2008
I dreamed that I had decided I was tired of the Christian life, tired of following Jesus, and wanted nothing more to do with Him. So I decided to go find a world where God did not exist, and I could be rid of Him forever. And with the lack of details of most things that happen in dreams, BOOM, I was in another world. But the Lord had followed me somehow, and He was already waiting for me when I arrived. I was furious. I went even further away, to another world where I would be certain to never be bothered by God again. When I arrived, Jesus was not there. So I was happy to be free of attachments, and enjoyed my time there. But in just an hour or two, I began to worry. Had I really escaped Jesus for good? I began to miss Him fervently, but I was too proud to admit how much I needed Him. As I became seriously anxious and thought I had made a disastrous mistake, Jesus arrived – soaking wet. He had swum the entire length of a mighty river that separated the two worlds, to get to me.
Scriptures:
Romans 8:38-39 For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.