“And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us” – John 1:14
“He is the image of the invisible God” – Col 1:15
“For in Christ all the fullness of the Deity lives in bodily form” – Col 2:9
The best part of Jesus’ humanity is the confidence believers can have that he relates to us. Jesus experienced life as we know it. He knows what laughter, pain, and the temptations of the flesh feel like. He relates. He gets it.
The best part of Jesus’ divinity is that his sacrifice for us meant more than any other person’s death. He paid off our debt. He washed us clean of our sins.
And yet,
“He came to his own, and his own people did not receive him” – John 1:11
There have been countless arguments against Jesus being fully human, and countless more against accepting his perfect life, death on the cross, and resurrection as a foundation for one’s life, faith, and practice. From the early Gnostic heresies believing that everything physical and tangible was evil, therefore, Jesus’s humanity must have been an illusion. To modern Islam’s claim that when Jesus was nailed to the cross, it was only a ghost of Jesus appearing there or another person’s body swapped in his place. To people around us that just don’t care a lick about Jesus.
Jesus came to his own and was not welcome.
Am I welcoming him today? Are you?
It fascinates me that one of the best way believers can tell if they are staying close to Jesus is how much they see him in the lives of people around them. Matt 25:40 – “The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for me.” Jesus is the embodiment of God on earth and through his presence and perfection we get to welcome him by the ways we invest in and welcome the needy ones around us today.
John Riley