Could We Relate to Jesus?

Did Jesus ever cut himself accidently? Did he ever stub his toe? Did he ever get sick? Did he ever give the wrong answer to a math question or any question?

We know he never sinned. He never acted outside of love. He obeyed God perfectly, even though he was fully human. That’s remarkable.

John tells us that Jesus was weary. In other places we’re told he was hungry. He got angry. Sad. I would suspect that was the case as a boy too. If he never hit his shin on a piece of furniture in the dark, that would be astounding. All of us have injured ourselves.

If he was always right about everything… 100% on all questions on all subjects… then his siblings would conceivably have had to deal with raging jealousy. Inferiority too.

Did Mary favor him over his siblings? He certainly would have been unique and one of a kind. If she was partial to “my little Jesus,” then again, the seeds of family dysfunction could have been deeply imbedded in Joseph’s clan.

You see, his mom and supposed father Joseph, and his siblings were human. They were like us. They would have hurt themselves, gotten sick, and been wrong in answering some questions. If Jesus was not like that how could they have related to him? “The whole family are down with colds, but not Jesus, he never gets sick.” “That really hurt to bump my head on the door post, but Jesus wouldn’t know, he’s never done that.”

I like the story of Jesus when he was 12 years old and sitting in the temple area talking to the learned men. The Bible records that the youth, Jesus, was asking questions. Asking questions. Learning. It seems he wasn’t a “know it all.”'

His cousin, John the Baptist, didn’t know he was the Chosen One until that day by the Jordan River. Maybe Jesus had just seemed ordinary before that? Really nice, but ordinary.  A boy who gets hurt, gets sick, is sometimes wrong in his facts, gets his tongue tangled, etc.

Something changed about age 30. That day at the Jordan. The power and presence of God’s Spirit came upon him. And from then on, He was extraordinary, especially in his knowledge.

All this tells me that he knows and that he cares. Small things matter to Him. 

You matter to him.