One of the tenets of the Christian faith is that Jesus was fully human and fully divine. While humans are made in the image of God, humans do not share all the qualities of God—we are not omnipotent, omnipresent, or omniscient. Philippians 2:6-7 in the Contemporary English Version says, “Christ was truly God. But he did not try to remain equal with God. Instead, he gave up everything and became a slave, when he became like one of us.” A footnote says that “he gave up everything” could be translated “he emptied himself.” In other words, Jesus chose to limit his divine nature while he was on earth so that he might experience life as a human and might show humans how God created us to live. During Holy Week, Jesus experienced a wide range of human emotions and certainly on Thursday and Friday Jesus experienced physical human pain and suffering. If we move too quickly from the triumphal entry on Palm Sunday to the amazement of the resurrection on Easter, we miss the time when Jesus was most like us—vulnerable, alone, betrayed, in physical agony, feeling as if God had deserted him (Matthew 27:46).
We talked about the temptations of Jesus at the beginning of his ministry. We celebrate Jesus successfully resisting the temptations, and then my experience has been that little or nothing is said about Jesus being tempted again. If Jesus lived a fully human life, a life like mine, Jesus faced temptations repeatedly. Luke 4:13 (NRSV) says, “when the devil had finished every test, he departed from him until an opportune time.” No doubt many opportune times presented themselves throughout Jesus’ ministry and the devil used them. However, I think that Holy Week was certainly among the most opportune times for the devil to bombard Jesus with temptations. When humans face the unknown or the partially known, we often make poor decisions out of desperation and fear. I’m not saying that I think Jesus was feeling desperate. Jesus was grounded in his trust and faith in God, his Father. But Jesus would not be human if he did not experience some fear of the pain and the suffering he was facing. The prayer in the Garden of Gethsemane reflects some of what Jesus was feeling. Jesus did not want to suffer. Jesus did not want to die. Even though Jesus told his disciples about his death and resurrection (Mark 9:30-32 and Matthew 17:22-23), I wonder if Jesus, in his humanity, ever questioned what death and dying would be like and whether the resurrection would really happen. I have heard many people say that they do not fear death but fear dying. Jesus knew that the process of dying for him would be agonizing. Most humans I know question what is beyond the grave, even those who trust God completely. I think we do the human aspect of Jesus’ nature a disservice if we discount his experience of very real, very unsettling human questions about death and the beyond. How can Jesus understand my questions if he did not experience them himself? (See Hebrews 4:15)
We are told that Jesus faced three temptations at the beginning of his ministry—turning stones into bread to relieve his hunger after forty days of fasting, throwing himself of the pinnacle of the temple to prove that God would save him, and having control of all the kingdoms of the world if he worshipped Satan. (Matthew 4:1-11, Luke 4:1-13) Had Jesus followed Satan’s first suggestion, Jesus would have met his own immediate physical need and would have shown the masses that he could meet their common physical needs as well. Had Jesus jumped from the temple, he would have provided a “show” for the masses, he would have amazed and entertained them. He would have attracted a crowd. Had Jesus worshipped Satan, Jesus would have defeated himself and aborted his ministry and mission while appearing to obtain power and dominion. Jesus used scripture to counter every suggestion of Satan. Satan tempted Jesus to misuse his power and abilities, to serve himself instead of serving God, to usurp the will of God. Throughout his ministry, Jesus used his power and abilities in proper God honoring and God serving ways. He feed the four thousand and the five thousand at times when they needed physical nourishment while receiving spiritual nourishment. When some of the five thousand later followed him to the other side of the sea, Jesus chided them for following him because he fed them. (John 6:26) Jesus told many of those he healed, especially early in his ministry, not to tell anyone. Jesus did not want people to follow him because he could do miracles. Jesus wanted people to help him establish the Kingdom of God on earth as it is in heaven. (Matthew 6:10, Luke 11:2) Jesus did not come to rule the kingdoms of earth; he came to establish the Kingdom of God on earth.
During Holy Week, Jesus was once again tempted to use his power and abilities to gain control of earthly kingdoms (the Roman Empire) (Though Jesus knew God did not plan to establish such a kingdom, later followers of Christ did not and still often do not understand what God’s Kingdom is. Constantine, Charlemagne, and countless others, including many well-meaning but misguided Christians today, have tried to disguise political ambition as something holy and of God, all the while exploiting the very people God commanded us to protect and provide for.) The crowd, religious leaders, and even the criminal on one of the other crosses, used the taunt “if you are the Messiah, the Son of God save yourself, have God remove you from the cross.” (paraphrase of Mark 15:29-32, Matthew 27:39-44, Luke 23:35-39) Jesus’ job was not to prove who he was. Jesus’ job was to BE who he was and to show the world then and forevermore that no amount of temptation, not amount of hate, no amount of sin could make God stop loving and reaching out to the people God created to live in the divine Kingdom. A pastor friend, Tony Hopkins, said in a sermon that God does not just save us from something but God saves us for something. My understand of salvation is that God saves us from ourselves and the destructiveness of our wills and saves us for citizenship in God’s Kingdom where God’s will is always done.
Maggie Lou's Musings, Lessons, and Blessings 