Oh, the Humanity!

Picture this: Watching You Tube videos one day I heard someone say, “I love Jesus.”

I thought to myself, I want to be able to say “I love Jesus” that casually and truthfully.

I liked Jesus. I thought it was cool He died for my sins. But I didn’t love Him. When I was young I used to think Jesus was just “God in a man outfit,” and the only reason to pay Him any heed was to avoid going to Hell. And this 'peace that surpasses all understanding' that we’ve heard tell about, has always been elusive to me.

No Jesus, no peace

And the peace of God, which passes all understanding, will keep your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.  Philippians 4:7

I read somewhere that you can’t love what you don’t know. I thought I knew Him well enough, but the fruits of my labors told a different tale. So I went to work getting to really know Jesus.

I watched programs about how to study the bible. I invested in study bibles, commentary bibles, prayer apps. The more I learned about Him the more I understood Jesus was just as much a man as He was the Son of God. It made the forgiveness of our sins more real to me as I learned to appreciate that He felt all the things we feel: fear, sadness, heartache.

Nowhere is the humanity of Jesus more evident than in the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus prayed for His life. He pleaded with God to let that chalice pass from Him. He didn’t want to die. He didn’t want to leave his friends. He wanted to be spared the physical pain and the humiliation and anguish that He knew the following day had in store for Him.

“Father, if you are willing, remove this chalice from me; but nevertheless not my will, but yours, be done.” Luke 22:42

Jesus mourned along with Martha and Mary at the death of their brother. Even though He knew God’s glory was about to be revealed in the resurrection of Lazarus, He still cried along with these two sisters and the other mourners. He felt their loss because it was His own just as much as it was theirs.

He felt gratitude when Mary anointed His feet with ointment and wiped it away with her tears. Someone finally got it.

He felt sorrow when He knew Judas Iscariot was going to betray Him to the Romans, and when His disciples couldn’t stay awake and watch with Him for even an hour while He was staring down His own demise. As much as it hurt Him that He knew Peter would deny Him I imagine his heart broke for Peter as He watched him weep bitterly realizing what he had done.

Know Jesus, know peace

And the Lord turned and looked at Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said to him, “Before the cock crows today, you will deny me three times.” And he went out and wept bitterly. Luke 22: 61-62

 I have never known anyone like Jesus. No one in my life has ever been that faithful or steadfast, not even myself to anyone else. Although I had considered myself a believer, it wasn't until I was in my late 40s that I started to get to know Him in earnest.

A few years later as I really lean into Jesus and His Word for the first time in my life I really am starting to acquire that previously elusive “peace that surpasses all understanding.” He gave His life for me. He lived for me, He died for me. I would do the same for Him. I haven't said "I love you" to anyone other than my own son in a very long time. I can honestly say, "I love Jesus."