Jesus Gets It

I’ve been reading Jesus Journey by Trent Sheppard this Passion week as a way to dive deeper into the humanity of Jesus and take time to ponder and meditate on what that means – how He grew up, how He loved, how He communicated, how He died. And how all of that matters so deeply because of His resurrection.

Sheppard ends each chapter with three thoughts, “Ponder, Pray, and Practice,” to make space to chew on Jesus’ story, examine your own heart and life with the help of Holy Spirit, and make some changes. The whole point of Jesus’ story is reconciled relationship – because of His sacrifice on our behalf we can once again enter into that loving fellowship of the Trinity. Intimate relationship with the Father, Jesus, and Holy Spirit produces nothing short of transformation.

In the first chapter, one question Sheppard presents is, “What part of being human is most difficult for you to imagine Jesus participating in with you? Why is that?” Two thoughts came to mind almost immediately for me:

1. Motherhood/Childbirth – I have never birthed a child, but for some reason this thought came to mind right away. Jesus is a man, how could he understand what that is like, at least physically?

2. Questions of identity/purpose – You’re the Son of God Jesus…did you ever struggle with finding your purpose? Didn’t you always know?

I brought these questions to Holy Spirit and while He brought me to the Scriptures for both of these questions, I want to focus only on the first, especially today, with it being Good Friday. He brought me to the first chapter of the Gospel of John, verses 11-13, “He came to His own, and His own people did not receive Him. But to all who did receive Him, who believed in His name, He gave the right to become children of God, who were born, not of blood nor of the will of the flesh nor of the will of man, but of God.”

While Jesus never physically carried a child for nine months and then wrestled through the agonizing process of bringing that child into the world, I believe He understands every single aspect of labor on a deep level – from the emotional to spiritual, and yes, the physical. The cross tells me this – the ultimate labor of love. Jesus endured excruciating agony – physical, emotional, and spiritual – so that all could become children of God. Remember Jesus’ famous conversation in John 3 with Nicodemus? Jesus told Nicodemus he had to be born again, to which Nicodemus’ incredulous response of, “how can these things be?” (verse 9) would be the same response any of us would have at such talk. Jesus’ response?

“And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.” John 3:14-17

In order to give life to humanity, Jesus chose the cross. He chose to trust Abba, His loving and faithful Father, even when the path ahead would lead to pain and death. It wasn’t an easy choice – we all know how stressed He was in the Garden of Gethsemane, asking His Father for any other way. “And being in agony he prayed more earnestly; and his sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” (Luke 22:44) Jesus was under extreme emotional, mental, and physical stress! I don’t personally know what goes on emotionally and mentally leading up to childbirth, but my mom friends definitely do and so I call on your experience: did you ever come to a point before you went into labor when you questioned if you could do it? When you thought, ‘I don’t want to do this!’ Did you fear the pain? Did you fear something might go wrong? Did you fear you might not make it?

Jesus experienced all the fear and all the doubts. Jesus knows what all of those questions feel like and He knows personally the emotional and mental stress. But, He chose to go on. Each of you who have welcomed a beautiful baby girl or boy into the world chose to fight through the fears and fight through the pain…why? Because you knew what waited on the other side of the labor – your child. I believe Jesus felt the same way.

Hebrews 12:2 states, “…looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” I believe there is a lot going on in this verse and what the writer of Hebrews means when referring to the joy set before Him – the joy of pleasing His Abba, doing His will and glorifying Him, being with Him again – yes! I also believe your face and mine flashed through Jesus’ mind. The knowledge if He finished the work of the cross, we could all be forever family. We could be called children of God and justly so. The joy of reconciled relationship! This helped Him step into what He knew had to be done.

Jesus sweated.

Jesus cried.

Jesus bled.

Jesus’ flesh was ripped apart. Trent Sheppard paints the picture, “The practice of flogging or scourging a revolutionary criminal before crucifixion was standard Roman practice at the time and was particularly brutal. The victim was stripped of their clothes and their hands tied upright to a wooden post or an iron stake in the ground. The instrument of abuse was a sturdy handheld whip made of multiple leather strands, intertwined with weighted pieces of iron, rock, and bone. The aim was to sink the hard fragments into the victim’s back, torso, and legs, and then pull up, down or sideways, producing deep lacerations. After Jesus was severely beaten and formally scourged in this way, the Gospel of Mark records that the Roman soldiers dressed Him in purple, placed a crown of thorns on His head, and then mock saluted Him as the King of the Jews.” (Chapter Thirty – Sharing the Burden)

Today, I mentally walked through Jesus’ final hours with Him – revisiting Scripture and really stopping to let Holy Spirit open my eyes to Jesus’ emotions, His pain, His thoughts, His prayers. From Gethsemane and His best friends falling asleep on Him in His greatest hour of need, Judas’ betrayal, the trial, Pilate’s orders, the flogging, the mocking, and the carrying of the cross. For some reason, this moment struck me more than it ever has in the past. The mental image of Jesus, dirty, bloodstained, thorns digging into His temples, struggling, staggering under the weight of the cross brings tears to my eyes that won’t stop. Beaten and humiliated, He was forced to bear His own cross. Did the wood of the cross splinter into His hands and arms? Weak from blood loss, did He collapse into the dirt, perhaps more than once, before they “compelled” Simon of Cyrene to help Him (Matthew 27:32)? Did He cry out? Did the jeers and the weeping in the crowd mix together? Is this where “the joy set before Him” gave Him strength to go on? I don’t think Jesus’ thoughts were much for Himself.

He endured all of this for love. The complete opposite of what a Messiah would do – He wasn’t the conquering King, but the suffering servant. How painful was it and what dependence on the Father did Jesus know to keep on the path of the cross? When everyone wanted and expected something different. When no one, not even His closest friends understood – they all abandoned Him. All Jesus had was the word of His Father, trusting in His love and character. He kept going because He knew it was the only way.

He kept going because it was only by the labor of the cross that we could have life.

This man endured what I should have.

This man suffered for me, His back flayed open for me.

This man bled for me.

This man took the nails for me.

He took the cross for me.

He died for me.

We all know what happened three days later, changing everything, but today, I feel the need to just sit here at the cross. To feel the weight of what it is my Jesus suffered on my behalf. And what that says about how much He loves me and each of you. It wrecks me.

Whatever you’ve faced or are facing – loss, hardship, doubt, fear, physical and emotional pain, questioning – Jesus gets it. He identifies with it more than you or I could possibly know.

Just ask Him.