Based on John 4:1-6 (New King James Version)
“Therefore, when the Lord knew that the Pharisees had heard that Jesus made and baptized more disciples than John (though Jesus Himself did not baptize, but His disciples), He left Judea and departed again to Galilee. But He needed to go through Samaria. So He came to a city of Samaria which is called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied from His journey, sat thus by the well. It was about the sixth hour.”
Many do not understand the Lord’s human aspect. There are almost always misunderstandings about this. For example, many people say: “He was able to do what He did, and He endured what He did because He was God.” Others go a completely opposite direction because they only see Him as a human being with limited abilities and powers, and that’s why they don’t respect Him. There are those that see Him extremely human, but in a sinful kind of way, and they think that He had problems and temptations with lust, including sexual weaknesses. In summary, the majority of people go all over the place as it relates to the Lord’s human aspect, because they don’t quite get to what the Bible teaches.
The first thing that needs to be understood is His real genealogy, where He comes from. First of all, Jesus is God, the second person of the Trinity. His beginning as a Being was not here on earth, even though He was born here in the flesh. He is the Eternal God, the Lord of Hosts, the Alpha and the Omega, etc., etc. So then, He was (and is) 100% divine. The other thing that must be understood is that His Father was (and is) God the Father, the first person of the Trinity. So, His Father being who He is makes Him not entirely similar to us in that regard, with fleshly lusts like sexual desires, with the temptation to steal, to kill, to have vices, to lie, to be greedy. In summary, He did not have any of the evil works of the flesh. Now, the human aspect He did take on was from His earthly mother Mary (who was virgin). He was able to take on through her a carnal form, to be born and to live as a human being who was pure. So then, He became 100% man through Mary.
Because the Lord was a man, with flesh and blood (but without evil desires), He lived just like us. God took on our form to know exactly what each of us feel. He took on all of our human frailties and experienced them in the flesh (literally). He knew what it was like to be tired, as we read in today’s passage, when John wrote: “…being wearied from His journey…” He knew what hunger was, having a completely empty stomach, for it is written: “Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil. And when He had fasted forty days and forty nights, afterward He was hungry.” Matthew 4:1-2. He knew what it felt like when you lose a loved one, and He even cried because of the pain He felt (for Lazarus). For it is written: “And He said, ‘Where have you laid him?’ They said to Him, ‘Lord, come and see.’ Jesus wept. Then the Jews said, ‘See how He loved him!’” John 11:34-36. He also experienced agony in the Garden of Gethsemane, for the Scriptures also say: “And being in agony, He prayed more earnestly. Then His sweat became like great drops of blood falling down to the ground.” Luke 22:44. The Lord experienced abandonment (because He took on our sin), finding Himself completely alone. We see this in the telling of His crucifixion when it says: “And about the ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, saying, ‘Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?’ that is, ‘My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?’” Matthew 27:46. And of course, as part of the sacrifice on the cross, He experienced injustice, being mocked, being scorned, extreme physical tiredness and pain, torture, hemorrhaging, and finally, death. The Lord experienced everything a human being could experience, with reference to our human frailty.
What value does this have? A great deal! God knows everything about us because He is God, but now even more so, because He experienced through His Son what it feels like to be human. He lived it. And the great value that this has is that He humbled Himself for us. He felt what we feel. And He feels compassion because of this. For it is written: Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need. Hebrews 4:14-16. So then, what better God and Intercessor could we have like the one that took our form (because of love), who wishes to be with us through everything we might go through without ever abandoning us! That’s why He left the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, so that He could live by faith in our hearts. The Lord understands everything you feel, and He cares.
The last aspect that we will see is that the Lord is our example. Despite feeling wearied, and everything else He could have felt, He did what was necessary. He did everything the Father commanded Him to do. He obeyed! For it is written: Who, in the days of His flesh, when He had offered up prayers and supplications, with vehement cries and tears to Him who was able to save Him from death, and was heard because of His godly fear, though He was a Son, yet He learned obedience by the things which He suffered. And having been perfected, He became the author of eternal salvation to all who obey Him. Hebrews 5:7-9. We are called to be like Him. God’s purpose is to turn each of us into little Jesuses (per se). So then, if the Lord was able to obey in everything, despite having all of our frailties, God can also do great things in our lives through our obedience.
So, do you understand just how much God loves you, how He understands you, how He has compassion on you, and what He wants to accomplish in your life? Do you understand that there is no one like the Lord? Lord bless! John