Elizabeth’s blog last week about loving the sinner got me thinking about Jesus living as a man. God came in the flesh as an imperfect human—a transition that theologians consider one of the most mind-boggling acts in history. The Son of God rising from the grave was far more natural than for him to take on flesh in the first place. By his fleshly nature the grave was incapable of holding him. But for him to step from glory to humility of form, from honor to dishonor; for him to feel hunger and loneliness and fear; and for him to be denigrated to such an incomprehensible extent—and yet be fully aware of it—is more noteworthy. This would be amazing to consider even if Jesus came down to earth to become a wealthy and powerful king—yet he was a homeless and dishonored teacher. He was despised and rejected, even by human standards.
Why did Jesus Live Among Us?
So here is the question, if only Jesus’ bearing of sins, shedding of blood, death, burial and resurrection was necessary to make a bridge of grace and peace between God and man, and provide a way to forgiveness, justification, and eventual glorification of those who believe in him—why suffer such a life? Of course the incarnation was necessary for him to suffer as the Second Adam—but why to be despised and rejected? Why poor or persecuted or hated or dishonored or hungry or homeless?
God gives us the reason for the suffering life of Jesus described in Isaiah 53 in Hebrews 4:15. So that he could feel our pain, discomfort, and want—our inadequacy, neediness, and the temptations that gnaw at us every day. He came to die, but he also came to live—so that he could 'feel' our lives. He was acquainted with our grief and with our infirmity so that he could be a caring and loving High Priest. He loves us through shared experience, understanding, and empathy.
How do We Emulate Jesus in This?
Here is the next question: if Jesus is our example in all things (1 Peter 2:21-25; 1 Corinthians 11:1; 1 John 2:6), even in things we are not to exactly replicate—such as his death on the cross (Romans 6; Galatians 2:20; Luke 9:23)—what are we to do with this?
I feel like my response to this in the past has been “boy, thanks Jesus for walking a mile in my shoes.” And this thankfulness is a perfectly warranted response. We can be comforted that Jesus wept tears of sadness and loss and weakness and pain alongside us. But what of our response? I believe we are called to emulate Jesus even in this.
We are to take the time to consider and feel how others are feeling. We must, as the old proverb says, walk a mile in their shoes—to see through their eyes. We are to take the suffering of others into our hearts and feel it. We are to understand that they are like us.
John Green has one of the most profound statements on this—that we must “imagine others complexly.” Although this is a secular phrase, I believe it captures some of the Biblical ethos and has become something of a personal motto for me. He maintains that this is a large part of what it is to be human—to connect with others in a way that sees them as equally human. Although it is not wrong to connect terms to people, no one is so one-dimensional as to be accurately stereotyped.
Each one of us has struggles, successes, failures, sins, falsehoods, and truths. Each one of us has fallen short of the glory of God through sin (Romans 3:23). Yet each one of us has the light of God shed into our hearts in some small measure (John 1:9), be it through common grace, the special grace that draws us to saving knowledge of Jesus, or through the indwelling of his Holy Spirit that helps us. We are simultaneously vessels of our own darkness and of God’s light, and each of us struggles with the dissonance of that reality. As Walt Whitman hinted, we contradict ourselves because each of us “contains multitudes.” Each one of us is human.
Stereotyping
Stereotyping people necessarily squeezes them into an inhuman-sized mold. It is a position from which we may dismiss them as being somehow less than we are. Don’t get me wrong, terms are not the problem. The Bible identifies types of people by terms: faithful, wise, Jew/Gentile, man/woman, elect, etc.; even negative terms: drunkard, false teacher, man of Belial, greedy, etc.
The terms we apply to ourselves may be helpful, but they must not be made to confine the breadth of our person-hood. These terms, especially those most foreign and scary to us, are stumbling blocks when they cause us to view someone else as “other”—as foreign to us. They allow us to distance ourselves from others by dehumanizing them to suit our own myopic view of the world.
Jesus’ Paradigm of Love
Jesus calls us to a wider, more accurate view of the peoples of the world. We are to see other people as we see ourselves. People are created in the very image of God, created to be with him and enjoy him. They are sinners in need of a savior to bring them back to the God who loves them.
We are called to do more than just witness to people; we are also called to love them. We cannot love someone we have dehumanized. Our awkward attempts at this kind of “love” will be self-righteous, hypocritical, and ineffectual.
This is all because the primary paradigm Jesus gave us concerning the nature of love is to “do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” (Matthew 7:12) We must consider others to be as we are, and love them in tangible and practical ways that reflect the way we would want to be treated in their position. To fulfill this golden rule, we must identify with people, reaching out in kindness and empathy, as one human to another.
Under Grace,
John Fritz
John Fritz is the Volunteer Coordinator for Thoughtful Life Ministries and the primary author of the Thoughtful Life Journal, which is published weekly from March through September. The purpose of this blog is to challenge and encourage those who have a desire to cultivate a more meaningful walk with Christ. Visit our Homepage to learn more about the ministry and our annual two-week summer Discipleship Program for teens and young adults.