This month, we have been exploring the Gospel of John as we prepare ourselves for the last week of Jesus’ earthly life. And, just as much as the Gospel of John tries to prove and convince his audience that Jesus is the Messiah, the word of God, and an equal partner with the I AM, the Gospel of John also exemplifies Jesus at his most human moments.
When we read the Gospel of John, not only do we recognize Jesus’ divinity, but we also grasp that he was still human in all respects. Jesus kept his Godly powers in check and chose to follow the will of his Father.
Remember last week when we discussed some of those I AM’s that were given by Jesus to all of his disciples of Christ? One of them had to do with a spiritual blessing in which all his disciples of Christ were spiritually blessed. The Father of our Lord Jesus Christ has blessed US with EVERY spiritual blessing in the heavenly kingdom. (Ephesians 1:3)
You are chosen by God, blessed by God, a temple of God, a friend of God, joined in one spirit with the Lord to do good works because you are forgiven, you are redeemed, and you have citizenship in heaven. God has given us an assortment of spiritual gifts and blessings that are given to us to be used for God’s glory. Jesus, through his human nature, was in complete harmony with the will of God. Isn’t that our goal as disciples of Christ? To live in complete harmony with the will of the Father?
Remember at that last hour when Jesus could have called an army of angels to protect him from being arrested, but he prayed, “Abba, Father, all things are possible for you: Remove this cup (this burden) from me; but do so, not for my will, but what you will.” (Mark 14:36)
Jesus disciplined his Godly powers in order to shine forth the light of Christ in human form. Throughout his entire earthly life, Jesus walked, he talked, and he acted as a human, feeling pain, hunger, stress, tiredness and struggling each day in the human environment, all the while constraining his Godly power.
Why would God, who is eternal, an omniscient and omnipotent Holy being, allow himself to be bound strictly by the human condition? So he could be a witness to us on how one can live a heavenly life while here on earth. God and the Holy Spirit dwelt inside Jesus. The Divine Spirit motivated Jesus’ activities and enabled him to triumphantly conquer all evil influences and human desires and temptations, the same type of temptations that we all struggle through each day.
As the Gospel of John sees it, no human being using only his own strength can overcome all the forces of evil. Only through our faith in God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, can we connect to and impart the power of the Holy Spirit. It is then up to us to choose how much we allow the Holy Spirit to guide our daily lives. Jesus always chose God; we, sadly, many times choose the world instead.
But, thankfully, Jesus showed us that it can be done, that we all have the capability to live a heavenly life right here on earth, but only if we choose to follow the Messiah.
Pastor Mark