Been There
Done That [1]
Since the children are made of flesh and
blood, it’s logical that the Savior took on flesh and blood in order to rescue
them by his death. By embracing death, taking it into himself, he destroyed the
Devil’s hold on death and freed all who cower through life, scared to death of
death. ¶ It’s obvious, of course, that he didn’t go to all this trouble for
angels. It was for people like us, children of Abraham. That’s why he had to
enter into every detail of human life. Then, when he came before God as high
priest to get rid of the people’s sins, he would have already experienced it
all himself — all the pain, all the testing — and would be able to help where
help was needed. (Hebrews 2:14-18)
Most
families prefer to keep their family secrets a secret. Most of us don't want to
talk about the swindling uncle, or the street-walking cousin. Those stories,
typically, remain unmentioned at the family reunions, and are intentionally left
out of the family Bible. That’s unless you’re the God-man – where Jesus displayed
the bad apples of his family tree in the very first chapter of the New
Testament.
You've barely
dipped a toe into Matthew's gospel when you realize that Jesus’ family were
charter members of the Tilted-Halo
Society. Rahab was a prostitute in Jericho, and Grandpa Jacob was slippery
enough to warrant wearing an electronic ankle bracelet. David had a personality
as irregular as the California coast – one day writing psalms, another day
seducing his captain's wife. But did Jesus erase their names from the list? Nope;
he didn’t even try. But you'd think he would have, since Entertainment Tonight could’ve broadcast a season or more of gossip
from those stories, alone.
So, why did
Jesus hang his family's dirty laundry on the neighborhood’s clothesline?
Because our families have some dirty laundry, too. An uncle with a prison
record; the dad who never came home; the grandparent who ran away with the co-worker.
So, if your family tree has some bruised fruit on it, then Jesus wants you to know,
"I've been there." To the lonely, Jesus whispers, "I've been
there." To the discouraged, Christ nods his head and sighs, "I've
been there." Consider his hometown, for example.
Nazareth was a
sleepy, humble, forgotten hamlet. To find its parallel in today’s world, you’d
have to leave the United States, bypass all of Europe and avoid most of Latin
America. Israel wasn't a superpower, a commercial juggernaut, or even a
vacation resort. The land Joshua settled, and that Jesus loved, was barely a
blip on the Roman Empire’s radar. But there it was – Caesar’s soldiers occupied
it. Like Poland in the 1940’s, or Guatemala in the 1980’s, the Judean hills
knew the rumblings of a foreign army – although you've got to wonder if the Roman
soldiers ever made it as far north as Nazareth.
Envision a
dusty, quiet village. A place that would cause people to say, "Does
anything good come out of ________?" In the case of Christ, the blank was
filled in with the name of Nazareth. An unimpressive town in an unimpressive
nation. So where would you go to find such a place today? Iraq? Afghanistan?
Cambodia? Take your pick. Find a semi-arid, agriculturally-based region
orbiting on the fringe of any social epicenter, and then climb into a Jeep and start looking for a family like
Jesus'.
Ignore the nicer
homes of the village, however. Joseph and Mary celebrated the birth of Jesus
with a temple offering of two turtledoves – the gift of the poor. (Luke
2:22-24) Go to the poorer part of town, instead. Not poverty stricken or
destitute mind you, just simple. And look for a single mom. The absence of
Joseph in the adult life of Jesus suggests that Mary may have raised her eldest
and the rest of her brood alone. Find a simple home with a single mom and an
ordinary laborer. Jesus' surrounding neighbors remembered him as " … just
a carpenter." (Mark 6:3)
Jesus had dirty
hands, sweat-stained shirts, and pretty ordinary looks. "There
was nothing beautiful or majestic about his appearance, nothing to attract us
to him." (Isa. 53:2). Drop-dead smile? Steal-your-breath physique? Hardly.
Heads didn't turn when Jesus passed. In fact, if he was anything like his
peers, he likely had a broad peasant's face, dark olive skin, short curly hair,
and a prominent nose. He may have been no taller than 5’1”, and – at that
height – would have weighed not much more than 110 pounds. Hardly the cover of a
GQ Magazine. In fact, according to a
third-century historian, Origen, "his body was small and ill-shapen and
ignoble." Which begs the question, “Are your looks run-of-the-mill and
your ways simple?” Well, so were his. He's been there.
Jesus had a questionable
pedigree, too. Raised in an overlooked nation among oppressed people in an
obscure village. Simple home. Single mom. An ordinary laborer with ordinary
looks. Can you spot him? See the adobe house with the thatched roof? Yeah, the
one with the chickens in the yard and the gangly teenager repairing chairs in
the woodshed. Word has it that he can make repairs to your house, too. Why? Because
he's been there. "He had to enter into every detail of human life. Then,
when he came before God as high priest to get rid of the people's sins, he
would have already experienced it all himself – all the pain, all the testing –
and would be able to help where help was needed." (Heb. 2:17-18) Are you
poor? Jesus knows how you feel. Are you on the lowest rung of the social
ladder? He understands. Ever feel taken advantage of? Christ paid taxes to a
foreign dictator. He's been there. He understands the meaning of obscurity.
But what if your
life isn’t obscure? What if you have a business to run, or crowds to manage, or
a classroom to lead? Can Jesus relate? Absolutely. He recruited and oversaw his
own organization. Seventy men plus an assortment of women looked to him for
leadership. Do you make budgets and lead meetings and hire personnel? Christ
knows leadership isn’t easy. His group included a zealot who hated the Romans,
and a Jewish tax collector who’d worked for them. Making matters worse, the
mother of two of his key men demanded positions of prominence in the
organization for her two sons. Jesus understands the stress of leadership.
Ever feel as if
you need to get away? So did Jesus. "Early the next morning, while it was
still dark, Jesus woke and left the house. He went to a lonely place, where he
prayed." (Mark 1:35) Ever have so many demands that you can't stop for
lunch? He can relate. "Crowds of people were coming and going so that
Jesus and his followers did not even have time to eat." (Mark 6:31) Do you
have too many e-mails to which you need to respond, or too many calls to make
in a day? Christ has been there. "Great crowds came to Jesus, bringing
with them the lame, the blind, the crippled, those who could not speak, and
many others. They put them at Jesus' feet, and he healed them." (Matt.
15:30)
How about family
tensions? "When his family heard what was happening, they tried to take
him home with them. 'He's out of his mind,' they said." (Mark 3:21) Have
you been falsely accused? Enemies called Jesus a wino and a chowhound. (Matt.
11:19) The night before his death people
"tried to find something false against Jesus so they could kill him."
(Matt. 26:59) Do your friends ever let you down? When Christ needed help, his
friends dozed off. "You men could not stay awake with me for one
hour?" (Matt. 26:40)
Unsure of the
future? Jesus was. Regarding the last day of history, he explained, "No
one knows when that day or time will be, not the angels in heaven, not even the
Son." (Matt. 24:36) Can Jesus really be the Son of God and not know
something? He can if he chooses not to. Knowing you would face the unknown, he
chose to face the same. You see, Jesus has been there. He experienced "all the pain, all the testing." (Heb. 2:18) Jesus was angry enough to purge
the temple, hungry enough to eat raw grain, distraught enough to weep in
public, fun-loving enough to be called a drunkard, winsome enough to attract
kids, weary enough to sleep in a storm-bounced boat, poor enough to sleep on
dirt and have to borrow a coin for a sermon illustration, radical enough to get
kicked out of town, responsible enough to care for his mother, tempted enough
to know the smell of Satan, and fearful enough to sweat blood.
So, why would
heaven's finest Son endure earth's toughest pain? So you would know that "(s)ince
he himself has gone through suffering and testing, he is able
to help us when we are being tested." (Heb. 2:18) Whatever you’re facing,
he knows how you feel.
Every year, thousands
of people run through the streets of San Diego to raise money for breast cancer
research. Most run, or walk, out of kindness, happy to log a mile or a 5k and
donate a few dollars to the cause. A few run in memory of a loved one, others
in honor of a cancer survivor. Participants run for a lot of different reasons.
But no runner was more passionate than the one I spotted in a picture of one of
those events. A bandanna covered her bald head, and dark circles shadowed her
eyes. She had cancer. While many ran out of kindness, she ran out of
conviction. She knew how cancer victims feel. She's been there. So has Jesus.
"He himself has gone through suffering and testing and is able to help
us when we are being tested." When you turn to him for help, he runs to you to help. Why? Because he knows how you
feel. He's been there. He loves you. And remember how Jesus wasn’t reluctant to
call his ancestors his family? He's not ashamed of you either. "Jesus, who
makes people holy, and those who are made holy are from the same family. So he
is not ashamed to call them his brothers and sisters." (Heb. 2:11)
He's not ashamed
of you. Nor is he confused by you. Your actions don't bewilder him. Your tilted
halo doesn't trouble him. So go to him. After all, you're a part of his family.
Grace,
Randy
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