Sitting in church after reconciliation I was struck by the two sides of God, human and divine. The divinity of God is such an out of reach concept for me. I don’t feel I have the capacity to understand it and when I try, it remains just beyond where I am.
Looking up at the cross though, I feel his humanity. I am awed that God gave his son, to become human, to enter our world and live among us, humble flawed people.
I am struck by the physicality and humanity of Jesus. How did he feel at the Last Supper when he knew that one of his friends would betray him? How did he feel with the knowledge that Peter, his rock, would deny he ever knew him, not once but three times? The betrayal must have been heart wrenching and yet he forgave them.
In the garden of Gethsemane, Jesus took three disciples and said to them “my soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death. Stay here and keep watch with me.” He prayed three times to God, scared and alone as his disciples failed three times to remain awake.
How did it feel to be mocked and ridiculed? I can’t imagine how much the whip smarted on his back, how the crown of thorns stung and how heavy the cross was, born under all those hurts. The thought of the nails makes my hands and feet curl.
God surely knew that his divinity and his unconditional love was a challenge for us to comprehend. So he made his son human so that he could walk among us, feeling human emotion and pain. Although Jesus is the most perfect human who ever lived, his presence and his life was the most relatable way which God could communicate with us. Even though he was without sin, we see in the bible that Jesus faced challenges, was hurt by betrayal, got angry, felt joy, was part of a human family and felt pain.
I am in awe of the sacrifice God made in creating Jesus in human form and then giving him up on the cross so that we might glimpse that divinity and understand the depth of his love for us. This Easter season, I remember his sacrifice and am profoundly grateful.