“I’m only human!” – That is often the response we give when we make a mistake, make a mess of something, or are simply, well, human. We grow very accustom to our humanness, as well as the humanness of others. We accept that others as well as ourselves will from time to time make errors, do silly or foolish things, and royally muck things up. It happens; we are only human, after all. But how comfortable are with the humanness of Jesus?
We may get rather cozy with Jesus’ God qualities. He was and is divine, perfect, holy, righteous, loving, and complete. Yet it seems that Jesus’ humanness trips us up. If you had a celestial scale with Jesus’ divinity on one side and His humanness on the other, I tend to think, in most people’s minds; His divine side would far outweigh the other. Yet, in His earthly existence, we are told they were perfectly balanced, one did not outweigh the other.
Through the Scriptures, we are told that He was perfectly divine and perfectly human. It is a hard concept to wrap our minds around, since we have no personal experience in it, nor know of anyone personally who has. How often, I wonder, must His Godhood wanted to burst through his skin and reveal itself fully? How often He must have had to hold back, not revealing more of His divinity than the situation called for. Like a diamond wrapped in cellophane, like a high-powered racecar engine enclosed in a Pinto.
But it is Jesus’ humanness that causes us to stumble. How human was He really? The questions flow in our minds as to the level of his humanness. We know He wept, but did He laugh? Did He tell jokes? Did He ever pull a trick on one of His followers? Did He snore? Did He ever make a mistake? Did He ever forget someone’s name? Questions we will never on this earth be able to answer.
The Scriptures give us glimpses into His humanity throughout the gospels. We know He went to celebrations through the account of the wedding at Canaan. We know He enjoyed the company of others as well as time alone. We know he was compassionate to those in need, showed great mercy and tenderness, yet did not tolerate fools and hypocrites. It is ironic that the attributes of His humanness that we shy away from are the ones we should most embrace. The Scriptures teach that He was fully human in all ways, yet without sin. The only difference in our basic humanness and His was that He was incapable of sin; we are fully capable to sin.
He could have easily walked this earth as a god, with a halo over His head and his feet six inches off the ground. He could have struck fear in the hearts of men and zapped all those who opposed Him. But He chose not to, that wouldn’t have accomplished His purposes. Instead of drawing people to Him, He would have driven them away in fear. In essence, He became human because we are human, became one of us so we may identify with Him. He lived as a human for us, then He died for us.
So, beloved, embrace His humanness as you do His deity. Hold on to it, gaze at it, and love Him for His willingness to become as we are. Comfort yourself with it, knowing that when you are sad, so was He, when you weep, He did also, when you suffer loss, he also knew the pain of bereavement.

Also be assured, when you laugh, He also enjoyed a good belly laugh, when you are happy, enjoying life, He did that often, and when you are in the throne zone, worshipping God the Father, totally enraptured with His glory and grace, loving Him, praising Him, know Jesus was there often and still is today, for eternity. He is God, very God, from beginning to end, yet for a short time, He was one of us. When He walked the earth, He became as we are, when we meet Him in glory, we will become as He is.