“For unto us a child is born….” And that child became a toddler and a pre-teen. He was a teenager before He became an adult.
As this year winds to a close, most of us have taken a look back and remembered the ups and down of 2014. This has been a great year in the Nelson home; it has been full of blessings and burdens. In a recent post (“God of Mondays”), I shared how my youngest had been wounded by the perpetual 8th grade nastiness, and how I had treasured the privilege of comforting her through the pain. I told her about how Jesus had been rejected too. I showed her places in scripture where friends had wounded Jesus and I repeated His promises to comfort her.
“This High Priest of ours understands our weaknesses, for he faced all of the same testings we do, yet he did not sin.”
Hebrews 4:15 (NLT)
This Christmas season, I keep thinking about the beauty of God’s plan to come to earth as a baby. Jesus came to die. I guess that means that He could have died as an infant or come as an adult. He had a lot of prophecies to fulfill, but He could have found a more expedient way to do it. He is God and He is all-powerful. He laid down His life when the time was right. He died on the cross to save us from our sins when His job on earth was finished.
It is incredibly precious to me that He considered it His job to live every day and stage of 33 years. It shows such kindness and intimacy that He would live and sometimes suffer through each stage. He lived it and so He really does understand everything we are going through. He doesn’t just sympathize, He empathizes.
This truth is especially tender to me as a mom. As I guide my children and teach them what I know, it is such a relief that when I fail or forget or get frustrated with the suckiness of circumstances, Jesus doesn’t. A mother’s heart is tender, but it is also flawed.
When our toddlers throw tantrums or get confused about the shifting family dynamics of a new baby in the home, Jesus remembers the pain. His parents brought a baby brother home and He lived the toddler life.
When our kids jump or run without abandon and their 10-year-old bodies don’t keep up with their expectations, Jesus gets it. He fell down too and He knows how to comfort them.
Jesus was 13. He felt the rejection of shifting friendships. He knows what it was like to be accepted one day and gossiped about the next.
Jesus knew the teenage frustration of being fully-grown and full of information and to still be considered a youth.
He understands hormones and stress. He knows what it is like to be physically exhausted and hungry and in pain. He knows what it is like to work so hard day after day and to not see change. He identifies with the agony of hard work without acknowledgement and with indifference to vulnerability.
God’s plan of coming as a baby who lived every stage shows beautiful compassion. He lived it. He identifies with every circumstance and burden. He came to set us free from our captivity. He gets it. He loves us like no one else even can. Rejoice! Rejoice! Jesus was 3 and Jesus was 13. He is God. He was and is and will be evermore!
Oh, come, oh, come, Emmanuel, And ransom captive Israel, That mourns in lonely exile here Until the Son of God appear. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to you, O Israel!
Oh, come, O Key of David, come, And open wide our heav’nly home; Make safe the way that leads on high, And close the path to misery. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to you, O Israel!
Oh, come, our Dayspring from on high, And cheer us by your drawing nigh, Disperse the gloomy clouds of night, And death’s dark shadows put to flight. Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to you, O Israel!