We know at least some of how Jesus continued to grow and develop during his earthly life: how he grew into his identity as Messiah. I don’t think Jesus asked to be the Messiah any more than any of us asked for the deck of cards that was handed to us in our birth. But Jesus grew into the acceptance of his humanity, his gifts, his limitations, his mission, and his unfinished business, facing the same developmental issues that we all do in growing up.
-Br. Curtis Almquist, Society of Saint John the Evangelist
Regardless of your thoughts on exactly what Jesus' role was in His earthly life, I love contemplating His humanity. It's easy for me to think about His divinity, how much higher and wiser His ways are than mine. But something about His humanity makes me feel bonded to Him in a very endearing way. To know that Jesus felt pain, dread, and other human sensations allows me to feel so understood and unashamed of my weaknesses.
I've never really thought before that Jesus had to struggle to accept and embrace who the Father created Him to be, but that's a very human thing, isn't it? We're all born into a life we didn't ask for and hopefully the question becomes now why, but how. How do we live fully into the life we've been given? Make the best of it? Use it for good? Know what God wants us to do with it? Overcome the evil and continuously become more loving?
I love thinking that Jesus asked those very same questions.
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