The Humanity of Jesus Means Accessibility

There are times when I hit the wall and realize that I'm just not good at this whole Christianity thing. I am far too mundane; far too concerned with literal, concrete, "down to earth" things. My heart beats faster when I go swimming in cool water on a hot day, when I enjoy a good meal, hear a symphony, or see a beautiful woman. But what about meditating on the Heavenly Jerusalem? Desiring the Kingdom on the Earth? Seeing what the Seraphim see when they gaze upon the rainbow-sardius-jasper-emerald throne?

Do I have a pulse?

It's a much more difficult thing to perceive and appreciate emotionally the beauty and the pleasure of God's ways. David calls them "great matters" and "things too difficult for me" (Psalm 131). God is just too Holy sometimes. The Kingdom is too spiritual. I just don't get it. I can focus on it for about two or three weeks (at most).

I can remember hitting this point in Mexico a few years back. I was there doing an internship with a Christian ministry to widows, orphans, and those below the poverty line. The first three weeks were great - they felt just like a mission trip. I was learning great spiritual lessons, excited to be serving, loving people, and engaged in the worship times. Then, right around week four, it caught up with me: my humanity. I began thinking about TV shows and movies. I began to think about returning to college in a few months. I started to remember my friends back home. I laughed at jokes. I thought about jazz music, and food and drink, and Wal Mart. Everything mundane and frighteningly practical came flooding over me in a single foul swoop. I had hit my wall. My ability to focus and have my heart engaged with an ethereal, unseen version of God had up and gone. But what else was there? What happens when God's children grow weary and can no longer appreciate the lofty majesty of the Unseen God?

God becomes one of us.

The fact that Jesus became a man first and foremost means to me that he made himself utterly accessible. For those of us who just can't quite grasp the lofty nature of the Divine One, the Man Jesus says to us "It's okay... just look at me, because believe it or not, I look just like the Father." Jesus is the act of God stooping to our level. All of a sudden, the formerly incomprehensible compassion of God hits me. Not only is God on His Throne in heaven, but he is washing the dirt off of my feet with a towel. Not only does God in heaven hear my prayer, but God in the flesh sits down at my dinner table and has seconds.

The more I try to contemplate the Glory of God and the Beauty of His ways, the more I'm finding that it's the humanity of Jesus that touches me most deeply. Allen Hood, a leader at IHOP, says that the majesty of God on his throne will cause you to worship Him, but the humanity of Jesus is what will cause you to love Him. That God became man means that God became approachable, visible, and understandable. What was formerly incomprehensible in Holiness now is tactile, sensory, and even sympathetic. God taking on flesh means that I don't have to strive to live my life in heavenly realms of glory where God lives (although one day, I will!). The situation is actually reversed: God is striving to reach down into the place where I am living. I love what Jason Upton says - that the heart cry of God is not "Open up the Heavens," but "Open up the Earth!"

Embrace the simple things. Learn to appreciate that God has put himself on display once and for all in the humanity of Jesus. The next time you find yourself longing to gaze on the beauty of God, you may just find yourself staring at the face of a man.