He was both human and God

There is a book out there, it’s called “Lamb: The Gospel According to Biff, Christ’s Childhood Pal.”

It’s a somewhat humorous book and serious as well.

One scene that sets out in particular is the time when Biff and Jesus met when they were six years old.

In this story, Biff runs into Jesus bringing a lizard back to life.

Again.

And again.

Because, as Biff describes it, Jesus would smote that lizard mightily and repeatedly with a rock and then bring it back to life.

Again.

And again.

Another scene from the book:

“Joshua was bumping people in the crowd as he passed, seemingly on purpose, and murmuring just loud enough so I could hear him each time he hit someone with a shoulder or an elbow. ‘Healed that guy. Healed her. Stopped her suffering. Healed him. Comforted him. Ooo, that guy was just stinky. Healed her. Whoops, missed. Healed. Healed. Comforted. Calmed.'”

Now, I would recommend you all read the book but I did want to highlight those scenes as they talks to the true nature of Jesus and when did Jesus realize he was truly the son of God.

And there is some debate out there surrounding when and how Jesus understood his divinity.

Some wonder if he was born knowing that he was fully divine and even as an infant could truly understand that he was the son of God, that as a perfect being was he a perfect being as an infant?

Did he understand that though his mortal shell was that of child’s, he knew instinctually that he was in fact, divine?

To say yes to those questions is one point of view.

Others might say that he grew into his divinity, that as a child he was more childlike and only as he got older did he finally realize that he and God were one along with the Holy Spirit.

This would be another reason why God speaking from the heavens naming Christ as God’s beloved at the moment of his baptism was so important.

I go back and forth on this argument, actually, and I am glad for it.

I find it interesting to wonder about such things.

It is important to wrestle with our beliefs around the true nature of Jesus and of Christ’s divinity.

And I think the reading this week is an opportunity for us to really think about Christ’s true nature for it is in this reading where Jesus encounters a Canaanite woman in Matthew’s gospel.

She challenges him, and from a certain point of view, you might even say her argument causes him to change his mind.

Some backstory: Jesus is in the lands north of Galilee in the district of Tyre and Sidon.

He encounters a woman asking Jesus to heal her daughter of her demons.

But Jesus says he will not for his mission is to save the people of Israel.

He says, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.”

And the Canaanite woman responded, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”

To this Jesus replies that her faith is great and her daughter was healed immediately.

This is where we can really think about just who Jesus is.

Was his mind changed by the woman?

Was Jesus acting in a very human way by not allowing her daughter to be freed of demons?

And when he encountered a better argument as to why she should be healed, did he change his mind?

Now, there are some implications to that if he did change his mind.

Can God, in this case the son of God, being omniscient and omnipresent actually change God’s mind?

Or, can Jesus, being fully human while still being fully divine, experience what it’s like to have one’s mind changed when presented with better evidence?

Is there nothing more human than changing one’s mind?

This stuff is kind of the nitty gritty and still, I do think it is important for us to consider such things.

If Jesus began life as Christus Rex, Christ the King, then that perhaps speaks to us individually about how we approach our relationship with him.

Is Jesus the God and Lord of all?

Or did Jesus grow into Christhood?

Might it be easier to have a more personal, chummy, Biff-like relationship with Jesus if we trend to favoring the more human elements of Jesus’ life?

I know only this: Who Jesus was is a mystery.

What Jesus was is not.

For he was yes, both human and God.

He kicked the dirt and cursed fig trees never to bear fruit again; he turned tables and showed flashes of emotion, maybe even anger.

And he healed people; he released them of their demons; he forgave folks weighed down by their sin and lifted up others so they might walk.

He was both, absolutely; he was both human and God.

And most of all Jesus is.

Not was.

Not used to be.

Love.

Jesus is love and ultimately, the perfect manifestation of God’s love for all of us.

He told us to love our neighbor.

He told us to love God.

And he did.

And we do.

Take with you this evening these thoughts.

Really stew on them, think about them.

Who is Jesus and who is Jesus to you.

Because to a Canaanite woman Jesus was the Son of David and the Christ who could heal her child.

She had faith in all of that and her faith made her daughter well.

That is what we know and still there is so much more about which to wonder.

Yet we never have to wonder if we are loved, for Christ loves us and by his command, we love each other.

Amen.