A MAN AMONG MEN

 

“We know very little about the personality, form, visage, and general appearance of the Lord Jesus…. We know He was born…..we know He ‘grew up with his brethren’ (JST Matt 3:24) and that when He was about thirty years of age He began a strenuous full-time mission that would tax the strength of the most physically powerful of men.

“During that ministry we read of Him eating and drinking; of his being hungry, tired and thirsty; of his walking long distances, climbing high mountains, and sleeping soundly amid storms and terrors.

“We know he was smitten, scourged, and crucified, and that nails pierced his hands and feet and a spear was thrust into his side. There can be no doubt that He grew up and lived as other men live, subject to the ills and troubles of mortality.”

-        Bruce R. McConkie, The Promised Messiah, p 477

We also know that He stood above other men in personality, character and demeanor. A Messianic Psalm gives us this glimpse into the mortal Messiah: “Thou art fairer than the children of men” (Psalm 45:2).

Dictionary definitions of ‘fair’ include the following: clean, pure, spotless, characterized by frankness, honestly, impartiality, or candor: just. Certainly He was all that and more, possessing a flawless character which distinguished Him from other men.

The Saviour was divested of His glory in mortality and born as other men. He grew and worked as a humble carpenter, serving under His father and being subject to mortal parents waiting for the time of His ministry (Mark 6:3; Luke 2:51). But then this: “He spoke not as other men, neither could he be taught; for he needed not that any man should teach him” (JST Matt 3:24-26).

What I find most endearing about His mortality is the time that He slept through a raging storm. The Saviour spent three years traversing the dusty roads of Galilee and Judea to the point of exhaustion. His tiredness would have been massive even for a fit carpenter.

This is the moment that showed His humanity. His tiredness was such that He slept soundly despite the raging tempest tossing the vessel He slept in. I don’t know why, but this affects me emotionally. A God yet a man, a man above all men.

Yet His godship surpassed His humanity when He spoke: “Peace, be still!” and the waters obeyed. Such command, such control, such power in one man!  (Mark 4:39)

He arose and rebuked the roaring winds

and the raging sea,

He, who with His word

caused the earth to be,

Spoke to the Galilean tempest:

 “Peace, be still”.

 

He who has all things

under His command,

Calmed the troubled sea of dismay

in the souls of men.

 

He, who holds all humanity

in the palm of His hand,

Caused the waves of the sea

to whisper His name.

- CATHRYNE ALLEN 

(Artist Unknown)