I used to think that if I lived during the time of Jesus I would be one of the first to believe that he is the Son of God. I’m starting to reconsider that thought. I’m starting to see what it would’ve been like to look at Jesus as his neighbors or through the eyes of his brothers. So let me ask you, what would it take to convince you that your brother or your next-door neighbor is the Son of God? What did you have trouble believing?
Would you have trouble believing?
Imagine your Jesus’s next-door neighbor. You see him playing ball with other kids down the street. You watch how he interacts with his family. You notice the kind of student that he is in school. All of these things would point you to the fact that there is something special about this kid- but would it cause you to believe that he is God in the flesh?
Perhaps one of the reasons this was so hard for people to accept is because Jesus appeared to be a very ordinary kid. In fact, this is the background to Matthew 13:54-56. By the time that Jesus started his ministry his message was groundbreaking… It was earth shattering… No one had heard somebody talk like this! And people had trouble believing this was the Son of God because they grew up around him.
They had trouble with the theological concept that’s even difficult for many to understand today – how can Jesus be fully God and fully man at the same time? How is it possible that God can “grow up into a man”? These are not easy questions. The church has wrestled with these questions for thousands of years. This is exactly who Jesus is- 100% God at the same time that he is- 100% man!
What would it take to convince you that he was God in the flesh?
So what would it take to convince you that your brother was God in the flesh? I think it would take for me what it took to convince James and Jude that Jesus was the Son of God. He would have to demonstrate authority over life and death (John 7:3-5).
Christmas is all about Immanuel – the birth of the promised child – God with us. But if it was just the birth of a special baby, if nothing else about Jesus’s life was different, if it wasn’t for his death and resurrection, Christmas would mean nothing. The manger of Jesus’s birth becomes significant only looking at it from the empty tomb. That’s what it took to convince many people- including his brothers- that Jesus was God in the flesh. I hope this short blog helps convince you that Jesus is more than just “a special kid” he is God made into flesh.
Merry Christmas y’all!
