As Jesus prepares to go to the cross, we see His humanity shown front and center. Praying in the garden, He asks the Father if there is any other way for Him to save us other than to suffer and die on the cross. In this moment, Jesus isn’t questioning the plan of salvation nor is He considering backing out. He is struggling with His humanity, knowing the physical pain of the whips and nails and the emotional pain of betrayal and the Father turning away from Him that was to come.
Jesus became man for our salvation.
He took on flesh that He might stand in our place and be judged for our sin. His humanity bore the sin of all humanity so your sin and mine would be removed. Now, through faith in Jesus, we stand guiltless before the Father and can truly call Him our Father.
Jesus also understands.
- He has been hungry.
- He knows what it’s like to be rejected and betrayed.
- He knows what it’s like to suffer.
- He knows what it’s like to be tempted.
He has become our priest, our mediator. He advocates for us in our weakness as one who understands our weakness. So, we can go to Him in our times of weakness and know He will draw us close to Him and strengthen us. We know we can lean into Him. In fact, when we are weak, He is our strength…which is greater than our strength ever could be, which is why we can say with Paul,