Joseph Mallord Turner, an English painter, invited Charles Kingsley to his studio to see a picture of a storm at sea. In rapt admiration, Kingsley exclaimed, "It's wonderful! It's so realistic! How did you do it?"
The artist replied, "I went to the coast of Holland and engaged a fisherman to take me out to sea in the next storm. Entering his boat as a storm was brewing, I asked him to bind me to the mast. Then he steered his boat into the teeth of the storm.
"The storm raged with such fury that at times I longed to be in the bottom of the boat where the waves would blow over me. I could not, however. I was bound to the mast. Not only did I see the storm in its raging fury, I felt it! It blew into me, as it were, until I became a part of it. After this terrible ordeal, I returned to my studio and painted the picture."
What Joseph Mallord Turner went through in order to paint a picture is what Christ went through in order to save us from our sins. When the eternal Son of God took on flesh, He – so to speak – tied Himself to the mast and endured the fury of the storm. Now He has fully experienced and fully knows what it means to be human.
Today is the third Sunday of Advent. As we continue to prepare our hearts for Christmas we are reminded what we confess about that baby in the manger. Namely, we confess with joy that the baby in the manger is the only Mediator between God and man. We rejoice that this Mediator is truly human and truly righteous.
I Our Mediator is Human
A Can there be any doubt that our only Mediator, Christ Jesus, is human? Hebrews 2 can say, "Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity" (Heb 2:14). Every year, at Christmas, we celebrate and rejoice in the humanity of Jesus. Like every other human Jesus entered our world after being conceived and carried in His mother's womb. The Gospels present to us a picture of Jesus as man: He experienced hunger, thirst, anger, love, joy, sorrow, pain, and happiness – just like any other human. He even faced temptation.
Yes, Jesus was and is human. About that there can be no doubt. And in that we rejoice.
B Nevertheless, there are some throughout history who have denied Christ's humanity because of some false idea of reverence. These people were convinced that our Lord could not possibly be true man. The idea that almighty God fully took on sinful human flesh is unbearable to these people and strikes them as blasphemous.
This kind of thinking is reflected in certain hymns. "Away in a Manger" is notorious for this false kind of piety:
The cattle are lowing, the Baby awakes,
But little Lord Jesus, no crying He makes.
The Jesus Who wept as an adult is strangely silent as an infant!
Some of you might remember a blasphemous movie that was produced and shown in movie theaters about 10 or 11 years ago. It was entitled "The Last Temptation of Christ." I found some notes about it in my sermon illustration file. In this movie Jesus had sexual thoughts concerning Mary Magdalene, committed adultery with her, and fathered children with her. While this sort of movie strongly emphasizes the humanity of Jesus, it is just plain wrong in showing us a Jesus Who could not control His sexual desires. At the same time, it also has no place for the divinity of Christ – there is no room in the script for Jesus as part of the triune Godhead.
Maybe you also remember the reactions to this movie. Many Christians took to the streets in front of the studio that produced the movie – waving placards and signs in protest. We were asked to boycott any movies produced by the studio. The more extreme fundamentalists went so far as to deny both the sexuality of Jesus and the reality of His temptations. In other words, they ended up denying the full humanity of Jesus. To my mind, at least, they were as wrong as the movie studio.
We need to always remember what our Scripture reading tells us: He "had to be made like his brothers in every way" (Heb 2:17) – which would include His sexuality – and, He "has been tempted in every way, just as we are – yet was without sin" (Heb 4:15). As a sinful human being I cannot separate the temptation from the sin so I'm not entirely sure what this means, but I always stand amazed at the thought that Christ was tempted without sinning.
C The Christian religion maintains that God became fully man, that "The Word became flesh and lived for a while among us ... full of grace and truth" (Jn 1:14).
When we think about it, we realize there were two miracles at the incarnation of Christ Jesus: not only that a virgin gave birth, but also that God became a human being and a part of human lineage. Compare Christianity at this point to the mythologies of other religions. A god-man is not an uncommon feature in ancient mythology; in every case, though, it is a man who becomes god rather than god becoming man.
God took on human flesh. Our Mediator is truly human. This affirms, once again, our total inability to save ourselves. To be rescued and delivered from sin, it is not a case of us becoming God, but of God becoming man. Man can't save himself. God had to enter history; He had to become part of human lineage; He had to take on flesh in order for man to be saved.
D Why did Jesus have to take on flesh? The Bible teaches us that He had to take on flesh to be our Mediator. Listen to the Catechism here: "God's justice demands that human nature, which has sinned, must pay for its sin."
Look at it this way. Is it just that the angels or any other creature be punished for the sin of man? Of course not! If you rob a bank, is it just for the judge to take an innocent bystander and throw him into jail for your crime? Of course not! Justice says, "man has sinned, man must pay for his sin." The Mediator, in other words, must be man. Listen to what the Bible says about this:
(Heb 2:14,16-17) Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity ... (16) For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham's descendants. (17) For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for the sins of the people.
This text tells us an important truth: if Christ did His Mediatorial work on behalf of angels, then He would have had to be an angel; since He did His Mediatorial work on behalf of man, He had to be a man. Man sinned so man must pay for sin. Man sinned so the man Jesus gave Himself as a ransom for many.
According to Hebrews there is also another benefit of Jesus taking on our flesh.
(Heb 2:18) Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.
(Heb 4:15) For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are--yet was without sin.
Because Jesus took on our flesh He is more than able to sympathize with us as we struggle and suffer.
At the age of 15, a Jewish boy named Eli Wiesel endured unspeakable horrors at the Buna and Auschwitz concentration camps of Nazi Germany. One horror lives forever in his memory: the condemnation of another boy, maybe 12 years old, who had been caught helping a Dutchman hoard arms inside the camp. At the boy's execution, a prisoner asked, "Where is God now?" Wiesel says he himself answered, "Here He is -- He is hanging here on this gallows."
The point of this story? By taking on flesh, the second person of the triune Godhead identifies with us in our suffering and pain.
But He does more than identify with us and our sorrows. Because He knows what it is like to be human we can come to Him for what we need. That's what the Bible says to us:
(Heb 4:16) Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
We rejoice that we can come to our Mediator when we hurt. We rejoice that we can come to Jesus when we are in pain and sorrow. And we rejoice we can come having every confidence that we will receive the mercy and find the grace we need to keep on going.
II Our Mediator is Righteous
A According to Hebrews our Mediator Jesus is not only human but He is also righteous or sinless.
Jesus was born with an advantage over the rest of us: because He was conceived by the Holy Spirit He did not inherit the guilt or pollution of original sin that you and I acquire from our parents so that "we are conceived and born in sin" (baptism, old form 1). Jesus, our Mediator, is righteous: He was born without indwelling sin and kept Himself free of sin.
As already alluded to, let's not make the error of denying the reality of Christ's temptations. It was no easy matter for Jesus to resist the Devil in the wilderness or in the Garden of Gethsemane: His hunger was real; His questions about His calling were real; His fear of suffering and dying were real.
The sharpest way to put this whole matter into focus is to ask the question, "was it possible for Jesus to sin?" Those who would emphasize the divinity of Christ would say "no." Those who would emphasize His humanity would say "yes." The Bible's answer is "Yes. But He didn't because of the power of His divinity." Or, consider this. Do you think for even one moment that the Devil would have wasted his time on Jesus if it was not possible for Jesus to sin? The Devil is wise enough to do his evil work only where opportunity knocks.
It is important to me that Jesus was tempted as we are. This means He is able to sympathize with us in our temptations too. This means He knows what a struggle it is to always do God's will. This means He understands. Some of you might remember that President Gerald Ford had a reputation for stumbling and being clumsy.
When the former president visited Northeastern State University in Oklahoma several years ago, he had breakfast with some student leaders. As one of the students stepped out of an elevator, her heel caught on the carpet and she crashed into Ford. She repeatedly apologized as he helped her to her feet, but the former president smiled sympathetically. "Don't worry, young lady," he said. "I understand perfectly."
Isn't it wonderful to know that in an even greater way, Jesus understands when we stumble?
He understands yet He did not sin Himself. He is the perfect One, the righteous One.
B Why did Jesus have to be righteous or sinless? The Catechism says "a sinner can not pay for others." Remember what the Catechism said in an earlier question and answer? Sinful man is bankrupt and unable to pay off his debt of sin. If Jesus was a sinner He also would be bankrupt and unable to pay off His own debt of sin, let alone that of others. Listen to what the Book of Hebrews says in chapter 7:
(Heb 7:26-27) Such a high priest meets our need--one who is holy, blameless, pure, set apart from sinners, exalted above the heavens. (27) Unlike the other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first for his own sins, and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their sins once for all when he offered himself.
Jesus was not sinful. He was sinless, perfect, and holy. He had no debt of sin to settle with God. So He is the perfect Mediator – more than able to pay for our sin through His atoning sacrifice.
Conclusion
On this third Sunday of Advent we rejoice that God's Son took on flesh. We confess He didn't come to keep us from suffering; He came to suffer as we must suffer. We confess He didn't come just to keep us from being afraid; He came to be afraid as we are afraid. We confess He didn't come just to keep us from dying; He came to die as we must die. We confess He didn't come to keep us from being tempted; He came to be tempted as we are tempted. In other words, we confess Jesus is truly man.