Have you ever known someone who is so supremely annoying that they have it all together? Someone who you
only run into when you just happen to be at your worst? When you’ve stopped squeezing avocados in the produce aisle to chase down your tantruming and are right in mid-snap when who should saunter up looking all fresh and perky, but Patty Perfect. Her nails are polished to a shine and she always seems to have a perpetual smile plastered across her Perfect Patty face (and a tiny part of you kinda wants to slap it right off).
Is she the friend you think of when when you need advice? When you need to ugly cry? Probably not. We all probably know at least one Patty Perfect and she’s as unrelateable as she is intimidating. Although our brains know that nobody is perfect, you can’t help but wonder if she ever has a bad day. (Answer: yes, she does).
Jesus was not Patty Perfect. Despite the fact that he was literally perfect – sinless and fully righteous, he was not sent to earth as some handsome, untouchable Ken doll – some robot in a perpetual zen state, there to make the rest of us feel like losers.
Throughout the scriptures, it is evident that Jesus had very real, very honest emotions and he wasn’t afraid to show them. He was disappointed, frustrated, angry and went through a ton of turmoil. Through it all, He never pretended life was perfect.
In fact, when Jesus visited his dear friends Mary and Martha after their beloved brother and Jesus’ close friend Lazarus died, John 11:35 says that Jesus wept. Even though he would ultimately raise Lazarus from the dead, he still grieved the profound loss of this person he loved. He experienced the pain of that moment and he felt the compassion that moved him to shed real tears for his real friends.
Isn’t it incredibly compassionate that God’s plan deliberately included sending a savior that we could relate to? He didn’t send a pompous king wielding a massive scepter to judge and condemn us, but a human who felt all the feels and experienced all the pain and trials that we experience (and some we never have to). What a merciful and kind Father we have!
Think of how our Matthew 26:39 scripture paints such a vivid picture of Jesus, overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death with his face in the dirt, pleading to God. Although it is a painful image, it brings me solace when I’m in the midst of my own grief to know that Jesus also experienced the same emotions I experience. Likewise, when I feel left out by my friends, I remember that Jesus was betrayed by his friends, and when I feel tempted, I remember how Jesus was tempted by Satan himself in the desert (Luke 4:1-13).
Hebrews 4:15
15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to empathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet he did not sin.
One of the biggest gifts in our passage, is the revelation that God sent to us a savior in the form of a very vulnerable, real human being – one that was perfect in every way, yet one that never pretended life was easy and life was perfect. This enables us to truly cling to Him and trust in Him because we know that he understands what it’s like to be flesh and blood. What a gift!
