“The Beauty of Jesus’ Humanity”       Gen 3:15

2^nd Sunday in Advent       Vicar Kehl             December 4^th 2011

 The phrase “changed the course of history” is interesting.  When we hear this phrase we might think about some very influential people.  Some people that come to my mind are Thomas Jefferson, Albert Einstein, Martin Luther, and Bill Gates.  All of these people did something in their lifetime that brought about some new innovation that influenced many people.

No one changed history quite like the first man, Adam.  He was walking history. He was the first man.  He was the first to enjoy God’s creation; creation at its prime. He had the privilege of naming the animals, of joining together with his wife as the first couple and giving first life in their son Cain.  Some of the things Adam got to experience for the first time were pretty fantastic, but then there were some things that ended up being devastating.

            Adam was responsible for sin.  Sin entered the world through him when the serpent (Satan) convinced him and his wife to disobey God’s will.  Adam failed to trust in God even though God gave him everything he would ever need.  He had all of creation to rule over.  He had the garden to produce food for him and his spouse.  God was sustaining them in this creation and even walking with them in the cool of the day, yet all that went away.

Then there was a barrier put up between God and man. That barrier was sin. Adam changed the world in an instant and not in a medical breakthrough or world peace sort of way; he changed the world for the worse.  He brought evil into a world that was in God’s own words, “very good.” Adam’s list of firsts now becomes tainted by sin. What happened next begins an endless cycle.  Adam and Eve, now sinners, gave birth to a child, who was a sinner.  Once the chain started it wasn’t going to stop.  Sinners give birth to sinners and there is no one who is not a sinner, therefore the curse of sin continues even to our day.

What does having a sinful nature mean for you and me?  It means we were separated from God.  We were not able to please God in any aspect of our lives because there was that enmity-hatred, hostility- between man and God. That enmity brought a strange relationship with Satan the serpent.  Like Adam and Eve, we “play” with Satan. We sit there and listen to his ideas and think that we won’t be affected by them.  We toy with temptation and maybe even take part in some “appealing” sins.  “Eh, a few sins won’t hurt that much, right?”  Remember that one sin brought the barrier of sin we inherited.  Sin pushes us away from what man once had in the garden, perfect conformity with God’s will. Now we have no chance to mend that barrier. That’s how Satan wanted it. 

Satan must have felt he won the battle against God. He corrupted God’s creation, but God quickly puts Satan in place. It was not God’s intention to be separated from his creation.  God makes that clear in what he says in our reading for today. Read Gen 3:15.   God spoke these words to the serpent, to Satan. God was going to put the enmity – hatred, hostility – where it rightly should be, between man and between Satan, and so for Satan, these were words of condemnation.  It was the assurance that he will be destroyed by a man, the “seed of the woman.”  The cool part about this is the way God kept his words very general.  God didn’t use names but he just said “woman” and “he.”  By doing this God left Satan in the dark, wondering when that seed would come. It could come from any woman at any time.

            At the same time God was speaking this message of condemnation on Satan, Adam and Eve were hearing the first promise of the gospel.  Their sins separated them from their God, but that was going to change.  There was an “offspring” that was going to come and crush the serpents head and mend the relationship between God and his creation. The way God would accomplish that was again through the “seed” of the woman.  There needed to be someone who could live under the law to fulfill it.  The law was given to man, so really it was man who had to fulfill it.

With the promise in place, years and years went by. I wonder how Satan held up during that time?  Thousands of years after the first gospel promise was made it was fulfilled.  The prophecy found it’s fulfillment in the manger in the person of Jesus, son of God and son of Mary.  Yes, He’s both divine and human at the same time.  He’s both a Savior who is Christ the Lord, and a baby wrapped in cloths.    Now it’s very easy to say, “yeah, yeah, both God and man at the same time,” but sometimes we forget what that means. Don’t brush over the details here.  Many times our minds don’t grasp the reality of Jesus being true God and true man because we hear it so often.

For today, let’s focus on the truth that Jesus is a real human.  Think of what that means.  Jesus had to be born.  He didn’t just pop out of the womb and jump into his manger.  Mary most likely experienced the pain any other mother had to endure.  Labor pains, from what I hear, are not a walk in the park. J Birth for the baby can’t be too comfortable either.  Baby Jesus had to be cared for and watched over.  He was a defenseless little baby that needed to be fed and changed. From this point until Jesus’ early ministry we don’t hear too much about the life of Jesus.  His toddler, teen, and early adult years remain a mystery for the most part, but we know he remained human.

As baby Jesus grew, don’t you think that he grew in the same way we grow?   Did Jesus hit puberty? Did his voice crack and deepen as he grew into a young man? It sure could have.  Do you think Jesus picked up a few bumps and scraps along the way? It’s very possible.   What Scripture tells us and what we know is that Jesus was hungry, tired, and thirsty.  All human traits! It’s sort of mind blowing, isn’t it, to think of Jesus in our shoes.  Think of past experiences and then ask yourself, “is it possible that my God had similar experiences?”  It’s not out of the realm of possibilities.  How cool is that?

Just because Jesus was both God and man did not mean that his life was somehow easier than anyone else’s.  In fact, the argument can be made the other way; that he had it harder.  Think in regards to the temptations.  Was Jesus exempt from them?  I don’t think that Satan would let that happen. Satan was not going to take it easy on Jesus, no; he was working his hardest to get Him to slip.  If Jesus failed just once that would mean victory for Satan.  That is why Satan dedicated some serious one-on-one time in the desert to tempt Jesus.  That’s why Satan even worked through Jesus’ companions – like Peter – to try to lead Him into sin.  The devil was after Him, tooth and nail!    

Yet, Jesus never failed.  Jesus fulfilled every law.  He remained perfect and holy in the eyes of the Lord. He did not succumb to the temptations that Satan so vigorously sent his way; rather, he lived His life in perfect accord with the will of His Father.

You have to wonder what Satan is thinking at this point.  He couldn’t get Jesus to budge from his perfection, so if Satan couldn’t corrupt Jesus, he would destroy him.  This is where the passion of Jesus begins.  Judas, the High Priest, the Jewish people, the Roman soldiers, and even Pilate were the tools Satan used to bring Jesus to the cross.  The only way Satan could get to Jesus was to take advantage of Jesus’ humanity and kill him.  Ironically, by doing this Satan fulfilled the prophecy that was given thousands of years before.   Jesus’ death on the cross was the serpent (Satan) striking His heel, but because Jesus lived under the law perfectly and fulfilled the will of the Father, that same death was the crushing blow to Satan’s head.  That death brought us freedom from sin and life eternal in heaven.  Jesus suffered the full consequences!

What a beautiful display of love!  God the Son willingly humbled himself to be man, because it was only by being a man that he could suffer and die for us.  The1^st Adam brought about the need for the cross.  His disobedience brought death for all people.  Jesus (the 2^nd Adam) willingly took up that cross and suffered for us.  Only a man could live under the law and so a man had to fulfill it. That is why Jesus came, as a man.  He came to do what we couldn’t.  He willingly came and struggled under the weight of the cross because He knew that you and I would struggle with our sins. Jesus pushed his body to the point of collapsing because He knew that over and over we would collapse under our sins.  He did that for us, and because He did He now speaks words of forgiveness and peace to us.

The 1st Adam changed history.  His actions influenced every human being to ever live.  His one act of disobedience towards God tipped off generations and generations of disobedience and separation from God.  Talk about a ripple effect. 

Jesus, descendant of the 1st Adam, also changed the course of history.  He was the first man to live a righteous life.  By living that righteous life he brought eternal life for the “offspring” of Eve, to those who believe[d] in the promise of the Savior. You are the “offspring,” because of what Jesus has done. Praise the Lord for the righteousness he sheds on us!