He Had A Choice

 because as He is, so are we in this world.

— 1 John 4:17 (NKJ)

We have been looking at Jesus, the Son of Man, living in our humanity.  Here are a few verses that show him as the Son of Man. Many of these verses I would read and be baffled. I understood the words but didn’t understand how it could be. As I began to grasp the humanity of Jesus, I suddenly saw these verses with new insight.

Jesus says in John 14:28b  “I am going to the Father, for My Father is greater than I”. How is this possible? It doesn’t make sense because aren’t the Father and the Son equal? So then how is the Father greater?!? The Father is greater because Jesus was human. He had already set aside and let go of all his divine privileges. He chose to be human and in his humanity the Father is greater. He fully identifies with us.

In John 6:38 “For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but the will of Him who sent Me.” We see that Jesus has a will and it was separate from the Father’s will. It was distinctly his own. Even though he had a will, he is choosing to put it under the Father’s will. 

Another time when we see his will as separate from the Father’s will is in the Garden of Gethsemane. Jesus is praying to the Father and says, “not my will but yours be done”. Luke 22:42. Doesn’t this make you wonder? 

If Jesus is walking the earth in his divinity then why wouldn’t his will be the same as the Father’s will? Aren’t they one and the same? How can there be two wills? Is Jesus’ will different than the Father’s will?

He is saying this as the Son of Man. In the fullness of his humanity, he had a will. It might be hard to believe but he had to bring his will in submission to the Father’s will. It didn’t just happen automatically. He had a choice just as we do. We have a will thus we have a choice. 

He made the choice to submit to the Father’s will. We see this in Matthew 26:39, “Going a little farther, He fell facedown and prayed, ‘My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from Me. Yet not as I will, but as You will.’ ” Here we see his will coming under the will of the Father. He chose to submit to the Father. Jesus had his own will just as we do. Therefore, he totally identifies with us.

Have you ever thought of these verses before? Aren’t they amazing and when you begin to see that Jesus was human to the fullest extent these verses make more sense. They also give us confidence to believe that because we have the Holy Spirit as Jesus did, we, too, can make right choices. 

“He came into my humanity to wrap his arms around me.”