Becoming a Human

When I think about Jesus coming to earth as a baby, sometimes I wonder what it must have felt like to be so limited, so utterly restricted. The Son of God, God Himself, stripping off much of His power and limiting Himself to the confines of humanity, and an infant at that!

Infants can’t do much of anything. In the womb a baby sits there and grows, and while they do other things like moving in there, infants don’t do very many things. Once born, the baby can’t take care of itself at all. It can’t hold its own head up, doesn’t have great control over its limbs, and the only way it can communicate a need is by crying. What must that have been like for Jesus? He couldn’t feed Himself, couldn’t talk, couldn’t even control when He relieved Himself.

On top of that, as a human develops, the brain has only so much it can comprehend at a given stage in development. How much of Jesus’ Divine nature was restricted by His human nature? How much of that restriction was He aware of at any given point as He grew up? How much did Jesus actually have to learn, and how?

And then on top of that, muscular coordination must develop. We don’t all just one day wake up with perfect ability to use the bathroom, feed ourselves, fasten things, and do all kinds of work, so it stands to reason Jesus didn’t either. See also Luke 2:52, especially the original Greek.

Then there was the part about Jesus submitting to His parents. He was above them as the Son of God, but humbly submitted to their authority because it was the right thing to do. See also Luke 2:51, especially the original Greek.

To clarify, I’m not trying to explain and tell you exactly what Jesus felt like, I’m just wondering for the point of highlighting all that Jesus gave up for us. Jesus was there helping God create everything at the beginning of time. He is God, with ultimate power. But because He is also ultimate love, He gave up all that and became so limited and restricted, just for us!

For more:
Time Travel to Jesus’ Birth
The Ageless One with an Age
Perspective for Christmas

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