Occasionally, when I start thinking about Jesus and his earthly life, it seems to me that his life is full of contradictions, or, if I am bold enough to say, full of paradoxes. Jesus is God; however he decided to become man. He is Divine; however he is also human. H
e is Almighty; however he lived a poor life. He performed a number of miracles; however he lived a normal life. He insisted on obedience to the laws; however he became known as a law-breaker. His teachings made him the focal point of controversy; however, he hushed up the talk of being the Messiah whenever he’d done something miraculous. He walked right through the angry crowd in Nazareth; however he surrendered himself to the authorities when they came looking for him. He is a holy person; however he resided with shunned people. He is a simple, friendly person; however he became angry and upturned the tables in the Temple. Well then, how am I supposed to understand a paradoxical person, let alone imitate him?
It is true that Jesus was divine, that he was the Son of God. It is true that he had the power to control the forces of nature according to his will. It is true that he raised people from the dead. It is true that he healed the sick. And it is also true that he exorcized devils from men. Well, after all, God is Almighty!
But, then again, Jesus was also human. And this fact alone gives me hope and courage. Because I am also a human being and therefore I can also relate myself and my experiences with those of Jesus himself. As a human being, Jesus was as normal as you and I. He worked as a carpenter in his father’s workshop. He grew hungry and ate. He grew thirsty and drank. He grew tired and slept. He made friends. He felt compassion for people. He wept when his friends Lazarus died. He felt sorry when he saw all those people even though he needed rest. He felt great sorrow for the widow of Nain. He felt angry in the Temple. He felt love towards the rich man. He felt happiness when his disciples took him at his word. He cried out in anguish in the garden of Gethsemane. He felt pain during his journey to the Calvary. He also died on the cross.
As a result, I can equate my life with Jesus’. I find it hard to believe that Jesus didn’t live as the others did, granted that he was a confrontational person who stirred the norms of society. But we do need confrontational persons. We do need our society norms stirred up or else we may fall into a monotonous lifestyle. I’d like to think that my life’s mission is to bring my lifestyle as close as possible to Jesus’ lifestyle such that we may be called brothers, if you know what I mean. And since I am only human, I can only achieve this by imitating the human part of Jesus. There is no need for me to compromise myself and my identity in order to become another Jesus. Otherwise, what a boring world would it be! No, I will imitate Jesus in my own personal way, first by making baby steps, then walking, and finally, when I am sure of myself, running.
After all, this is the challenge of following Jesus.
