Divine Jesus: The Human Self

A call to ‘LIVE OURSELVES CHRISTIANS’ rather than simply ‘CALL OURSELVES CHRISTIANS’

Read – Gospel according to St. Mathew, Chapter 14
Every time we think about Jesus or picture Him in our minds, we unmistakably draw in a divine picture. And we subconsciously, and to our advantage, ignore the human person of Him. It’s like: “oh, all that goodness is possible because Jesus was divine and I am but a mortal sinner and so it’s not possible for me to be so perfect or even a minuscule of what He was.” We choose to hide behind Jesus is the divine mantra and justify our continuation with our ‘non-good-samaritan’ lives. How much we love to bask in that, ‘I am but a poor sinner’s glory and deceptively shirk away from our Christian responsibilities.
Let’s get out of the shallow waters, dive into the deep waters and pick up the gems of the ‘human-self’ Jesus…

When Jesus heard about John the Baptist’s beheading, He withdrew by a boat to a private place. (Mt. Ch. 14, v. 13) Don’t you think the possibility of Jesus being the next one on the hit-list, must not have crossed Jesus’ mind? A BIG POSSIBLE YES! In that case, do you think that Jesus was excited about getting beheaded? A BIG NO? He was just like you and me. AFRAID! He didn’t want to escalate a political confrontation and didn’t wish to be the second on the list. Why do I surmise that?
Well, John the Baptist (JTB) was an outspoken political critic of Herod and although Jesus kept away from open politics in His public life, He was all the same connected to JTB, by blood and by philosophical design.
Given the fan following of JTB, Herod was inherently afraid of killing JTB…but once he did that deed, what would stop him to go after Jesus. Plus, now that JTB was dead all his fans and disciples must have joined Jesus and the crowds at His teachings must have swelled all the more. This must-have turned it into a very explosive situation, unnerving Herod all the more. Jesus the ‘human-self’ must have been aware of all this. Thus the possibility of getting beheaded became very real by the emboldened Herod and Jesus chose to diffuse the situation by going away in private… can we say hiding? And why not? He was human, He must have felt afraid of getting beheaded plus His mission was not complete. Many times in a family or any other social situations, whether with friends or at the office, we so readily get into unnecessary confrontations, forgetting our Christian mission in life. Many times we want to show we are not afraid and are ready for a good fight. But being afraid and withdrawing from an explosive situation is not a sign of weakness but a sign of strength, as the ‘human self’ Jesus has shown us. He was smart to not give Herod a chance to get rid of Him although running away into hiding may have seemed like cowardice.

When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick. (Mt. Ch. 14, v. 14) On hearing the news of JTB’s beheading and the social commotion that must have ensued, Jesus withdrew to a private place, possibly in an act of self-preservation. And yet, given the social and political unrest due to JTB’s beheading, when people still sought Him out like lost sheep, Jesus had compassion on them and started tending to them keeping aside His fear of getting beheaded. This move once again reiterates the bravery in Jesus’ withdrawal from confrontation as discussed above and it is the same bravery that made Him set aside His fear of getting beheaded and tending to the lost sheep immediately. Once again the ‘human-self’ of Jesus felt the pain of the people, out of which arose compassion for them, which in turn enabled Him to overcome His own personal fear of self-preservation.
This move of Jesus shows the kind of a leader He was. A non-confrontationist smart leader and yet compassionate enough to risk getting beheaded. What we learn here is that the human self of Jesus was willing to take risks for the sake of larger good arising out of compassion but not risking anything for unnecessary causes.
So many times we undertake huge risks for our personal good and a good fight but shy away from reaching out to others because of the inherent risks to our security, survival and life’s comfort. It would stand in good stead for us to understand and appreciate that there was nothing divine in Jesus being afraid of getting beheaded and withdrawing, and at the same time deciding to expose Himself to danger for the sake of the gathered people out of His compassion. In both situations, it was the ‘human self’ of Jesus that appropriately responded according to the situation.

As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.” Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.” (Mt. Ch. 14, v. 15-16)

a) Many times, having lived and interacted with social groups, we tend to understand the underlying nuances of an expressed gesture or explicit uttering of those around us. In behavioural psychology, it is termed as an ulterior form of communication where what is being said is not what is being meant. For example, two businessmen are enjoying a hearty meal at an expensive restaurant over a business meeting and are having a good time. But at the fag end of the meal when its time for the plates to be cleared by the waiter, one of them picks up the mobile phone, barks hello into it and walks away towards the door to supposedly catch the range and keeps talking forever… we all know what that usually means….selfish and duplicitous! Knowing this or seeing through this kind of behaviour, there is nothing divine about it, but simply our social learnings! When the disciples asked Jesus to send the crowd away showing faux compassion, Jesus knew exactly what it was … ulterior form of communication. What they had in mind was… it is getting late, we are hungry and would like to open our tiffin boxes but if these crowds are still sticking around we shall die of hunger. But can we say this openly to our master and sound so selfish and uncaring? So let’s be smart and put it the other way round and hit two birds with one stone…. be seen as caring and be able to hit our lunch boxes at the same time.

In those days there was no Swiggy or Zomato or for that matter a convenient vada-pav stall at the corner. Everyone carried something to eat and drink while leaving their homes. The disciples would have done that too and Jesus must have known that. And similar to the restaurant situation drawn up earlier, out of social learnings, Jesus’ human-self knew exactly what the disciples’ request was about…selfish and duplicitous on the part of the disciples. That is why he said, why to send them away, you can feed them.

What Jesus meant to say was, I know what’s cooking up there in your minds; don’t be so selfish and uncaring and duplicitous. I want you to open up your own lunch boxes and put them out there. You know I can work a miracle but there will be no miracle unless and until you take the first step and loosen your own purses. So many times, we face situations where out of our goodness we pray for others in the hope God will listen to our prayers and send forth His help, but seldom do we realize we should be loosening our own purses first or walk that extra mile first. We are so happy to simply say, ”I’ll pray for you; may God give you what you want; God bless your family etc etc etc;” but Jesus tells us, that is not enough… why can’t you be the one who takes the first step to be that blessing for which you are praying for.

b) And once again, see, the leader in Jesus’ human-self wanted the disciples to be equal participants in His miracle workings, rather than showing off His individual miracle skills. So many times in public or private service (whether paid or unpaid) we want to be seen and feel as the sole individual doing things and shine at the cost of others around us. But the ‘human-self’ Jesus tells us to be a participatory leaders. At least notionally, give others a chance even though you know ultimately you are the one who is finally getting the things done. Give everyone around you a sense of ownership of the task at hand and that is true charity.

After he had dismissed them, he went up to a mountainside by himself to pray. Later that night, he was there alone. (Mathew Chapter 14 verse 23)
Time and time again, we see throughout the Bible that Jesus sneaks in an opportunity to pray. That is the biggest sign of the ‘human self’ Jesus … time and time again he felt the need to pray and communicate with God. He had a human need to share with God His fears, His joys, His misgivings, His thanksgivings, and His need for reassurances in order to carry on with His difficult mission. Just like us… nothing different. But there is a difference: A very big difference. We generally seek and give prominence to praying in groups and mumbling ourselves away to glory. Even alone we generally mumble and stumble over the set prayers and get done with it like a parrot. We generally pray in a mechanical manner and the communication part of the prayer is absent. The best quality of communication takes place in silence… meditation is all about that.
Many times haven’t we watched a pair of lovers sitting on the beach in silence, holding hands, palms tightly clasped, toes entangled, the surf playing with their feet and a heavenly smile on their faces as they gaze towards the setting sun. That is one of the best kinds of communications that can ever take place, because their souls are talking, as their heartbeats synchronize with every beating pulse. And if at all they choose to speak, I am sure it would be limited to meaningful words of love straight from the heart rather than parroting a set long, repetitive, meaningless script. Shouldn’t our praying be like that? Has not Jesus taught us to pray like that? Did He not show us His own praying style in real action and not just simply in words?

Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?” (Mt. Ch. 14, v. 31)
Finally, Jesus simply says, “why did you doubt?” When we pray in desperation, asking for something worldly; Jesus simply wants to say to us, “why do you doubt; if it is good for you at this time, I would have already given it to you by now. And what about all the other things I gave you without you having to ask for it…you of little faith!” Peter was very well settled with the idea of Jesus being the Son of God, a miracle worker; and so he wanted to show off his faith. But at the very first sign of his feet sinking in the water, he lost it and called out to Jesus in desperation. When everything is going fine in our lives and life is beautiful with small hiccups here and there and our lifeboat is sailing with white fluffy clouds smiling at us and the sun peering through them, it is very easy to talk about prayer and faith and espouse it in a celebratory mode and even show it off and preach to others. The problem is when our life hits a roadblock and dark clouds not only gather all around us but our boat seems to sink; we very quickly give up our faith in desperation.
I know of a family totally immersed in prayer and deep in faith for decades and I used to refer to them as a holy family. And yet, sadly, at the very first sign of real trial and tribulation, they lost faith and have left our Holy and Catholic church and unfortunately, they have taken away their innocent children too … and Jesus’ retort to them would be the same….why did you doubt?

In conclusion, Mt. Ch. 14 is remarkably revolutionary in its poignancy in pointing out the ‘human-self’ of Jesus on several levels. Proper understanding of this chapter will leave us no room to hide behind the ‘divine-self of Jesus’! I personally believe that our approach of focusing on the divine self of Jesus and turning a blind eye to His human self is not only misleading but counterproductive. That is why although our First Holy Communion happens at around the age of about 7yrs we still are in the ‘trying to be good and failing constantly’ mode till the time we go to our graves …. say around 70-80+ years, and that’s where we get to stop trying. That’s a pretty long time to not being successful in ‘love your neighbour as yourself! For those who have already picked up the first stone, I want to say that in verse 13, I do agree that it may also be possible that Jesus went away to seek privacy in order to mourn the death of JTB, given the fact he was His cousin. And for those with the second stone, I wish to say there is nothing wrong with group prayers but request you to simply catch my interpretation of verse 23 and remember what Jesus taught us about prayer. And for those who are desperate with the third stone, I would like to strongly reiterate that indeed Jesus was divine and the Son of God as He claimed and that is why we call ourselves Christians but it’s time we focused on the ‘human-self’ of Jesus, imbibe and internalize the message and stop giving divine excuses for living non-good-Samaritan lives and live ourselves Christians. Amen

Paul D’souza, Mumbai