Sometimes I think the idea that God made Himself vulnerable is too uncomfortable a subject for many. It is like a small child seeing their daddy being weak. They just can’t handle that image of him. Being a baby is a pretty vulnerable place to be.
In the silly movie from Disney called Sky High there are super heroes who are endeared for their amazing strength and powers. But an evil villain has a device that zaps the greatest of them all and turns them into little helpless babies.
Turning these heroes into helpless babes is viewed as ghastly and evil beyond imagination. It is the lowest of the lows. Why?
Because to be so all powerful, and so invincible and then be reduced to the helpless state of being a baby is humbling to greatness.
Well, you can’t get more powerful than Almighty God, or more invincible than Almighty God.
Think about this for a minute now. He came to earth, through the womb of a woman, as a little helpless baby!
But even more than that, He came to a regular family, born of a regular woman, and a man who was a simple carpenter.
Jesus came as regular people. He mixed it up with the peasants so to speak.
He came from boundless time into measured time in order to walk the same journey we all as human beings walk.
He chose to experience humanity from the start to the finish. God put Himself out on our behalf.
In the incarnation He began as a human being and He continued His life as such. He continually humbled Himself by being identified with us the human race.
He did so all the way to the cross, where He died to pay for the sin of all mankind.
Jesus had to even embrace the obedience of death on the cross on the terms of His humanity, not His divinity. He was not allowed to step out of His cloak of humanity in order to make the choice and process easy.
As second Adam He would live His life and fulfill His purpose without finding a way around it.
About The Author
- Tim Atchley
- Knoxville, Tennessee, United States
- I currently serve as Senior Pastor of Harvest Church in Knoxville, Tn. I was sent out from Trinity Chapel of Knoxville in 1993 accompanied by my wife Sheila our four children Sarah, Hannah, Josiah & Isaac and a handful of bold, brave and committed believers determined to plant our first church. Pioneering is hard work but well worth the journey. That is why we desire to make disciples of Christ who will, like us, also embrace the call to plant churches.
